Dusty's Frugal Fortnights Return!

dustydigger

Once more into the breach,dear friends,once more.

Back in 2017 I discovered this site,and learned so much about budgeting,frugality,savings,and a host of other fascinating things. For a year or more I sorted my budgets on a fortnightly basis,and loved every minute on here. Then for some reason I started to have difficulty accessing my thread,and eventually was locked out and never did know why. I went off in a bit of a huff,and got involved with sending my OH off on holiday to Africa,and then preparing for my trip to Virginia for the graduation of my stepson's children in June 2019. Then my health took a nasty turn for the worse,and then covid came along and life went pearshaped. I am only now physically inching out of debilitating issues - more on that some other time - and feeling a bit stronger and less clouded of mind as well as physicaly ill. When the cost of living crisis developed I was curious about how the dear folks on MSE were coping,so I came on to see,and fell back once more under the spell of frugality! .

 I have continued these last 3 years to keep out of debt,save regularly,and was actually quite complacent about coping. Then I got a delightful note from Scottish Power informing me that my next fixed tariff in August would go up from £106 per month to £337 pm. Aarrgghh!They have since said that because I am several hundred pounds in credit,they would reduce that to £312,but no thanks. I am following Martin's advice to go onto variable tariff.I need to sharpen up my frugality skills,so what better than to once more set up my fortnightly budgeting,my ''Frugal Fortnights'?Setting down facts and figures,targets and plans will help me clear my mind. Setting things down before others makes doing the jobs much more likely out of not wanting to be ashamed! lol

I start a new fortnight tomorrow. Mr Dusty will go for our pension credit payment,and once again I will be sorting a budgetOld times return.....

otb666

We are all doing wonderful things with mainly vegetables Wearing our clothes out and entertaining ourselves cheaply.  Nice to have you back 
I have also been a long time reader of MSE. Recently retired/redundancy children nearly left home. We are in our mid 50s and enjoying extra time we have and freedom. Trying to lose the lockdown weight and just looking back over last 2 years thinking what was that??

London_1

gGeat to see folk thinking positively about the coming wave of price rises. I have been fairly frugal for most of my long life .

Born in the 1940s, and grew up with rationing and post war austerity. Then marrying in the early 1960s, and scraping along in decrepit accomodation, and eventually buying a money pit of a Victorian house that had everything wrong with it that you could think of in 1971.

But it was our own front door at last ,and even though the loo was in the built on wooden conservatory we didn't have to share with two other families, and we had a real proper bathroom with a working bath for the first time in 12 years  

1970s was the decade of strikes , 17% mortgage rates, and world wide shortages ,so again belt tightening took place until the 1980s when life got considerably easier

Mid 1990s and we took retirement, as both children grown and flown the nest to make their own nests and families. Downsizing and giving the girls a chunk of change to get them both on the housing ladder.
 We looked forward to a long and happy retirement, sadly it wasn't to be as my late husband had a heart attack and passed away in 2003.

But alone after over 40 years of being with someone wasn't easy and adjusting to a different sort of life was important for both myself and my children and ever growing grand children.I spent the next 15-17 years helping with child care etc to bring up my seven grandchildren .

Now I'm a great granny and still looking after the pennies  and tonight my youngest grandson got an email saying what his student loan for the coming year will be.
A bit of accounting was needed, and it looks like he will need an additional £500 a term to add to his loan just for his accomodation and that's without eating  
but again we will all pull together, and get him through.
Some how the money will be found as he will be the last of the grandchildren to go to Uni, so he must have his chance as well.

Bless him, he has been working every shift he can and fitting it around his A level studies to ensure he has some cash when he starts in September.
I will help him out as I have done for his brothers and his cousins, so once more it will be working out the best value for money and how to streetch things just that little bit further so Mikey has his chance    

Belts once more will be tightened and I shall start his food/cleaning  box for Uni as I have for all the rest .
Filling it with essentials of cleaning stuff and stuff like toothpaste , bath stuff shower gels etc, and basic food items for him to use when things get a bit sparse. 

I will dig out My Online Misers cook book for him to use when he's away, and keep a sharp eye out for things like socks boxers tee shirts and clothes in shops that have sales.

