Marvellous Money Saving March.

[CremeEggThief]

Hi All,
Thought I'd start a new thread for all regulars and anyone else who is interested in saving money in March .

No they came and did the whole road we didn't have a choice!

Hi everyone, I've recently kept a spending diary and then set a budget. It's working well on the whole. Doing a spending diary for a month or more really opens your eyes to where the money is going.
I buy the basics/value ranges at the supermarket as much as possible. Some things are a false economy if you don't like them, but be prepared to give them a go. You may be pleasantly surprised!

I'm interested in water bills. We are on a meter and we get 2 bills a year of about £250 each. Does that sound ok? I always think it seems like a lot but that could be because we always forget about it and get caught out. I might see if it's possible to switch to a monthly bill so it would be easier to budget.

Pointless is that because your waste and your supply are with different people? Ours is £150 a year less than yours. I have a friend with two separate bills like that and she pays loads

I don't think so. We get 2 bills a year from Severn Trent. The water meter was here when we moved in and just before Xmas someone came to change the battery in it. They did the whole road and were from the contractors that the council use for bin men etc.
We are now starting to wonder if the water meter even works or if we are being billed as if we didn't have one. I am very confused!

For those who keep spending diary. How do you use it to save money? Do you use the info to create a yearly or monthly budget?

Any tips appreciated!

Just added the two last weeks of February. And if that is an indication I don't know how we are not in debt? Or does it even out over the year?

Surly. I trying to see if we can reduce our heating bills. At the moment we don't have it on in morning moving around so much don't get cold but evening it's on a lot. I am the culprit though so going to cut back as have a third of a tank of oil and want it to last. Having already used €350 or 500ltr in two months.

Well...feb was a nightmare! :(
Spent £500 on food...our budget is £400.
Half term cost £££ even though we only went out on one day.
Ds1 has got 2 trips that need to be paid for next week...total of £90 for both.
Our holiday balance (week in uk) needs to be saved by May - £400
I am afraid our mums will be getting bunches of co op flowers for Mother's Day this year!
Sigh...not getting very far with my frugal living tbh...
Have come up with a cheap idea for our conservatory roof though...it's glass and in the summer it's like a greenhouse.
No way can we afford proper made to measure blinds...so am thinking of making voile panels (fabric from ikea) and using either poles or Velcro to attach them!
Think it will work.....

Oh...and I have the dentist next week...that will be ££££ :(

Curly when getting bank charges back was all over the news I got £1300 back and that wasn't all of them, that was just the offer I accepted. They were run up in my very non frugal days but Those days are behind me now. It was really easy to get them back so good luck.

Thank you Iamnot i havent added them up yet but i think it should be a couple hundred at least.

If its immersion leave it on for an hour at 55.

fluffy is that the thermostat on the boiler that should be at 55 or is there a thermostat on the immersion heater too?

My water bill is £46 x 12 months so £552 per year! I'm sure we'd save a bit if we went onto a metre as DS1 friend's mum had one when they moved into their house up the street from us and when she rang to see if it could be taken out, the lady from the water board told her to give it a try and she might be pleasantly surprised. I think she saves about £100 a year and she doesn't scrimp on water and had a dripping outdoor tap for most of the year.

Booty I just use my spending diary so I can see where the money goes as we forget. In my January round up I said my top categories were entertainment, eating out and myself - whereas if you'd have asked me I would have told you we never go anywhere, never eat out and I never spend money on myself - well, its not true coz I have it in black and white now in front of my eyes!

I don't bother with budgets apart from normal everyday monthly spends, my plan is (hah) just to keep rolling over unspent money from the previous months until something unexpected comes up that we need to spend it on (like a car repair, or a repair to the house). Like last month, I brought forward £134 to add to my normal leftover money, and this month I needed my oven fixing which was unexpected.

I should start saving up for Christmas now though which I haven't.

Hi everyone - good to see so many new people

MissA - insurance... especially if you have damaged more than one panel on the car.

Bantam - I lost my user name too. The email I had signed up with no longer exisits so I can't get it back. Although I quite like Unescorted - makes me sould like the cat who walks by itself.

Feb was a strange month - we seemed to have loads of random bills (music lessons, birthdays and car related) and boiler broke. Basically all the bills that came in over Christmas that we couldn't afford to pay. So spent lots but it is good to be warm again and not have to avoid the people at the garage across the road.

For some reason our main grocery shop was about 100 less than it normally is - we haven't run out of food so I don't know what I did differently. 171 for the month - less than 40 per week for 2 adults and 2 kids. That is just not right - maybe they didn't scan some of the items properly.

Ive just realise ive confused my immersion heater with the oil boiler. I have both.

I use the oil boiler to heat the water as the immersion heater is very expensive.

