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Frugaleers MayBee just MayBee

999 replies

Unescorted · 13/05/2021 06:55

If this goes horribly wrong it is not my fault.....

Old Thread

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/4202621-friendly-frugaleers-accounting-accurately-all-april

Sorry Amber my week has been a cross between the Twilight Zone and soap opera with falling ratings at Christmas.

Today's joy looking after dDad while working. It feels like the toddler years are back (minus trying to fish fuzzy felt out of bottoms and sultanas out of noses hopefully). Thankfully they have superfast internet so I can "work".

OP posts:
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marthasmum · 10/06/2021 22:15

gen ouch that is a steep mortgage. Good to hear it will be paid off before retirement though. I think pet costs sound reasonable value, flea treatment etc adds up. And beauty costs are fair enough too if you have the cash, it’s good to have affordable treats.

Unescorted · 10/06/2021 22:52

Martha the health insurance is £717 pa. You could do prescriptions at £20 per prescription and then get the glasses on line - cheapest I have got them for is £26.

Drain insurance... check if you have anyone else's drain going across your property. If you do then the utility company is liable for any works.

OP posts:
marthasmum · 10/06/2021 22:58

That’s interesting unescorted thank you. One reason I have the drain insurance is we had an issue years ago (caused by our nappy liners I think Blush and were told by the utilities we were responsible. I will check to see if it’s changed.

AmberIsACertainty · 11/06/2021 01:06

Martha my advice might not be of much use to you. I've lived most of my life at the opposite end of the financial spectrum. Eg. In 2009 I was living on a total annual income of 8122 net from which I had to pay everything including rent, car and pet costs. So my philosophy for life is probably completely different to yours.

For a start I don't believe in insurance. It's not a public service, it's a business, designed to make a profit. They survive by paying out less than people pay them (sorry to state the obvious!) meaning the chances of you not needing a payout are high. Then there's the issue of them finding every possible way to avoid paying out or capping the payout. I insure the car because it's a legal requirement and buildings insurance for owned property (because even a cheap property is incredibly valuable and if burned to the ground would become almost worthless). I don't insure anything else ever.

The UK (assuming that's where you live) has a welfare state which isn't really fit for purpose but better than nothing, that's my insurance. If DH died are you really going to be on the dole or would you survive somehow a bit more easily than that? People without a mortgage can live with much less income than those with rent or mortgage still to pay so even on minimum wage you'd cope somehow. You could bank the monthly insurance fee and go on a holiday when the time period is up and he's still (hopefully) alive, or buy a new (to you) car with it, or redecorate etc.

Vet bills I'm pragmatic about. I have a bit of an issue with modern medicine and have a "just because we can doesn't mean we should" attitude to prolonging life in the old and infirm. I think an awful lot of people leave it too long before PTS. If I did have a potential large vet bill for a treatment I would have wanted, and can't pay it, well that's the gamble I took and I'd accept it. What I wouldn't do is run out of money every month in order to afford insurance, I consider it crazy behaviour to ruin your own life to possibly prolong your pet's life. I believe in equality, so your life is as valuable as theirs and there's no guarantee they'd even need the veterinary treatment you're ruining you own life for (not quite "ruined" that's a bit dramatic in your case, but you get my drift).

I think I'd pay the pipe one if I was you because it's small change with your income and the company could maybe force you to have a repair if necessary, leaving you in a bit of a pickle if it was expensive, unlike say a broken window where you can choose to reglaze as and when you've got the money.

Car warranty insurance probably isn't worth the paper it's written on if you read the small print. Would the world cave in if something went wrong and you ended up driving an old banger for a few years while saving for something better?

Freezer insurance. When you have £3700pcm. I honestly think in an emergency (which probably won't even happen) you could afford to find £150 to replace the freezer and another £100 for some food to go in it. You'd just have to skip something else that month.

My last pair of glasses cost £40. The ones before that £97, 12 years ago, plus £20 for updated lenses in the interim. Do you all have some sort of eye condition needing very frequent prescription upgrades? None of my business obviously, I just can't imagine what you're doing with them to need £160 for glasses each per year.

