The NHS, Tescos and Bank charges!

 I can not and will not complain about the NHS! I got to see my GP today, got the treatment I required and paid the entire sum of £7.40 for a month's supply of medication! It did result in me losing a day of work as I had to wait to get an appointment, but, the clinic are fantastic, kind, caring and saw me within a reasonable time and no money changed hands, which always pleases me! A massive hooray to everyone in the NHS, they are paid disgustingly low wages, they work unreasonably long hours and their dedication, which always amazes me, is often uncelebrated. (My sister is a nurse on the cardiothoracic unit in Treliske! A precise specialist working with people with lung cancer - all hail the nurses!!!!)

I will however complain voraciously about the see you next Tuesdays who run banks! At least Dick Turpin wore a mask! These people are bare faced robbers! When I paid off my overdraft I was waiting for a clear financial moment to change to a fee free account. They charge £17 just to use the bank account and then £5 on top to use the over draft facility, when not one penny in their hands is earnt by them! £264 a year to use an account, and not to gain from any of the 'products' that came with the account was not a good deal to me. On top, my taxes, your taxes and every other suckers taxes bailed out gross negligence and incompetence whilst they sipped champagne in Monte Carlo. We paid for the fat b******s to Lord it up! Today, when I had some spare time in between waiting for the local clinic to tell me they had an appointment to see me, I got on top of some financial matters that I needed to change for quite a while. I changed my bank account to a fee free bank account. I will now be £264 a year better off. That's a month's groceries, or the car insurance or one of the other bills that I've struggled with. Best of all, is knowing that I'm not giving those oxygen robbers any of my money! **** them! Yesterday Lloyds Platinum, today Lloyds Classic - all the services that I use and no bank charges. If we all did this, they wouldn't make the iniquitous profits that they do!

Finally, it doesn't seem much, but I sorted out my Tesco points and exchanged them for 'rewards'. I use Tesco filling stations as they have the cheapest diesel I can buy and I then save the points and treble them into rewards vouchers. Today, I cashed in £10 of 'money' to spend in Tesco to £30 of money to spend in Cafe Rouge! I'll give them to Dearly Beloved and he can whisk me off on a date some time in the future! So all in all, a funny old day of waiting around for an emergency Dr's appt (no, don't worry, Brits will know I am not dying but it's the jargon used for an appointment 'on the day' without prior notice!) saving £264 over the next year and getting a free lunch from my Tesco reward vouchers. A frugal day? I should say so!

Domestic Goddess?

Reading a thrifty mum's blog which can be found here who was making her plans for winter and although I tried to plan ahead; I just made my plans for a thrifty weekend. It will be the 11th (sad moment when I will think of the people in New York who died xx) and also the 1st day of my no spend month. I so easily slip a few quid or so to a charity shop or car boot sale and as every penny counts, I'm going to make this the month that I don't spend anything. To make sure that I don't pop into the hospice shop.......I'm going cold turkey by keeping busy. This weekend I must:

1. make marmalade from the kit given to me by Smallholderwannabee
2. make more soap from the 'ingredients' I bought last time
3. pick more sloes and make more sloe gin, as I have gin left from my last purchase
4. cook the meals for the week
5. sweep and mop the downstairs floor
6. walk the dogs
7. make blackberry and apple jelly from the fruit in the freezer
8. make chutney from the doorstep freebies

There we go then! a fun packed weekend that won't cost me anything, will stock up my cupboards even more and will fill my time so I won't get bored for one minute. I'm home, so anyone who wants to call is more than welcome xx

Kicking the habit!

Last year, the central heating boiler broke down and I didn't have any heating or any water and my house was around 10 degrees inside, when it was about -5 degrees outside....so even without any heat, it keeps considerably warm. In fact, I think I only need to heat the house every so many days and it remains warm for 48 hours after that. So why, you might ask did I want to kick the central heating habit?

In years gone by, when the heating was on a timer our gas bill alone peaked at £78 a month!!! £936 a year; which meant almost a month of Dearly Beloved's salary just paid for heating. It then took another month of DB's salary to pay for the electricity.

