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

[FFSletmechangemyname]

Hi everyone, I've tried starting a new discussion and it's telling me I can't so was wondering if I posted beef is you'll could help. This is what I put. Sorry for the essay

Right need help, money is like water and just runs through our fingers.
DH let's me deal with all the money and burys his head in the sand and then blames me when it goes wrong . I'm not good with money at all, we argued last weekend about money and I told him to do it. Do you think he has ! Has he eck.

So we get £2500 between us each month and bills, food petrol nursery fees come to £2301.00
We are always in the overdraft some months by £500 some months less,so always working at a loss.

We do have £3000 in savings. (God knows how ).
I get paid weekly and he gets paid monthly but on the first working day after the 5th which is a pain in the backside.

An example of this month is that he got paid, we were £300 down and then DDs birthday he then said we should take her to a theme park for her 'treat' so £150 later for that plus birthday and we are 2 weeks till pay day and have £126.

I will get paid as well but that will need to pay bills.
We need £100 for fuel to get us both to work and then shopping money, I do this in Aldis so has cut back a lot.

We will be working at a loss again, the thing is he will go to spend money, I will say we don't have it he then cops and we row so next time I don't bother saying anything because I can't deal with the hassle.
This is how we've got into this position though so we need to change it., and stop spending so much money.

Please help

We have 3 DC, a mortage and some debts.

[Pointlessfan]

Hi FFS and welcome. There is loads of good advice on this thread, reading back through old ones might be a good starting point.
First things to do are to start meal planning and writing a shopping list and stick to it.
Join Quidco etc and get cash back on everything.
Write down and keep the receipts for everything you buy for a month to see where you are going wrong and what you can cut back on.

[Peppapissinpig]

Laska - I've downloaded the free trial of Ynab. Can I start it now even thought we are near the end of the month and most monthly bills have already gone out? Plus massively o/d. Or should I wait for start of June?

am slowly working my way around the tutorials and help pages butam just keen to get going ASAP!

[Unescorted]

Pointless if you are near us (kinder way) feel free to call in. We are at home.

FFS you need to get your husband on side - otherwise you will end up scrimping so he can spend more. I know how frustrating that can be.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Ok, how many bank accounts do you have?.

If its one joint then take your dh's bank card off him. Men fritter. Not all but I bet yours does so does mine.

He can have a packed lunch to work and fill up the car with cash you give him. Do the same for yourself too so it's "fair".

Set up a bill paying account, first day he gets paid put his contribution into it. We can deal with lowering bills after this.

Look at how much is needed for the debts, then pay them by standing order plus £5, that way you chip YEARS off the debt without noticing.

If you meal plan you can save a lot of money. Make a plan of what you need for each meal incl breakfast and pack lunches.

Remember, if nothing changes then nothing changes.

The time between cutting back and seeing results is mind blowingly boring but it does work.

When you've got on top of it you can look at trimming bills by swapping provider etc but for the moment get on top of the basics.

[SpottyTeacakes]

NK I've messaged you

[SpottyTeacakes]

£31 on petrol and emergency wipes after my step mum waved the dc off in my car with a chocolate mini roll each

[lilacclery]

When I read here about ynab which I own a copy of & have some issue with dropbox I think I must sort it out!

I'm applying similar principles though.

[AdoraBell]

FFS welcome. Do not allow DH access to the money you have saved, even if you have to move it.

Fluffy hope the iPad can be fixed and sorry DH doesn't like London. I'd go with a friend in future if he's adamant about not going back.

Unescorted I don't tweet, sorry, but best of luck to DS for the remainder.

Spent just under £60 in the supermarket yesterday, plus £16 on underwear for myself and one DD. T'other one will get some next week. Have meal planned and I'll need to buy more veg and oats. I have half a pack of fresh coffee and nothing in which to brew it now that everything is packed, but I found some filters for the old machine in the cupboard so I'm using those like a tea strainer

[SpottyTeacakes]

£12 on train ticket to London for tomorrow. Taking the dc to Southbank for the day tomorrow.

[LaChatte]

NSD here, payday tomorrow, current account still reading just under €460, but should be about €320 (big shop done and a meal out, but neither showing up in account yet, very annoying as I wanted to do a sweep before payday and I can't find the reciept for the shop to work out the exact amount remaining).

[FFSletmechangemyname]

Sorry if I don't respond individually, I am I the app and can't see who said what and my memory is just not that good.


