Puddleduck's Adventures

puddle_duck1 · 13 February 2018 at 5:26PM

Forgot to say Happy Pancake Day!

puddle_duck1 · 14 February 2018 at 9:21PM

Happy Valentines Day !!!10084;!!!10084;

We had a lovely dinner for the 3 of us. Lights out, candles lit, water from wine glasses and heart shaped plates (from years ago). Daffs on the table also. It was lovely even the little one loved it. Better than an expensive night out.

We are doing well this month. Pay day is in 9 days time and we are £480 in the overdraft which is £800 better than this time last month so if we can keep to the minimum of everything.

Having a relaxing evening and waiting for 'Trauma' 3rd part to start on TV.

Puddle

MeenaM · 15 February 2018 at 10:08PM

Well done you! that is good going on the OD , I must watch Trauma have heard it's good

wishingthemortgaheaway · 15 February 2018 at 10:27PM

Hi Puddle, just dropping in to say that, for groceries (food only) I budget £250 a month, which is about £50 a week, (I overpay any surplus into my mortgage)
I have a £100 a month 'household goods' pot for cleaning products, cat food & litter, toiletries etc. I generally spend most of this. Stocking up on a big thing if there's money left towards the end of the month.

Our household is 2 adults, 1 child & 1 cat. But the caveat to this is: Small is only 20 months old and hubby works away a lot, so there aren't many weeks I feed him every night.
When he's away Small and I have left overs that I reheat in the microwave.

puddle_duck1 · 21 February 2018 at 4:48PM

Thank you guys for your replies.

I'm waiting on a Mr T delivery, I find I don't spend so much having it delivered, I'm on the delivery saver using my tesc* vouchers.

Pay day is Friday and we are £809 overdrawn. I have £8 in my purse and hubby should have some for tomorrow's outing with our child (half term here this week). So that should be it until the pay goes in. So we have saved £541 this month. I thought it would have been better than that. Actually Mr T needs to go out also (£41) so make that £500 taken off the overdraft.

We are both completely on board with this money saving. Husband has been doing childcare this week as it's half term and it has involved lots of walking and packed lunches. I hate having to work half term!!!

Oh well I need to use these couple of hours wisely. DH and DD won't be back until 5ish (cheap admission to Techniquest) I need to do the ironing and have a general tidy up and wait for Mr T.

Going to calculate all spends on Friday. I have no idea how much goes on food, cleaning, petrol, cat etc so will be interesting.

Later
Puddle

puddle_duck1 · 21 February 2018 at 5:20PM

Sugar forgot cat had to go to vets for annual jabs and it's not gone out of bank yet =£28.

wishingthemortgaheaway · 21 February 2018 at 5:23PM

Do you use have a spread sheet or an app for tracking your spending? It would stop the 'rubbish it's not gone out' feeling.

I use ynab, which is brilliant for me, but I know there are others. I log spends as soon as I make them so know exactly how much I've spent in each of my categories. And, over the last few months have reduced my food spends by a further £50 a month.

puddle_duck1 · 23 February 2018 at 5:54PM

Hi Wishing (waves). I have been keeping track of spending by writing everything down and putting it weekly onto a spreadsheet. I've just looked at the whole month just now and somethings like Groceries and petrol are lower than expected but we have payed out on other big things this month. I may give Ynab a go actually. What does it stand for?

Well payday has happened (one of them). We were £859.75 overdrawn. Which is £490.25 better than last month. We have payed £240 on a garden gate and £95 last installment on our summer caravan holiday) and £150 on vet bills for our little cat in Feb so March will be much better......it has to be better as we have car insurance and a couple of other annual bills in April.

We are not big spenders, it's only because we moved into an old house and did it up that's broke us. The £25,000 tesco loan was taken out Instead of upping our mortgage. We have lots of equity in the house. Our mortgage is £79,990 ish and the house was valued last month at £235,000.

Oops battery is about to go on the tablet. Will sign back in later.

Must iron!! Lots of white thirty on the washing line nice and dry for me to iron. I love pegging out!!
Roll on summer.

Puddle duck

wishingthemortgaheaway · 23 February 2018 at 6:59PM

Ynab stands for 'you need a budget' it's an American system, the most up to date version is a subscription service, but they offer a 34 day free trial, and ive seem lots of people refer to a 3 month trial.

I love it.
They have webinars and lessons and things to learn the 'ynab' way.

As a result
Of budgeting through ynab I saved nearly £10k in 6 months for fund my mat leave.
Didn't need to take the occupational element of maternity pay, meaning, when I handed my notice in during May leave I had nothing to repay.
Took 19 months off work completely.
Returned to work 1 day a week on a contract and do occasional supply teaching, but not much.
Have just had my water bill for 2018/19 through and I've got £77.70 more in my 'water' pot than I need.
Pay the majority of my bills annually.

I am very competitive though, so it's me against the finances and I have to win.

It doesn't work for everyone.
Some people say 'why spend out for something that you can do for free' which is true, but, I have the app on my phone so I log transactions as they happen.
I have the app on my tablet which allows me to move money between categories as needed and the desktop app is where I can set up my budgets and pots.

Many people say 'pay cash for everything' that way you can see what you are spending. I actually use cash far less than I used to as it's much easier to track spending on ynab (some people do have a 'cash' account on ynab, but, because I don't use cash that often, I don't bother. As far as I'm concerned, once it's left the bank, it's been ynab'd.

(Ok, I'm a little evangelical about it, but it has REALLY helped me for the last 4 years. )

Summer12 · 23 February 2018 at 7:25PM

Hi Puddleduck

Love the name btw! I can totally relate to your story. We too bought a larger older house last July and started some renovations and as you say things just totally snowballed. Every little job resulted in new problems being found. Leaks under floor boards, no earth wires, take one tile off the whole wall comes apart. It feels like we are living in the money pit! I’m in awe of your food budget, how do you do it? We are a family of 3 (daughter is 9yrs). I’ve just spent £61 in Tesco that realistically will last 4 days! Which puts our food budget at £488 per month no wonder we are struggling to keep up at the moment with it all. Any tips greatly appreciated.

Puddleduck's Adventures

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