Life By The Seaside

Chocolatefund

Hmmm. Perhaps it's worth a try stopping the overtime altogether? And just trimming the budget as you go? Could be a better long term solution.

Catscoffeecake

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82033041#Comment_82033041

potentially yes, but what I earn in overtime is more than it costs me in "extras" but I do think I need to find a good balance between the two. I want to first try and find ways to cut the budget and still do overtime if I can.

I have done a freezer inventory and its slightly scary! I have some wraps to put in individually as well, that have tomorrows date, I wont eat them all so thought I would try freezing them. I also have the chicken breasts I purchased today, which I may portion and put in freezer. I am thinking instead I will take the pork chops out and cut up for the stir fry as I am not a massive pork chop person unless as a roast dinner but I am not in mood for cooking a roast any time soon.

Chilli	x 3
Spag Bol	x 4
Ready Meals	x 6	slimming world
Salmon	x 3
Chicken	x 4
Mince	x 5	each portion will do 4 meals
Biryani Rice	x 2
Chicken Curry	x 3
Cottage pie	x1
Chicken skewers	x 4
Steak	x 1
Pork chops	x 7
Bacon lard bits	x2
sausages	x 6	( 3 x 2)
Pittas	x 6
Bread rolls	x 2

Catscoffeecake

Ok now for cupboard inventory

golden veggie rice pouch	x 2	tikka masala jar
jasmine rice pouches	x 4	pasta bake jar
noodle nests	x 8	chinese flavouring
couscous		honey and garlic seasoning
risotto rice		bbq seasoning
long grain rice		nandos lemon/herb
spaghetti		honey chilli chicken seasoning
pasta		paella sachet sauce
Jasmine rice		spag bols sachet
tuna tins	x6	chilli con carne sachet
chopped toms	x1	pepercorn sauce
sweetcorn tinned	x2	gravy granules
baked beans	x 6	stock cubes

Catscoffeecake

Sorry for all the posts today, but I am using this to try gather my thoughts and put a better plan in place.

I have decided I also need to put some rules in place regarding my food choices and excessive amounts of coffee and Pepsi max.

• 1 coffee pod coffee a day, if want a second has to be instant. also need to try drinking more tea/fruit tea
• 2 cans of pepsi max a day - plan to go back to cold turkey and only have when out with friends but want to wean myself off and use up what currently have.
• drink 2 litres of squash a day
• monster can only on office days (due to 5.30am start) so once a week
• menu plan, so i know what meal to take out freezer night before
• calorie count as more flexible around lifestyle choices
• eat fruit that is on offer in supermarket rather than what necessarily "prefer"
• have a shopping list when going food shopping and stick to it.

Based on the inventory above and other extras in my cupboards I should be able to make £250 for month work, but that does mean I only have £70 left. But I did a food shop today and brought lots of "household" items so I should be able to make it work. Only thing I need to buy which I plan to get tomorrow is my milk from Mr T as its cheapest place for my lactose free milk. As it sells out quickly I will probably buy 6 if they have enough in stock as they usually have a good date. I tend to go through 1-2 cartons a week so that should last me a few weeks.

I have also looked at my plans for rest of the month for personal spends, with the extra £50 taken off, I am left with £61.00. I have a fathers day meal next Friday and friends birthday meal Friday after. I am paying for my dads meal as his fathers day gift. So I think I should be able to do both meals out for £40.00 leaving me £21.00 for rest of the month. It will be tight but it will make me think twice about purchases. I also went back and reviewed my purchases so far this month to see where I spent the other £89.00. I purchased a book on ebay, garden centre breakfast, coffee and cake, dinner out, drinks at gig, renewed app membership on google play, a costa and trip to bakery. Quite a few of those bits were from supporting my friend and keeping her busy when she stayed with me. It also seems because I didn't have enough money the last weekend of may I started June's budget early to cover the costs with my friend that weekend. Luckily I know she is busy this weekend, and next weekend if fathers day. So if she does come and stay at end of month I will suggest cheap/free activities.

beanielou

Always good to have everything down on paper.

