From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

debtfreewannabe321

rtandon27 said:

debtfreewannabe321 said:

...It says online that you should work to a 50/30/20 ratio when budgeting. 50% on food, bills AND transportation 😆 ours actually works out to 65-70% just for the basics!! ...

YIKES - does it seriously say that 50 is food bills AND transportation??? - That is absolutely unreal!

We spend 77% on bills/mortgage/retirement savings/food - 11% on transportation - 4% on medical - 5% on quality of life (vacations mostly) and the remaining 3% is the frivolous discretionary bit - no way we could ever do 30% - we'd go into debt!!!

Same! Have a search for 50/30/20 rule ...I laughed when I read it I don't think I've ever had 30% for discretionary spends!

rtandon27

debtfreewannabe321 said:

Same! Have a search for 50/30/20 rule ...I laughed when I read it I don't think I've ever had 30% for discretionary spends!

Who makes up these rules - obviously not the average human - someone with a trust fund perhaps? 

It's a weird way to split up a budget I must say - I'd always been taught that savings have to have a goal - in our case funding retirement.  Living well in old age is just as important as living well now, which is why I see it as a mandatory spend rather than a discretionary spend. Our 'savings' for other things has however become quite miniscule as bills have risen!  It's almost more important to fritter away money on the occasional lottery ticket than to squirrel away the few pounds that might be left at the end of the month!

Greying_Pilgrim said:

...I didn't buy anything 'n*ctar' price today, but did collect a few points by buying somethings from there that are the same price in MrL or better from MrS 

We do much the same now GP - if MrA or MrT or even Waitflower have it on the same price as MrS then we buy from MrS, if only to collect the extra pennies - I have ZERO brand loyalty - it's all about what I'm going to get back out of the store!

We do however scout out yellow stickers at Waitflower on a Friday as their meat is of much higher quality than the others & I get a free latte, weekly recipe newspaper, monthly magazine & monthly recipe cards out of the shop.  I must say that Waitflower recipes are amongst our favorites - simply because of the flavour bomb aspect!  Think Ottolenghi on a budget!

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

Back to 'normal' here and the working and school week has started after an extended HT.

HT wasn't as spiffy as I wanted it to be.  All my good intentions of marvellous excursions and activities seemed to amount to nought, although the alternative 'school based holiday club' definitely lacked appeal this HT (unimaginative activities) and for something like £15 a day (I think), didn't really offer terrific VFM.  We did manage to go for a second excursion this weekend, and dropped on a reasonably priced room rate at the 'purple in' so indulged in a mini-holiday as LG termed it.  To be fair, a lovely MSE'r had thrown open their doors to let us stay in their home, but they've had quite a bit on of late, and I didn't think it fair to lump 'entertaining Family Greying' on top of all that too.  But isn't that a mark of the incredibly spiffy community that we have here, that folks extend kindness and a Z-Bed to fellow MSE'rs?  Besides which, we've vowed to return, and this time we'll be seeking out that lovely MSE'r and indulging in the serious business of munching cake and slurping tea with them!  This weekend we took our bicycles and had a pedal along a very nice multi-use trail.  Saw lots of lovely views and wildlife and enjoyed the sunshine.  The hotel room was perfectly adequate (thank goodness I didn't take too much notice of the reviews of the place), we took our own food for breakfast, although I had forgot to pack the food that I had intended for our evening meal 🤦‍♀️so thankfully we found the local MrAl and had a bit of a picky tea instead.  I had remembered to pack our picnic lunch (yay! go me 🤣), so no-one was in danger of imminent starvation....... Costs - which even with parking/petrol were well less than £100, will be taken from the holiday pot.

I must update my 'Pounds for Panes' total.  This month's total is not very much as we had an 'unexpected' (it was and it wasn't), bill from hmrc to repay CTC.  I really dislike that the benefits system works so far in arrears (this is from 2022/23) and when we were given the money, we needed it, and spent it.  There will be another invoice for 23/24 too - but luckily we got wise to the stupidity of the system, and purposely did without the money and left it in the bank, as we knew we would have to pay it back.  

