@Landgirlinthelittlecity try tracking your spending religiously for a month or two (use an app or a notebook). You may well be surprised at what you find.
Most people find there is money frittered away somewhere or they forget to account for annual or irregular expenses.
If you subtract your direct debits and what you think you spend from your income, are you saving the amount that *should* be leftover? Or is money disappearing which you can’t account for? Find the leaks and it’ll help you evaluate your strategy.
If things are really that tight, is there any way you can reduce your bills and fixed spending? It may take time, but cancelling subscriptions, changing suppliers and insurers etc can all help free up a bit of cash. Most people don’t want to do the big cuts but it is worth considering whether moving somewhere smaller or going car free etc would get you that wiggle room in your budget. Lots of people are “house poor” and so much of their income goes to housing that it’s difficult to make headway in other areas.
Do ignore any of the above that doesn’t apply to you - just throwing some ideas out there!
I’m not a big advocate of getting rid of all treats - do keep some of that sanity spending!
Thank you, these are all really good ideas!
I’ve been budgeting for so long, I really do know where everything goes. Just becomes habit after a while. Any savings I manage not to save is because I’ve has an emergency appointment or an unexpected bill from the vet corresponding with a vet visit. Sadly it’s how it goes for us and I’d much prefer to have them around for a couple more years than not.
Sadly our payments cannot be changed, I’m hoping that I might be able to do some overpayments next year, which would be great. We’re currently at my sisters whilst our house gets sorted so we’ll have more payments when when we get back such as electric and wood. We cannot change electric supplies as there is only one on the island! I don’t pay for my mobile, only pay as you go when I run out which is every 6 months as I always use Wi-Fi, that again there are only two supplies and they are the same on pay as you go. Everywhere here is the same costs, renting is way much more than paying our mortgage so it wouldn’t be worth it and I get a lift with my sister every weekday, and only pay the minimum in petrol which is needed for the dog agility I do, which I need to keep sane.
I’m with you on the treats, that’s why I still give myself a falafel wrap (absolutely love them even though it is expensive) and I have joined a quilt club for next year, I knew it was going to be expensive but I will enjoy getting the quilt through the post and hope it will help any crafty cravings I have. We also still go on holiday, though only to the UK and nowhere expensive, it usually corresponds with a birthday present, e.g. I bought my sister Worlds Strongest Man tickets for her birthday so we’re going to that. We always never really spend more than £500 per trip either, that’s off the rock, the event, trains and hotel. We try our best to stay in this.
It’s super strange, I never thought when I was younger that I would be on a “decent” wage but still bare basic in my 30s, I wonder how many people are also in the same situation.
I’ll take all your points on board as I am with you, there will be something I can shift around, and I do love a challenge! Maybe making overpayments will be the way forwards, will need to figure out, how to cut down out shopping bills to do this…….. hmmmmm
Frugal Living Challenge 2023 Yearly Grocery Challenge : £17.89/£2100 Fashion on the Ration 2023 - 66 points
If you can build up a pot for the vet so the money is there already earmarked in an emergency that may help, appreciate it’s easier said than done.
Do you factor in irregular costs like Christmas, birthdays and haircuts into your budget? And could these be reduced at all, eg agreeing not to exchange gifts with other adults?
Just wracking my brains to think of any areas to save which haven’t been mentioned!
I definitely need to cut down the grocery bill myself next year. It was easier when I was a SAHM and had time, I do buy more convenience stuff now as lack the time or energy to do lots of baking!
If you can build up a pot for the vet so the money is there already earmarked in an emergency that may help, appreciate it’s easier said than done.
Do you factor in irregular costs like Christmas, birthdays and haircuts into your budget? And could these be reduced at all, eg agreeing not to exchange gifts with other adults?
Just wracking my brains to think of any areas to save which haven’t been mentioned!
I definitely need to cut down the grocery bill myself next year. It was easier when I was a SAHM and had time, I do buy more convenience stuff now as lack the time or energy to do lots of baking!
