Amigos actively attempting austere actions August 24>

[Happierwithouthim]

Link to last thread
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/cost_of_living/5007277-familiar-friends-in-frugalityfeb-24?latest=1

All welcome, the vibe is frugal life to make the things that matter possible, which is different for everyone, some of us have overcome debt, separations etc. All are friendly and we're sometimes chatty, sometimes quiet.

Don't lurk, join in

unfortunately the excess was £250 it didn't really seem worth it

Saw a maple wood coffee table in Tesco, thought it'll be ideal for my snug which I'll have once my extension is done, checked my app €10 off €50 code, got it for €42

Just got approved for my first mystery shop €45, and I'm going to the town anyway next week.

Ooh well done @Happierwithouthim thats a nice discount, and a nice side-hustle. Hope it goes well, good luck.

Small spend today, 9.98 on bread, pickle and DH's butter which claims to lower cholesterol. I kind of feel it's probably snake oil, but I don't underestimate the placebo effect.

Payday tomorrow, and I hope to transfer £200 into savings.

I’m in a total mess with finances. I simply have no idea what happened after I fell off the thread. I’m trying to catch up, and also trying to stop procrastinating with paperwork.

I’m torn between make-do-and-mend on the home repair and maintenance front, and saving up for decent professional work done. There is so much wrong with this house that I could spend every penny for years and never be finished.

One good thing - I found a tub of frozen brambles from our garden in the freezer yesterday, and they are delicious. Much tastier than the blackberries in the supermarket.

Am going to cancel Sky. £44.50 pcm is money down the loo. End of.

Im also considering cancelling my sky tv at £45 we watch Netflix and use the fire stick.

I got rid of sky in about 2016 and have never ever regretted it. My parents and bf have it and I never feel excited that I can go to their house and have access to it.

I've Netflix and Disney+ and have a Fire Stick, occasionally I sign up to Prime if there's something I want to watch.

Short
Can you do a fresh start with your money? List out debts, savings, balances in current accounts and then divide it out?
List out the jobs that need to be done and prioritise them first, then sort out what's achievable yourself and cost out the remaining jobs.

Mon & Tues were NSD - I don't count preplanned spends as spends such as Dd's horse riding lesson as it's regular spending

I’m getting rid of virgin later this year. But will still need broadband.

I need a refresh. 1 Aug seems a good time to donit

We got rid of Sky months ago and bought a Freesat box from Argos. We only used to watch UK Gold and the occasional football match. We don’t miss it.x

I have been paying for Sky since d s changed primary school age 6. It was a very upmarket school and I felt duty bound to fit in by getting a Sky package. He is now aged 19 and barely watches tv and neither do I! It really won't be missed as I have a smart tv.

Is it okay to join for accountability? I was frugal for a couple of years but it’s all gone downhill in 2024. It seems if I’m not on it, going over my budget on the daily, my savings are gone and I run out of funds.

I’d like to start saving again and am in a fortunate position of living alone with no mortgage but my income is sometimes low.

@DonnezDonnez that's exactly what thread is here for, join in.
Have you debt or just savings depleted?

Me too. Mortgage free plusv live careful but earnings on the low side. I need to push harder with my business to earn more. I am neuro divergent though plus am aged 60 so part time hours is the maximum I can give.

Thanks Happierwithouthim, luckily I don’t have any debt. My circumstances are very similar to yours Augustus40.

Come on August!!! Ready for a YNAB session and a fresh start today. There may be one or two purchases from yesterday that are entered in todays date 😬

I cancelled sky a couple of years ago and I'm pretty sure the kids haven't actually noticed! Disney is a really good alternative.
I had done so well this week food shopping was £27 under budget, i used up yogurt that was about to expire making oats for the kids and made banana cake with some bananas that were well past best! Then my husband text telling me he spent £45 on steaks from the butchers as it was a really good deal, we got 13 ribeye so yes technically it was a good deal if we were planning on buying it! I cant be mad though he was trying to do something nice as its my favourite meal and we never have it anymore but i did have a bit of an eyeroll when he text.

Well it's the first day of August and I've been sat with my spreadsheets, bank accounts and notebook to do write up everything that needs to be paid and that there is sufficient funds in the right place to pay it all.
Once it's done I can forget about regular stuff and concentrate on low spend days and even better - no spend days!!
Have allocated some funds so DH can finish building the shed and will keep chipping away at debts.
Virgin wanted to up our payments at the end of contract to £90 per month and fortuitously a rep for BRSK knocked at the door so we switched and literally cut our bills for BB, TV and phone by 50% and this is fixed for 2 years.
Octopus tried to increase our monthly payments but their calculations for last year were spot on and at no point did we ever drop into the negative even though they budget for this. I sent them a very reasonable email and said to leave the payments alone for the time being. They backed down!!
Did a freezer check to update my list and still have potentially nearly two weeks meals available - was thinking of a top up shop, but will wait until I can get pensioners discount next Tuesday at Iceland.
I dropped in there yesterday just for bread and spent £28!! But that did include DHs vapes, coffee pods, (these are my guilty luxury!!) some cold meats for salad teas (as it's so warm) and yes the one thing I went for - Bread!! 😅I must stay accountable 😂

Thinking of dropping Amazon Prime when it next expires. Prime video is rarely even halfway decent. It used to be worth it for deliveries but Amazon either neither stocks nor charges even halfway sensible prices for the items in which I'm interested.

Investigating if we can manage a broadband deal that doesn't need a landline. We never use the landline and it's an irritating waste of money.

Some posters will remember that I was concerned about whether we'd end up having to saving more on top of the mortgage pay-off if there are extra taxes on savings etc. As this is looking more likely, I need to look for additional economies as well as extra income.

Subscriptions are the bane of my life, I am a sucker for them and resent it. I’ve pared it down to the BBC TV licence £13.25 a month, Adobe £20.12, Spotify £11.99 and a sheet music service £14. I could get rid of Adobe if I bought an external hard drive for storage and use software that can be purchased instead, like Affinity. I just need to save up first.

I use Amazon home delivery all the time and so does ds so pay the subscription willingly. I do agree the films on Prime are utter c rap though.

I used to buy some speciality flours from Amazon that made it worth it. But, they're not stocking them any more (they used to come from Germany) so it's increasingly not worth it for me as there's nothing else that I buy regularly (for which they charge a sensible price).

I'm sick of things being described as 'Prime' when I'd need to pay to view them or take out a subscription to a channel. I'd rather take Apple or Disney at a month at a time.

We find prime really good, wouldn't be without it.

We pay annually which although is a big chunk to come out at once, it does save a little bit rather than paying each month. We do the same with our ocado pass.

Low spend day today...£8 in lunch in town (for 5 of us so a bargain!) we were meant to be coming home for lunch but had such a time we decided to stay out longer.

Freezer rummage for dinner.... fish finger wraps and chips. 👍

My food bill this week will be in the region of £200
I have prime for my sanity as get mil shopping and it’s easier to just send it to her.