Catscoffeecake

Yes though I have just reviewed my sinking funds and looking at where they should be right now is quite scary as am now concerned as to how I am going to refill them. In theory they should have £842.90 in total in them, and I currently have £0.00. Well potentially £100 if I stick to my new budget. So do I raid the £842.90 from emergency fund to bring sinking funds up and then focus on getting that back to £1k ASAP before paying off extra off the card. Or do I pay the extra each month to sinking funds and hope I can bring them up to where need to be by time payment comes round? that does mean that my credit card overpayments are going to slow down.

I'll share my new budget with you now

Travel Costs	£125
Spending (£25 per week)	£125
Food (£50 per week)	£250
Mortgage £462.72	£462.72
Service Charge	£115.84
Sinking Fund	£200.00
Broadband	£29.00
Healthy Pet Club	£19.49
Tesco Credit Card	£50.00
Team Rh/Netflix	£13.98
NHS	£11.45
Health & Beauty	£50.00
Annual Garden	£5.50
Football	£35.00
Car Loan	£211.37
Gas/Elec	£90.00
P Water	£8.85
S Water	£41.28
Council Tax	£98.00
TV License	£15.00
Miscellaneous	£50.00
Pet Insurance	£8.71
Cleaner	£60.00
Phone	£5.99
Remaining balance for debt	£121.45

Sinking Fund includes

• Car costs
• home costs
• clothing
• dentist
• gifts
• season ticket

So with the £50.00 a month to credit card anyway and £121.45 that's £171.45 to credit card before any overtime. The new budget is going to take some getting used to I think but hopefully I can make it work. I also get to keep the things important to me, my massage once a month, cleaner & football ticket once a month on average. It just means I will have to prioritise my spending money and better plan my food shopping costs especially as I usually every few months go to costco and do a shop for meat etc. it may be that needs to stop or I have to budget for it. I went today so have some time to think about how I wish to make it work.

Cat food costs are going to come from miscellaneous pot along with one off household purchases such as small replacement items and just general stuff I don't have a plan for as they are infrequent purchases. I used to have a miscellaneous pot which I used this for and it worked well. Now I am going to go and update my monzo pots to match my new budget

DancingInTheRain

Good to think everything through to help you determine the best way forward for you and your life. Social things to look forward to are important when you live on your own and if paying for the cleaner and massages help make other areas in your life easier and you're not getting into more debt for them then why not? Good idea to empty the pots though, an EF is good for peace of mind.

Keep going!

Catscoffeecake

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82033160#Comment_82033160

Thank you, I think issue is I increased my pots because original plan had been not to renew season ticket for football, but then me and my cousin changed our minds which I am pleased about. So it is important to consider that when creating my budget because from August-May I will have football most if not all weekends. That does of course come with a cost, but a reasonable one and means less free time for other activities. Its also a sacrifice I make by having a new car as well. The sooner the credit card debt is gone the sooner I have room in my budget for a nicer life again.

I think focus over next few months though is going to be about refilling the pots ready for October when all car expenses come round again and then the dreaded C word. I am earning anywhere between £150-£250 a month in overtime at the moment as it varies week to week how many hours I do. Though after next week my hours will likely go back up so bring it nearer the £250 mark. That with the extra £120 margin in my budget should mean in couple months my sinking fund will be refilled and my focus can shift to credit card.

liselle

I live alone and eat very well, spending £140-50 per month.That includes cleaning products.

Do you have a Farmer’s Market nearby, or a church that does coffee and homemade cake, sometimes with a bookstall?They usually take place at the weekend. Both places are very reasonable and I was thinking that you could take your friend there for coffee.

Chocolatefund

It's a great plan.

If my 'Dave Ramsey' type answer got you to take another good look at your budget, then I don't feel so bad now, haha.