Thank you, yes actually that’s a really good idea, having a buffer for vet bills. Most of the stuff I already know the price in my head but one spend over that and it’s straight into our savings. I’ll definitely focus on this next year, will be nice having a buffer!
Christmas is accounted for every month, I got to the point where I hated getting stuff I didn’t want or need, so persuaded my family that we all put £20 away a month from Jan to Oct into a pot, then we all get £105 to spend on what we want personally for Christmas to unwrap on Christmas Day. It’s worked really good the last few years, I got a pair of new running shoes one year, and craft supplies which would of been very frivolous if I spent out of my own money last year. This year myself and the other half have gone in together to buy a drill for the “house” it’s something we needed and we wanted to buy once not many so spent a lot on a decent one. This is hands down one of the best things we’ve ever done regarding Christmas!
I try my best to make something for Birthdays from what I already have than buy but I do splurge on a few things (such as the tickets mentioned in my post above). I haven’t for quite a while now actually bought the other half a present, he gets my love and affection, cooking, cleaning and never ending mending instead lol. Same with Christmas we don’t do presents, tend to do a lovely walk somewhere Christmas Day instead. No haircuts, haven’t had mine done in ages, the other half hasn’t had his cut since we started going out together 16 yrs ago and I don’t think he got it cut before that, he’s so lucky to have such lovely straight blonde hair!
Yes the food budget is definitely my downfall, I do love food but could do with losing a lot of weight. A few months back I did a modern version of the WW2 rations for 4 weeks whilst we were in a wee slump and will be bringing it back in January, it really helped me stay within my budget, and I didn’t find it too hard due to my already existing stock. Really looking forward to keeping going after the stock gets low and see how we do. I’m very lucky that whilst we love the odd curry (and the odd Chinese for me), both myself and the other half love basic British food, so it will be easy in that respect.
Golly just realized how much I actually type, ekk! Sorry for all the long winded replies!!
Frugal Living Challenge 2023 Yearly Grocery Challenge : £17.89/£2100 Fashion on the Ration 2023 - 66 points
Son has already been told he's going to have to chip in more towards the costs of my car (we share it).
@cw18 When I carshared with my parents, we had the deal that whenever I used it, I would return it with a full tank, no matter how full it was when I took it out.
I've not put any petrol into it this year. He paid the extra to have him on the insurance, and has also settled up with a (trained mechanic) mate for a couple of repair jobs. But I paid the road tax, the major share of the insurance (including break down) and MOT - plus a couple of other repair jobs. I could actually manage without a car, but he can't get to work without. I only use for recreational including visiting DD/GDs and Mum, but can do that by bus & train if my OH isn't coming with me (in which case we use his), and have used it for a few trips I normally wouldn't just to be sure I do remain the main driver (one reason I expect him to fuel it now). But my drop in income combined with all the price increases means the first thing I need to look at ditching is the car - so if he wants me to keep it he'll have to cough up rather more towards it. Covering ALL my costs looks to work out cheaper for him than it would be for him to take on ownership of the vehicle and insure it in his own name with me borrowing from him once in a while - and he's almost 34, so isn't being penalised for being a young driver
Im going to join this year please. Every month we put a lot less into savings than we should so not entirely sure where its being frittered to. We became heavier drinkers and I started smoking again during the covid years, with a recent health scare im commiting to getting both of those stopped so that will account for a fair bit of ££ each month.
We're also deciding to make our living situation a bit better as we would really live to make some house improvements as we've been making do quite a lot.
We both already work part time which is a luxury that costs us £1000 out of our pocket every month. If we want to continue that when both children will be at school from next september but also want to enjoy a good standard of living we need to tighten the screws on frittered expenses a bit. We have enjoyed lots of family days out around the UK over the last year or 2 which we dont intend to stop, but controlling the cost of these could be improved.
Ive just relogged in to money dashbpard so i'll go though the tranactions for the last 6 months or so and make sure theyre categorised correctly as see where we are to determine a budget.
@Scrimps I’m a big believer of “spending” your money by reducing working hours. Do need to get the frugality right but it’s so worth it where possible.
My DH works FT but not long hours and never does overtime or weekends or anything; today he was home by 3 (his finish time varies depending on his last job).
