November Numbercrunchers *blows the budgeteering bugle*

[claretandamberforever]

In here please.

Feel free to post a daily spending diary, to ask for advice or just for a general money moan.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Marking place.

[IsisOhIsis]

I would like to join, please! Needing to do some serious penny pinching

[KinkyDorito]

Joining in a desperate bid for austerity! Having already spent November's money largely on tat, this is my attempt to get a grip.

Looking for ways to enjoy myself that are free!

Also, if anyone knows where to buy cheap renal cat food, I would very much appreciate it.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Have you asked in the litter tray section? One of the vets might know.

[ArtemisatBrauron]

Hello all!

I have been budgeting like crazy all month, things that have saved us money:
froze every scrap of veg leftover/unused for a month in little boxes in bottom drawer of freezer and made a giant veg soup = free lunch for weeks for DH, and for me on one day a week when I don't get lunch free at work.

cancelled gym subscription and joined the school running club, the leader has taken a personal interest in me and is forcing leading me on more runs than I would normally do and it is free!

sat down with DH and worked out a proper budget for food etc, meal planning and changed all Direct Debits to come out at the same time so we know what is left for the rest of month

as a result we were able to go today and open a savings account with the money we have saved! it's a save to buy account so we can't take the money out or touch it at all until we want to buy a house.

[AdoraBell]

Well done on Those savings Artimisa

Making place for November. Hope To start the month on an NSD as it gives me a kind of boost, all just headology really

[comewinewithmoi]

Can I join? Grip needed. Have started also shopping .. Fan bloody tactic.

[Pumpkintopf]

Joining please. Need to tighten belts this month....

[IsisOhIsis]

Silly question but is NSD No Spend Day? [Blush]

Well done artesmia, good tip about freezing the veg, too. I'm terrible for having to throw things out because they've gone mouldy :( determined to stop

[TinyDiamond]

hello again I haven't seen you all since April/May time and I really need a kick to get spending back under control again. It was my bday this month so I blew lots of cash frivolously. But I've had my treats now so time to be sensible again. I am aiming for 12 nsds.

[AdoraBell]

Yep, No Spend Day.

Welcome To all newbies, everyone is welcome on here

[claretandamberforever]

Welcome to all the newbies and returnees

I've never heard of save to buy accounts - good luck on that front. I am not often in the right place at the right time but I do thank my lucky stars that we got on the housing ladder while it was still affordable. Only 16.5 years left of mortgage now so I'll be 55 when it's paid off. Still have another 5 years of loans to pay off, but my grand plan is that if / when the 5 years are up, I will overpay the mortgage each month to the value of the loan and see if I can knock a few years off.

So, my month started yesterday and my budget for the month is like this:

Petrol: £255 / £00.00 spent / £350 remaining
Groceries: £350 / £10.56 spent / £339.44 remaining
Everything else £482.12 / £47.50 spent / £434.62 remaining
Kid expenses: £169 / £5.20 spent / £163.80 remaining

My everything else budget is twice the size it normally is though and most of it will be swallowed up by my MOT anyway sob

[ArtemisatBrauron]

Good name Isis! I just keep 2/3 special tupperware in the freezer and chuck any veg leftover at meals or that looks like it will go off before we use it in there.
It's good to separate red and green though, unless you like brown sludge soup, so I tend to have broccoli/celery etc in one tub and carrots, tomatoes, squash in another. Potatoes and parsnips can go in both and add creaminess when blended.

The top tip I have is to freeze any salad leaves from bags of salad that won't get used before they go off - they blend into any soup, adding vitamins without changing the flavour, we haven't wasted salad once since I realised this!

[ArtemisatBrauron]

The save to buy account is great - a fairly good interest rate for these terrible days when 2.5% is "good" and it's locked in there until we decide we have enough of a deposit and ask for a mortgage, so we can't dip into it at all. That's scary, because we are literally putting every spare penny in there and it will (hopefully) build up quite quickly.
But we really, really want to have our own home so it'll be worth it.

I;ve set up a standing order to go in at the beginning of each month and then I intend to put any surplus (ha!) in at the end. DH is paying in much less as he is clearing credit card debt too - hopefully when he sorts himself out then he can match my payments.

We've done something quite radical for us and agreed on no Christmas presents at all, we don't need anything, and we will spend some money on a nice tree, food, wine etc and have a lovely day planned out.

[GinGinGin]

Ooh can I join please?

I've done the sums for this month & after all bills/mortgage/fuel I have approx £280 left for food & toddler groups. We have a few birthdays coming up this month but I intend to just bake cakes instead of giving presents. Cards bought from Card Factory last month on their "5 for £1" promotion. We shop in lidl. Do-able yes?

[itsonlysubterfuge]

Hello Everyone

Husband and I decided we were going to spend as little as possible in November since I bought DD too many all her Christmas presents. It's not a need, more like a challenge.

My husband is attempting to drive more fuel savvy and I'm going to try and stretch the food budget. We got a letter in the post from Tesco that if we spend £90 a week in groceries we get a £45 off voucher for December which will make it harder to spend less . Hopefully I'll be able to buy some things for the pantry/freezer that will last until Christmas so I can buy less in December.

My major weekness is books, may have to unsubscribe to the Book People for the month of November . Also my DD has learned to say please when she wants something, how do I resist such a cute face?

So on NSD, do you just not spend any money on anything? What about heating/electricity, or do those things not count?

[prettymess]

Marking my place. Did quite badly last month with £300 overspend.

Food is still the worst thing. It works out at £7.12 a person a day. Need to get that down drastically.

[KinkyDorito]

its ah, yes - the temptress Tesco. I spend a bomb in there and would be due my £45 several times over, but I am going to try and ignore it and start meal planning.

fluffy have asked in the litter tray, but not holding my breath. The cheapest I've managed to source it is £38 which lasts 12 days. Sob.

[northender]

Marking my spot. Will post properly later

[claretandamberforever]

Subterfuege - I class anything that would have to come out of my 'everything else' budget as a spend. Otherwise I would never have a NSD because I have direct debits or kids activities everyday. So anything that isn't groceries, DD, petrol or kids planned activities. it's up to you though - there are no rules

[prettymess]

As everyone always goes on about it, I didn't automatically renew our home insurance when the quote came this morning. I went and compared! I went with a different provider and the same amount of cover: £220 saved! Whoa!

Going to do the same with car insurance next month!