You bet that I want this!!

WannabeSaver4

Hi

I have read lots of other peoples dairies and think that I really want to get this on paper so to speak, I can’t cope with this all in my head, we are pretty fortunate to never have REALLY struggled to get and keep our heads above water but with the rising cost of living the this would seen likely to be a good time to get a real grip on our finances. I have often talked with my OH (who is lovely and does their share around the house,) about budgeting and he then generally downloads all the bank statements and produces a spreadsheet showing what we spent on the bill and then there’s tons of transactions that he just puts in general spending, then that’s the end of the discussion. I don’t think that this is actually budgeting, can be useful but only if it changes behaviour. For some background we both were brought in generally frugal families which didn’t go abroad much and did lots of camping holidays instead. 

So his and my default setting was simply low spend on the whole, this has sometimes driven me mad when buying new items, where they really do sort of actually work properly or last a lot longer if you initially don’t buy the completely rubbish one that was the very cheapest you can find. In the past we have had a real small mortgage and now we have (typical story, moved across town to be nearer to a school that was able better able to meet my daughter special educational needs,) but now we live in a quarter of a million pound house, I never though that we’d end up him working full time, me part-time with this massive to me mortgage of 125,000. We stretched the mortgage term to borrow the amount that we needed, and now the amount of interest we’re going to pay the bank is well-gut renching, I really want to get a grip on our finances, which doesn’t mean carrying on as before. 

We moved shortly before the covid-19 lockdowns and the were pretty strict about isolating so I got into the habit of getting things delivered to the house at a silly mark up. And out of the habit of doing the weekly in person shop. I had our second child durning the lockdowns so I think only as he’s getting bigger am I getting to grips with the urgent need of getting a hold on our finances, I have found the last year or so for various reasons quite hard so now it only now feels like the right time to get a grip so to speak, spurred on by someone around my age telling me they only had 12 years left on their mortgage, we have double that.

While this might seem small I sat down today and spent a while making birthday cards with my daughter as we have lots of crafty things in the house instead of buying the next round of birthday cards, small changes add up I hope! Note for reference I think that I normally buy our cards from the card factory: (currently 5 for 20p, which is really great value) but then in practice when in Sainburys, I popped in and brought some habit thank you cards and £2 wedding card only to find we already had suitable ones at home, so think time to tighten the belt,

Thank you for reading this far, I am an external processor so this is mainly for my benefit, but hi to anyone reading this.

 

WannabeSaver4

Checked my email, normally we get Bill's for part of the month from nursery- this one showed the total for the last year £1,900 eye watering but I appreciate much less then many other peoples. I mainly work in the evening when my OH can watch the kids. Maybe when he gets his free hours at Christmas we will put the extra money aside. 

beanielou

Happy shiny new diary 

WannabeSaver4

Thanks Beanielou.

Walked to the Sainsbury's with my LO yesterday, very nearly bought ten pound jug from the homeware section but we already have jogs we don't use, I also opened a savings account which is going to have the rain day fund in it and monthly saver as we may as well get a bit of interest on the cash we have. 

WannabeSaver4

Well I guess with interest rates going up may as well put savings in a better paying account so I have moved some money arround. Yesterday got the children to paint some baubles for Christmas presents for the Grandparents, nice and cheap as we already had the stuff.

Been theough the birthday present cupboard and sorted out what we need for some Christmas presents and up and coming birthdays. Still can't find the sweets for Fathers day that I hid so well!! I have tried to buy some stickers for daughters new peice of NHS equipment decided on doing it myself with something we already had as 20 for small sticker sets is not only a rip off but would explain where my money goes. Xx

WannabeSaver4

So, I got an orange juice when the parents from school went out for a drink; they charged me over £4, only really ordered so the 'is that vodka?' Joke wasn't made about ten million times, but maybe this crowd don't really care. The money that I saved from not buying the jug has been burning a whole in my pocket, but trying to stop, wait and then only by it if I still want it. As when I was a student there was many times when the moment passed and I decided that I could live happily/just fine without it. 

WannabeSaver4

When out for drink also brought a packet of crisps, makes the £4 less mental but it's so posh round here that somethings are so expensive. It was really refreshing to hear someone complain about the price of a toasted tea cake in the cafe (£5 I kid u not, but it is organic so the bread that your child throws in the floor is wholesome. The children have been at home all this week so we haven't spent much and I moved the remaining £32 into the house morguage pot, and as we are on a low fixed morguage for now instead of over paying we are putting to one side and then when the monthly repayments go up and with the cost of everything going up we have to hand if needed but think we'll be fine. This is good news; as sometimes we actually spend more than our income. We have no debt but the mindset of we can spend a tenner is dangerous as yes we can spend a tenner but we aren't able to spend tenner s10. I have been having a clear out recently refashioned a gift bag into thank you cards- felt good. Have school fate today I will try not to spend much and hope to get a few bargains from the used uniform stall.apart from making cards aren't really doing much to prevent spending I guess that you just don't have to spend, boring but true. Having seen the annual nursery bill trying to stick to one session a week as much as possible. 

WannabeSaver4

Was really tempted to get some necklaces for my daughter for tesco for £6 when we already have beans to make something simular at home. I had  athought that we or more realistically I could make some for her friends birthday parties as gifts. 

We are stuck really with the rising food costs and childcare bill till Christmas. I have seen a daytime job that would be something that I'm interested in doing long term but need to decide if I'm going for it and actually find the time to apply. I have someone that wants to be a lodger coming to have a look. I'm not sure how that will play out, time will tell. Think having someone around can be helpful-also will depend alot on their personality.

Spent some money on some bargain wrapping paper last weekend- as I got into a don't buy anything mentality when actually the perhaps better strategy is to only buy thing on offer or good price. Went to Tesco's first a few bits and got some pants for my daughter and as they were reduced got the next size up too as ppl tend to pass on clothes but not always underwear. But frustrated that last weekend I brought second hand uniform from school then found loads under the bed. Argh we had actually looked as well, but not the right place. It's not a disaster but I'm trying so hard. And i pointed out the hubby the other day when we spend £6 on 3 short dated sandwiches at the service stations he suggested buying extra bits that a) we could plan to bring our own next time and b) we don't need to buy a mini pot of berries for over a pound, he was actually pleased we had only spent £6.

beanielou

IF you do get a lodger set down the ground rules from day 1.

Emmia

I have a question - you and your OH are not in debt as far as I can see from your posts.... So what is your goal in being thrifty/frugal/getting a lodger/taking a second job?

Saving (hard) for a goal, e.g. getting a mortgage/paying off the mortgage/retiring at XX age / house refurbishment/new car /going on a once in a lifetime trip /or whatever... is much easier in some ways than saving with no particular intention / goal... or at least that is my experience.

Do you have other key things in place like wills and/or LPAs?

WannabeSaver4

Hi beanielou and Emmia-
In the past we have had lodgers and it's gone quite well- I've got a feeling this guy is only looking for somewhere till he finds something better, (which is fine with us.)
We are ok as we have some savings and no debts outside of the mortgage but don't like the fact that we have been spending close to what we have coming in (we do put some money aside for the car big expenses ect, but not enough to build up significant savings.) We brought a house owned by a Landlord and so everything is liveable but there's a number of things we'd like to do to the house like new carpets and major work in the dinning room , until we are able to save up/feel abit more secure we won't start big works.
And the truth is we have just got used to spending more and can get used to spending abit less! And I can't really stomach the fact that so much of what we pay on the morguage is currently going on interest and not off the capital until the morguage gets much smaller that won't change.
Realising that with tapping to pay then I'm nit even sure what I'm paying for things.