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.....

It costs at every turn Coco - pay to list, pay when you sell, pay Paypal fees. Postage costs can be quite high as well so it can be hard to make money unless you're sure what you're selling will actually sell for a reasonable amount.

Can I join please...very overdrawn at Xmas and although covered now I desperately want to cut back on food shopping.
Tend to buy in m and s and tesco and its way too expensive.
Have a not very local Aldi which I want to shop in for Jan and Feb and make all food fresh.
Also need to declutter and sell on some stuff, never done this before, and also use this money for some essential building jobs.
Also need to do first ever ( I PAIE) tax return:(

Back in the autumn this thread was a big help to me in keeping an eye on my spending, so it is definitely time for me to come back after a spendyChristmas. We had an aim of clearing the overdraft by the end of November and it felt really good to meet this target. But now we have to sort out our easy access savings which are down to pretty much nothing; we have 2 holidays which have to be paid for in March and May and nothing in the bank to pay for them yet.

The second half of the year will be about either trying to pay off a bit more on the mortgage each month or saving for a new bathroom.

All through the year I am going to put some money aside for Christmas, or get one gift each month. We are a small family and only buy token gifts but it all adds up anyway.

Doing meal plans and trying to have plenty of no spend days really helps, this is going to be my focus too.

eBay IS a faff, but it can be worth it. I made £465 between end of October and December, just by listing 48 things we no longer wanted or needed from around the house. I'm a massive fan of decluttering !I was incredibly lucky, as I sold 75% of that, although some of the things had to be relisted four or five times before they finally sold. So, if you've got the time and inclination and live near a post office, it can be worth it. Always have a look on there to see what similar items to yours are selling for, and I've found Sunday to be a good day to list, as most people are in Sunday evenings.

My tip for boosting the NSDs is to try to spend only on days when you know you have to spend. So, if you're nearly out of milk or bread, if you can, make do and buy it the next day, rather than rushing out to buy it when you still have enough for your morning cuppa. Hope that makes sense!

Also, I have 3 accounts I manage online. Current, savings and a basic one for all my bills and DDs and S/Os. Money is paid into the current account and I transfer it to the bills and my weekly allowance to the savings one. Then I transfer my budget from the savings to the current every week. I usually take this out in cash, although I sometimes use my debit card to cover the shopping and then withdraw whatever's left in cash. It is a bit of a faff, but it works for me, although it took a good while to get the hang of it.

Hope this might be of help .

Happy New Year everyone. I went shopping yesterday evening at Tesco to get reduced stuff. 3kg Brussels sprouts (80p) and 4.8 kg carrots (20p) so I have spent the whole morning preparing and freezing. Also got a huge pork joint reduced from £23.80 to £2.38 and quite a few other bargains so worth the effort. I have enough in the freezer to keep us going through January. I should only need milk, fruit, salad and yogurt.

I won't be working in the new year so need to cut costs.

fuzzpig, we swear by pasta (wholemeal is more filling and you need less), pesto and grated cheese, sometimes with tinned pulses (butter or borlotti beans, usually), or chopped up avocado and hard boiled egg, or olives and fried mushrooms and red pepper. Squeeze a drop of lemon or lime juice to the pesto and season with lots of black pepper.

Jinty, great idea ! I often finish work late,so instead of picking up reduced cake( see NY resolution no 2) I will buy savoury and freeze! Thanks!

Thanks for the ebay info. I might gather up what I think we could sell and check out the prices of similar items.

Not a NSD here after all, had to get water, fairy liquid, milk and eggs at the Spar earlier.

Thanks cremeegg that sounds much nicer than boring old pasta with cheese. I'm determined to only serve up pasta with plenty of veg from now on.

Amazingly DS ate plain white fish tonight (he will eat fish fingers already) so feeling a bit more optimistic - we are trying to use the frugalism as a reason to also cook from scratch more. The DCs aren't massively fussy TBF, but I think we've actually made them more limited by always cooking the same boring stuff and relying too much on freezer food IYSWIM? They've become accustomed to NOT trying new things and expecting processed tastes more often. The last couple of years have been so awful that something, frankly, had to slide. But here's to a (literal!) fresh start :)

Need to spend time writing down all the meals we know the DCs will eat and gradually build up from there I think.

Shopping delivery tomorrow came in around £70 all in for a week's worth - not too shabby considering we included a huge pork joint which we wouldn't normally do (dinner for nine people tomorrow!) and we've specifically planned a stir fry for the leftovers on Friday :)

It's weird shopping to a budget - I'm ashamed to say we don't normally do that. For the last year in particular I just think "fuck it" and add whatever I want to the trolley.

My mantra from now on when I want something will be "What do I need more - this, or a house?" :)

Also though, I just wanted to add to the new thread my one biggest tip for saving money (I have posted this on MN before so please forgive me repeating myself!):

Pocket money. I think it was around 18 months ago now that DH and I decided to allocate money for frivolities. This was because previously we were just randomly buying stuff like DVDs and games - not a huge amount of money but still a bit daft. Sometimes where our tastes differ (eg DH loves scifi but I don't) we felt we needed to justify it to each other.

