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

Bluegreen143

Well I’ve spent a fortune today 😆.

Its always useful, I think, to evaluate spending afterwards so here goes! 

£11.20 on parking. It’s tricky, because I kind of hate paying it. But, while I could have avoided it by going to the out of town chain cinema at a retail park… I’d so much rather take the kids out in the west end and go to an independent cinema. But parking costs are a part of that. It would have been possible and cheaper to take the bus though (although the local bus only runs once every 30 mins so isn’t always that convenient). I may do that next time. 

£11.70 on lunch stuff from the M&S food. Total waste of money. Only got it because we ended up running slightly late and we don’t have much in for lunches just now. Would avoid in future, the kids aren’t in any way grateful for a meal deal so it doesn’t add to the occasion. 

£28 on cinema tickets. Worth every penny. We had a lovely time, and I actually realised I’d like to spend more on going to the cinema with the kids more often now they are getting older. We went to see The Wild Robot, which I’d highly recommend if you have primary age kids. Really enjoyable and heartwarming for adults too! 

£8.50 on snacks - a shared pick & mix and shared popcorn. This is expensive, and yes I could have taken something in. But I actually feel it really added to the treat factor for the kids - I used to love getting the cinema pick & mix as a kid too! 

£14.98 on books - I got them one each from Waterstones after the movie. I’m happy with this spend - books are important to me and I like to occasionally pick up new ones for the kids out of my own personal spend pot. All their books for their birthdays are second hand, and yes we do visit the library, but I also like to occasionally let them browse at a bookshop and sort of cement it in their heads that bookshops are fun.

So not too awful really - the cinema and books I’m happy with, the snacks could go if I really needed to do it on the cheap, but I was happy to pay for them this time. The meal deals and parking are spends I’d like to reduce another time though. 

I’m really looking forward to getting our new fridge freezer on Saturday as part of the reason for not having lunch stuff is everything going off quicker, feel we’ve wasted quite a bit of food lately. Once we get the new fridge I have some ideas for doing weekly food prep to make it easier to do lunches and dinners during the week.

After the cinema and bookshop, we went to the playpark for a bit as the rain had stopped and I did some loops round the perimeter to get my steps up. Then home to play a card game together so a pretty good day all round! I did two hours of tidying and cleaning this morning too, but alas there’s still lots needing done 🙄

beanielou

Sounds like a good day. 

Bluegreen143

Back to work today! But working from home today and tomorrow. 

My sister is looking after my kids and keeping them overnight for me - she’s planning to take them to IKEA to allow them to choose some bits for their new rooms as her birthday present to them. Good luck to her 🤣. Not sure what time she is getting them though, she’s not an early riser when off work! 

I’ve cancelled today’s Tesco delivery as there’s really no point filling up the fridge while it’s faulty, it’s getting worse and we ended up getting a takeaway last night because of having not enough fresh food left. We’re going out to dinner tonight but I will need to stop by Tesco at some point for food for Friday’s dinner plus a small milk, but I’m not buying more than that, because it won’t keep. I’ll order a big shop to come Saturday night once the new fridge is installed instead. 

Our “family” pot is now empty for the month, but hopefully that’s ok. This weekend we’ll be keeping things low-key on Saturday and then my papa is coming to visit on Sunday, but he will pay for lunch. 

The following weekend Monkey has his best friend’s birthday party (so just a gift needed, from the Gifts pot, or I was considering asking the kids to buy gifts from their pocket money to start to hand that responsibility over to them) and then there is a free Halloween event at a local green space so we will go to that unless it’s rainy. 

Walks, bike rides, a library visit, playing games, reading and working on the kids’ rooms can keep us all occupied without spending. It’s possible we will want to take the kids swimming at some point but there is money in the miscellaneous pot I can use if we do. 

My MIL has ordered and paid for the kids’ Halloween costumes so I’m grateful for that. 

Bluegreen143

Round up of October spending to date:

FIXED/NEEDS: £2,112.08
Home £1,077.81 (Includes new fridge-freezer)
Car £173.76 (Includes new tyre)
Utilities £266.90
Insurance £73.46
Subscriptions & kid activities £74.96
Kids’ clothing £113.01
Groceries £319.09
Miscellaneous £12.99

WANTS £460.51
Kids’ room project £108.29
Gifts & celebrations £24.79
Holidays £171.08
Family £156.35 (Takeaway, cinema day out, English/Maths workbooks for the kids, pocket money)

ME £125.64
Clothes & makeup £17 (leggings & a lipstick)
Subscriptions £14.97
Books, hobbies, social £79.47 (taking food to my friend’s party, books for me and the kids, comedy club ticket, sewing pattern)
Misc £14.20 (lunches at work and a couple of Sunday newspapers)

TOTAL: £2,698.23

Bluegreen143

Just received notification that our 12 month fixed energy deal is up on the 1st Dec. I’ve confirmed to go on the next 12 month deal, which they estimate will cost £60 a month less than currently (our current DD is £241 a month and new recommended DD from Dec is £178). 

Not sure if we will end up saving that much, but any reduction will be very welcome, ahead of our new mortgage deal in February. 

In less good news, our internet has been off service for a day and a half. It was only when I sat down to work today that it occurred to me that I need internet to WFH! 

I’m now hotspotting from my work phone, which we are allowed to do, but once the kids have been picked up by my sister in an hour I should probably head to the office for the afternoon if it’s not back on 🙄 as I’m sure it costs the business a fortune if you hotspot for long periods. Or I will have to go in tomorrow if it’s not fixed then. It’s a known fault in this postcode on the provider’s website. 

joedenise

I think it's a good idea to get the kids to buy gifts and cards for their friends with their pocket money but perhaps it's something you should be talking to them about and perhaps say that from next year that is what will be happening.  It's probably not fair to just spring it on them when there is a party very soon!

Bluegreen143

Good point Joedenise. I should mention that Monkey currently has £240 saved up in his bank account! I wouldn’t think of springing it on Bambi, who has about 50p to her name, but then it’s not fair to penalise him for being an excellent wee saver.

Bluegreen143

(Isn’t it funny how different your two children can be, by the way?!)

joedenise

I had 2 like that as well - both girls though.  Maybe it's something you could introduce for Monkey soon but let Bambi have another couple of years to save, perhaps until she's 9 (think that's how old Monkey is?). Or maybe say from age 10 they will need to buy their own presents.

Bluegreen143

That’s a good idea. She’s nearly 6 and he’s nearly 9 so I could introduce it for each of them when they turn 9.