I work school hours four days a week which works great as I have one at school and one at a preschool type nursery (she also attends school hours but doesn’t go on a Friday).
We both use two weeks unpaid leave each year to allow us more summer holiday time off with the kids.
Yes I could earn more if I worked more but I’d rather be a bit more frugal and get more time off 🙂 I’d love it if I never worked full time again!! I may need to add a Friday back in when my littlest starts school but hoping not to… will definitely keep the 3pm finish though.
Good luck for your 2023 challenge! I need to tighten up the budget next year as we could definitely have saved more this year.
@Bluegreen143 it sounds as though our situation is quite similar. I do a 4 day week with Fridays off and the youngest starts school next September. I dont really want to add an extra day but I do somewhat think it would be financially foolish of me not too, especially as Im the higher earner.
Ive been through the budget for the year, the year will start Dec 22nd on payday. It wont be as detailed as many peoples but if I can stick to anything like this, it will be a huge improvement as we tend to have a budget but overspend every month
Life and home ins: £516 TV licence : £156 Energy: £1,170 Water: £600 Internet: £336 Transport: £2000 Medical: £1,620 Kids (clubs &childcare etc) £1,300 Clothing £240 Food & Household £5200 Birthdays: £240 Mum & Dad spends: £2400 (inc haircuts, phone bills, any subscriptions etc) Loan: £2,450 (recently taken loan that we took for home improvements, were going to not use it and pay back immediately then decided we really do need to improve our house etc so have kept it - we change our mind a lot)
Round up to £18,600
***I'm editing to take out the very ambitious 23k I had going to savings. It seemed very odd! Its because the budget above doesn't include mortgage or council tax as they're very fixed for the next year. I didnt think I was that flush
Hi all, A friend and I were talking and apparently you can make bricks out of horse poo which when dried you can burn.
Has anyone got any experience of that? I did see 1 older MSE forum but it didn't have much.
Part of me would want to try making a press but I'm not particularly technical. I'd probably just buy one of those ones you use to make paper briquettes as they seem to be about £20-30.
It all depends on where you live, the weather and the drying facilities.Here in rainy,dampScotland,it's next to impossible to get bricks made with anything dried naturally even making them during summer. If you work out a way of dehydrating pony poop into fuel without it costing money then please let me know.We have 9 ponies so that's a lot of fuel if there was a way of doing it.Probably as well just drying the manure as it falls,so to speak, then you'll have mini briquettes.:)
HI @Frugaldom I'm new to this and would like to join the 2023 challenge please. I'm still working out what my annual budget will be but mine is very complicated since it's both in USD and GBP. I'll spend some time working through it and looking at what home projects we're undertaking in the new year and see how to fit that into the budget as well. The budget will solely be for me as OH and I keep most of our money separate.
I'll start catching up on the 2022 thread, thanks!
Replies
I’ve been budgeting for so long, I really do know where everything goes. Just becomes habit after a while. Any savings I manage not to save is because I’ve has an emergency appointment or an unexpected bill from the vet corresponding with a vet visit. Sadly it’s how it goes for us and I’d much prefer to have them around for a couple more years than not.
Sadly our payments cannot be changed, I’m hoping that I might be able to do some overpayments next year, which would be great. We’re currently at my sisters whilst our house gets sorted so we’ll have more payments when when we get back such as electric and wood. We cannot change electric supplies as there is only one on the island! I don’t pay for my mobile, only pay as you go when I run out which is every 6 months as I always use Wi-Fi, that again there are only two supplies and they are the same on pay as you go. Everywhere here is the same costs, renting is way much more than paying our mortgage so it wouldn’t be worth it and I get a lift with my sister every weekday, and only pay the minimum in petrol which is needed for the dog agility I do, which I need to keep sane.
I’m with you on the treats, that’s why I still give myself a falafel wrap (absolutely love them even though it is expensive) and I have joined a quilt club for next year, I knew it was going to be expensive but I will enjoy getting the quilt through the post and hope it will help any crafty cravings I have. We also still go on holiday, though only to the UK and nowhere expensive, it usually corresponds with a birthday present, e.g. I bought my sister Worlds Strongest Man tickets for her birthday so we’re going to that. We always never really spend more than £500 per trip either, that’s off the rock, the event, trains and hotel. We try our best to stay in this.