Savings. They're great. But running out of money before the month is out because you saved some doesn't make sense. You haven't run out, it's there. Do you really need to save £300pcm to go on holiday? I can't comprehend a holiday costing that much, unless perhaps you've got a large family and only a few months to save.

£250 for sundries is plenty. I think the problem is you've no sense of rationing yourself? Are you someone who has whatever they want/need whenever they want/need it and that's why you insure everything? It's not a bad approach, it's just different to mine. I'd split that £250 X 12 ÷ 52 to get a weekly figure, draw it from the bank in cash, carry it in your purse which will make you much more aware of spending it. If you really can't ration yourself at all, the act of splitting the money weekly will automatically ration you to some extent and help prevent you running out of money two weeks before payday.

Sorry that's so long! And extra apologies if any of it sounds sarcastic, it's not meant to, but I have found it difficult to work out how to advise someone with a totally different lifestyle and mindset to my own. If it's no use feel free to ignore me, I shan't be offended. Smile

AmberIsACertainty · 11/06/2021 01:16

Forgot to add, with pets I find good management and knowledge of first aid prevents a lot of vet bills anyway.

lifelongfrugaleer · 11/06/2021 06:56

What does the drain insurance coverage?

ememem84 · 11/06/2021 07:53

martha

Sky - call them and try and cancel. See if you can get a better deal. We did this and managed to get £20 Off a month

Pet insurance. Who’s this with and is it the best cover you can get? Catface is with petplan and I’m paying £12 a month for her. But obviously it’ll be more depending on breed age etc.

If it’s not petplan though I think o have a code somewhere. I’ll find ot and Dm to you if I can.

Freezer insurance id ditch. You might find it’s covered by your house insurance.

I’d keep life insurance. Maybe shop around for a better deal though. I think ours is £35 pcm with royal london. But we aren’t 40 yet. And I know it’s dependant on age and medical stuff.

The health plan. Can you get this cheaper? Or do you get benefits through work?

Same with glasses. My work pay for eye test and £100 towards frames. Will yours/dh’S do then same?

Wolfcub · 11/06/2021 08:19

Sky - see if now tv is cheaper. You can still have the sports package

ememem84 · 11/06/2021 08:26

Yes! I forgot about Nowtv. We buy the passes sometimes from Amazon or get a deal if there’s something we want to watch.

Today I’m signing up for yet another membership. Local Manor House £60 for the year for me and Dh. Kids free until they’re 12 one guest in each for free. 10% off cafe shop and garden centre. It’s a lovely place for picnics. Huge gardens. So am taking the dc there this morning.

Dd on the mend. No calpol now for 24!hours. Just cough syrup.

Ds has a cough and sounds congested. So am keeping an eye on him. Hence the chill day today.

Possibly lunch at the manor (French cafe they do the best crêpes!) but definetly a coffee for me. If not lunch we’ll pop in to dparents for lunch. Then home for naps/tv/couch time.

marthasmum · 11/06/2021 08:45

Many thanks all for your comments, I really do appreciate people taking the time.
Just re the glasses - I have a very complex -9 prescription and for vanity choose thinner lenses (otherwise I’m not joking, they’d literally be milk bottles). So that makes mine v expensive.
BUT I do choose to get them locally as I trust their service, and they are not the cheapest.
That’s one example making me realise that a lot of the extra costs are me going for a somewhat more expensive option with a justification - fair enough, but then i need to suck it up!
Amber, very interesting to hear your perspective. We lived for a long time on a pretty small income for 5 people so I think a lot of what’s happening now is me catching up on things we’ve not been able to afford. Eg I drove old bangers for years, but they were money pits so this time I’ve got an 8 year old car needing fewer repairs.
It’s also about keeping up with the joneses isn’t it? Which I don’t do in terms of brand new cars/ new kitchens etc but what I have realised I do, is compare what we can give the kids to what my now well off parents gave us (that’s later in life, they were brassic when we were small).

