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

theoretica

A key question for me on grocery costs is do you throw food away?  Buying stuff just to throw away is pretty much pure loss and the first target for attention.

Bluegreen143

Not hugely in generally, but there has been more waste lately. The fridge/freezer is actually goosed we have discovered and explains why things aren't lasting well (e.g. milk, meat) - it's not totally broken and seems intermittent, but we had to throw out ice cream which had defrosted too much yesterday. It's definitely not the door seals or anything minor unfortunately and is affecting the fridge and freezer compartments.

It was a very cheap brand and we've had it a few years so we think it's probably more cost-effective to replace than try to repair. We'll look at doing this after this weekend away. We will have enough between the home pot and emergency fund that we can get something without touching the credit card again, which is good.

Baileys_Babe

I love the sound of Monkeys party and how it will be about him and his interests and friends.

We have done similar in the past of doing a birthday activity in one location and food in a second, some times we hosted the food at home and opened it up to the children's families.

Bluegreen143

Not much to report, grocery spend of £46 today (I let Red go to Aldi without me and he got loads of snacks to take away 😂🙈). Which reminds me, I must book our Sunday delivery slot tonight or tomorrow morning. 

Nice that we are all off tomorrow, we get so few days of annual leave off together as a couple because Red and I alternate a lot of our leave for childcare. I know that some couples have it worse if they work shifts etc so we can’t complain really as we both work the usual Mon-Fri and have the usual evenings and weekends off. I love the phase of life we are in, wouldn’t wish it away at all, and at the same time I do look forward to us being able to take most of our leave together again when the kids are bigger and don’t need childcare in the same way. 

In the morning tomorrow I’m taking the kids to a local park for a play date with Bambi’s two “best best best best friends” she’s known for a full two months now 😆. She is so much more socially-oriented than Monkey, it’s so interesting seeing their different personalities and interests. I’m really pleased that she’s now settled happily into school and is loving her new friends. 

Then in the afternoon we drive off for our wee weekend away with MIL. I don’t anticipate high costs as she’s paying for most of it 🥰. It will mainly involve beach walks, using the hotel pool, and nice meals out/hotel breakfasts! I’ll pack books (for myself and the kids) and my knitting and a pack of cards and I don’t think we’ll need much else to entertain ourselves except swimwear and waterproofs. 

When we come back on Sunday, I’m taking the kids to an early Halloween party my friend is kindly hosting. I will need to stop at a supermarket and buy some snacks to contribute - I haven’t time to bake/cook anything because of being away. 

Had my friend over for dinner tonight again (she’s going through a tough time just now - serious breakdown in the relationship with her housemate means she’ll be moving house). Dinner was falafel/hummus/salad wraps but I did some air fryer chips to bulk it out a bit. I’ve impressed myself as I’ve had her for dinner short-notice twice in the past 10 days and I’ve fed her well both times by bulking out our planned meal rather than having to go and buy something else.

wannabedebtfreemum95

Sounds like a lovely weekend, enjoy your trip away! What are you knitting? 

Always feels like such a win when you can take care of people at short notice, you sound like a great friend!

Bluegreen143

Back today from being away, where a stone flew up and cracked our sunroof in our car in the motorway! Which now needs replacing 😳🙄. Thank you for that, universe. Did I mention the fridge needs replaced too? Also, we had to get a new tyre on Friday. 

But the weekend away was fun. I’m feeling in need of some rest now as it’s been all go since Friday. Friday morning - playdate in the park with Bambi’s two school friends, Friday afternoon - drive to Fife. Swim with kids and go for a sit-in chippy for dinner. Go for drinks with Red. Saturday, more swimming, take kids to softplay, go for lunch, go for a walk which abruptly ends due to a massive hailstorm, take MIL to a gift shop, take the kids to the beach, go out for dinner and drinks with Red. Sunday, pack up after breakfast and drive MIL home, go to the supermarket, drive Red home, unload car, drive to my friend’s house for her annual Halloween party for her friend’s kids, spend three hours at the party, drive home, go for a short walk to increase my steps, stick kids in the bath. 

I’m not planning on moving again this evening 🤣. No school tomorrow and Red is off tomorrow too (I am working, but only from home) so we don’t need to do the usual military Sunday night prep and I don’t need to overly worry about chores. Plus a bit of a lie in as I’ve not got the school run! 