His next brother down Henry bless him a couple of months ago was stuck in his house share, as it was snowing and his shoes were letting in water and he didn't want to bother his Mum
Luckily he knows he can tell me anything and I'll keep it schtumm from her so she doesn't worry.
 I sent him some cash to get some new trainers .
Daft lad had forgotten to take his boots back with him when he went back to Uni after Christmas. He is doing his final exams over the next few weeks then he will be home for good and then young Mikey will set off to his new life for three years at Uni.

Life is full of ups and downs but its surprising how with a bit of juggling its possible to manage.
I know I will never be financially rich, but I have my family and they are all worth their weight in gold, so onwards and upwards and my frugal ways will sort something out once more  

JackieO xxx

dustydigger

Hi Jackie,thanks for popping in!.I do enjoy your posts on OSMS threads.

I was born in 1948,in a mining family.Money was quite tight. My mother was born in 1910,my father 1905 .I was a bit of an afterthought,as my siblings were 18,16 and 13 when I was born Ignorant modern baby boomer brat that I was,I was often appalled at what my mother would eat. Cockles,mussels,tripe,giblets,rabbit,kidney,were things I couldnt bring myself to eat,but she lost her father in WWI in France,her widowed mother had 4 kids,and my mother left school at eleven to watch over her younger siblings so her mother could work,so any protein was welcome.

I really admire that generation. Deathly poor,they lived through the Depression,2 world wars,the hyper inflation of the 70s,and didnt live to see the enormous improvements of life for even the poor that were to come.

I went to college,doing Library Studies and met my Ugandan husband,who was studying accountancy. We married in 1970,and  I moved to Africa the very week the horrible Idi Amin made a coup. In the next 11 years he ruined a beautiful little country. I saw or knew of many horrific things. Economically the country was destroyed,and thank heavens most of the population lived on their little ancestral plots of land,so could grow food.I learned frugality then,because things like sugar,cooking oil,bread etc were in short supply. If there was a rumour that a shop had cooking oil crowds would gather to try to get some.Sounds like today at Asd@!

We lived through the Amin vicious regime,and hoped for better things when he was overthrown. I came on a visit to UK hoping to see my dying father,but was too late to see him.I was only meant to be here a month,but Mr Dusty said all the old tribal tensions were coming up again,and he decided to join me here. He had resident status,so that was OK.It would be 6 more years of conflict before stability was returned

What wasnt OK was arriving here during Maggie Thatcher's seeming ambition to put every miner,steelworker etc out of work.Pretty much succeeded. The North East still hasnt recovered from that to this day.In fact there were men in their 30s who never worked again. Anyway,we came here as sort of refugees,and there was no work for Mr D. By time things improved a little in the 90s,he was midfifties,and black,so good luck getting a job! We brought up 4 children in those circumstances,that was hard. Not only did we have to live on Income Support,Mr Dusty had a widowed mother and extended family to help out,as life in Uganda continued to be precarious. Many a time I ran out of money 2 days before our dole was due,and I would feed the family and have no supper myself the night before our allowance was due.

Life only improved once the kids grew up,and we got extra money for old age and free bus passes(thank you Gordon Brown,you were a hero in our house )

So I would say I have quite a lot of experience with looking after a family in hard times. My heart goes out to families today  trying to make ends meet. Difficult indeed,but with so many already in dire debt - this site has been an enormous help to so many people,its amazing - never having learned frugal ways,or real poverty,it must be an absolute nightmare.And its going to get much much worse.

So I will give some thought on money priorities,savings and how to find up to £80 a month extra just to pay for dual fuel.Last year they put my DD up by £16 pm,and in response I have cut down gas usage by 2000 units this year,and electric by 800,and until now had several hundred pounds credit.Cutting down another similar amount of usage looks unlikely. Mr Dusty feels the cold,as do I with my arthritis and numerous chest infections. Cant see him cutting down ! That leaves cutting food as the main strategy,so I will be exploring that.

Off now to wash my hair,then its salmon to do for Mr Ds dinner.Hopefully I will get around to doing my budget this afternoon.

