Budget 2022 junk free diet 29 December 2021 at 7:00PM in Debt free diaries 25 replies 1.2K views

josephine82

Hi! 

You’ve had some great ideas and suggestions here and I’m sure you can do it. 

Definitely agree on separating out pots for different purposes so you can keep clear on your money.

I’m debt free and already have an emergency fund: but my strategy is as follows: 

Account 1: income in, almost everything goes out, just leaves money for general monthly spending that I don’t account for (meals out, drinks, clothes etc) 

Account 2: all regular bills. I used a spreadsheet to calculate my monthly bills and then I move that amount into this account and then all the bills just come out automatically. 

Account 3: holiday savings

account 4:  car maintenance/christmas/garden/house expenses 

It’s so nice to have money set aside for things like car MOT and Christmas and not having to worry where it’s coming from. Took a bit of getting used to but now it’s a system and it works. 

I prioritised building up my emergency fund before I started making overpayments. This just made more sense to me. You can overpay when you’ve got everything else straight. 

Good luck! 

MovingForwards

Just keep replying to this thread as it helps keep your focus.

Don't get me wrong I have treats on my shopping list, but the £10 is just for me to do as I want, to me and for me.

Do you shop / get petrol at the branded supermarkets? If so, sign up for the loyalty card and save your points up for Christmas. It helps reduce the costs or allows even nicer meals.

My family and friends know to offer me items before they sell / donate them. Most of my things are previously loved from charity shops and slowly get upgraded to what I want if it's a make do item. I do them as birthday / Christmas presents to myself.

This is where a few of us hang out:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/how-much-have-you-saved

Hoolahoopcrispies

Thank you Coffeekup. It's brilliant that you've got all your bank accounts working for you. I'd never thought of having so many but i think it is the way forward.

Oh no I forgot presents and birthdays! I'll have to factor those in too.

I like the way your accounts limit the pain of going into other savings accounts. That gets very dispiriting. I really think lots of accounts is the way forward. I don't want to wish my life away but at the same time I can't wait for some time to pass so that I have some money in them 😆

I did find a large mirror in a charity shop and I have a builder friend who will put it up for me. I put my foot through a paint pot today! I was going to paint the ceiling. I might have to get a professional in for painting 😬 

That's good advice to take time and not force it. Thank you. 

Hoolahoopcrispies

Thanks MovingFowards! I don't have any loyalty cards. So that's a good idea to do the petrol at a supermarket. I presumed you'd need a million litres to get a pound but perhaps it's an OK offer like the Boots and Coop ones. 

I had a good money day today. I didn't go out with friends as was scared about virus as well as blowing my money. And then I made £22 picking up a friend who did go out and dropping them off! So I was very pleased with that and it gave me a bit of a boost. I'll use that money for food shopping so that I can put off a big shop for longer.

Yes second hand is the way to go. New furniture is absolutely a fortune! I think I'll have to wait for a nice new sofa and just trawl the second hand furniture shops for a while. 

Thanks for the savings forum. I'm off to have a look see 😁 Thank you for your encouragement and Happy New year!

jwil

If you are on FB, try FB marketplace.  I got two excellent condition sofas on there for free this year.  I had to pay someone to collect them for me, but it was still incredibly low cost!  Freegle/Freecycle etc are also options.

Hoolahoopcrispies

Thank you! I disabled Facebook this year! It was another resolution but perhaps I should be back on for sofas. I did have some previous joy with Freegle with sofas but when I moved the sofas didn't fit into the new place. 

Hoolahoopcrispies

I have had a really good money save day today. I went to Lidl and spent £18 on food. I'd earned £22 on a NYD lift yesterday so that was a bonus.

I made a really yummy dish of curries chick peas for lunch with a muffin. 
Chick peas 30p
Tinned toms (in the cupboard)
Cumin (cupboard)
Coconut milk 59p
Muffins 43p

So that was a yummy healthy meal for £1.32! 
And I wouldn't eat all six muffins so cheaper than that really. 

I hope I can keep this up!

I'm saying no to another pub invite today. Because of Covid and because of money and I'm helping my friend paint her flat in exchange for a free table instead. 

2022 going OK so far 😁

MovingForwards

Happy New Year.

All the loyalty schemes say how much the points are for shopping and petrol. If you shop on 3bay and have a n3ctar card, link it up as you earn points, n3ctar have teamed up with a few places and not just sains. It's all 'free' money just for doing everyday things.

Other people recommend cashback sites and do quite well from them, again just for buying home or car insurance. In some instances you end up paying a bit more, other times it's cheaper, both ways you get money back.

Don't forget gumtr33 and the furniture charity shops, plus the independent second hand shops. 

Hoolahoopcrispies

MovingForwards said:

Happy New Year.

All the loyalty schemes say how much the points are for shopping and petrol. If you shop on 3bay and have a n3ctar card, link it up as you earn points, n3ctar have teamed up with a few places and not just sains. It's all 'free' money just for doing everyday things.

Other people recommend cashback sites and do quite well from them, again just for buying home or car insurance. In some instances you end up paying a bit more, other times it's cheaper, both ways you get money back.

Don't forget gumtr33 and the furniture charity shops, plus the independent second hand shops. 

Happy New Year!

I'd forgotten about GumTr33! I'll have a look at that and I'll definitely get the Sains and Ldl app. I think reigning in my food will make such a big difference,, and planning. 

Thanks MovingFowards 😁 

Hoolahoopcrispies

I've set up my six bank accounts with 1 being the main bills and mortgage  1 being for weekly spending and the rest other savings account. It feels quite a bore at the beginning because I need lots of time to pass to save....but this is the reality of saving. I've just got to keep it up.

I was quite pleased that I haven't spent my weekly budget in full so I can transfer the left over into the emergency fund and build that up a bit quicker. 

I'm lucky to be in a position to save. I'm so glad that chain and ball of debt from the kitchen is paid. I think if I do work in future on the flat, I'll save for it rather than borrow.

I've removed cards from Amazon and that is likely to save me money. I've stopped paying for Amazon Prime too.