Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Our money meeting might sound formal with its title , agenda, etc, but it's quite chatty in practice - really it is just a chance to review how our finances are going, whether we could do anything better, to flag up any big expenditure heading our way, & pat ourselves on the back for finally having the safety net of some savings. Mr F still utterly cannot believe we have savings. It surprises me too, how much our attitude to money has changed since the Spendy Decades, but as I do the nuts & bolts of our money management, I suppose I see the savings accounts much more frequently. I couldn't cope with going back to our old irresponsible ways.
F

PennysIntoPounds

I entered a CAT(erpillar) comp recently which involved signing up to their newsletter and they have a sale on and a 10% off welcome code, might be worth checking out in case they have a suitable pair of boots for Mr F. Not the cheapest but good quality so not invoking Sam Vimes' Boot Theory in a very literal sense!

foxgloves

Thanks, @PennysIntoPounds. Naturally he's now saying he thinks his current old pair have still got some life left in them (eyeroll)....
Re competitions, I'd just got my pen out to do an NT prize crossword for a 1-night stay in a historic property hotel. Then I thought that if I actually won it, we'd need to arrange the cattery & drive a fair distance to spend a single night in a different bed. True, dinner & breakfast were included but still seemed a lot of faff for one night. 
It's high time I won something..i only win a maximum.of one prize a year. Last year's was a £10 voucher for getting a recipe published in a magazine. I was speculating what my annual prize might be this year & Mr F said, "Nothing if you don't enter any competitions!" I think I will step up my C**p receipt surveys as I did enjoy spending my £50 shopping vouchers from that.
F. 

PennysIntoPounds

Well at least he's being money-saving!
Maybe a useful thing to put on next year's Christmas ideas list when he's been through summer not wearing them/not experiencing puddles and still thinks they're fine!

You're doing better than me with one win a year, I've been dedicatedly entering all sorts and have won sweet b*gger all- my rough calculation is that my entries are in their multiple thousands now 😂😭

I know you try to shop ethically where you can anyway but do bear in mind that coop are stopping their rewards points at the end of Jan so might be worth stocking up on any favourites, and receipts, before then

P.S. you winning that coupon is still the stuff of legend in my mind 😁

amber03

Me and OH tend to hold our money meetings whilst we go out walking. We can easily do about a 8 mile walk, so have to have something to talk about. Best thing is the coffee and cake at the end.x

Sun_Addict

I’ve always taken charge of the finances in our household as Mr SA has always been rubbish with money. I was lured into a spendy era with him several years ago but thankfully managed to turn it around eventually. Now he occasionally asks if we’re alright for money but otherwise just leaves it all to me. This suits me fine as I’m a total control freak 😆

ladyholly

Mr LH is much the same as Mr SA. I tell him what I am doing but he has no interest as long as he can have the bits he wants. He used to demand a lotbut on the whole his wants are more modest ( except the car). In fact in some ways he is at the point he wont spend e.g. Our hall, stairs and landing desperately need decorating and a new carpet but I cant get any decisions out of him as to whether he wants paint or walpaper, carpet or laminate. I will give him a bit longer and then I will just get a couple of men in to give quotes and hopefully he will have a sensible conversation with them.

Onebrokelady

How exciting having a big birthday coming up 😀 I desperately want to set my budget for the coming year but I've got to wait for the council tax and rent and water increase before I can sort it out, they always seem to take so long to let you know. I need to get my head round that my budget runs from April to April and not January to January. PRA are going to contact me in February so I'm going to have to tell them to wait until April before I know how much I can give them. I have been getting an urge to go away somewhere on a short break but can't go at the moment. A nice weekend somewhere would be nice 😀

EssexHebridean

OBL I also can't do the new annual budget until those figures are in. If past experience is anything to go by the water one will be fairly soon - the CT however will be left by our local shower of you-know-what to the eleventh hour. Last year they ended up not being able to take a lot of people's first payment of the year on the regular date as they hadn't given enough notice! Ours was the 15th and we were only just OK! 

foxgloves

Thanks for all your contributions. Will post properly tomorrow as time has got away from me today. 
Soot agrees. He says to tell you he didn't get his 3pm treats until 4.45! This is a massive deal for him!
F