We are Resolutely Frugal! Frugaleers continuing their new frugal year. All welcome!

[fuzzpig]

Hello! I hope nobody minds me starting the new thread :o

Bootygirl I have an entertainment category in YNAB and within that I have "going out", "restaurants" and "holidays", I would put a take-away in "restaurants". I have a "groceries" category within my "everyday expenses" where my normal food shop goes.

The main entertainment category is for family events and I have a separate one for my own personal spending which also splits into going out, restaurants, books, toiletries etc

I do try to budget for entertainment but with an eye to what is coming up. It might sound a bit obsessive but I have really been trying to balance income and expenditure carefully as things are tight, it was working well but the last few months not so much. I was hoping to get back in balance by the end of March, but a £400 plumbing bill yesterday (not budgeted) makes that unlikely, so I'm back on here to try to work out how to get things under control.

I've just added a 'social' category to YNAB as I got caught out with that last year. I do £50 a month for kids which covers all birthday parties, swimming, toddler group. Basically any kids activity. Then as a couple we have £100 pm. Sounds a lot but in March we have a ball where it's £50 a ticket plus drinks, hotel etc and we go to a couple of these a year. We have an eating out budget of 50 pm which gets spent on takeaways once a fortnight when I'm knackered.

I try to ringfence £20 a week for myself, mostly spent on coffees/lunches out and the very odd cinema trip. Also £28 a month for Pilates, averaged out. DS gets up to £5 a week pocket money, and £13 a month for Scouts. Meals or cinema for both of us happen if we have anything left over.

Still catching up on posts, thank you for your reply Audit regarding contactless bus fares in London, you were right it was £1.50 (it came through on DH's online banking app) - may well have just gone up since then though, ours have

Hoping that DH gets into the proper habit of keeping all receipts and at least making a mental note of every spend - it's all very well saying he'll check the online banking, but that is usually delayed by a couple of days.

£49.20 coming my way from music magpie

I have used YNAB for a while and find it invaluable. Having now got an android phone I downloaded the app and synced for the first time. Looks like it will be good for entering transactions on the go.

The one black hole that has remained in my spending has been cash spending, I try to put as much as possible on my debit card so that it is itemised but I haven't had the energy to split out all cash items (I do try to record large cash items separately but they sometimes get missed as I don't do it straight away.

I'm wondering if I should set up a "wallet" account in YNAB and record all cash items now that I can do it on my phone. Some months the cash spending does get out of control, I have two teenagers and find myself handing over lots in cash especially during the school holidays and don't manage to track it, but other than that I honestly don't know where it all goes.

Has anyone here tried this?

Hurrah, I'm back into online banking. Caught up with the penny challenge money, £35ish transferred in one go.

Feeling more optimistic since the author is sending a cheque this weekend, and she's already started work on her next book, so hopefully once this project is all done it won't be long before I can earn more. I'll need to figure out pricing though - the first book was easy as she gave me the full manuscript in one go (but then paid another amount when it came to editing) - this time we both agree it'd be better to do it as she's writing. How on earth do I figure this out? I could divide the money by the amount of pages, which for the original cheque/typing would work out at £2ish per typed page. Or I could find the handwritten stuff and use that amount (her writing is tiny so it would be vastly different). In terms of an hourly rate, the typing worked out at £15ph. But then how do I figure out the editing bit as we will get to that at some point. Argh! She is very generous but I don't want to take advantage of that, I want it to be fair for both of us. Any suggestions please? This is all new to me.

Thanks for that ipsos and fluffy Yes to fixed rate mortgage that was mentioned ystd, I think would probably go for a 3 year one? I'm thinking my credit rating must be o.kay as have never had any debts?

Yes to buying a bigger share eventually, will have to see how that goes but the aim will be to eventually have a 100% mortgage. This would depend on lots of different things though!

Booty I agree that investment in anything that will benefit your mental health is important, I don't set an entertainment budget per se but will weigh up events on a case by case basis! A take away would be entertainment/ treat budget though not food!

Try for 5 years if you can afford it. 3 years pass very quickly and it's only the tumbling oil price and China devaluing its currency that's put the wind up everyone who knows about that sort of thing. Carney will raise the interest rates when he can.

The fuel bill for the house should be much less than you currently pay for storage rads.

We didn't pay for a new phone line connection, it was free with the broadband.

Forgot to say thank you for the other lovely posts re: DSD :)

Sounds like a good plan Pavonia I don't use YNAB but I am trying to record ALL spends, it's the little things that are so easily forgotten and add up to big amounts! Personally, I'd prefer to just take some cash out at the start of the week and stick to that, but then DH reckons that'd be worse for him as he'd just blow through it.