Bluegreen143

Going to follow this thread, sounds interesting 🙂

dustydigger

Went back out of curiosity to see my budget back then in 201. Very higgledy piggledy,knew zilch about zero sum budgets,sinking funds,variable expenses etc!

<u>outgoings 30th Apr - 13th May 2018</u>

Income total,£358
dual fuel - £81
phone+broadband - £28
insurance - £20
Passport fund - £10 (now £50)
Birthday Fund - £10
Water Aid dd - £3
Save the Children dd - £3
Asd@ home delivery - abt £57
monthly delivery charge - £5
household budget (cash) - £141
____________________
total income - £362
total outlay - £358
surplus - £4.

----------------------------------

Nice to see my dual fuel only £80 pm.It then went to £89,then £91,then the present £106

broadband now £38,going up £2 again in July

no more saving for passport,got it and went to the USA May 2019

now have 4 charities,£14 total

delivery charge is now £6

birthdays now £20 per fortnight,we have Six new babies added to the family,19 people altogether!. Second fortnight similar except fewer bills,so some savings. I also did savings challenges,saving £2 coins etc. I definitely allocated every penny. I was in a credit union so evey week I put all my loose change in my account.

That all came to an end when our history group closed down because of covid. The person dealing with the credit union was part of the group. I would give her my cash,even though it wasnt a CU day,and she would obligingly add my money to her credit union figures and took them all to the bank the  next day.Covid stopped all that. I still have about £600 in that account,I really need to close it down,unless I class it as an emergency fund......

I seem to have just jumbled all expenses,savings,bills into one list back then.I only put £150 in the CA,and in the heavy bill FN,there was little left for saving.

o

My routine is much more relaxed now. My pension goes in by direct debit,and all bills are DD too.I keep a cushion there,and funds to buy anything I need to online,since basically I have been housebound.,I get almost everything online.

i had to increase Mr Dusty's bank payment to £200 to cover all bills.That is all put away and forgotten about to a great extent. Now after our pension credit rise last month,I have £123 per fortnight cash in hand,in the HBB (Home Budget Box). Anything we need to buy cash comes from here.At the end of the fortnight all cash still there goes to the savings binder. On Sunday there was £80 left,and it went to savings.Cool.

This all works very easily and comfortably,but if my dual fuel goes up astronomically,it will have to come from that HBB box,or we will have to increase the money sent to the bank up by as much as £50 a fortnight,leaving little for saving.. ....(sigh)........

My May Budgets 2022 online

<u>Online funds</>

my pension  £39 x 4 = £156

to bank from pension credit £200 x 2=£400  total  £556

,u.paid online</u>

Charities  £14

water rates  - £36

broadband - £38

scottish power - £106

kindle unlimited - £8

insurance  - £30

asda groceries - £300

------------------------

total bills  -  £532

cushion -   £24

------------------

I also get £123 cash each FN. Mr D buys some things,not many since Tesc0 closed down,just perhaps milk and bread,fruit and other odds and ends . Only cash bill is windowcleaner £5 each FN and my monthly phone topup - £10

All cash left goes to the savings binder,between £60 and £80 per FN.

Its all been very comfortable and satisfying. Got to scrutinise everything now,and decide how much extra to save now for my fuel.

Rosa_Damascena

£556 pm is not a lot of money and your contingency is 5%. Could your food bill come down at all?

Bluegreen143

I think it’s the budget for the next fortnight as she gets her money fortnightly? @Rosa_Damascena - apologies if I picked this up wrong but I read it that the budget’s done each fortnight and covers whatever bills come out that fortnight? Also think the £556 figure is cash in the bank but there’s £125 or so in cash for shopping.

dustydigger

Looks like  I was clear as mud,as usual! :)These figures are present spending,beforeI start cutting down 

All the bills are paid online,out of a monthly budget of £556,then every fortnight I get £123 in cash. So the whole monthly budget is £556 + £246=£802. So I have £ 200.50 a week.quite adequate,I save at least £100 a month out of it.and buy all household goods cash(computer,microwaves,fridges,lawnmowers,etc) but not if I have to find £312 a month just for heating.EEK!