V interesting too to reflect on your question Amber do I have whatever I want, when I want it. I’d have definitely said no (old cars, no new clothes etc) but actually I really don’t want new clothes and cars. Things I do want (eg buy the kids some takeout food when away with my sis last week) I tend to buy and justify even if out of budget.
So I think I need to:
Trim savings to give a bit so I’m not running out in other area
Cancel freezer ins, maybe life ins, look into water pipe thing
Threaten to leave sky when contract is up - have negotiated bill down several times but never been brave enough to do this bit! Also looked at Now but it doesn’t work out cheaper if you want sports all the time.
em cheers for Petplan tip, I’m with them too
Thanks again all, I’ll revert to shorter posts now!

ememem84 · 11/06/2021 10:11

martha if you’re with petplan you should have a code yourself. If you give it to friends/family they get money off and I think you get free months insurance or something. Go onto the website and check it out. Also try and sign up as a new customer and see what the cost is. Then call them and argue it down.

Catfaces has gone up since she turned 5 and has started going outdoors. More risk to her now I guess.

Gensola · 11/06/2021 12:47

Ooh yes I forgot we had to get life insurance as part of our mortgage deal, to the value of the house. For me it’s £16 a month and for DH it’s £100 Shock because he is 55. It made me feel a bit sick when I worked out how much we will pay for his insurance over the 19 year term, but we may cancel it if it gets to the stage where I can carry the mortgage alone, or if we have a windfall and can pay it down a lot or something.
Our council tax is £185 a month and water £30ish. So fixed out goings:
£1300 mortgage
£185 council tax
£30 water
£60 gas and electric
£40 mobile phone me
£30 mobile phone DH
£29 home phone/broadband/virgin TV
£100 life insurance DH
£16 Life insurance me
£30 pet insurance and health club
£38 car insurance me
£30 car insurance DH
£22 union subs me
£22 union subs DH
£21 car tax DH
£23 car tax me

Then variable expenses
£450 food and supplies
£9.99 Spotify
£9.99 Netflix
£7.99 audible
£9.99 Adobe (for work, grrr!)
£9.99 Dropbox (ditto)

I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff!

Wolfcub · 11/06/2021 12:49

Gensola I hope you are claiming tax back on those work expenses

marthasmum · 11/06/2021 12:58

gen I’m in the same sort of ball park as you. I feel you on the life insurance, ours is high as DP is older and vapes.
I’ve found it very instructive to think about it ans go through what I’ve got, hope it works for you too.
em will have a go at bargaining Petplan down. Agree, it seems to go up as they get older. Petplan seems to have a very good reputation with vets hence why I’ve stuck with them

Lovemaltesers · 11/06/2021 13:00

We use now tv, it’s fine and DH sometimes manages to find the sport elsewhere

Spent £52 in Asda but included £20 on shirts for Ddad for Father’s Day, £5 on a birthday cake for DH. They had a good deal, but not properly marked up on the shelf that I read about on another site- 2 x pizza express pizzas, 1 x dough balls, four beers/cans of coke for £6. I got the checkout person to check it went through before I paid! DC will prefer that to a takeaway.

I went to see Ddad this morning. Better visit as he just nodded off in his chair the whole time. Last time he wouldn’t see me, the previous time he got completely undressed and the time before that he wandered off!

AmberIsACertainty · 11/06/2021 13:52

Love the situation with your dad sounds tough. Glad you had a better visit this time.

Em the Manor House is a bargain. Is it one of those historical houses that's sort of like a museum inside? I love those. Glad DD is feeling better.

Martha maybe that's why you're struggling if you're used to being properly skint and your fortunes have changed but you're not fully used to that yet? Ultimately we all have our income, whatever it is, we can only spend it once and we need to be happy about what we've spent it on. That's all it is really. When I stopped moving home every two seconds and was no longer broke either, I went a tiny bit mad buying everything I'd never had and neeeeeeded. Which was fine and it was lovely, all has been used and appreciated. Now I'm decluttering, having looked around my previously minimalist home and thought gosh there's an awful lot of stuff in here!

Gas £98.32
Electric £23.15
Sent a broken phone back for a replacement/refund.

Lovemaltesers · 11/06/2021 14:01

I keep looking around my home amber and thinking we just have too much stuff! When I think about the amount of stuff DH and I had when we first moved in together compared to now, it’s mind boggling!! And the £££s aspect of it is horrifying

Lovemaltesers · 11/06/2021 14:50

DD1 has her Year 5 sex-ed class today. Wish us luck later! She’s never really asked any questions, although we’d been thinking earlier in the week maybe now should be the time as she really should be more clued up.

ememem84 · 11/06/2021 15:29

amber yes. But the house itself is closed and to be fair the dc wouldn’t be interested anyway! Haha.

