As many of you know, I am a keen money saver. A dramatic change in budget after I gave up full time work after Kieran was born meant I had to look very closely at my budget and basically pull my head out of the sand. I very soon realised that I’d become complacent when it came to bills, often just accepting the first price given and getting on with it. I wince now to think of how much I could have saved over the years!
Since then I have altered my spending and money awareness a lot! I now have a proper monthly budget to work from. This is a realistic budget which includes money for things such as birthday and treats, the small spends that you make without thinking but which can really add up over a month.
Food has always been a huge expenditure, and never more costly than what it is now! I do a meal plan for the week to incorporate leftovers and do one weekly online shop (excluding meat which I get from the local market) buying everything I need for 7 days. Even the milk and bread I buy in bulk and freeze it as I’m very aware that a quick top up shop for bread always seem to cost £25` (This is one of life’s mysteries, I’ve no idea how I always get so close to £25 when going to spend £1!).
Every six months I do a review of all my outgoings, for example, like using a comparison site to compare car insurance. Armed with the best rates I then know I have access to, I ring my providers, moving if I need to, ensuring that I get the best service at the best price. There really is no excuse to be paying over the odds nowadays when the info to help you save is literally there with a click of a mouse!
We save. Sounds silly but with so many people relying on credit in these tough times, saving for something seems to have become a forgotten art! We have recently returned from holiday; theme park tickets which would have cost £80+ were paid for with Tesco Rewards using my vouchers, the food, treats and petrol from money saved since January and the accommodation (a Travelodge), I booked at the beginning of the year in the sale, using money left over from our Xmas budget! A fantastic holiday that we enjoyed all the more knowing that we wouldn’t be left penniless for the rest of the month on our return!
My eyes have been well and truly opened when it comes to money over the past five years and it’s become a personal challenge almost to cut spending without cutting back on quality or depriving ourselves. I get satisfaction out of knowing that I’ve saved money! Have you had to change your budget dramatically? How did you find it? Do you have any money-saving tips to share?
I have received remuneration for the post however my views are still true and my own. To see more about this see my disclosure page.
I’m terrible at budgeting I get myself so worked up and stressed you wouldn’t believe. I am slowly getting there but any tips greatly recieved xxx
The best thing to do is a spending diary. Keep a diary for a week or two and write down EVERYTHING you spend, from a magazine to Avon, or the odd few pounds on Ebay. Write it all down and it’ll highlight after a while where the money goes and that will help you build a budget that incorporates some of the fun spending as well as the necessities and bills.
Give it a go and let me know how you get on.
I could have written this post, especially the bit about spending £25 when only going for 1 or 2 things. It became a running joke that no matter how many times we ‘just popped to ASDA’ to pick up some bits, it always came to £25. I don’t know how, or why!
Our budget dropped by £1000 a month when I lost my job and it’s taken us 2 years to get back on track.
For the first year and a half, our weekly grocery budget which included household cleaning/laundry and baby stuff etc, was £30 for 5 of us.
I had to plan right down to how many portions I could get from a bag of frozen peas.
It wasn’t a nice time and it was a big shock from spending over £100 a week on groceries to spending £30 but now I’m much more thrifty but if I’m honest, I’ve been letting it slide lately and the shopping bill is starting to creep up again. I need to get back to planning and stop impulse buying the things on offer.
My main problem since has been Christmas. I always spend far too much and have set myself a challenge to cut my spending in half this year and still have a wonderful Christmas 🙂
What a brilliant reply!
It’s a hell of a shocker when your income drops suddenly isn’t it? I try to think of buying with a budget as a challenge to enjoy rather than a chore and that helps!
The special offers etc always used to catch me out which is why I do my main grocery shop online, before checking out I can talk myself out of them.
I’ll be doing a post on Christmas budgeting and spending in a week or so which you might find helpful?
Any and all help accepted and appreciated! I did a post yesterday on how I found toys still unopened in the summer holidays that were bought for Christmas. I’m not doing it again this year.
I try to budget but it doesn’t always work. I gave up my job 2 years ago due to finances. I try to plan every meal..but we’re a sucker for take-away’s. And like most people, the quick pop to the supermarket for milk & bread ends up costing more than a few £’s.
I seriously need to get more frugal. I wish that they had taught budgeting at school…or perhaps if there are some “how to budget” courses..I could seriously do with one of those lol.
The thing about budgeting is making sure your budget helps you LIVE! If you love a takeaway, write that into your budget and plan around it. There is no reason why you should have to give up everything you love! Life is for living after all.
You might be interested in this petition, started by Martin Lewis from MoneySavingExpert http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/8903
71,000 have signed already, 100,000 signatures will get an MP debate about making financial education compulsory in schools.
I have often sat down and tried to go through all our outgoings etc, but hubby is a nightmare. On paper we should be living well…just not in reality!
I’ll definately sign that petition. I’m an MSE fan but hadn’t spotted that…Thanks!
Have you tried mysupermarket.com? you bang all the items on your shopping list into it and it’ll tell you if there’s a cheaper alternative so you can swap it if you want… Also it’s tell you which supermarket your shop will be cheaper in – though at the moment it doesn’t include morrisons. I’ve saved a few quid on there…
Looking forward to your christmas budget post – The next 4 months are a nightmare in our house as it’s th other half’s birthday beginning of Oct, then daughter’s 2nd birthday on Halloween, son beginning of November, Christmas, then me in January (though I don’t really count!) so any help on making money stretch is greatly appreciated!
Next year I’m going to start putting money away every month… mind you, i say the every year!
Very interesting post.
In our case, it is H who has stopped work while I work full-time and this effectively means our income has halved. (The arrangement was supposed to be fairly temporary but it’s actually been harder than we expected for H to break back into the job market because there is so much competition for every job at the moment.)
It’s so tempting to think, ‘I work hard earning this money, I’m entitled to a few treats’ but I’ve decided I need to cut back on my spending.
So I’m trying to do without Ocado, eBay or Amazon or any form of online shopping. This means I have to hand over money or my bank card in an actual shop. It is just too easy to spend online without thinking and lots of small purchases on eBay and Amazon all add up.
I’ve just done a blogpost about the fact that I’m banning myself from online shopping for a bit!
Sorry Nicki – just corrected my post so that your name ends with an ‘i’ not a ‘y’!
Great post Nicki I totally agree with you that when you save you seem to relish what you spend it on a bit more. Well done you
I’m the same, but I rather enjoy shopping around!