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

TallGirl

Yes definitely glad you are taking it a bit easier cards in the café sounds great.  

KajiKita

Love that guinea pigs are the reward for reliably looking after the Chucks

KK

Baileys_Babe

Lovely to hear you are carrying on the tradition of making pajamas for Christmas.

I feel you are fully justified in sitting in the café while Bambi is at gymnastics.

Bluegreen143

Got all the important stuff done yesterday - work, school runs, dinner, taking Bambi to gymnastics, homework supervision etc - but was tired in the evening so I didn’t do any sewing tasks. Then I stupidly stayed up late and couldn’t sleep at first so I’m still tired 🤦‍♀️. 

Stayed on track with Slimming World - 6 syns used yesterday and did 2x 15 minute walks. 

I’ve done a financial summary for November to share with Red, as his payday is Friday and I can add in anything we spend before then before I share it with him. I’ll share that here later. 

Got a plumber & gas engineer coming today, to do the boiler check and investigate a couple of plumbing issues. He normally takes a couple of days to invoice so I reckon that’ll fall into Dec’s budget.

Bluegreen143

Here’s the financial review I’ve prepared to share with Red. There’s a small amount of estimation as our last grocery shop for the month will come out tomorrow. I’ve also rounded up to or down from the closest £1 everywhere after calculating so some of the maths may be a £ or two out. I’m happy that it’s “good enough” though. 

Note re groceries - Red’s brother gave me £120 towards this, which I’ve deducted, so this is what we spent after his contribution.

Note re personal guilt-free spending. This is how much went over to our accounts so has left the joint budget. I’ve still got quite a bit in my account so haven’t spent it all. Current personal account balance: £357.

NOV 2025 SPENDING REVIEW

INCOME £5,292

FIXED COSTS £2,618
[Housing £882]

[Car £499]

[Insurance & utilities £272.66]

[Subscriptions £59]

[Groceries £748]

[Misc £157]

SPENT FROM SAVINGS ACCOUNTS: £1,188
[Emergencies £154]

[Celebrations £1,034]

GUILT-FREE SPENDING £924
[Red £400]
[Me £400]
[Family £124]

TOTAL SPENT £4,729
Sent to LISAs £200
LEFT £363
________________

NOV 2025 FINANCIAL SNAPSHOT

ASSETS £230,000

INVESTMENTS £70,169

SAVINGS £3,288

DEBT -£143,514
Includes £700 or so on the credit card which I’ve been using to buy Christmas gifts this month, which I’ll pay off at the end of the month. So the debt will be £700 lower but so will the savings, meaning no change to net worth. Otherwise it’s £16k car loan, rest is mortgage.

NET WORTH £159,943

PROJECTED RETIREMENT INCOME £3,418**

**This is a new thing I’m tracking. It relies on a load of assumptions and isn’t at all accurate as to what our income will be (it assumes we will work til Red is 68, not take a lump sum, always put in what we are putting in now etc plus obviously the stock market has an impact). 

The purpose of it is simply to give us one figure to track each month and hope it grows higher as we are able to pay more in. When we get closer to retirement we can refine it by starting to think about our options eg retiring earlier on a lower income etc. So it’s purely an inaccurate number which is useful to help us track the trend over time. It does not include state pension, just our own investments.

Bluegreen143

Quite a stressful afternoon yesterday - had to deal with a very annoying work situation, then pick Bambi up from school early because of her “feeling sick” (she was fine!). 

Even worse, the plumber only got the boiler service done and couldn’t move on to the two small leaks we have because I had to ask him to go so I could go out to pick up Bambi. 

Throw in me trying to catch up on the missed work all evening while simultaneously supervising homework and it was not a relaxing day. 

Had 10 syns total yesterday and did a 30 min walk, so that’s good. And no spending yesterday.

Big goals for the week:
- Finish my Christmas shopping. I only need to buy for Red now, and do stocking fillers for Red and MIL. I also need to check in with Red re the couple of gifts he kindly agreed to sort for me for some of my family. 

- Decorate for Christmas on Saturday and look out the kids’ Christmas books. 

- Finish sewing the spare mat for the Guinea pig enclosure and consider if we have time to go look at Guinea pigs this weekend now the enclosure is finished. 

- Kids’ birthdays - get & write birthday cards for the kids and take them both out to choose a small gift for each other. Ask sister to borrow mixer to make their cakes. 

Today:
- Thursday is laundry day, as well as the usual chores, dinner prep, homework supervising etc. 

- Deep clean before weekend decorating.

- Find kids’ Christmas books.

- Text sister.

Bluegreen143

All going OK financially. I’ve nearly done all my Christmas shopping which is nice!

We had a lovely, but slightly spendy, weekend - went to my friend’s house for drinks on Friday, Saturday was the school Christmas fayre and we got our tree/decorated and then on Sunday I went to another town for lunch with my best friends, we were out most of the day because of needing to get trains but most of us travelled together so it was a good laugh (one lives further away now, the town we met in is halfway between us!). 

So definitely not a cheap weekend for my personal budget, with lunch and taxis etc, and not a cheap one for the joint budget, with the school fayre and buying a Christmas tree. Nor did I stick to SW on Friday or Sunday. But it was all extremely fun! 

Baileys_Babe

@Bluegreen143 and family wishing you a merry Christmas, may your celebrations be as restful or as boisterous as you intend🎄

Baileys_Babe

Happy New Year @Bluegreen143 I hope all your plans for the 2026 come to fruition  🤗

Honeysucklelou2

Happy New Year @Bluegreen143. Did you get the Guinea pigs? Lovely to read that you are helping your BIL and the lessons that gives to your children - so beautiful.

Hope you have a wonderful 2026.