It’s super strange, I never thought when I was younger that I would be on a “decent” wage but still bare basic in my 30s, I wonder how many people are also in the same situation.
I’ll take all your points on board as I am with you, there will be something I can shift around, and I do love a challenge! Maybe making overpayments will be the way forwards, will need to figure out, how to cut down out shopping bills to do this…….. hmmmmm
Yearly Grocery Challenge : £17.89/£2100
Fashion on the Ration 2023 - 66 points
Just wracking my brains to think of any areas to save which haven’t been mentioned!
I definitely need to cut down the grocery bill myself next year. It was easier when I was a SAHM and had time, I do buy more convenience stuff now as lack the time or energy to do lots of baking!
Christmas is accounted for every month, I got to the point where I hated getting stuff I didn’t want or need, so persuaded my family that we all put £20 away a month from Jan to Oct into a pot, then we all get £105 to spend on what we want personally for Christmas to unwrap on Christmas Day. It’s worked really good the last few years, I got a pair of new running shoes one year, and craft supplies which would of been very frivolous if I spent out of my own money last year. This year myself and the other half have gone in together to buy a drill for the “house” it’s something we needed and we wanted to buy once not many so spent a lot on a decent one. This is hands down one of the best things we’ve ever done regarding Christmas!
I try my best to make something for Birthdays from what I already have than buy but I do splurge on a few things (such as the tickets mentioned in my post above). I haven’t for quite a while now actually bought the other half a present, he gets my love and affection, cooking, cleaning and never ending mending instead lol. Same with Christmas we don’t do presents, tend to do a lovely walk somewhere Christmas Day instead. No haircuts, haven’t had mine done in ages, the other half hasn’t had his cut since we started going out together 16 yrs ago and I don’t think he got it cut before that, he’s so lucky to have such lovely straight blonde hair!
Golly just realized how much I actually type, ekk! Sorry for all the long winded replies!!
Yearly Grocery Challenge : £17.89/£2100
Fashion on the Ration 2023 - 66 points
We're also deciding to make our living situation a bit better as we would really live to make some house improvements as we've been making do quite a lot.
We both already work part time which is a luxury that costs us £1000 out of our pocket every month. If we want to continue that when both children will be at school from next september but also want to enjoy a good standard of living we need to tighten the screws on frittered expenses a bit. We have enjoyed lots of family days out around the UK over the last year or 2 which we dont intend to stop, but controlling the cost of these could be improved.
Ive just relogged in to money dashbpard so i'll go though the tranactions for the last 6 months or so and make sure theyre categorised correctly as see where we are to determine a budget.
Yes I could earn more if I worked more but I’d rather be a bit more frugal and get more time off 🙂 I’d love it if I never worked full time again!! I may need to add a Friday back in when my littlest starts school but hoping not to… will definitely keep the 3pm finish though.
Ive been through the budget for the year, the year will start Dec 22nd on payday. It wont be as detailed as many peoples but if I can stick to anything like this, it will be a huge improvement as we tend to have a budget but overspend every month
Life and home ins: £516
TV licence : £156
Energy: £1,170
Water: £600
Internet: £336
Transport: £2000
Medical: £1,620
Kids (clubs &childcare etc) £1,300
Clothing £240
Food & Household £5200
Birthdays: £240
Mum & Dad spends: £2400 (inc haircuts, phone bills, any subscriptions etc)
Loan: £2,450 (recently taken loan that we took for home improvements, were going to not use it and pay back immediately then decided we really do need to improve our house etc so have kept it - we change our mind a lot)
Round up to £18,600
***I'm editing to take out the very ambitious 23k I had going to savings. It seemed very odd! Its because the budget above doesn't include mortgage or council tax as they're very fixed for the next year. I didnt think I was that flush
THANK YOU:)
I'll start catching up on the 2022 thread, thanks!