So we kicked the habit of the tumble drier and halved our electricity bill. We only use the dish washer once in a blue moon, if we have more people round and there's lots of washing up. Our combined gas and electricity bill now costs us just over £60 a month. However, energy prices are set to rise again. As you can imagine, the central heating had to go!

On a working day, we don't have the heating set on timer and we don't heat the water. We boil a kettle for the washing up or to have a quick wash and we have five minute showers.

And yes!!!(Fashion be damned! I can often be found wearing: vest, tee shirt, roll neck jumper, jumper, cardigan and a fleece along with two pairs of jogging bottoms, two pairs of socks and slippers....................so no! I don't feel the cold) I do wrap up in layers and layers. Kicking the heating habit might seem a step too far for some people but it was a bill we could no longer afford. We put the heating on for a couple of hours at the weekend ( but not before November and not after the end of February) and that more than adequately keeps the house at a balmy 18 degrees for the two days.

As you can guess, it's a week day and the heating is off so I have a blanket over my lap whilst I type and I'm off to bed soon to read where it's cosy.

Oh, good evening may I speak to.....................

I worked in telemarketing and I know it's a job you only take when you can't get much else, it's legal and it pays the bills, so I have no malice towards the poor soul who had my number on auto-dial; the poor woman just didn't know who she was dealing with.

Some chirpy bird on the end of the line informed me that she was going to save me a fortune with my shopping by allowing my to buy at wholesale prices. It was then I informed her that I didn't go shopping.................it all went quiet for a second.
She was about to launch into her spiel and I saved her the time with the retort that I: buy my clothes in charity shops and car boot sales, I own no new furniture and everything I have comes from people selling goods second hand in the classifieds, that I make my own soap, I shop in Lidl or Aldi, I only buy Tesco basics, that I have scoured every price comparison website and get the cheapest deals on: car, boiler, home and contents insurance.

I am on the lowest energy tariffs you can get, I have an energy meter so I keep my bills uber-low, I use the library so I don't buy books, I grow my own veg, I make my own jam and pickles, I make my own Christmas presents and my friends call me the frugal queen........................she hung up!!!!

Let there be light

When we bought our house, one of the things I knew I needed for the sake of my well-being was light. My house is south facing, with stunning views which are blocked by two large trees and I always wanted to get some tree surgery done to them. I looked at my bank account this month and could actually afford to get the work done.


I did all the usual things and got several quotes and almost gave up. Most of the quotes were in excess of £1200 to get the tree taken down. Today, I had a card and photocopied advert stuck through my door and by chance, I rang them. I was completely suspicious when they arrived within the hour and looked like the cast of Rogue Traders. I was careful and asked to see his paper work. "You've been watching Rogue Traders" he said, to which I replied "Show us your: NPTC certificate, your limited liability insurance certificate, written quotation and home address and phone number!" He dutifully unzipped a leather bound folder and gave me everything I asked for and even managed to call Matt Albright an oil tanker or words to that effect. I then asked for a written quote, which I laughed at and told him to try again, I managed to haggle him down from £750 to £600..........................he went back to get on his Wallace and Gromitt chain saw trousers mumbling that I was robbing him. "There's a recession on y'know!" said I. I also managed to secure the logs, that they were cut down to usable size and stacked neatly on my drive!!! They were reluctant but I know there's not much work around, which easily matches my not much money so the deal was done.


It was an entertaining day. I know they were qualified chainsaw operatives but I don't think they do many 100 feet tall, spindly knackered old cherry trees very often! Blokey up tree (Kamikaze Kevin!) was strapped to the tree by his jock strap and spent the day on the edge of death.

After sawing off all the over hanging branches.............mainly into the road below our house and onto the back of their lorry. I got the first glimpse of my complete view. Now, from my lounge and my patio I can see all of the farm land opposite, whereas before I had glimpses through the branches. I'm already stunned by how much extra light I have.


Below is the boss, he and the other man on the ground has a different view of the branches, which ones to cut and where they will land. It becomes a three man operation. Big fat bloke, is the rope, block and tackle man, who spends all his time lashing a rope around the other tree or ground anchors, cranking a winching handle and 'take the strainnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!" The three of them have to shout to each other as the tree is high and Kamikaze Kevin is deaf as well as daft as he keeps his ear defenders on when they try to talk to him. I think they ought to learn semaphore as it might be more useful!

