Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

@Makingabobor2 - I think it is worth experimenting with different ways of organising our various pots of money. It's only by trying different things that we find the optimum system for us. I know what you mean about stocking up impacting monthly grocery budget though. 
F

EssexHebridean

The pots system really is an ongoing work in progress in our house. We've had three new ones opened recently - one for the garden stuff, ready for when compost, seeds, or plants are needed. One for fuel for the fire - so logs, smokeless fuel, firelighters etc, and then one which I opened just today which is our "Savings for Solar" pot - that will for now get sent the £500 which is no longer feeding a regular saver (interest not quite good enough to persuade me to open a new one when the old one matured). I will also put any of the monthly joint account surplus which isn't destined for the mortgage to that as well and seeing the balance increase should act as a nice deterrent should we be considering any frittering!  Grocery budget savings are at the moment staying safely tucked away in their own pot as I do intend that those will go to bolster our currently slightly low holiday savings ready for our Hebrides trip in a few months. (And that is the only incentive needed to try to keep making savings!)

Sun_Addict

I often add a new savings pot as and when it becomes clear another one is needed. Any small amounts are sent to the Christmas pot which usually has at least £600 in it by the time it’s needed. Well done on the grocery underspend. 

foxgloves

Hi everyone, Thanks for your comments. It's always interesting seeing how other people run the fine detail of their budgets, especially things like savings pots, which I always think of as being first in the line of defence in protecting general savings & avoiding credit.

Well, today has been Budget-Central here. In fact, apart from doing my usual kitchen tidy first thing, checking on the veggie seedlings & having a proper lunch hour, I have done nothing but number-crunch all day so far! This is not surprising however, as it is my Big Budget Day. Things have taken a lot longer than usual because there was a wodge of back-pay & unlike in the Spendy Era when we would have been off to the city centre with a hop, skip & a jump to start spending it, these days as you can imagine, we both wanted to allocate it in the best way possible. So, fuelled by coffee (& largely left alone by the cats, which is odd in itself.....), I have been at my desk up in Foxgloves HQ reconciling February's figures & setting March's budget. I don't know how everyone else operates, but once I have determined that I am working from a 100% accurate figure as a starting-off point & deducted all the non-negotiables, I then like to move to a pile of scrap paper to work on the variables.....things like what to pay the pots, etc, & adding in additional more random expenditure such as workmen, piano tuner, that kind of thing, as well as anything either of us have flagged up as needing a modest cash input. Well, I've tweaked various allocation methods & decided that the final 'Director's Cut' with the back-pay would be as follows:
*£600 allocated to 6 of our 10 savings pots according to perceived need (Holidays, Car Maintenance, Clothes, House & Garden, Presents & Meow Fund).
*£200 set aside towards holiday expenses. The holiday itself is paid for & we will of course take plenty of food as well as our grocery budget for that week with us, but there are still expenses - a birthday lunch out, various treats, afternoon tea, etc. It's a while until our holiday, but I though it made sense to put some money aside while we have the extra rather than use it all on other things & have to find it from standard pay nearer the time.
*Paid the new mattress off my CC. I have done this with 2 days to spare before being charged interest. This was deliberate. I wrote myself notes so that I would remember to pay in time. You see, I wanted to pay from the back-pay, as mattresses are quite pricey, but had to order within a certain time-frame to qualify for 20% off the price. Anyway, it is now paid for.
*After our recent garden centre recce, during which I noted down a few prices, I have budgeted £122 for this year's compost (12 sacks), grow-bags (3) & also 4 bags of pebbles for a planned project around our pond. Mr F very keen to go & buy these but I asked him to hold off until we had the back-pay. Last year, for the first time, we bought our compost like this rather than in dribs & drabs as I needed it & it worked much better. I actually think I was more economical with it because I could so easily see my stash of bags decreasing. I even had a sack left which I have been using to get some of this season's sowing/tasks underway.
*Had a little leftover so I have allocated us each an additional £20 to our March Spends & also enough to treat ourselves to pizza from our little local indie on Saturday. 
All the usual part of the budget day process went as normal. Grocery budget is the same, I've paid the usual £100 to our Car Fund & bought our agreed monthly amount of premium bonds. Everything else goes out automatically as DDs. 
There have been quite a few surveys around today so have stuck about another £7 onto my Feb PA earnings. 2 more days to go till cash-out.
Well, the muzzy head I awoke with first thing has lingered all day & has now turned into a headache. My usual winning blend of coffee with paracetamol has failed, so I am going to try pint of water next, as well doing not looking at screens. Tonight's nosebag will be very trouble-free as we decided to have soup & leftover soda bread from the freezer - Tomato for me (the last portion from our summer tomato glut) & turkey for Mr F.....I think apart from stock, that is now the last portion from my big post-Christmas batch-cook of all-things turkeyfied.
Wishing everyone a calm, pleasant evening.
F x

Crazycatlady2

Love the list idea. I'm always forgetting to do thinks so stick them on a list
I'm currently planning my new kitchen being done in a month so have a list of things to buy but the bulk of stuff is already ordered ready. Trying to figure out how to empty my kitchen into my utility room so it sort of functions and I can wash up in a bowl in the downstairs bathroom but hoping to be without some no dishwasher and washing machine just the 1 day fingers crossed.

We have savings but I don't split it into pots as such though 

PennysIntoPounds

I'm particularly impressed with your mattress payment mse cunning.