So now we each have £20pcm to do whatever we want with, without needing to justify it to anyone. We use it for DVDs, games, iTunes, books, apps, memorabilia, whatever.

It's not a lot of money at all really but as we have a low income it feels about right - and crucially it's enough to feel like a lovely treat when we buy something but we know we CAN afford it. I feel quite strongly that it's better to allow yourself SOME treats rather than denying yourself everything so it doesn't feel like such a drag.

We record it all down to the penny in a cash book, we pool resources if it's something we both want like a comedy box set. We can save cumulatively (I saved mine for several months to get my iPod). Works really well for us anyway so just wanted to share it :)

Sorry just meant to add with the 'doesn't feel like such a drag' thing, it makes the whole thing more achievable and IME you are less likely to think "fuck it" and splurge because you know you do have the money for it if you wait a while.

There will be a vet Bill today at casa Adora, Teddy managed To Get a metal clip stuck round his ankle, almost went straight through. DH is off To collect him soon, not our usual vet so I expect we'll have To pay in full Today.

Other than that, NSD.

We used To have pocket money when I was working too.

Lot's of pork left from yesterday's food, enough for dinner Today and some for the freezer.

£11.50 on a cleanser.

Oh lord your poor dog, he must have been in so much pain.

I think the pocket money idea is a good one fuzzpig. I allocate pocket money for the children but not myself. Will need to adjust my budget!

Yes was Fluffy, but the vet has said it didn't Go through the skin. He's currently semi sedated and dosed up with anti inflamatorios. DH drove round looking for a vet open, he's off now To collect him.

Newyearchanger We know people who shop in M&S for all food, it costs them over £1000 per month plus they eat out. We spend £120-£140 a month. We can't believe they spend so much & they can't believe we spend so little

Poor adora dog! Hope he's ok.

Phew. Just ploughed my way through the thread. Welcome old and new frugaleers.

NSD for me today.

My quick top tips (as my dinner is nearly ready) is put away any savings when you get paid rather than hope there will be something left at the end of the month. I give myself weekly budget for food, petrol etc and work in cash. Cook in bulk and use a slow cooker.

Poor Adora dog! I hope he recovers quickly.

Fluffy, I call into m and s on way home sometimes as is the nearest shop but lethal cost wise. Otherwise I do tesco online or at weekend. My dh works near Aldi and pops there... But sometimes we both dip locate so something else to work on there!

Duplicate

Dog is back home, a bit dozey but other wise unscathed. Don't know How the clip didn't Go right through but I'm glad it didn't. £60 To the vet, very cheap imho.

NewYear do you meal plan? You could aim To buy everything for the week's meals, or have it delivered, and double up the first time on things like bread and milk then freeze the excess.

Happy New Year everyone. I smiled from ear to ear as the clock struck midnight. I logged onto internet banking, and for the first time in over 10 years, I owed NOBODY ANYTHING!! It was an amazing feeling.

DH got paid before Xmas last month, so January will be abit tight. Once DD's go out tomorrow, we should have about £100 to last til 7th, when CB goes in. That will then have to last 2 weeks til my payday.
It should be do-able. We have food in, and I've mealplanned. I've withdrawn cash to cover DS1's school money and Karate.

On the subject of NSD's, I class a NSD as one where I have spent no money that day at all. I don't usually count petrol, as I fill the tank on payday, and that usually lasts the month. Today was NSD, so a great start to the year

We have a joint account that all our money gets paid into (wages, CB, Tax credits) and all our DD, S/O, groceries, childcare etc comes out of there. From next month we will be having an allowance each of £20 per 4 weeks, pocket money, that will be transferred into our individual accounts. We also have 3 instant access savers set up, and from this month, £30 will go into 'car bills', £30 will go into 'Xmas 2014' and £20 will go into 'DC's' to cover softplay etc.

Hi All

Just joining in. I have been so restrained regarding Amazon and Ebay. OK I know its only January 1, but I have had many moments when I have thought oooh I could do with an oojamafilip , or perfume off Ebay and then I thought....NOOOOO......use up all that perfume you already have and keep away from anything you do not NEED.

Read all those books, watch all those DVD;s, use up all those creams, shampoos etc.

I have a very expensive month. Council Tax, Car Tax, Peridontist - £100 plus a DD. for the car breakdown cover, not to mention all the other bills so going to be a bit tough not to go overdrawn at some point.

Positives are that I have no CC debt and about £2,400 saved.

Am going to buy one £20 gift card per month from Waitrose/John Lewis to give as Christmas pressies next year. Maybe unimaginative but you can use them for food or get something online.

If you use Poundland they do a wonderful Argan Oil spray for your hair, best thing I have bought in years. In a brown bottle with yellow lid. Its called Miracle Moisture.

Well done Leilandri that must be an amazing feelling.