Need fresh eyes on my budget!

Blackcats

ah Honeybee - now you've set a cat food precedent. My cat will only eat Sheba - poultry in jelly to be precise. I find it fascinating that the psyche of cats means they start life as a rescued kitten and progress to a cat that has prime spot on the sofa and only eats premium brand food.
at least our Lidl supplies the right brand and flavour of food and the cat will eat the Lidl's own fake dreamies.

Mortgage_Minimiser

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82010572#Comment_82010572

de-lurking…..Lidl do fake dreamies??? This is the best news ever, thanks @Blackcats 😂

MayDogsandCoffee

Slightly off topic but with talking about cat food. I was on a FB forum and a couple of us were admitting to planning and prepping dog food (mine gets home cooked which does work out cheaper than commercial dog food) all the while eating yellow sticker ready meals (processed crap). 🤣

Blackcats

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82011314#Comment_82011314

and fake licky licks which have also passed the cat's brand downshift challenge

honeybee1234

Smiling at the talk of cats... @Blackcats this is so true about the psyche of cats and mine are exactly what you said! I do love them and the comedic pursuit of the ideal cat food. I accidentally got the wrong Sheba the other day and neither would go near it, it was a selection of meat/fish in a kind of sauce with vegetables/rice? I thought I was buying it in jelly. It was 2.72 from Asda so not too much wasted but it was a shame.

Anyway!

MAY REVIEW

• Pots went pretty well. Nothing was raided that shouldn't have been
• Grocery budget did go over by one shop. This looks to be a pattern so I'm focusing on this this month and am setting a weekly budget after any general monthly purchases have come out this week, such as cat litter and household toiletries
• We did go to see DD1 on the train. A good time was had by all. I had budgeted and I did go over due to purchasing a railcard for the tickets, and an impromptu visit to a coffee shop later in the afternoon. I could have brought more drinks/snacks but it would have meant hauling these about all day as well as our stuff we already had. So this has been noted for future reference and will be budgeted for. I was a nervous wreck before we went and nearly cancelled, I worked through it but I was out of commission for the rest of the weekend

JUNE FOCUS

• Grocery budget, as above. Sticking to weekly budget to ensure the final week in the month has enough!
• Continue to furnish pots. Continue to leave them be where necessary
• Stick to limits in other sinking funds pots
• Be careful with personal spends. Not to go over
• Bonus extra funds from cashback, surveys to go either into pots, or can go towards anything from sinking funds if I need a top up
• Calculate plan for any slightly larger budgeting, eg small electrical works and new door

I think that's enough for now so I shall leave it at that! I really want to focus on the grocery budget so that's the big target atm.

Have a good day today if you're reading!

foxgloves

Well done for not cancelling the trip, @honeybee1234. I'm focusing on groceries too for this month as we went over budget in May, which we hadn't done for quite some time.

ArtyJ931

I’m hearing that groceries are expected to increase in price significantly over the next 6-9 months so this will more than likely be a feature of all of our lives - going over on budgets!

foxgloves

You're right, @ArtyJ931 - We beat ourselves up for going over our grocery budgets but prices have been going up & up & are not showing any signs of stopping.

ellenvan

Well done on making the train trip.

Sometimes I think it's really worth going over budget if it's money saving in the long run.e.g. if something long lasting like coffee is on a half price offer I will buy a few

honeybee1234

@ellenvan the railcard is worth it as we have future trips planned and it saves us a decent % for us all travelling. I do pick up offers like you mentioned which sometimes leaves me over budget, so was thinking of creating a pot to cover this.

Agree with you all about grocery shopping. I don't consider myself to splurge with groceries, but I still find it tricky to keep within my budget. I notice at Asda that certain items are inflated compared to previously, and Lidl prices on some items fluctuate across the month so I'm mindful of what I pick up and when.

I was very close to cancelling but I couldn't deal with the guilt as it'd been arranged and the kids were looking forward to it. It was worth it, it was lovely to see DD1 and of course I want to expose DSs to new places and for them to see their sister. A great time was had by all! The aftermath is terrible though as my brain just shuts down after anything like this like I need to cocoon.

Sooooo! Yesterday the bank showed all my new payments to pots running smoothly - except for some reason, I hadn't set one up to personal spends, so this needs updating. Pots will be flexible each month and updated according to requirements.

I must update on my debt. I am very fortunate to now be in the position of only having one credit card debt left! This is due to a combination of overpayments alongside some very judicious cashback offers I did last year and the associated savings pots as were the offers. So I now have a Vanquish card outstanding. Current balance is 1084.39, and is currently set to minimum payment whilst I furnish the more 'sinking funds' pots to get to a decent amount - meaning those I spend from most frequently or that require a higher balance due to their nature, so clothing, home and garden, kids and activities. This card has a 0% offer on for around 12 more months, so I'm mindful of this and will be doing sums later to forecast pots totals and paying off the Vanquish card.

Today I will be going out shortly for a very rainy dog walk! Afterwards I need to do a fridge audit - I had salad tea with the boys over the weekend and need to check what needs using up imminently. Then I need to catch up with housework and my to do list as I have calls and emails to do.

Have a good day!