Mealplan for the next few days:

M - Italian chickpea and lentil soup 

T - spaghetti bolognaise 

W - fakeaway Nando’s 

The kids are having a sleepover at my sister’s on Thursday so Red and I are going out for dinner - just to our cheap local Chinese restaurant. 

redofromstart

Oh how unlucky on the sunroof - must be so annoying. 

Bluegreen143

In other news, I’ve been tweaking our 50/30/20 budget a bit this weekend so thought I’d post the broad categories below for future reference. 

INCOME - £4,874

SAVINGS 20% - £974

(Pensions contributions - not included in 20% as comes from gross income - £583)

Help to Save £100
LISAs £100
Debt payments & emergency fund £774
The amount for my CC payment will be £399 this month and then £659 for the next two months 

FIXED 50% - £2,437

Home £800 Inc mortgage, council tax, maintenance 
Car £415 Inc tax, ins, maintenance, petrol
Insurance £86 Home & life
Utilities £267 Energy & internet 
Groceries £650
Kids’ clothes £50
Subscriptions £100 Netflix, Amazon Prime, YNAB, Spotify, Cubs & Karate, Bike Club
Miscellaneous £69 A bit of a buffer in case I forgot to budget for anything

WANTS 30% - £1,462

Red £400
Me £300
Gifts & celebrations £170
Holidays £296
Family £296 Eating out, outings, stuff for the house, treating the kids/pocket money 

I do also have a savings pot for the kids’ room project which is where I’ll sweep leftover money into. There is nearly £200 in there just now, which has mainly been gifted by my dad. 

Oh and I break my personal £300 down as follows:

Savings £80 For weekends away or bigger personal purchases 
Clothes (& makeup) £40
Subscriptions £40
Books/hobbies/socialising £100
Misc £40 E.g. getting lunch at work - fritter money 

Bluegreen143

Payday today (for me)! £2,272 coming in. 

Allocated out as per my budget framework:

Credit card £399
Help to Save £100
Emergency Fund £103.94

Home £270
Car £252.44
Insurance £60
Subscriptions £45
Kids’ clothes £64
Groceries £360
Misc (stuff I forgot about!) £70*

Gifts & celebrations £115
Holidays £165
Family £101.86
Me £300

Current balances:

Debt 

Credit card -£1,572

Savings
Emergency Fund £344.94
Help to Save £4,700

Pots (categories which get left to build up each month)
Home pot £270
Car pot £252.44
Insurance £78.04
Subscriptions £60.13
Kids’ clothes £64

Gifts & celebrations £494.67
Holidays £165

My personal savings £232.25

* hopefully I didn’t forget about anything, but I’m trying to make sure that budgeting mistakes stop derailing my progress. If I don’t spend this it’ll get skimmed off to savings at the end of the month.

FootyFanDan

Bluegreen143 said:

In other news, I’ve been tweaking our 50/30/20 budget a bit this weekend so thought I’d post the broad categories below for future reference. 

INCOME - £4,874

SAVINGS 20% - £974

(Pensions contributions - not included in 20% as comes from gross income - £583)

Help to Save £100
LISAs £100
Debt payments & emergency fund £774
The amount for my CC payment will be £399 this month and then £659 for the next two months 

FIXED 50% - £2,437

Home £800 Inc mortgage, council tax, maintenance 
Car £415 Inc tax, ins, maintenance, petrol
Insurance £86 Home & life
Utilities £267 Energy & internet 
Groceries £650
Kids’ clothes £50
Subscriptions £100 Netflix, Amazon Prime, YNAB, Spotify, Cubs & Karate, Bike Club
Miscellaneous £69 A bit of a buffer in case I forgot to budget for anything

WANTS 30% - £1,462

Red £400
Me £300
Gifts & celebrations £170
Holidays £296
Family £296 Eating out, outings, stuff for the house, treating the kids/pocket money 

I do also have a savings pot for the kids’ room project which is where I’ll sweep leftover money into. There is nearly £200 in there just now, which has mainly been gifted by my dad. 

Oh and I break my personal £300 down as follows:

Savings £80 For weekends away or bigger personal purchases 
Clothes (& makeup) £40
Subscriptions £40
Books/hobbies/socialising £100
Misc £40 E.g. getting lunch at work - fritter money 

I love how in sync you are with your budget and you seem really dialled in with it. This post has inspired me to re-look at my budget in a different light so thank you . I seem to allocate all my YNAB categories  and have spare but never know where to allocate that spare so it just dwindles away slowly with no real purpose,  seeing how others do things often can help.