We are the Marvelous Frugaleers - Mindfully Managing our Money in May.. Come join us!

[Laska42]

So here is a new thread for all the Magical May Frugaleers!

All are welcome to come and join our friendly supportive group if you'd like to take control of your finances in May and beyond..

We are working together to support each other, live within our means, pay off those debts and save for the life we want!

Good luck everyone for another month

[lilacclery]

at paying back £2000 in 3 months.
I was trying the principles in a spreadsheet but I guess not applying it rigidly.
Reading this Laska has given me fresh motivation to try ynab again

[Unescorted]

La Chatte there are links... although no witty / supportive start. I will leave that to more wise Frugaleeers.

Italian you are a lovely friend.

[Unescorted]

New thread.... over here

[SpottyTeacakes]

Frugal win; dh is working five mins from the train station and his boss has agreed to him giving us a lift if I drive to his work then he will pick us up after work. Saves £8 on the car park for the day and a mile walk from the car park to station

[LaChatte]

Been paid, off to do the budget for the month.

Whoever starts the thread could they put all the useful links in the OP please? I think it helps newcomers (your op was perfect for me this time Laska - however I found the links really useful as a newbie the first time I came on one of these threads, and figured it might be the same for others).

[lilacclery]

My bank now has the functionality of allowing you to add items on your online banking. At end of April I did this for our grocery spends & realised we were dramatically overbudget.
I switched in May to normal shop every second week and top up shops the other weeks & we've still ate well & are under budget. The joint account (new to us this year) is looking it's healthiest yet.

[SpottyTeacakes]

For today Italian.

I've budgeted £50 for today and have already paid for the train. Think I'll get the cash out as I'll need £4 for hospital parking tomorrow. (I HATE car parks that don't take cards!)

[babsmam]

Hi all. Hoping for a Nsd today.
Sorry about posting and running but it's a bit crazy here as the dance show at the theatre is this weekend. Promise to be more conversant in June.

[Laska42]

Yeah .. all i need is some proper money now!

[Peppapissinpig]

Ooh Laska, you should hold your own ynab workshops! Sounds like you've got it all sussed.

[Laska42]

Obviously I get receipts for everything now (inc cashpoint withdrawals - most important because easily forgotten ) and if i spend money at the farmers market ,or for charity / work collections/ to DS/ etc I put it in my phone straight away so i can account for it later .. I also count whats left in my purse reguarily and reconcile it inthe 'cas'h account

So as you can see I have become quite anal now.. but it works! .. the great thing is that it makes you account for every penny , because you get kind of obsessed with it all balancing .. and of course it does al the calculations for you !..

Also dont worry when you overspend in any category (you will) Well dont ignore it , but adjust it from somewhere else .. (this means that after a while you get a much better understanding of what you are actually spending ) ..

Its illuminating and for me quite life changing.. I even have some ( very small ) savings now!

[NK5BM3]

Ipsos - I'm at university. So these are 'big children' who should really know better!!

For Italian. Big hugs.

[Peppapissinpig]

Thank you Alaska, my tutorial is booked in for tomorrow night so hoping it becomes clear. Also thinking it would've easier to start at beginning of month

[Laska42]

Peppa and Ipsos

re YNAB. I went 'cold turkey' and started at the beginning of a new month , but made sure i knew what i had in debt/ OD the month before and subtracted that from my new month income.. . Then put in all Direct debits and a (quite generous ) budget for food/ toiletries petrol etc and then tracked everything as spent it.. (first month was quite an eye opener!)
..
I didnt bother about filling in anything under any other expense categories until id done it for a month just to keep it simple . Neither did or add in the credit card debt as a 'debt' , but just an expense category to be paid as a bill , but I did put pay much as I thought i could afford in repayment towards each month and tracked any CC spending in the notes under the heading.. (and it really helped me see what i was spending on and stop - and i paid it off (£2000) in 3 months!)

Tracking spending is just by the simplest method possible, I keep all receipts and log them in every couple of days under my categories . Also I have a seperate 'cash' account registered , put a record of all I take out of cashpoint into that , and log spends in that seperately ( i find it helps me see what I am really doing especially for food and bits and pieces that may get forgotten .

Sounds complicated but it gets easy once you've done it for a month or so .I definately advise doing the online tutorial.. its totally cured my 'head in the sand' attitude to money .. Also made me finally realise that I simply cannot buy just what I fancy and hell with it!

so today I spent 21.65 out of my 'cash' in the co op( DS over for dinner and bought some reduced stuff to put in freezer for the weekend ) .. have £35 left fo rpetrol .. this will have to do until Friday now ..

[AdoraBell]

I've sneaked in a few vegetarian dishes per week as well, tonight it's cauliflower and egg curry. DD2 picked the cauli yesterday in the grocers and it's enormous.

Spent just under £5 on veg today, that will do the next 3 days with what I already have in. Also £1.40 on oats for breakfast/flapjacks.

You are doing a fab job Italian for you and your poor friends.

[NK5BM3]

Thank you ipsos and spotty! Lots to think about.

I'm peed off with student evaluations. Seriously, the kind of comments students make about their lecturers... If only we can say the same things back to them. Xx should turn up to class and not yawn so much. Xx should pay more attention in class and speak up more. Xx should maybe do the homework before coming to class.

[Fluffycloudland77]

30 on cattery.

[Peppapissinpig]

£2.50 on a bottle of water and 2 packets crisps for DCs

1 flake for me (stressful day!)

[babsmam]

30 in morrisons on fruit and vegetables and other bits but mostly fresh. Lost the plot thus far this week. Roll on payday

[northender]

I'm going to update now and catch up properly with the thread later.

This month has been pretty good finance wise. We've really upped our game and resisted takeaways/meals out and taken lunches to work etc. this has enabled us to afford tickets and travel for a couple of unexpected football matches within our budget

My meal plan for the week:
Monday Savoury rice
Tuesday fish fingers and chips
Wednesday lamb potatoes and veg
Thurs toad in the hole
Friday burgers
Saturday HM chicken nuggets, potato wedges and coleslaw
Sunday Roast lamb and trimmings

Dd has been staying with my parents since Saturday but is back home tonight. Tomorrow ds has a cricket match all day. We'll take a picnic with us, (dd and I) watch some of the cricket and go for a walk. Think we'll have a board game night tomorrow. Thursday and Friday dh is off work and we have a relatively clear weekend so need to plan some cheap/free activities along with plenty of down time.