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

Ha at least you’re on for frugal nights out if 1 glass does it

£55 Sainsbury’s. Sick of food shopping

Arrived safely yesterday- £15 for motorway mcdonalds lunch. Had a nice mooch around in holiday town. Seeing aunt today so another stop for a present as didn't see anything I fancied yesterday.
Am currently overbudget, but payday soon. Still haven't quite found the right budgeting for halfterms and holidays.

Have fun chilli
lovely autumn days here. £20 ds hair, £7 bread, burgers

Need to get some cash today. Fence work starts tomorrow. Day before payday so wills be savings. Get patties as well so will need to rebudget when I see what I get. Tips me into next pension bracket apparently
tax code adjusted for child benefits payment £2k lower

Thanks @life . We've had a great time. 80th birthday was a success! Think total spend has come in less than £100. Home now and then off again tomorrow afternoon to travel for friend's 40th.
Is patties - payrise? If so, that's good news, hopefully it makes a difference to take home pay.

Switch bonus has been rejected so need to phone tomorrow and find out why. And then it's the payday shuffle tomorrow - can't wait!

Ha yes patties should be pay rise.

£1.97 at the co-op on 2 bananas and 4 doughnuts. Still got just over £100 in the bank, despite it being my son's birthday and going away for a week. I am quietly impressed with myself.

Still haven't sorted out a cooker though, I am looking to see if there are any interest free deals to be had to spread the cost a bit. Also, from trust pilot it seems that most of the companies have the most appalling customer services, and cookers that are not worth repairing after a couple of years.

So the search goes on, currently looking at a Belling, they call it a mini range for some reason, its just a 60cm cooker. But the cooker has good reviews, and the customer services are not awful, not great, but not awful, which seems the best I can hope for.

Yup everything is dispensable nellie
we went with AO in end. And got a Bosch.

Still stuck on financial basics like explaining to DH that the money we have isn't savings, it covers the offset mortgage and we have a bit of liquidity on top (but not much).

I can't compel him to read a relevant book or set a budget but the lack of basics makes even the simplest conversation ridiculously hard.

It's taken more than a year for him to grasp and then agree to putting more of his salary into a pension.

I don't know how much more mental energy I have for this but I don't have much choice.

[/end vent]

Vent away.
can you stop him from seeing it?

No 😀

He has online access to viewing the data. On the one hand, it's a good, adult thing that he can see it. It's just unnerving because I know that he doesn't fully understand that it's money that is committed elsewhere and mustn't be touched.

honestly hack you are doing great in the circumstances

@nellie we had a belling and it did us fine for 4yrs (then we moved), now have a leisure (that's only 6 yrs old).
@hack sounds tough. Interestingly there are financial therapists now who specialise in dealing with money/finance thoughts, patterns, behaviours. Maybe he isn't ready for that, but you could consult to find out strategies.

Frugajobs: 40th went so well - dds did brilliantly considering they went to bed about 1-2hrs later than normal. Only £65 spent. About to set off home now.
Money moves done - ✔️
Cc1 -984 (down from -2350)
Cc2 -2881
Hopefully cc1 will be paid off by Jan as December's payment will be less aggressive as we'll use some money for Christmas.
Cc2 is on a slower track - maybe another year of payments to make

chile Interestingly there are financial therapists now who specialise in dealing with money/finance thoughts, patterns, behaviours. Maybe he isn't ready for that, but you could consult to find out strategies.

Thank you both. You're right lifelong. It was literally COVID-19 lockdown when I discovered DH's finances. Since then, I've managed us into paying off those debts, now offsetting the entire mortgage, making belated improvements to his pension. It's easy for me to overlook that because I see so much more to do.

chile - what an interesting concept. It's very late to be fixing this but I'm so jittery about our differences re: finances that it's definitely something I should look into.

Blooming microwave has broken. £70 I didn’t want to spend today

Hello all, had fallen off the thread again as things got very complex after dad’s death. Mum got ill immediately afterwards (now hopefully on the mend) and have had two more funerals sadly. On the back of this my spending has gone up - not out of control but do feel I’ve been flinging money around a bit. I’m trying to get back on top of food, exercise and money…started with DP doing online food shop to save this week, £75ish instead of the usual £130 or so I spend in the supermarket.

Wages dropped in Sept but it’s a bit better than I hoped. I should have around £300 spare in theory, but I’ve not had that to show yet, so need to tighten up.

sorry to hear of your troubles with your parents north, I will catch up with others news hopefully going forwards. Thanks for all the well wishes ❤️

I've just done this on another thread (OP has £100 per week 'free money' that seems to go nowhere) and it's quite sobering to see it written down.