Lovely to allocate 'what you fancy' funds for the holiday 

Sometimes ibuprofen does the job when paracetamol doesn't (and vice versa), they can be taken together as they're different classes of medication (which I'm sure you know!). Hope you're feeling better, and have found out what the cats are up to

Sun_Addict

We always factor in a fritter fund for holidays. Sounds like you’ve had a good day’s budgeting. I hope the headache has gone by now. Obviously you’ve been thinking too much 😆

Makingabobor2

I learn so much and pick up so many tips from your budget ideas. I seem to have tried to over stretch ourselves a bit lately I think, so on Monday when its new budget period starting, I may be doing some re-jigging. 

foxgloves

@Crazycatlady2 - It's amazing what one can put up with when there's a shiny new kitchen at the end of it!

@PennysIntoPounds - Thanks, yes the headache had disappeared by bedtime. Unfortunately I can't take Ibuprofen because of my aspirin allergy. People who are allergic to aspirin often have a similar response to ibuprofen too & I am one of them. It infuriates me actually because it would be a better painkiller to take now that I know I have an IBD, as well as when the arthritis in my hands is playing up, as unlike paracetamol & codeine, it is anti-inflammatory. I can use the topical ibuprofen gels without any problem so I have one of those if needed for my hands, but even though the tablets don't cause such a strong reaction as aspirin does, I would still be very reluctant to take it. 

@Sun_Addict - Yes, I think there was far too much thinking AND way too much looking at screens. At least a good workable budget emerged as the end-point.

@Makingabobor2 - I think that's a good point about trying to stretch things a bit too far. I know I could stretch a good bit tighter if we needed to pull our horns in, but for our current circumstances, I think I mostly have the balance about right. I agree that if we attempt to stretch things too tight, it can set us up to fail & lower our motivation levels. I've learned a good skill set though & if something happened to Mr F's job (always a worry with it being public sector - my VR came about in one of the waves of austerity cuts), I know without doubt that I could tighten things up a significant amount.
F

foxgloves

Hello Diary Readers,
Quite a busy, pleasant day today. Very companiable as Mr F's few days off started today. Today's small positive things for the financials:
*Discussed yesterday's budgeting efforts. Mr F surprised I had stretched his back-pay so far & was especially pleased to hear about the money set aside for holiday funds.
*Mr F vanquished the ice monster in both freezers & once defrosted & cleaned, we did a new inventory of contents.
*Wrote March's master meal plan & selected next week's meals from it. Current freezer contents still featuring heavily, which is useful as no major protein purchases necessary, which should stretch this week's target grocery spend along to a few eco-refill shop fill-ups too.
*Wrote grocery shopping list, including eco-refill shop so I must get the containers out ready - not much time tomorrow morning as we both have early optician appointments.
*Sowed a few more sweet-peas (the seeds I saved & dried last year) & also cucumbers, so that's all of February's seeds sown.
*Made a use-it-up fish pie. Looks as though it will defo provide an extra portion for the freezer. Used the last few bits & pieces from January's fish box & a mixture of normal potatoes & sweet potatoes for the mash, as that is what we had. Bag of greens from the freezer & the last of the carrots to go with it, so feel I have got a nice meal made up from odds & ends. I put a little bit of finely chopped bendy celery & ditto an onion quarter I'd got sitting in a pot too, as I can't bear food waste. Still got some of the apple cake I made this week, so will finish that for dessert.
*Took a big bowl of veggie scraps down to the worm composter - the wigglers have been pretty active over winter because it hasn't been properly cold & they have continued producing free liquid plant food.
*Did a couple of surveys & cashed out £10 which will go to the Savings Pots.
*Did one task from the Annoying Job List, which as I suspected was a fail & the item - my old much loved & oft worn biker-style jacket has been binned. It was such a useful garment as faux leather so machine washable, but I have had it a long time & the black outer coating was peeling off. I had been putting off trying to find a solution to this for ages....hence its appearance on the List, but having spread it out across my desk & taken some sharp scissors to the peely bits, it soon became very clear that it wasn't going to be salvageable. The problem was originally only on the inside of the neckline, but as soon as I picked it up & felt it to assess its stability, loads more bits flew off & the problem, even while just in storage in my wardrobe. had spread to the outside down the back & was too noticeable to wear. Ah well, I said my farewells to a much loved friend as I conveyed it to the wheelie bin. Mr F said, "Can't you even wear it for gardening?", but I couldn't, because it would get even dirtier then & need laundering & that would mean oodles of black bits clogging the washing machine & doubtless attaching themselves to the following load of laundry also.
So, not the result I wanted, even though it was broadly the one I expected. But it WAS an Annoying Job crossed off the list!
*Postie brought a nice package of knitting magazines from my sis. Her knitting group were chucking them out & she thought I might like them. I shall doubtless pass them onto my friend too, so that will be a nice freebie for her too.
And that is pretty much my day. Dinner cooked, just needs to go in the oven/hob, so I am looking forward to reading my book. Still reading 'The Christmas Appeal' by Janice Hallett. It follows the same characters/amateur dramatic group as her first novel. "The Appeal" which I also very much enjoyed, especially trying to solve the mystery using the emails provided. This one is similar & I am finding it very funny in places, as they try to put on a charity pantomime. It starts with a dreadful festive 'round robin' letter which is funny to read, but honestly, I have received examples almost that bad in the past - I loathe the things!
Hope you've all had a decent day. The daffodils are looking very cheerful in the garden. I think I might pick a little bunch for my flower bottle tomorrow.
Love F x