My New Frugal Life

Miss_Moneysaver · 26 October 2017 at 8:34PM

We have an Odeon cinema in our town that is very old - they charge £3 a ticket. We have a brand new Vue cinema but I use the old one to save money. I also call in at the Aldi on the way for sweets/choc. Youngest takes her own bottle of water in (she will only drink water and milk and won't eat sweets and very fussy with chocolate). I bought myself a Contigo travel mug and I use it all the time - even in the cinema! I use it all over the place tbh! Nice to have hot tea to drink (I don't like coffee).

Newfrugallife · 27 October 2017 at 7:35AM

Right pay day and the new start of the money pot categories!

Food pot, I have added an extra £50, so it’s now £250

Family entertainment £50, plus the dog sitting money £32.8 (they actually take 18% cut from the £20 a day I charge, but it pays for the dog insurance, advertising and a peace of mind). Total £82.8

Everything else pot (birthdays, clothes, haircuts, etc etc) £50. Out of this pot I need to take out £20 this month for nephews birthday. And my youngest due a haircut £10, which I will do today. So really £20 left.

Emergency £20 to add to the pot, I’m kind of deliberating whether to add to this every month or to only add once we spent some and keep it topped up at £1,000. For now I have reduced the amount to £20.

Also I was paid one last time, so have topped up the everything else and emergency pots. So now we do have a good buffer there BUT that’s it, no more wage coming in from me so I need to make it sustainable!

Just to round up:

Food £250
Family entertainment £82.8
Everything else £20 (-present £20, haircut £10)
Emergency £20

Let’s get this month on a roll......

Newfrugallife · 27 October 2017 at 7:57AM

Miss_Moneysaver wrote: »

Hi,

Good luck with your frugal life and becoming a SAHM. I'm working full time (worked part time for 10 years) and finding it too much. We do shifts including early, late and nightshifts. We also work 2 out of 4 weekends but we are losing staff (I'm NHS) so those of us left are having to cover. It is really hard and I am starting to get 'symptoms' of mental health problems and other things. It really isn't worth it. I feel under pressure as I'm the biggest earner and we'd struggle on DH's salary (he'd only just cover the bills without any food)!
We haven't got that long left on the mortgage (less than 2 years now) but we are thinking of moving next year anyway so we can be close to the secondary school when our youngest starts in Sept 2019. Our eldest is there now and we pay school bus fares and it is quite a bit for 2 of them. So, we are hoping to have the mortgage pretty much finished and sell up. I am thinking of re-training so I'm now working every weekend. Nights are extremely hard work. Not the workload but the staying awake and then back doing an early shift a couple of days later. My family life is suffering and my health is also starting to suffer so I need to get my priorities right.

I did the £10 a day shopping when I was on maternity leave. I used to shop around offers and create meals like that. It worked well.

Good luck!

Hi miss money saver and thank you for popping in to read my diary, it is really tough being the biggest earner and a lot of pressure. This is very similar to my situation as I’ve been the biggest earner for years, had to go back to work full time when kids were babies, never enough time for anything, missing out on the kids etc.....plus I was deeply unhappy in my role. And a few months ago I just burnt out, snapped and quit, I still can’t quite believe that I left my job to be honest (well it’s only been a week!) but I’m so much less stressed already! Luckily we can just about manage on husbands wage, but not a lot of wiggle room and I really don’t know what the future holds at the moment. But I just knew that I couldn’t carry on and I don’t regret it. Hope you are ok and look after yourself xx

Newfrugallife · 27 October 2017 at 5:34PM

Did a food shop £27.88 this will last Saturday/ Sunday/ Monday, already have stuff for dinner tonight. Slight change of plan and I will now aim for two food shops a week, £50 would be perfect but now I’m allowing up to £60 all in.

Food - £222.12 (-27.88)
Family entertainment- £82.80
Everything else - £20 (-£20 present, -£10 haircut)
Emergency- £20

Newfrugallife · 28 October 2017 at 9:44AM

Plan for this morning.. I need to sort out my wardrobe and start on the deep cleaning in every room. I’m hoping to be done and every room spotless and sorted by the end of next week. And then just maintain it each week

Miss_Moneysaver · 28 October 2017 at 5:58PM

Nice to hear that you are less stressed already! I think the only way we would manage (if I left work) is if we either got rid of the mortgage or halved it. We are thinking of moving next year as DD9 will be going to secondary school in 2019 and we'd like to be close to the school for her so I'm not paying 2 lots of bus fares. We could downsize slightly or get a lower priced house but I doubt we will owe much by then anyway.

I like the idea of dog sitting. We mentioned that a few weeks ago as our dog never goes into kennels (DH loves her too much to stick her in a kennel). He prefers her to have a homely environment as she'd fret too much. Neighbours and friends have helped out but I bet there are loads of people who would use a dog sitter. Have you looked into getting your own insurance for it?

We allow £75 a week for shopping (that is for 2 adults and 2 kids) - one a teen boy). Oh, and one small dog (fussy eater).

Miss_Moneysaver · 28 October 2017 at 6:01PM

Why don't you split your food budget by the amount of weeks there are so you always have the same amount? Does your DH get paid monthly or every 4 weeks? I get paid monthly but DH gets paid 4 weekly. I use his pay to top up the food budget so it is every 4 weeks (each Friday). I use same method for car fuel, entertainment money so we always have the same.

Have you factored in that some months have 5 weeks in them?

Newfrugallife · 29 October 2017 at 9:32AM

Yesterday I’ve sorted my wardrobe, on the big plus side I do not actually need any new clothes and won’t need them for a long while! Yes some are a bit officey smart tops and such, but when paired with jeans I think will look ok. I have put away the smart skirts and trousers though, as that definitely too much for the school run. Kept some blazers as when paired with jeans actually look very good! So I’m happy

I have also sorted a budget for Christmas, I buy presents for niece & nephew £20 each, then some chocs for that side of the family (we don’t buy for adults) £5, and my nieces birthday near Christmas £20.
My mum and his dad £20 each. Our 2 kids £50 each, and me and hubby £20 each. Unfortunately the niece/nephew is a fixed amount which would cause lots of bother if challenged (don’t ask difficult family relations), but I have massively cut our own kids budgets. So I’m getting total of £245, plus say extra box of choc for the teacher or what not, let’s make the total present budget at £250.

I will try to be under, and I really like boots 3 for 2, so potentially can get mine or husbands present “free”. I have the money already saved in the Christmas/ birthday/ everything else pot but will need to replenish this for next year. Normally allocate £50 a month, but this month have already used £30 for nephews present and haircut. But I’m not stressing about it yet, I’m confident that some months I will use less and will be able to add and replenish this pot. I will run the minus total alongside this category so I can see what’s coming in and what’s coming out each month.

With the food budget I still feel like it’s a bit trial and error at the moment, I will need to give it this month to see how we actually doing. I do need to take advice on board regarding meat free meals and also the 5 week months. Miss money I actually buried my head in the sand about that! The worst come to worst we will have beans on toast towards the end of the month, while making a normal meal for the kids. I could do with losing some weight

Newfrugallife · 29 October 2017 at 9:49AM

Right I will need to go shopping 8 times before the the next payday (as going twice a week now), so this works out at £27.76 per food shop.

Betterthanever · 29 October 2017 at 9:52AM

All sounds very doable to me! Good luck!

My New Frugal Life

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