My monthly basics are about £316 a month. This is something I'll have to think about both now and just how much I need to save to look after my skin, teeth, and eyes in retirement.

I pay £40 a month towards family exercise app.
Psoriasis and hypersensitive skin so my skin care and psoriasis shampoo etc. are approx £12.
My dental costs are roughly £100 a month, even with insurance. (I don't have fabulous teeth, I have lifelong bad teeth that need a lot of expensive maintenance because I abscess at least once a year.)
Averaging out my optician costs and eye care, that's £25 a month.
My clothing purchases in a year are underwear, socks, and either a pair of sports shoes or shoes. Approx. £14 per month.
Gifts, subscriptions (TV) and outings are around £50 a month
Charities etc. £75 a month.

Sorry to hear that Martha.pleased you are back

definitely stuff I do t always think about hack

new microwave and kettle £50
£100 stand mixer treat from my back pay. Will be used loads

Are those things you’re saying you feel you shouldn’t be spending, hack? They all sound fair enough to me!
would it benefit you at all to join a scheme like Healthshield? I pay around £50 a month but it gives money towards dentist, optician and lots of other stuff for me, DP and 3 kids. We all have optician and dentist stuff too - I’ve done the sums and it is worth it.
Thanks life ❤️ Hope you are ok

£111 in Aldi on the monthly big shop. Not too bad, especially as I bought a couple of rib eye steaks (8) for a celebratory meal, and olive oil (7.50) But the oil should last a long time because I measure it out in teaspoons, and even paint it on with a brush to make it go further.

I used to fling it in with gay abandon! Oh the decadence! back in the day when it was a couple of quid a bottle. Seems hard to believe it was ever that cheap now.

I'd not had rib eye before, it was very nice, it came with pats of porcini melt, which I duly melted in a separate pan as instructed, tasted it, and chucked it out. I just finished it with plain butter, salt, and pepper as usual, delicious.

Welcome back @marthasmum
sounds Like the microwave came in cheaper than expected at least @lifelongfrugaleer
@hack Im assuming thats the only must spends after bills?

few needed spends here- new headphones and phone cover. And then a big (relatively non urgent) spend for new laptop- was on sale (£325 off) and I used a code for an extra £25 off so back to the start with cc1. Been on my list for a while and hoping that it will encourage me to restart my studies in January.
Otherwise avoided spends - did not get a takeaway tonight and instead eating a jacket potato and some chicken mix from the freezer. And when shopping today did not get a coffee although really wanted one! 2birthday parties tomorrow but presents already bought.

Chile - Im assuming thats the only must spends after bills?

Yes, it's after bills and the mortgage etc. It was a shock to realise how much I need for basic maintenance and this is the amount I'm paying after work insurance has covered some of the costs, IYSWIM.

marthasmum - Are those things you’re saying you feel you shouldn’t be spending, hack? They all sound fair enough to me!

I agree that I need to spend the money because it's maintenance for eyes, teeth, and skin—it's not cosmetic/aesthetic. But I hadn't quite grasped how much it totals up to and the implication for how much I'll need to budget for to be able to maintain that in retirement considering that some of my costs are currently offset by work insurance and I'd need to cover that in the future.

I don't think NHS dentistry will survive for much longer. I've settled into a routine that works for my psoriasis. And my eye care covers drops (related to psoriasis) that aren't available to me on NHS prescription plus my very lightweight, hypoallegenic spectacle frames.

I'll probably need a budget of £5,000—£6,600 just to pay for these in retirement and it feels like a lot. I've just looked up the current state pensions. I'd be paying out (say) £500 every 4 weeks for these items (approx £125 per week) which would be more than half of the higher rate of pension. It's a shock to realise that.
The UK state pension in 2024 is £221.20 per week for the full new state pension and £169.50 per week for the full basic state pension

Would you be entitled to any of those things under benefits/pension credits/exemptions @2024Hackathon ?

Frugajobs: +125 on pb 🤑 so slowly creeping up to my 5k savings target. Hit 50% on my pension savings target too. Morning party done; afternoon party coming up at 3- will need to top up the present stash.

House project #3 all completed - very happy with it and think we've done it as cost effectively as possible. Then off to inlaws for Sunday lunch - meeting oh and dd2 there; and (the primary purpose of our visit) dealing with their garage where mice have got in. And as ever, trying to encourage stubborn elderly parents to get some help in like a weekly cleaner and gardener. OH making a headstart so hopefully 50% of the stuff will be out by the time I arrive.

Nsd today. Hurrah

One NSD so far, Had shopping to do yesterday plus KFC takeaway. Today we were in Blackpool to see the lights with GCs, so Fish and Chip tea plus some doughnuts and a few quid on the penny machines. All good fun though! 😊