I spent on some groceries that I am pretty sure I have not added to my spend in my signature, so I will have to track down the receipt.  

Sorry, can't think of anything else particularly MSE/spiffy to add, so will finish for now.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Afternoon MFW'rs

45p spend from last night added to my grocery line.  I went to MrS last night as LG was at club.  Found some wholemeal wraps (big size) YS'd down to 45p so I picked them up as we can always use - currently popped in the freezer.

2 loads of washing out on the line.  Lovely breeze and currently we have sunshine, so I am hopeful all will dry pretty much, ready to be put away.  

I enjoyed watching the ladies footy last night and managed to do a section (12 row repeat) of the current charity blankie I have on my needles.  

Not too sure whether to do buddha bowl or wraps for tea tonight.  Either option would use similar ingredients, it's just whether the carb is a wrap or a grain of some type.  Will have a think on.  Buddha Bowl is currently preferred in my own mind, as it will be easier to use up one or two items to put in it.  

Can't think of anything else MSE for the mo.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

Well, shopping done - kinda.  If you were pottling around yer local MrS, and saw some dazed and confused woman pushing a trolley, with alot of orange and white packaged products in it.... that'd of been yer auld Greying.  I went because I had a MOC off a £30 spend, which I wanted to utilise.  But I was only (pretty much) able to buy products that were price matched to MrAl (because by definition they'll be close to MrL prices too), and stuff that is of better quality/the same price.  I find for the sort of things I buy, an awful lot of MrS stuff is not as good/more expensive than i pay in MrL.  So it wasn't a terribly relaxing shop - particularly as I don't really know where everything is stocked (AND they had a big shift round the other week).  

Anyhoo, in terms of purchases, I think I bought 3 actual items because their nectar price matched what I would pay elsewhere, or in terms of the little pots of ice-cream I bought, n*ctar-priced, I deemed it a fair-priced treat.  I actually spent £27.25 to get £31.75 of shopping.  In addition, I spent £10.14 in HB - on yoghurt, apples and nuts (it was such a healthy shop - wish all my baskets looked like that 🤣).  So in total I have spent £37.39 this morning.  Which sounds OK, until I say that I didn't buy any bread, milk, eggs or alcohol in that shop 😕  We didn't need milk, I can't afford MrS egg prices, I don't like MrS 'priced for value' bread, and alcohol wasn't a permitted spend on the MOC.  

I do have another MOC coupon, but it has to be used early next week.  I don't know whether I shall bother.  Sometimes when I go into MrS whilst LG is at club, there isn't alot of stock on the shelves - particularly fresh produce, so I'm not sure I would be able to get the things that I will need by next week.  We'll see.  I've got the voucher, and so it makes sense to try to use it - if I can make it work for our grocery choices.  

I did notice that the points from my Argoose purchase have been added, so I'm a n*ctar points gazillionare!  🤣  Well, I will be in LG's eyes anyway 🤣

Washing is out on the line - just one load this morning.  

Tea last night ended up being a 'build your own wrap' buffet-stylee, which, for some reason, just presses all LG's 'delighted' buttons 😁And whilst they had to be reminded to take some 'veg/salad' each time, I think they probably ended up eating more veg than had we just had sandwiches or something.  i had some (very old) radishes that I sliced thinly - they aren't at all 'fiery' and LG tried one, liked it and piled more onto their plate each time, so something 'new' was tried and liked too.  I suspect it would have been a different story had the radishes been homegrown and hot as heck, but little wins......

LG has a trial session at an activity tonight, so we will need to have a tea that can be eaten at different times.  I'm currently leaning toward lentil bolognese with pasta, but we'll see how things go. 

I managed some more time knitting last night, so I am now over half way through my current charity blanket which is cheering my soul 😁

Can't immediately think of anything else MSE, so I'll push orf. I'll add my current grocery spend to my siggie just now.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good morning MFW'rs

Shopping excursion #2 undertaken.  