60+ posts already?! It's not even midday! I don't think the Frugaleers will ever have a one-thread month again, will we! :o

Going to add up our final stuff from last month. We definitely went over our £400 food budget. It's those bloody top-up shops. We've cut down but still they sure add up!

surly thermostats are on the tank, it's usually round, near the bottom and covered by a plastic cap with a screw attaching the cap.

We pay £120 twice a year. When I was online I checked about paying monthly and they wanted £35 a month! which seemed really unfair to me.

Meters save money if you've got dishwashers etc, our water board told us we could have it removed at the last house if we didnt save money but it was rental so we didn't bother.

If you have kids with medical conditions that require lots of water use (I think excema was one because of all the baths with oil additives I suppose) there is some sort of discount similar to warm front but you'd have to google.

I know people who are no better off with meters but they haven't moderated their behaviour to save water.

We are on a meter and pay £17.43 for the month, but we live in the north east and there are only two of us. It was a tenner a month more for the first year, but the water board reduced it, without my asking, so I must have done something right.

We are very lucky to live in a new build terrace, so at the most, I've had the heating on six hours a day. Currently on four hours, but hoping to reduce it down to two by the end of March. Last year, it was off completely by the beginning of April, but it was such a mild winter. My gas bill was £92 for the quarter to mid February, so very pleased with that.

Thanks fluffy- will go have a look for it.

Once I get a shower put in will def get a water meter, I really resent how much they charge for water. It seems such an unfair system and makes no sense how they work it out

Been into town this morning, took back trousers so that is £16 up and bought another pair that was £9. Did think could have probably got them cheaper in Sainsburys but that would require a separate trip so in terms of petrol and time not sure would have saved much. Sorry that is all rather boring!!

Came home for lunch despite dds demands for a Subway. No other spends today

Booty girl I kept all my receipts and added up all the different things after splitting them into categories. Eg. Food, petrol, entertainment (in my case u usually a coffee out), miscellaneous (clothes, presents, make up), haircuts.
I then listed the items that are constant eg. Rent, car insurance, mobile phone bill etc. Then worked out roughly how much I would need to put away each month for tax, I'm self employed. Then how much to put away for incidentals such as car repairs, new tyres. Obviously you can only spend what you earn. I will not use a credit card, got into debt with those in the past! Never again! I made a provisional budget and then tweaked it. I allowed £200 a month for food, I'm single so it's just me. Then decided I would try to cut it down to £160, which I did manage last month. I batch cook and buy value stuff. My worst category is miscellaneous, somewhat unpredictable! For example I got a gum infection so had to visit the dentist.
Basically I try to save as much as I can for holidays and a rainy day. I know I'm lucky I do earn a liveable wage, though I'm not rolling in it.

I've made another two banana loads with two off bananas. They use so much flour and sugar though and we eat them in two days!

Ok, the whole car thing has just taken on a new dimension.... DH was told by our usual garage they can't fit him in until Thursday so he decided to check the engine to make sure it is all cosmetic damage (and it is, luckily!) BUT inside the hood he found someone's passport! How random is that? It must have been left there when our car was parked in the airport car park, but why or how we just can't even guess. We have left it in the local police station who are taking it really seriously as the person had been to lots of odd places including Afghanistan and Egypt.

Ooo MissA! Are they going to keep you informed? That's really odd. Maybe someone left it there for someone else and you got home before they'd picked it up!

Thanks bantam and frustrated!

Been talking to DH about cutting our sky bill down its in my name so going to ring them. We watch it so not cutting it completely but we will try doing without multi room as we can record on one box.

Also nagging dh to ring airtricity as they re offering 20% off to new customers. If they won't give us discount I ll get him to go to electric Ireland as they have 15/17% off. He is also going to ring his mobile contractor as he is supposed to be getting 4G but it's not in this area to see what he can get it down!

We will have water bills from April. Here in Ireland its going to be an nightmare......

Oh missA it's good you left it in!

My cakes are undercooked and I didn't realise until I cut them. I'm so annoyed. All that food money and time wasted.

Gosh, this thread moves at the speed of light these days!

missA that sounds really odd, especially given where the person had been! Wonder if it was anything dodgy.

So an NSD to start March with and tomorrow will be NSD too as I have a load of work to do. Plus I have been asked to do a load of flyers for a Latin Night in Rotterdam! I've also seen a job advertised that I would be perfect for but I feel I lack the confidence to apply. Still I guess I need to give it a go at least.

Our water bill is really low, around £160 per year, apparently this is the result of historic agreement for our area. I don't think having a water meter could possibly be cheaper. We also only pay for 8 months a year so get 4 months free of that payment.

Realise that tomorrow will not be NSD as doing the Aldi shop, but that is budgeted for so won't be too many surprises.

Want to make Tuesday an NSD though. Might be roped in to be a parent helper on DS school trip on Friday, his teacher was quite keen as I am quite strict and don't spend lots of time chatting, also it might be that I explained he is a puker!