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[BigSkies2022]

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Hello all. Another lovely day. I have my first PT session at 11. Will get meal plan and motivational journal and daily workout plan. Blimey. Ddog has just slobbered all over my clean leggings, for which thanks.

Payday today and all money allocated to pots, bills, etc. Guilt-free spend this month is £180, of which £70 is already accounted for with haircut and Netflix sub. Buffer zone in current account of £160.

Demands on this month's joint account, plus hangover from last month's heavy expenditure, leaves a food budget of about £80 per week for me and DH (£200 in buffer zone, but a plumbing repair will probably take some of that). We have lots of food in already, of the lean protein and veg variety (polishes halo) so should be possible to have a lean week this week. Starting today with a NSD.

DS got his loan in on Monday, so I am not expecting to be tapped up by him for money for at least this month!

Morning all,
DD so much better today so popped to Lidl early before it gets busy. £66. That included £10 on metal water bottles so I can ditch my plastic ones though.
Off to the park but will take a picnic with us.
Plumber due round to fix the shower that leaks after we had a cowboy of a plumber fit the bathroom last year. £80. But that's out of savings to cover rainy days (or rainy showers!)

£90 for gifts for my close friend who is back in hospital (we met when I was there, we spent 4 months in there very close) which I hope will cheer her up. Got her a blanket, a lovely notebook which I'll write a message inside and a jellycat plant.

Had my room painted, it looks lovely now and that was £275 plus £100 for the paint. He's coming back on Friday to help us push our bed back into place (it's a wooden superking so it weighs a ton, and I am a weakling so can't help DW!) and do various other jobs for us, putting up a ceiling rose, 2 shelves, 2 mirrors and a washing line (which I'm very excited about). That'll be about £100 I think.

All bills paid, have £750 to last the month which feels manageable, that's going to be our usual amount now moving forwards now I'm in a good place with the debt repayment budget.

...

Good luck at the dentist @needastrongoneagain hope no work needed to be done!

Hope the PT session goes well @BigSkies2022 I found it horribly awkward at first but it soon passed.

Yesterday was not a NSD I went to Costco with a friend and spent £64. Today won't be either as we need some top up bits like fresh salad and so on. Sat this morning with laptop and spreadsheet doing finance bits - moving money around so that it's in the right place for when it is due. Paid a bit more off the family holiday in October that has to be paid off by the middle of August. The bills pot is starting to build up a surplus which we want in case - a bit like @Frugal25 so repairs don't come as a shock.
Expat DSS is due to land in the UK on the weekend to stop for a few days - so need to change bedding and flick a duster around. Not expecting to see too much of him as he'll be seeing his kids as much as he can so don't really even have to meal plan to include him as last time he stayed he kept buying takeaway meals.
It is interesting to see how other posters manage their money - by using pots and so on like @BigSkies2022 We tend to ensure bills are covered, savings and debt payments covered and the lump sum left has to cover literally everything else - so food, petrol, hair appointments - everything else comes from that. We don't tend to clothes shop as now retired and are wearing our way through office/work clothes which is one way to declutter - sold a few bits on Vinted too. Any surplus at month end is moved onto debts and savings.
@PenniesButton it feel good to be in control of the debt but also still able to enjoy the finer things in life. Enjoy your new room!!

@Frugal25 so glad your DD is better bless her 😊
Spends today , Lidl £17, Asda £46 and Aldi £12 . Included 2 birthday presents and a cake for my Mum's friend on Saturday 😊

Last of the pays went in today and the bills out. Will divide up tonight. Need a big food shop as family over at the weekend x 12 of us

will make more effort to keep up in news mow

NSD today! ….
It nearly wasn’t, ive been off work with an upset stomach, have spent the day in bed, I’ve been browsing on my phone and saw a couple bits I liked. I soooo wanted to order them but haven’t yet. I’ve looked on vinted and have seen one of the items on there, so may possibly buy it. I’m going to wait and see, if it’s still there after the weekend I might buy it. Possibly 😬

LSD for me - only the £26 for my haircut that was planned in.

Spent this afternoon getting up to date with YNAB and therefore my finances. Now I’m not working I will make sure I’m logging spends as they happen and checking accounts at least weekly. I’ve planned in all expected expenditure and transferred some money into savings. I too use a couple of ‘pots’ - I have a Starling and a Monzo card and I use those for groceries/petrol and personal spends.

Start of the month so I’ve had quite a few bills come out today. We also had takeaway pizza for dinner tonight which was £14. I’d promised dd one ages ago. I’ve got a £20 Deliveroo voucher so originally I’d though I’d use that - but dd chose a pizza place that’s not on the app so paid from my good/groceries pot and I’ll use the voucher another day.

£69 Lidl, basic weekly shop but will need a bit more at the weekend.
£8.99 Amazon for root touch up powder, to see if it saves on hair colour every three weeks.

Interesting to read about all the different budgeting / savings methods. We are transitioning from being borrowers to savers this year as loans and hopefully mortgage will be finished and we definitely need financial advice at that point as it's alien territory!