Have to say, not entirely sure that using coupons always saves you money when its in a different store - or perhaps its just me.  I have managed to spend £24.52 today in MrL and MrAl.  I went to MrL a bit later than I normally do.  It was very busy and there were no green boxes/YS'd things (well, very few YS'd things), so I didn't get anything reduced.  I did stock up on white vinegar as they had some in and I use it for cleaning as well as for culinary purposes.  

We enjoyed our half-price icecream dessert last night.  Nice as a treat, but it won't be on our regular shopping list, as too expensive for what it was (proper price).  

LG enjoyed their activity introductory session last night.  I shall look forward to September when everything settles down and we will be back to only a couple of after school activities each week.  Although at the moment it is not adding any additional costs to the budget, so it only munches time.

Greying X

rtandon27

GP - I'm curious if the vinegar you purchased is  the plain white or the plain malt white?  Across the pond the malt variety is not the norm & I have a very hard time with the potent scent!  We buy it in 5L containers and use it both for culinary and cleaning.  Here I came across a super concentrated plain white one from one of the Scandinavian countries that needs to be diluted for cleaning and is not to be consumed, but I'm having a hard time finding plain white vinegar, for using on french fries or for quick pickling.

Greying_Pilgrim

rtandon27 said:

GP - I'm curious if the vinegar you purchased is  the plain white or the plain malt white?  Across the pond the malt variety is not the norm & I have a very hard time with the potent scent!  We buy it in 5L containers and use it both for culinary and cleaning.  Here I came across a super concentrated plain white one from one of the Scandinavian countries that needs to be diluted for cleaning and is not to be consumed, but I'm having a hard time finding plain white vinegar, for using on french fries or for quick pickling.

Hey RT - yep, plain white vinegar.  Both MrL and MrAl sell 'ordinary' vinegar (ie that you'd put on your chips or stick in your washing machine) for 35p a 500ml bottle.  The cases are always mixed - usually with more 'malt' bottles than the 'distilled' malt vinegar bottles (that are white vinegar), hence why I stocked up today as there was a number of the clear vinegar bottles kicking about.  I find the clear vinegar sufficiently 'sour' to sprinkle on chips, and it doesn't leave any residue when shoved in the washing machine with a load of laundry.  The MrL version is in their 'Batts' house label - I can't quite recall what the equivalent MrAl house brand is.  Failing that, HB do a similar sized version for about 45p - and ever so occasionally stock the litre version for about 79p - although in our local stores that is usually as rare as hens teeth.

HTH Greying X

rtandon27

Greying_Pilgrim said:

...The MrL version is in their 'Batts' house label - I can't quite recall what the equivalent MrAl house brand is.  Failing that, HB do a similar sized version for about 45p - and ever so occasionally stock the litre version for about 79p - although in our local stores that is usually as rare as hens teeth.

Thanks GP - you are a wealth of information!  - Exactly what I needed to know!!! - I shall be sending OH on a little shopping excursion next week to find some cheap EVOO & plain white vinegar!

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

Sorry to be a bit quiet, but not much MSE going on here.  Just trying to muddle thru.

I had a MOV for MrS that expired today, so I went and did a shop this morning.  Before I forget, rtandon - I don't know where you shop regularly, and whether that includes MrS, but I noticed they stock distilled malt vinegar for 40p a 500ml bottle.  Slightly dearer than mrAl/MrL, but our shop had plenty in - it was their own Sains brand. Located on the shelf with the malt vinegar and all other types of vinegars/condiments.

I'm still not convinced that MrS is the shop for me, but i was a little better with my shopping choices today and got nearly £31 of goods for just over £26, so it's helped this week.  I will still need to get some shopping from MrL - probably on Thursday, but if I'm organised, that needn't cost too much (famous last words....... 😂)

LG's activity was cancelled yesterday afterschool, so we went swimming to our local pool instead.  

Greying X