Yes Rosa,groceries is basically the only area to cut.I have written down this budget to outline everything,to get my head round it all.That £300 for groceries is about what I spent last month at Asd@ I have already cut down by about £30 this month,will wait and see the end of month figures.

 I could cut out charities,but very reluctant to do that, a last resort.

I am cutting my phone PAYG from£10 to £7 Sim only next month.

Only self indulgence is my £8 amaz0n kindle unlimited subscription. I read about 12 - 15 books a month on there,as i couldnt get to a library over these 2 covid years. I do get some books very occasionally on my phone from the library app Borrowbox,but its not very easy reading from a phone,and I cant get it to work online. Anyway the phone is heavy and often when my arthritis is particularly bad and my hands are curled up like talons its almost impossible to hold a phone for prolonged periods.So its the Kindle for me,reading on the computer. I do have some free sites I can use for classic science fiction and old vintage crime and the like,but they are scanned and often hard to read. So unless it all becomes really dire,I will continue with my kindle! .

Off now to sort out the kitchen benches and cupboards and fridge,as my Asd@ delivery is due at 10 am,and sometimes he arrives at ten to. Miss them using carrier bags,I could just accept the five or 6 bags and unpack them at my leisure. Picking out 50 items or more one by one from boxes the driver is waiting to remove is a bit fraught!

London_1

Just reorganised my baking cupboards.I have found lots of forgotten things. about 12 odd dented tins that had been put in there when the tinned cupboards were full and so lots of forgotten goodies all still well in date (although unless blown I take very little notice of dates anyway  

A veritable hoard of stuff, fruit, veg, chopped tomatoes, even a tin of rice pudding that had half its label missing that i got around February for 10p so absolutely no need for any shopping for the rest of the month win-win for me I think.

Plenty of baking stuff as well and loads of herbs and spices and around three jars of jam and one of marmalade that I had as Christmas presents from friends and I had put in there as my other cupboards were full. i can see some jam tarts being made this week for my grandsons  

Its like having a mini-windfall finding all this stuff  

Just about to have my mid morning coffee and list everything down on my kitchen board 

JackieO xx

joedenise

dustydigger said:

Looks like  I was clear as mud,as usual! :)These figures are present spending,beforeI start cutting down 

All the bills are paid online,out of a monthly budget of £556,then every fortnight I get £123 in cash. So the whole monthly budget is £556 + £246=£802. So I have £ 200.50 a week.quite adequate,I save at least £100 a month out of it.and buy all household goods cash(computer,microwaves,fridges,lawnmowers,etc) but not if I have to find £312 a month just for heating.EEK!

Yes Rosa,groceries is basically the only area to cut.I have written down this budget to outline everything,to get my head round it all.That £300 for groceries is about what I spent last month at Asd@ I have already cut down by about £30 this month,will wait and see the end of month figures.

 I could cut out charities,but very reluctant to do that, a last resort.

I am cutting my phone PAYG from£10 to £7 Sim only next month.

Only self indulgence is my £8 amaz0n kindle unlimited subscription. I read about 12 - 15 books a month on there,as i couldnt get to a library over these 2 covid years. I do get some books very occasionally on my phone from the library app Borrowbox,but its not very easy reading from a phone,and I cant get it to work online. Anyway the phone is heavy and often when my arthritis is particularly bad and my hands are curled up like talons its almost impossible to hold a phone for prolonged periods.So its the Kindle for me,reading on the computer. I do have some free sites I can use for classic science fiction and old vintage crime and the like,but they are scanned and often hard to read. So unless it all becomes really dire,I will continue with my kindle! .

Off now to sort out the kitchen benches and cupboards and fridge,as my Asd@ delivery is due at 10 am,and sometimes he arrives at ten to. Miss them using carrier bags,I could just accept the five or 6 bags and unpack them at my leisure. Picking out 50 items or more one by one from boxes the driver is waiting to remove is a bit fraught!

Could you just transfer the goods into your own bags and then unpack at your leisure in the kitchen after the driver has gone?  I think that's what I would do if I did online deliveries.  I don't like being rushed either!