One silver lining of a day feeling poorly peena is that you don't spend as much! Hope you feel better tomorrow. I've had cramp for two days so having an early night, tucked up with my book. Other option is to snooze or snack in front of the TV.

Plumber only took £40 so £40 back into savings! I love the pot idea for budgeting and will be doing this as soon as I can I think.

I see a few of you using vouchers for things, how do you get or find these so often? I'm missing a trick here I think.
Nearly Friday!!!

Morning

@Mochi1fudge - I find the root touch up sprays super useful for stretching out the visits to the hairdresser.

Hope you feel better today @PeenaM

I find 'pots' very useful for budgeting monthly for annual expenses, if that makes sense. It's surprising how much it adds up, if you consider literally everything you spend across the year.

The dentist went fine for me @PenniesButton, less so for DH, who needs an extraction and another tooth adding to his bridge. Extraction has to be done at the hospital so he will have to wait for this. Total bill will be £127. I haven't budgeted for this. It will have to come out of savings, with a lesson to put some extra back over the course of a couple of months. Lesson learned. Will put a little extra in our 'unexpected expenses' pot going forward.

Can't see us spending anything today.

Salmon with butter beans, leeks (from DB's allotment), peas and pesto for tea. Leftover dhal for lunches today for those staying at home.

It's a little cooler, looking forward to my run.

Have a great day folk.

Feeling fine after first session with PT yesterday. Started logging meals from the meal plan with MFP and trying to work out how to log on to the training app to see my home workouts.

£31 on protein powder. Suspect this is highly unnecessary as I'm sure I can get my recommended 85g per day from food, but in the spirit of embracing the new...what I don't use, DS and DH surely will.

Been over to DParents this morning to help with delivery of new sofas! they look great, but I'm not sure that my mother's decision on cream linen upholstery is the most practical. I will be investigating fabric care insurance today!

Will get steps in now going to library to collect reservation and pick up a couple of essentials - loo roll, lightbulbs, yoghurt, eggs - and try to stick to my list.

Anyone got nice plans for the BH weekend?

£124 Sainsbury’s plus £100 from other shops last night food wise
imm hosting this weekend so bumps it up
baking today so sat in the garden while the oven does it’s thing.
need some dog treats later and a bag of horses treats £30 ish

hope people feel better for the weekend

Happy weekend everyone!

NSD here!!! Hurrah 😄

£10 on birthday flowers today and that's all thankfully.
I usually send a birthday. bouquet from Marks but l bought a bouquet from Morrisons and took it there myself. I think l will do that again in future.

Well yesterday was a no spend but only because I couldn't be bothered to go shopping. Maybe I should try that more often not being bothered as we managed without whatever it was I thought we needed so badly. But today went to Home Bargains £26.19 and Lidl £54.59

2 NSD 30/4 and 1/5 and lasted til 9pm today but some chocolate called me as I was dropping a Vinted parcel off then ended up doing a bit of online shopping, only 20 quid tho.

My only spend today has been £11 on hamster food and bedding.
i don’t really have plans for the weekend. Dd is out at a friends for a sleepover so I’ve got a rare night to myself although I think I’ll just stay in as I’m fairly shattered. At least it will be frugal though!

NSD for me. Which was needed after doing my budget and seeing what's left until pay day.
Ooohhh new sofas at last @BigSkies2022 !!! Cream is beautiful if not practical :)
Bet they appreciated the flowers in person too @MaryGreenhill

Cream sofas sheesh

there are lovely supermarket flowers now and I’m sure your time visiting was more appreciated

just been updating the expired debit card. The Garry hall website down saved me £118

spendy yesterday but will balance out £46 farm shop, £26 Asda , £10.50 pizza, £5 chazzer, £7 coop

Good morning everyone ☀️
Thank you @lifelongfrugaleer and @Frugal25 you are both right the flowers are lovely from the Supermarkets and they really appreciated me going to see them . That's the trouble with our lives today , Time Poor .
Wonderful news re the sofas @BigSkies2022 👍😁
Hopefully a NSD for me today. Just getting ready to visit Mum have a wonderful day everyone 😊

Not planning a lot today, yesterday was a difficult day with my toddler so I'm not feeling like doing a lot.
Yesterday £12.50 coffee and cake with friend and £11 in Asda as needed a few bits washing capsules, dog treats and something to add to dinner.
Intending to use left overs today though.
Feeling a bit fed up of shops at the moment everything is so expensive! I have noticed several things go up again.

Looking at my cream leather sofa suite which is looking decidedly worse for the wear. It was secondhand bargain only 6 months old off a friend who decided it was too big for their home and sold it to us for £400 about 15 years ago. Definitely needs updating as it is split in some places and grubby in others - the joys of GCs!! I wouldn't go for cream again now I look at it @BigSkies2022 and the thought of linen gives me the heebie jeebies as we have a young rescue cat who is well into her zoomies!! All those thread pulls!! 🙄
No hard and fast plans for the weekend DH is at the airport now to collect his son who is staying with us for a few days and I'm off to work for a few hours today. So will see what develops.

My mum bought a cream linen sofa when I was in my teens. I refused to sit on it for years! And then one night my mum fell asleep on it holding a glass of red wine…

I hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday morning.