Afternoon folks, it's a glorious day here, sunny but with the crispness of autumn. I am ploughing through the mountain of washing/ironing which seems to have appeared from nowhere, I swear it was completely up to date when I ironed on Tuesday!!
Re. bills......we have a big three bed detached house and currently pay £45 a month for gas, £64 a month for electric. We are £100 ish in credit in each of them which I'm happy to leave for now as we head into winter. Last month we used £3.89 of gas, plus the standing charge, so £9.21 altogether. Last winter we had the heating on for an hour in the morning, and only put it on in the evening when we absolutely had to, and the kids didn't seem to notice! I think we were lucky as the weather was ok last winter, so if it's a much colder one this year then the heating might come on a bit longer. We have an electric fire in our living room, and in the evenings we would put that on for ten mins or so to take the chill out and that was fine, and certainly cheaper than putting the heating on through the whole house.
I also have lined curtains everywhere, plus the kids have a fleece blanket under their fitted flannelette sheets come the winter, and I think having onsies make a difference too as they stay warmer in bed. We all have hot water bottles too, except for DH who frankly is as hairy as an ape so has his own, personal 'fur' to keep him warm!
Can I ask those of you have use YNAB if it's worth using? (I'm sure it is, or it wouldn't be on here) I'm a pen and paper kind of girl, but maybe this might help me refocus enough to get us better prepared for the long haul? Opinions gratefully accepted.
I have a list of things to get on ebay, just need to make myself list them now! Food shopping has settled around £60 a week, Tesco keep giving me back £7 off £50 shop voucher, which is about right for the week, plus then a few bits in Poundland like crisps/snacks for the lunchboxes as they are usually cheaper than the supermarket offers. Am planning on doubling up any Tesco vouchers for toy xmas presents. We are luck that we don't have many to buy for at xmas, and for our three we have always stuck to a budget of £50 each (or less) main present/s, plus xmas stocking (I start buying bits from August for these to spread the cost) and they have a small table present each to kick start festivities because in our house we sit down to our xmas meal on xmas eve.
Gosh, I've waffled on. I'm still trying to remember all your names, so please accept un-MN hugs for now, and best wishes for those who need them.
Plan for today is to sit DH down and face up to his credit card bills......groan, I have no control over his spending still, and I'm now completely fed up of trying to manage without having full control. Wish me luck!!