Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Sun_Addict

Oh I do love a good project and you've got an end goal to work towards in moving to the coast which will spur you on. 

As @Makingabobor2 says you're lucky to have Mr F on the same page. Mr SA has never  been one for saving and has never had anything to do with the household finances apart from spending them! Thankfully I now have sole control of the budget and have been able to build up some decent savings and get some home improvements done which would have never happened in the past. Like you I'm late to the savings party. 

Good luck!

EssexHebridean

Definitely a good plan to ensure that the savings pots are fully fed - ours as you may recall are simply an ongoing thing, I have automated transfers that go to each at the beginning of the month (the “pay ourselves first” principle) and if at any stage any get more in them that we feel is required we will shift a lump out to the long term savings pot. For us, that’s a more straightforward method than stopping when we get to a particular point, and the monthly amounts mean that for things like holiday savings the right amount ends up there when needed and then we just start again. 

MrEH used to leave me to get on with all things financial but I put my foot down on that a few years ago, as the idea of him being left with no clue what was where should anything happen to me wasn’t nice at all. He fully understood my position on that and now although I do most of the actual wrangling, he takes a keen interest and cheerfully does things like regular saver transfers when needed! 

badmemory

You didn't mention it so I thought I would.  Several people have been commenting on the fact that their pension provider has been extremely slow at starting to pay out.  Most are just irritated but those with few savings or inaccessible ones have struggled.

PennysIntoPounds

Well spotted @Blackcats and all, I thought it a bit odd that your retirement plans had changed to that suburb of London @foxgloves 😂 Though its near Richmond Park so I wouldn't have been too surprised if you'd decided you had a hankering for regular deer spotting 

milann

My Dd lived in Surbiton whilst she was at uni. I only thought it existed in the programme and was surprised to discover it was actually a real place 😂😂 
Good luck with project Good Life. I have every confidence you’ll achieve your dream 👍

Blackcats

Thank you for sharing your Surbiton plans which are very inspiring.  

foxgloves

Hello January Money Jugglers,
Thanks for your comments, which I always enjoy reading. 
Not the most productive of days, as we are still counting this week as being on leave. Mr F is back at work on Monday so I shall then be back in my normal Foxgloves Manor-running routines. Have spent a chunky amount of today doing the crossword, reading the 'Guardian' & trying to finish my jigsaw, but there have been a few of useful things:
*Sorted through all my CDs & DVDs & added some to my existing pile of books for selling. Mr F has already started sorting through his & any money raised will be added to Savings Pots.
*Sorted through my big bag of parcel packaging as I wanted to see if I had plenty if I decide also to return to the Bay of E. Yes, plenty of everything except brown tape which I will add to next weekend's shopping list. Also found a couple of useful items for repurposing & some tissue paper which is nice enough for wrapping a gift. Surplus stuff now in recycling wheelie as there was too much to access efficiently & my shelves are already looking tidier.
*Mr F signed us up to a free month with a TV streamer. Even if we keep it, it will still be cheaper than the one we had last year & we are unlikely to have it for more than a very few months, if that.
*Still using up festive food. We have an untouched melting camembert with some or other delicious-sounding goo in the centre so we are going to eat that tonight with an assortment of leftover crackers, crisps & celery sticks, followed by some of the turkey soup I batch-cooked the other day with dumplings. They will use up some suet which has been hanging around a while with just enough left for our robin to fill his chilly boots tomorrow morning. 
*Oh, & a good example of Project Surbiton in action.....only a very small one, but very much the spirit of the thing. Mr F popped out for a paper this morning & as I'd realised I'd forgotten to put sweet potatoes on the shopping list, he called at the supermarket where he discovered all the Christmas wrapping paper had been reduced to 50p a roll. He said he was just choosing a couple of rolls, then remembered me saying it was one of the items on my ongoing list of 'stuff we don't need to buy', so he put it back. Now, I know that's only £1 saved, but in the spirit of the thing, it would have been £1 with which we didn't need to part company. This has to be the driving attitude this year to achieve our generous re-filling of the Savings Pots. Oh, forgot to say, @EssexHebridean, in reply to your comments. It sounds as though we manage our Savings Pots differently (though with the same goal of course!). When we were still debt-busting & our Pots were actual envelopes containing hard cash, I did used to add an agreed amount each month when I set the budget, & am definitely an advocate of 'the principle of 'pay yourself first'. When we upgraded our budgetary system to 10 pots, we did a year, then decided we'd prefer at least a notional maximum holding. It has worked well, but we have decided to step things up this year as 2024 had a few annoying expenses (foreseeable, which is of course the idea of the pots) & we are getting ourselves primed for a couple of quite large techy ones which will probably rear their heads in 2 or 3 years. I think we probably work our Holiday Savings Pot the same way as you, as I obviously need to ensure we can pay various balances, as well as cattery fees, when they are needed, so I always run that pot as a fixed payment schedule which is reviewed each time we book a future holiday.....so at the moment, it runs to Autumn 2026.
Another thing we are taking into account with wanting larger sums in our Savings Pots is just how much everything has gone up in price - from car servicing to clothing to holiday cottages - I know we are doing the best thing to avoid dipping into our general savings & we are both feeling really positive about it. Shall be doing a bit more number crunching on the Savings Pots next week when I sit down to do my regular Monday morning budget updates.
Wishing you all a peaceful evening....unless you are going out on the town, in which case, mine's a large gin!
Cheers,
F x

Makingabobor2

Good save on the wrapping paper. I haven't bought Christmas paper for years.  I have several gift bags and still quite a bit of wrapping paper left. I even carefully undid the presents my DD sent us, the last 2 Christmases, and managed to trim the sellotape off and put by for reuse. We don't buy many presents these days, so it last a while. I've already cut up the cards to make gift tags. 
I'm still trying to get my jigsaw finished that I started before Christmas. Its actually a Christmas picture, so I'm actually fed up with it now, but determined to finish it. Just don't seem to have had much spare time. 

badmemory

I am so envious of your camembert, I love it but DS doesn't like the smell so it is one of the very few things I yield on.  I usually get brie instead but the one I got frankly was awful.  I have never had crumbly Brie before, even after a few days out of the fridge.  I have a feeling it may have been frozen at some point.

PennysIntoPounds

Well done that Mr F for remembering about the wrapping paper, and you for your productive so-called not the most productive of days! Would it be fun or motivating for you both to have a Project Surbiton Pot where non spends like that £1 could go so you can enjoying seeing how much you end up with?!