Here is what is left of ugly old cherry tree.
After each stage of felling, they all rush round together with much smaller chain saws and cut the tree limbs up into small logs. They will be round tomorrow with a huge mulching machine (please don't let Kamikaze Kevin any where near that one!!!!) Below is said Kev, strapped onto what is left of the tree. By four o clock after five hours of battle with the spindly beast, they admitted defeat and said they'll return tomorrow (don't worry I won't pay them until the last microbe of sawdust is cleaned away)
It's been a weird day, I never intended to have the tree cut down today! I started just quilting and hovering around the house. It's turned into a monumentally entertaining day, with a huge increase in sunlight and twice the view I had before. Funny old day!

Should have gone to Specsavers

I've had my glasses so long, they don't work any more! I went to specsavers today! The service was excellent! The glasses fantastic.................if you wanted nice ones! If you wanted to save money then you might as well have got yourself a pair of 'Diedre's'! I've bought varifocals so I don't have to keep taking them on and off at work as I often need to read and then look up, which results in me feeling three sheets to the wind by looking into the distance through bottle bottoms when my distance vision is 20:20! So I've given in and bought some new ones! £150 for two pairs of varifocals! I will be able to see and I will be very trendy and I will be skint! Don' t you just hate it when you have dodgy eyes and have to spend money on them!!!

Primarni!

I went to Plymouth today to meet my daughter and take her clothes shopping. She didn't show up so I went clothes shopping and spent (rent from the lodger)£37!!! ON: two sleeveless tops, two linen blouses, one skirt, one pair of linen trousers, one linen shirt for DB. I needed some work clothes and my charity shop clothes were looking a bit faded for someone in a managerial position so I splashed out. It was not so many years ago that I would have spent £50 on one shirt! I can recommend Primarni for light weight summer clothes and it's very cheap and before I get the moral backlash; I am perfectly aware that some one some where is being paid a pittance. But then if you go to Monsoon and pay a fortune...............they do the same. P.S - I am going to be cool and smart at work on Monday............they'll be shocked.

Menu planning and bulk cooking.

I don't do what I do just to save money but also out of genuine concerns for the environment. The average family uses1.29 tonnes of CO2 on cooking alone. I try to use my big main oven as little as possible and bulk cook when I switch it on. I then re-heat with the microwave or in my mini oven.
My menu this week. Saturday - Bacon, cream cheese and mushroom cannelloni with salad. Sunday - Bacon wrapped chicken, boiled potatoes and veg. Mon - Cottage pie and veg. Tuesday toad in the hole, onion gravy and veg. Wednesday - Chicken casserole, cous cous and veg. Thursday - Sausages, onion gravy and veg. Friday Cottage pie and veg.
It also means that I don't need to shop this week, again saving tonnes of CO2 as I don't need to take the car out. I got to defrost the freezer today as I emptied it. It will be more economical and environmentally efficient when I use it now. I also save time in the week and a lot of electricity as this was all cooked at the same time in the same oven.
The cannelloni could have done with some more tomato sauce but I was trying to use up a half opened jar that the lodger had left. (I even watered it down to go further.)
So the bulk of the meals are prepared for the week and I've done my bit.

That's even less than Asda price!

We had to do some shopping this evening! I really want to cook something myself but after getting home at six I was just past it.

The shopping had to be done and we had to find the man with the price reducing machine and hound him mercilessly! We loitered and waited at every turn and there was a little Asda green man/woman decreasing the prices and we seemed the only people after the bargains. We've bought bread, some cooked products, some baked goods, meat, fruit and veg and all of our weekly shopping was drastically reduced.

It's a shame I then burnt the pie (originally £2.87 and reduced to 70p) when I heated it!!! We'll eat it anyway.

100 thanks to 100 people

Thanks so much to all the followers who read my blog. This has given me a wonderful opportunity to connect with such lovely people. Sometimes, enforced frugality has left me feeling isolated and I know I am not alone. Thank you all. Jane xxxxxxxxx

One day up, one day down.

