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Stopping the backsliding… a family of four no longer living beyond their means

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  • Bluegreen143
    Bluegreen143 Posts: 3,704 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Well it’s a choice you have to make, obviously the insurance itself is much cheaper if you have a higher excess. For me I want to be insured in case of catastrophe (house burning down) but not necessarily smaller risks. When I set the excess that high we did have a £3k emergency fund so I felt that it was fine to have a £1k excess as we were effectively self insuring for risks under £1k. Though now we don’t have much of an emergency fund that doesn’t work, which is why we need to get a proper emergency fund built again! 
    Part time working mum | Married in 2014 | DS born 2015 & DD born 2018

    https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6542225/stopping-the-backsliding-a-family-of-four-no-longer-living-beyond-their-means/p1?new=1

    Consumer debt free!
    Mortgage: -£128,033

    Savings: £6,050
    - Emergency fund £1,515
    - New kitchen £556
    - December £420
    - Holiday £3,427
    - Bills £132

    Total joint pension savings: £55,425
  • Bluegreen143
    Bluegreen143 Posts: 3,704 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Anyway, lovely weekend had. Good bonding for my kids with their great grandfather and we had a fantastic time at my friend’s baby’s birthday party (it was a thing for extended family & friends, not a kiddy birthday party for the wee one’s friends if that makes sense). We camped in the garden after with another family which was fun too. 

    Stopped for lunch at a cafe on the way home - £14.60 for the three of us and the food was really good. I had a tuna baked potato, all buttery and well seasoned, really nice and with a good side salad. The kids had soup and a sandwich and their soup was lovely too. Happy we stopped there as we’d have spent as much picking up picnic food or meal deals in a supermarket and it was a nice treat because I never take the kids to cafes. 

    I am glad I’m done with driving now!! Red is making the roast chicken for dinner as I’m now quite tired after a poor night’s sleep camping and a long drive 😅 he had friends over for drinks last night but he seems to be in a reasonably good state.
    Part time working mum | Married in 2014 | DS born 2015 & DD born 2018

    https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6542225/stopping-the-backsliding-a-family-of-four-no-longer-living-beyond-their-means/p1?new=1

    Consumer debt free!
    Mortgage: -£128,033

    Savings: £6,050
    - Emergency fund £1,515
    - New kitchen £556
    - December £420
    - Holiday £3,427
    - Bills £132

    Total joint pension savings: £55,425
  • Floss
    Floss Posts: 9,026 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    I understand that, but even when insuring a large 3-storey 4-bed house for buildings & contents including my jewellery & the ex's guitars, my premium was around £270  and we lived in a high-burglary area of Blackpool.

    Does that level of excess really make that much difference to your premium?
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  • MFWannabe
    MFWannabe Posts: 2,458 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    It’s always worth playing around with the excess on comparison sites as I’ve normally found it doesn’t make much difference 
    MFW 2025 #50: £1139.75/£6000

    12/06/25: Mortgage: £65,000.00
    07/03/25: Mortgage: £67,000.00
    18/01/25: Mortgage: £68,500.14
    27/12/24: Mortgage: £69,278.38 

    27/12/24: Debt: £0 🥳😁
    27/12/24: Savings: £12,000

    07/03/25: Savings: £16,500

  • Bluegreen143
    Bluegreen143 Posts: 3,704 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Our annual premium is usually between £80-£100 for both contents & buildings so over the 9 years we’ve lived here I think it’s saved us a reasonable amount. But I appreciate it’s not what everyone chooses to do. 
    Part time working mum | Married in 2014 | DS born 2015 & DD born 2018

    https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6542225/stopping-the-backsliding-a-family-of-four-no-longer-living-beyond-their-means/p1?new=1

    Consumer debt free!
    Mortgage: -£128,033

    Savings: £6,050
    - Emergency fund £1,515
    - New kitchen £556
    - December £420
    - Holiday £3,427
    - Bills £132

    Total joint pension savings: £55,425
  • Spendless
    Spendless Posts: 24,681 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    We have £500 excess have done for years and our premium is more, so I dont think yours is excessive.
  • Bluegreen143
    Bluegreen143 Posts: 3,704 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 25 August 2024 at 6:02PM
    Going to do a quick “3/4 way through the month” spending update, as these do keep me on track.
     