We had a wander round the huge gardens. And lunch in the cafe. Yay.

Dd then threw the mother of all tantrums and we came home. She screamed all the way home. Am exhausted. But she’s napping now.

ememem84 · 11/06/2021 15:38

Our fixed outgoings are:

£1584 mortgage a month
£1809 nursery (ouch!) a month
£154 electric a month
£80 water a month
£76 phones and broadband a month
£324 house insurance per year
£36 life insurance a month
£12 pet insurance a month
£200 tv (amazon prime Netflix and disney plus) per year approx cost
£170 car parking monthly

Food - probably around £400 pcm
Cat food and litter £25 a month
Cleaners £128 a month (£64 every 2 weeks)
Window cleaning £20 every other month
Petrol £40 a month ish.
£180 zoo membership - annually
£26 pcm for adventure park membership
£30 annual for Manor House

I then spend:
£39 nails a month ish
£20 waxing a month/6weeks
£35 a week riding lessons
£25 pcm gym
£10 per week Pilates classes

I’ve probably missed something…

marthasmum · 11/06/2021 17:31

life I’ve been meaning to say gorgeous puppy. Our dog cost £500 and is literally one of the best things we ever bought - we all love her.
love glad to hear you had a better visit. That must be so hard
em ouch those nursery and mortgage bills are hefty. You won’t know yourself when kids are a bit older
amber I think you are definitely right, having more money has led me to replace lots of worn out stuff/ trade up a gear on lots of other stuff. But weirdly it’s put more pressure on in some ways eg feeling I ought to pay for things that were previously out of reach for the kids (like holidays). I think a lot of my spends are anxiety/ contingency related eg insurance - funny how much spending is emotional isn’t it?
So have cancelled water insurance and freezer insurance (saving £18pm). I’ve kept health care plan as I frequently claim on it. But I’ve looked at what Martin money saver man has to say and downgraded it to £35 pm from £53. Pays out a bit less but still good (saves £18 pm).
I got a new quote for life ins which showed me my current one is actually good value. And that also I can’t get a new deal on it at the moment due to my diabetes investigations Hmm
I also found out my pension pays 133,000 if I die so will probably cancel life ins...but that sparks anxiety so I’ll give it a think.
Thanks so much all for inspiring me to look at stuff

lifelongfrugaleer · 11/06/2021 18:06

Do that worry about long posts Martha's. Talking things through really helps at times.
It's quite bad that I haven't checked fixed outgoing for a while so must do that. Also good that the stuff you are paying for is good value

There is a lot of keeping up with people pressure these days and it's hard.

Need to go to Aldi in a bit

ememem84 · 11/06/2021 20:01

marrha I know!! Thankfully we get some free hours for ds from September. Then next September he’ll be in school. So no fees for him!!
Dds fees will go down once she turns 2 in July too so yay!! Should add that this is only for 3 days a week….!

lifelongfrugaleer · 12/06/2021 07:18

£50 filling the car up. Didn't make Aldi so that will be today alongside pet shop and Iceland

northender · 12/06/2021 07:39

Amber I'm so with you on insurance. Martha if you have that life cover within your pension then yes ditch your life insurance. Dh & I did that about 5 years ago and it did feel unnerving initially but it was definitely the right thing to do. For our house insurance & car insurance we always go for the highest excess we can as we will only claim if it is a large amount.

It's been a busy week again here. Hectic at work, but better. Ds had a fright on Monday, bless him. He was coming back from a junior cricket match (he is the coach) and his car died on the slip road coming off the motorway. It was in a difficult position but luckily a couple of the players saw him & the dads helped him to safety. Anyway we are now on the lookout for a new car for him. We are going to loan him the money for something more reliable & newer. Dh and I have gone down to one car for the moment so we will knock money off the loan when I use his car or if he provides taxi service, on top of monthly payments to us.
Dd has bargain of the week, £25 for a prom dress from a charity shop!
Low spend week otherwise

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