Every day has it something new, some more shiny than others. It's a grey day at Frugal towers today. I want to go out, go somewhere and I can't afford the diesel, bus or train fare so I'm feeling the cabin fever today and feel stagnant. Being frugal by choice means having a few quid somewhere to go for a drive and get out if you want to, even if it's with a flask and packed lunch. If I go anywhere by car today, there won't be any diesel in the tank if I need to go somewhere if called, such as to parents or children. There must be millions of people around the world who never have the choice.........water and firewood has to be fetched and food has to be found for hungry mouths. As ever, I will come up the other side of the roller coaster ride and remember that life goes up and down.........just today, we're down.

Packing in the money saving

I was late home and even though I was really tired; I made sure I went to vote and always give thanks that I can do that. Today is one of those days when I just marvel at how lucky I am.

I love my wee tomato plants and just for 69p-ish of seeds and the tubs are all recycled. I usually give as many away as I grow on myself and love the opulence and richness I feel when my house and garden are full of plants that I grew myself at very little cost. I like get as much as I can out of what ever I can. I make sure the washing machine is full, I drive at a steady speed and keep that around 40mph. One teabag can always make two mugs of tea (or even three!) and I also make the most of every inch of my freezer. (yes.............it needs defrosting!)
My freezer is jam packed full of meals I cooked earlier or something that I will cook or use another day. I have a tiny fridge and three drawer freezer and yet I manage to pack it with almost a month's food. I remove packaging and bag in a plain freezer bag if it will take up less room. Tonight we had a chicken breast each with some minted new potatoes, carrots and peas and supper cost 65p each! As we ate in the dining room, whilst the tomato plants grew quietly to themselves in the background.............I thought of my garden and packed pantry and remembered how lucky I am.

Steamin' well saving money

I try and cook everything in one saucepan or on one gas ring. Mum bought me this steamer years ago from one of her flea market jaunts (she knows I have my eyes open for a pressure cooker.) I put all my veg in the bottom and then whatever I'm reheating, whether that stew or..........guess what? You got it! More faggots!!!! with some spuds and then cook them altogether. Gas is so incredibly expensive that we have to do what we can to use as little as possible and then still have to sell a kidney to pay for it. I even add the veggy water to gravy so nothing is wasted! Just another money and planet saving day for a frugal xxxx

Be prepared with bulk cooking.

I save money by cooking on one day and then creating my own 'ready meals' for the rest of the week. I can stretch anything if I have to. £2.49 of chicken pieces will make chicken stew for two days, £2.99 of extra lean minced beef will make 4 servings of ragu sauce and 4 servings of chilli beef. Today we had half the chilli beef with rice and a tomato and onion salad. I froze the other half. Below is ragu sauce for four. We always stretch it with a huge salad and a loaf of homemade bread.
Here's the chilli beef, that we had with some bread and a bowl of salad.
Here's the remainder of the chilli beef that we froze. There are five meals in the freezer, ready to be eaten whenever we want them. From leaving home to returning again, my working days are twelve hours long so I make sure I'm prepared so I can save myself time and money. I would never dream of popping out for a takeaway because I'm too busy. Each meal still cost under £1 per person.

It's not easy being frugal

(Addition - apologies for the text layout, this looks normal when I type/post - something happens when I 'publish post)

I think the art of budgeting and menu planning used to be something that women
learnt out of necessity when husband used to hand them the weekly wage packet in a brown
envelope and the wife used to stretch everything so she had money left over to buy the
children clothes, shoes etc.

In my previous life I had an allowance and that was the only money I was ‘given’. So I had
a very similar experience to women in times gone by. I had two little children, a car that
needed petrol to get them to school and I needed to clothe the three of us from that budget too. No-one taught me.....it was sink or swim. I used to dress up market stall (how many chickens can I get in this black bin bag for a fiver and then throw them into the desperate crowd!) meat as the local butcher’s finest and stretched everything I had so I could pay for playgroup. No one ever learns to do anything until they have to do it. If you have to stretch the little money you have, you suddenly learn. It’s not about what you have but what you do with it.
When I shop, I shop in portions or meals. It used to be for four of us and I would bulk
out things to make them go further. Now we’re watching our portion sizes – I don’t need to
do that; just make smaller meals.