    BILLS £1,253.36
    Mortgage £528.26
    Energy £241
    Life insurance £73.46
    Internet £25.90
    TV license £15
    Council tax £170
    YNAB £77.36 (annual bill)
    Car insurance £122.38

    JOINT SPENDING £1,609.02
    Groceries £354.20
    Chickens £22.49
    Petrol £207.29
    Parking £27.00
    Misc £25.34 (taxi for MIL)
    Car maintenance £208.21 (MOT)
    Holidays & adventures £511.52
    Gifts & celebrations £16.66
    Leisure & entertainment £82.53 (£69.40 on a chippy and cafes, Netflix and something from Amazon I can’t now identify) 
    Home & garden £32.90 (lunch box type things and a kitchen timer)
    Kids’ clothes £42.90
    Kids’ - fun/education £77.98 (£20 karate, £22.99 bike club, £35 pocket money)

    MY SPENDING £203.03
    Phone £8
    Subscriptions £24.46
    Clothes £12.84
    Books & hobbies £32.48 (2x kindle books, 2x physical books and a knitting pattern)
    Social & dates £88.25 (this is all date night)
    Gifts £15
    Misc £22 (Er, £20 of this is one single transaction from Tesco which I have NO idea what it is. Have I mislabelled it when inputting it?! The other £2 was a can of juice at a service station to revive flagging energy)

    This is £3,065.41 spent between my budget and the joint budget plus I paid £740.70 off of my credit card. Income has been £4,385.40 this month, minus Red’s personal pot.
    Part time working mum | Married in 2014 | DS born 2015 & DD born 2018

    https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6542225/stopping-the-backsliding-a-family-of-four-no-longer-living-beyond-their-means/p1?new=1

    Consumer debt free!
    Mortgage: -£128,033

    Savings: £6,050
    - Emergency fund £1,515
    - New kitchen £556
    - December £420
    - Holiday £3,427
    - Bills £132

    Total joint pension savings: £55,425
  • MFWannabe
    MFWannabe Posts: 2,458 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Going to do a quick “3/4 way through the month” spending update, as these do keep me on track.
     
    BILLS £1,253.36
    Mortgage £528.26
    Energy £241
    Life insurance £73.46
    Internet £25.90
    TV license £15
    Council tax £170
    YNAB £77.36 (annual bill)
    Car insurance £122.38

    JOINT SPENDING £1,609.02
    Groceries £354.20
    Chickens £22.49
    Petrol £207.29
    Parking £27.00
    Misc £25.34 (taxi for MIL)
    Car maintenance £208.21 (MOT)
    Holidays & adventures £511.52
    Gifts & celebrations £16.66
    Leisure & entertainment £82.53 (£69.40 on a chippy and cafes, Netflix and something from Amazon I can’t now identify) 
    Home & garden £32.90 (lunch box type things and a kitchen timer)
    Kids’ clothes £42.90
    Kids’ - fun/education £77.98 (£20 karate, £22.99 bike club, £35 pocket money)

    MY SPENDING £203.03
    Phone £8
    Subscriptions £24.46
    Clothes £12.84
    Books & hobbies £32.48 (2x kindle books, 2x physical books and a knitting pattern)
    Social & dates £88.25 (this is all date night)
    Gifts £15
    Misc £22 (Er, £20 of this is one single transaction from Tesco which I have NO idea what it is. Have I mislabelled it when inputting it?! The other £2 was a can of juice at a service station to revive flagging energy)

    This is £3,065.41 spent between my budget and the joint budget plus I paid £740.70 off of my credit card. Income has been £4,385.40 this month, minus Red’s personal pot.
    Hi
    Thats quite a lot on books, would you be better off with kindle unlimited? 
    MFW 2025 #50: £1139.75/£6000

    12/06/25: Mortgage: £65,000.00
    07/03/25: Mortgage: £67,000.00
    18/01/25: Mortgage: £68,500.14
    27/12/24: Mortgage: £69,278.38 

    27/12/24: Debt: £0 🥳😁
    27/12/24: Savings: £12,000

    07/03/25: Savings: £16,500

  • Floss
    Floss Posts: 9,026 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 26 August 2024 at 7:07AM
    I'm like that with a mix of formats 😊I use Kindle Unlimited, but also have a long list of "would like to read" books which I regularly check for low price offers.

    I also have a group of authors who I religiously purchase in print form as I keep and re-read these.
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