We have 2 accounts, mine and his, nothing joint. I pay around £500 of bills out of mine and he pays the rest from his. Money is pooled though, in so much as it all goes on food bills etc.
The thing is I am worse with money then him and am just as guilty of spending £25 in a supermarket when I've already done the shopping (didn't just do that oh no not me). He won't spend a lot for weeks and leaves it up to me but then right before pay day he will decide he needs something for the garden /hobby he's going out/lunch etc and if I say we can't afford it he will go off on one saying 'where's the money gone '. I get it I do waste money but that then puts me off saying anything next time and so the cycle continues.

He honestly seems to think we have this endless pot of money and we can do all these things, meals days out and save and pay all the bills. We can't do it we have £200 left a month. That's nothing and is why we are going over every month.

[needastrongone]

Afternoon.

£2.12 on biscuits for work today, but claim from work for them, as they were for clients. A Very Big Client. With A Big Budget. And, hopefully, A Big Order

unescorted Total respect for your DS, you have every right to be very proud of him. Boast away. DH worked in Ullapool many many years ago, he said it was possibly the most beautiful place he has ever been.

collie Sounds hopeful for the new role, fingers crossed!

FFS (love the name!) Planning and organisation is your key. I get slack when stressed and busy. Tips as follows -

Meal plan.
Sandwiches to work.
Work out your outgoings, work out your incomings, therefore you have a disposable income figure. Then, separate this into 'pots' for upcoming financial commitments, fuel, birthdays, household work, Xmas, holidays, clothes, hobbies etc. Then try as hard as you can to stick with it.
Your DH needs to accept that treating your DD expensively isn't going to help.
Look through Direct Debits - any you can cancel outright?
Use Topcashback for purchases, free money!
Home cook and add in bulked up ingredients such as beans and lentils.

My meal plan for the week is -

Fritatta and salad.
Stuffed peppers.
Veg lasagne.
Cauli and bacon pasta bake.
Drunk Chicken.
Gammon, slow cooked with salad and wedges.
Roasted med veg.
Pasta and sauce.
Mexican
Spinach and lentil Daal.

[Passthecake30]

ffs I would let your DH have a certain allowance to fritter away a month without having to clear it with you. Then take charge of everything else. I personally wouldn't like any control over how I spent my money after earning it....even if it is for the good of the household. (That's why dp and I have personal accounts and a joint account with a standing order between them each month)

£5 Holland and barrats on prunes and a stick of liquorice. ..

Cant wait until next week to start the local job. Bloody train cancelled and I just wasted half an hour. Oh and £1 on crisps

[SpottyTeacakes]

Ffs I agree. It's important that you know exactly how much you have left over each month to spend as you please. You have about the same as us and it really doesn't go far!

We have a bill account which dh pays in £1400 pcm and I pay in £424 pcm. This is used for everything (bill wise) apart from mobile phones including food, petrol, car tax (not mot). We also have £50 a month coming out of this and going into savings.

Then whatever is left in our own account (£100 for me and a fair bit more for dh) is ours to do as we please pay off credit cards be it mobile phone, meal out, birthdays etc.

Some people on here are super organised and have accounts for birthdays, holidays, fun, cars etc but I find we don't have the money to do that yet.

[Peppapissinpig]

Ipsos, I'm just trying to get my head round Ynab. Am going to join a live web tutorial tomorrow night which should show the basics. When I had a quick look through it said to update transactions a couple of times a week which I think I can do via the synced app on my iPhone.

[SpottyTeacakes]

Apart from rent, food is out biggest expenditure. I hate being hungry though

[LaChatte]

Our food budget (or lack of) was where a lot of of money was being wasted. I worked it out, we were spending well over €1000 a month in the supermarket. Now, with careful meal planning, and online shopping (so you can be really careful about what you buy, and not be so tempted by chocolate and crisps ), we are down to €600, a pretty significant difference!

As I was posting earlier on, the latest spends were going through my account, and by the time I had refreshed my online banking page I had the correct balance, so swept it clean for payday tomorrow bringing the total amount put into saving this month to a whopping €1148.27 - until four months ago we were constantly ending the month in the red (no massive change in salary or anything, just joining these threads).

Roll on tomorrow, payday, so I can do the budget for June. It's DH's 30th, so that might be €€€, but I'll let him off just this once

[ItalianWiking84]

Hi all
Back for a quick hello
Cheering for the lady with the son on the bike adventure
And can't remember who asked but the shoes I ordered where from zelando and esprit, I checked their website and they also have them in UK
It's been some emotional days, still feeling a bit empty inside and of course extremely sorry for my friends, they are completely broken down... Funeral is tomorrow and I'm dreading going because I know I will be so emotional and crying so much
Ordere some flowers for the grave and us and some friends have put a little memorial in the papers
Trying to be there for my friends, who have been offered counseling which I think they will take later
Will getting back on checking accounts and exspensise from June on, no energy at the moment

[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.