I look at the price on the shelf and check, not just the price but how much per kilo –
today really posh ‘Pilgrim’s Choice’ cheddar was the cheapest per kilo. When buying
potatoes, remember that one potato per person is all you would eat if you baked it, so
that’s all you need if you mash, chip or just boil. I always refrigerate fruit and veg,
they last longer as you are not exposing them to so much oxygen. I freeze bread and milk.
Butter substitute such as ‘utterly butterly’ (or the generic version) has a shelf life of
months, so it will just keep somewhere cool or in the fridge for a month. I buy UHT milk
and yoghurt. Flour, dried yeast and tinned goods last for months. So buy a month’s worth.
I buy shampoo, shower gel, loo rolls when they are on offer. I buy toothpaste for 45p
and it whitens and does everything an expensive product does and a tube lasts us one month. I make shower gel last for months as I apply it to a scrubby and wash myself from head to toe with one squirt. I make a bottle of conditioner last a month as I use a tiny amount, then keep an old hair brush in the shower to brush it through my hair.

For all my advice, or top tips, this all comes down to simple arithmetic. I keep my
receipts and check them through and enter them into my accounts, which I do with ‘excel’
to record what I spend. I usually shop in Lidl and as they have a limited range; I know
six chicken breasts are £3.99, there are six in the bag, so 66p each. They are very large
and good quality.

I have a calculator which I use when checking my budget, but I have a top tip when
shopping, just round everything up to the next pound. So If I buy a cauliflower for 69p,
when I walk around the shop I just call that £1. It’s so much easier.
No one has taught me to do any of this. I never learnt this at school. My mother never
divulged the secrets of the family purse. If I was rubbish at maths, I can still use a
calculator. I’m no Gordon Ramsay as you can see from my menu plans, but I know about the
basics of health: five a day, portion size (use a smaller plate) and basic costing. I
also have a desire to waste as little as possible so I re-use plastic pots to grow plants
and freeze left overs and I use drinks bottles as cloches and I recycle everything else.
I have shopped with ‘meals’ in mind and then looked at what I have; to put together meals
for the next three weeks. I have plans for 19 meals, but I will bulk this out with beany
burgers (from tinned kidney beans etc) and meals such as fried rice, which sometimes is
all we have, or egg, chips and beans.

I know people struggle to plan, to budget and find making both ends meet really difficult.
I hope my menu plan can help in any way. I’m always on the end of a blog to help anyone
who asks. Here are the meals for next three weeks.

6 Chicken breasts = 3 meals (Top tip – always buy these frozen, they are so much cheaper)
Roast chicken, stuffing, roast potatoes and roast butternut squash, cabbage, carrots and gravy. Chicken casserole, mashed potatoes, carrots, peas. Chicken Korma, rice and salad.

4 pork chops = 2 meals (Top tip – always buy these frozen, they are so much cheaper £1.79 for 4 chops in Lidl)
Sticky grilled pork with homemade oven chips, green beans and tomatoes. Spicy pork chops with green salad and homemade bread.

16 sausages = 2 meals – some for packed lunches the next day.
Sausages and onion gravy, boiled minted new potatoes, carrots and cauliflower. Toad in the hole, onion gravy, cabbage and peas.

Chicken thighs = 1 large casserole – some for packed lunch next day.

1.4 kg of minced beef = 4 meals
Chilli con carne and rice, with salad. Cottage pie, carrots, French beans X 2 Lasagne and salad.

Faggots = 1 meal serve with gravy, boiled minted new potatoes, carrots and cauliflower.

4 haddock fillets = 2 meals
Battered Haddock with homemade chips, tinned mushy peas and carrots X 2

Veggie burgers = 1 meal serve with homemade bread and salad.

1 gammon joint = 2 meals
Boiled gammon, minted new potatoes, carrots, cauliflower and green beans and parsley sauce. Cold gammon, homemade chips and salad/or veg

1 pack of back bacon = 1 meal
Carbonara (pasta, cheese sauce, strips of fried bacon with chopped and fried mushroom)

Lunches
3 tins of corned beef = lunches for 6 days
5 tins of tuna = lunch for 5 days
Bread flour, marg and yeast – enough until the end of the month.
Cake ingredients to last until the end of the month.
Cheese for quiche/cheese sauce/sandwiches – until the end of the month.
Longlife goods in the cupboard will last up to six months.
I am no expert on thrifting and frugality and I'm still learning. I'm making everything I have go a little further and most of it comes down to common sense and self control. I didn't used to be sensible and I didn't have self control and I don't think they can be taught in school. Life can be the best teacher sometimes.

