Judicious January Jangling & Juggling *blows budgeteering bugle*

[claretandamberforever]

Sorry, couldn't resist going overboard on the J's

Happy new year y'all. Welcome to expert budgeteerers, newbies, lurkers and de-lurkers. We're a very friendly, non-judgmental bunch so please use this thread as you choose whether it's as a spending diary, to confess your money sins, ask for help or have a general whinge at the cost of living.....

Is that on high woodburner? Thanks for posting. I'm going to do it tomorrow for DS.

Yes, on high.
I want some now!

NSD here today. Had a lazy morning followed by an afternoon of sorting, cleaning and taking decs down. Had a lovely roast chicken dinner with one of the free range chickens I got for next to nothing last week. Even better, there's enough meat left for 2 more meals .
Have about £28 left until Friday so may even manage another surplus.

ohhelp at your Lindt teddies. I got some local vair vair naice chocs for Christmas, but no Lindt teddies.

Is find the NSD does work for me as it stops me dropping into a coffee shop every time I leave the house, also I no longer Go into shops for 1 ítem. That means I buy what I need rather than picking up odd bits just because I've seen it.

Had a spendy day Today, DH's birthday in a few weeks. I got a gift from me and another from DD1, just need DD2 To decide what To Get him now. Can't Get my head around exchange rate Today.

Will catch up properly later, again, off To do some free entertaining of DD's -home manicura with them decideing my colours. Yes, it will be an array of colours help me.

Just made bean and broccoli soup in the slow cooker using leftover broccoli stalks. They worked fine in soup and otherwise they'd have gone in the bin!

Going to try braised red cabbage in the slow cooker tomorrow. I love it and it's cheap and makes loads but it's a faff to do on the hob.

Must be the weather or something because I also made slow cooker rice pudding! I do 130g rice, 60g sugar and two pints of milk. I cook it for about 30 mins on high and then 4 hours on low.

Had to pop to little Sainsburys today for a grocery top-up. £6.83 for milk, eggs, tinfoil and toilet rolls. More than I would usually pay but the little shops are always a rip-off aren't they?
Back to work for dh and I tomorrow and school for the dc. Will be glad to get back into a routine to be honest. I love the holidays with my family but I do like routine!
I have to put £20 of petrol in the car tomorrow and pay dc dinner money of £58.50 (!) Both of these are budgeted for though. Hoping not to spend anything else.
Dh and I both take our own lunches apart from Fridays when he has a school dinner and I have a sandwich at the pub - our little treat. His school's dinners are lovely and they always give him a massive portion!

Thanks for the advice on tracking other spends. I'm still not too sure what we spend in general so I've decided to write down absolutely everything. I've started a document on my iPod and I'm categorising it into bus/train fares (unavoidable as no car), kids, household etc. I'll track for a while so I can see what kind of spends we are dealing with - which shows how little attention I've paid my bank statements lately as I really haven't a clue

I think just making a note is already making me more mindful before spending though. Like

Oops

...like household stuff it's always been so easy to order stuff online as soon as we want it but I'm more aware now, and really thinking if it's worthwhile.

I need to double check with DH but I think all we've spent under 'miscellaneous' so far this month is travel, a fiver for DSD's bus fare home, and a tea infuser for DH (he's going to switch to leaf instead of tea bags)

Travel is going to be the biggie, I think I'd be horrified if we added up what bus fares cost us. However still nowhere near what a car would cost to buy/run/fill! I was considering learning to drive recently but we discussed it again and agreed that a mortgage is a much bigger priority right now. Buses are pretty decent around here and I have a couple of forms to fill in that will reduce the cost for us anyway.

Also have spent on DH's birthday presents which I ordered online, six awesome things for under £60 :) and one pound under DD's pillow from the tooth fairy :o

It's so easy to spend money online! That's the danger for me. We don't tend to spend much out and about as usually we are at home on days off. Although it's also the snacks on the way through the mall before/after work (the food budget is now covering that though so I'm already learning to resist!)

Decided to get creative with my spreadsheet avoiding real work. Actually a bit surprised by what I found

So far this month (bearing in mind, the month is only 5 days old), we have spent £115 (excluding bills - if I add those in it's about £165 with a few more to come out this week). I decided to turn the results into a graph visual aid to avoid real work and the biggest spend areas so far have been food out and transport.