It's complicated by the fact that we have to have cash for bus fares (I don't have a device on which I can use an m-ticket). I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and buy a longer term ticket, but if I do that I kind of need to get them for DCs as well because they get so many buses these days to all the activities they do, and then there's the '3in1' card for DS which entitles him to further discount on fares - DD has one, because they are free to those on FSM, but by the time DS was old enough, DH had a job so if we get him one it's £50 (for 3 years, so would be worth it). I need to properly do the maths for it I think. DH doesn't get a bus pass anymore and walks most of the time but that is definitely not an option for me.

Oops! Spendier day than I'd anticipated but only because we went to the shops today instead of tomorrow. Spent about £45 on needed items except a top I saw in Next and couldn't resist for DD. She really doesn't need any tops but it is adorable!
My mum has very generously offered a substantial contribution to getting some decorating done in our house. Really kind of her as the house is getting us down a bit and it means we can get it done sooner rather than later. Had to buy some paint samples, obviously!

We don't spend much on entertainment except that all three of us go out for lunch on a Saturday. I put that on our grocery budget because it is a definite marriage-maintenance thing and I consider that to be just as important as actual food. :-) I don't think we have any other entertainment spending really.

We don't put anything by for family days/entertainment either. Can't really afford it. If we do anything dh pays, he might be able to afford something once a month I suppose. That's what our personal spends is for really.

Fuzzpig sometimes modern life seems so complicated! We are lucky in London that the kids get free bus fares with their Oyster photocards and the tube fares are quite cheap for them too. I used to be handing over cash to my son to top up his Oyster which contributed to my black hole (he uses the tube to get to school) but now I have set up auto top-up for both of us so that helps me track what we are spending on travel and it's more convenient.

You are correct about little things adding up, last year I spent £2,600 in cash that I haven't analysed!!! Maybe some of those weren't so little. When you work it out that is £7 a day, so I can sort of see how it happened - I definitely need to analyse.

Pavonia - I have a cash account set up on ynab - I transfer money into it when k withdraw cash and then record spends from it on the app before reconciling every couple of days.

Does anyone buy kids shoes online? I've only ever done clarks before but would like to try other brands. I can't dace shops with my 2 year old and my 15 month old though!

Today's cash spending was £5.25 in the charity shop on two books and a dvd. I'm spending the evening with Richard Gere!

Silvertap that's what I was thinking of doing, glad to hear it works for you. I will start next time I get cash out.

The only other shoes I have bought online were Geox from Amazon for my daughter, bur they weren't cheap, she has orthotics and it is hard to find girls shoes to suit.

£40 lidl
£7 aldi
£1 pound shop.

Pavonia my dd also has orthotics it's a bloody nightmare. We always go independent with shoes shops, they tend to stock the better European brands.

Two expensive days - £100 yesterday on a meal out for ds2 birthday and a gift for a new baby plus I repaid £12 to dd2 and picked up a birthday present for ds1.

£90 for an Asda online delivery, £29 in matalan for new underwear for dd's and a t-shirt, £10 at the market and £9.68 in home bargains mainly on dog treats and toiletries.

Tomorrow and Monday will definitely be nsd's, then payday on Tuesday which can't come quick enough.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

£7.25 on 2 hot chocolates and 2 doughnuts, after DS's archery lesson.

£25 riding lesson. That was it.

Spent the afternoon de cluttering mums wardrobe. All out. Half back. Have listed a lot of things on eBay for her.

Thanks guys! Yes I am going to keep take aways in the grocery budget!

TBH it's hard to estimate entertainment! Especially with 2 DS 13 & 14!

We don't have a specific budget for ents, it has to come from the holidays fund really.

Today ds1 had his second meningitis b jab. They aren't available on the NHS for him only newborns onwards so we've paid to have it done. He had it done in boots and used gift cards to pay for all but £15. Got £6 worth of boots points so that was good. DH bought him some mini eggs afterwards, £1
So that was ok. Last night we had a takeaway £25 and this morning I paid £35 for peak which is a brain training app. That's for a year pro subscription. I do it every day and I'm trying to improve my memory and focus. Absolute waste of money but I've done it now!

I don't have an entertainment budget either. We do see a lot of friends, but it's always at our/their houses for a meal or takeaway. It's rare we go out out iyswim. The season starts soon, so even less time for entertainment.

fuzz Difficult. I think maybe an hourly rate might the fairest option given the circumstance?

Actually was a NSD as we had compost, although I need to see what DH has spent at Tesco, he bought a few bits, and a nice bunch of unfrugal flowers for me

DD has been in London this weeks with the VPA dept. Had a ball. Been to see Billy Elliot and to Harry Potter World, amongst many other things.

Girlie Just don't forget that every aspect of your move is a business transaction, so it's perfectly ok to look for the best deal in each area. I got 3 quotes for each part of our move. Personally, just personally, I wouldn't want to tie in for 5 years, whatever the fiscal signs were at the time of the move. Just too long a time for me. I don't even do it now. And definitely get independent financial advice.