What that actually means is £30 on a meal out and about £30 on Oyster top up, between DH and I. I know that each individual thing has not been a lot, and that the only way for that to have been cheaper would have been not to eat out as all other spends were needed (and meal out was one-off with family, so not exactly a regular occurrence for us). But it still surprised me how quickly £100+ goes.

On the other hand, still going strong with freezer and cupboard raiding Scouting out prices at the butcher tomorrow I think, plus fishmonger and bakery, if they're any good then we'll start buying from there. Looking at the grocers on Tuesday as they're not open Mondays. Oddly looking forward to it! Will have to be more organised though to go out and buy the food in person, having become accustomed to booking slots online in the night and having the time to revise and edit. Will have to start writing shopping lists!

NSD for me yesterday.

£36.09 on petrol, so £3.91 to go into the pot - yay!

Am also tracking spends, retro style using pen and paper! Trying to live on £100 per week (excluding mortgage, childcare and utilities). Last week was a disaster at £169 (jeans, saucepan and shelf - I'm looking at you); this week we're on track as long as we're careful. Must keep logging in here to keep me motivated! All I've bought today is milk.

DVDs off to music magpie for £25. Not a huge amount, but we have also gained more space and less clutter.

NSD here so far and it should stay that way. delasi it is scary how quickly money slips through your fingers, but I think once you've realized that, your first battle is won. Small wins make a big difference.

northender I think the scariest point was that, apart from the meal out, everything was super budget/offers/very minimal spends and yet we had still spent that much. And you're right of course, once you are aware and looking at spends you're in a much better position.

We've been tracking all food for about 3 months (as that was when I decided to start looking at things more carefully, hours at work have been reduced so less disposable income). When I realised we spent much more on food then I expected, I made some changes. Then I decided we needed to look at everything, not just food. I don't want to waste anything (food, money...) like buying something that costs a lot more than it need be or buying in food that never gets eaten, but unfortunately that's what has happened in the past

DH did look at the fridge today and say, "It's empty!" (ahem, it's not, there's cheese, veg, leftovers...) but then, he used to say the same after a delivery What he means is, "There's no bacon or sausages!". Used it all up so should probably restock Writing a shopping list now!

Got DS some new vests today but I had some vouchers left over from his birthday so they were effectively free. Went to my bank and shut down an account and cancelled my credit card. Im going to have everything with Halifax soon.

This afternoon I spent £5.06 in aldi in milk, eggs and fruit. We walked over. Saves petrol and kills an hour with DS although it's just round the corner.

Just tasted my slow cooked rice pudding. It's delicious! Im guessing it will freeze??

NSD today and back to school. Will have to get milk and bread tomorrow, have got out a load of leftover cooked Xmas veg that I froze and am going to make some soup with it which will be nice lunches this week.
Apart from the milk and bread tomorrow I should be able to have another two NSDs this week :-)

Fairly good. Blew 2 .40 on coffee and snack whole working in library at work.
Not popping to shops on way home:)

My dh always says we have no food which means I obviously magic food up every night out of nothing.

£5 in tesco on lunch because dh took my lunch and his today. £10 petrol.

I've just joined dh to halifax.

Ok so I put the petrol in (and accidently went over by 5p-grrr) and paid the school dinners.
Ds has Cubs tonight and fees are due but it's only £7 and is already budgeted for.
It's so much easier to have NSDs when I'm at work. I do still class today as a NSD because I haven't spent anything I hadn't included in the budget.

Fluffy that's what we're good at - magicing food out of nothing! And in no time as well, whilst emptying the dishwasher, ironing, hearing children read etc etc. Or is that just me?

£40.85 on Tesco shop, £2.97 in Lidl and £2.90 on travel. So, £46.72 altogether. Enough food until next Monday now, apart from milk and a loaf.

I am trying to stick to £20 until I get my tax credits and child benefit next Monday and £18 for DS' s scouts, both of which I have available in cash. I have got some savings I can use if necessary, but I'll see if I can just make do.

Yes but you won't need Milk or eggs for a while .

You now need recipes to use them up. I know you can freeze the milk, but I'm not sure about eggs.

Perhaps this thread will help.