The day before payday!

We all know how this feels. The lodger's money went in. I bought car and house insurance and the lodger's money went out. Balance? £10.11! However I have saved myself £443.48 simply by judiciously checking every price comparison website. We've shopped around in the past but never as ruthlessly as I have this time. The renewal quote on the home insurance was £410.33 and the cover I bought, giving me exactly the same cover as I previously received was £143.85. My car insurance renewal quote was £344.64 and again the cover I bought, giving me exactly the same level of protection is £167. I have bought both policies through my Quidco account and have earned a further £78 in cash back. So in fact my total saving is £521.48. I might only have a tenner left to my name at the end of the month but I am feeling flush with my money saving abilities!

I also came home to the evening sun illuminating the beech tree at the end of my garden, which in turn made me feel positively loaded. The rain has made everything look emerald and luscious .

Everything has burst into life; especially the potatoes. They are incredibly easy to grow. All in all, even though I have £10.11 left to my name until I get paid; I actually feel extremely rich. I am always well stocked and there's plenty of food in the freezer and the cupboards. I've been careful with money by finding good insurance deals, I've been careful all month so we're not short of anything and my garden and my surroundings make me feel so lucky to be here.

In one hand and out the other!

Off to the bank tomorrow; the rent has been paid! Whenever I hear someone say 'money's not important'; I usually remind them that it's pretty difficult without it. I need to bank this pronto as I have a mass of bills to pay, the car insurance and the home insurance! Oh and another bogglin' thing............the upstairs loo broke today and it's been running water all day! So back to the DIY store for a new flush device! Thank the Lord for Dearly Beloved as I certainly can't afford a plumber! I'm now off to search QUIDCO to get the best deals with the best cash back!

The sum of all our days!

I hope to live until I am 90 and if I do I will have lived for 32,850 days! I have been alive for approximately 16, 180 days and I have 245 days until I will have lived half my life. After that; I will have less time left than I've already had. I have looked back over my blog and taken a look at the sum of my days. I have catalogued almost every day this year and strangely enough, even though I have set myself rigorous guidelines to live by; it has been the best year of my life.

Throughout my school holiday last year; I cleaned holiday caravans and people left soap, shower gel, unopened toothpaste and cleaning products and I recently finished the last of the shower gel. At the end of the summer, I took the money I had made and bought myself some new work clothes and they were the last new clothes I bought. At Christmas we made the bold decision to only buy presents for our own kids and mothers; no one minded. Throughout the Autumn term I started extra tutoring and was paid at the end of March and paid off half of one credit card balance. In the Easter holiday, we made some money from ebay and bought bits and pieces for our garden (including a water butt) and I have a patio full of sprouting and emerging veggies.

As I look back over my blog; I can't notice anything I went without and when I count up the sum of my days I can look truly positively at the days I've had, which in turn gives incredible optimism for the days ahead. It can be claustrophobic but it has also given me time to think, reflect, read, just sit, drink coffee on my garden step and have a sleep in my sun warmed shed on a cold spring afternoon. It's a long journey and I have to have days like this when I sit and reflect on how far I've come and just look at the view and enjoy that mountain moment when I can see the 'promised land'.

To pee or not to pee?

I hate South West Water! There...I've go that off my chest. I have no option but to buy water off them and they force the price up by us having to pay for the crud of tourists, (no offence to anyone who holidays in the South West but we pay for you to have clean beaches) so big businesses make money and the tourists cost the ordinary folk!!! (I think they should bag it and take it home with them!!!!)

I can do what I can to save money but there is nothing I can do to save water. I think I'll get Dearly Beloved to rig up some Heath Robinson type affair to collect water as we're using too much. We had our water meter fitted on the 17/02/2010 and had the meter read on the 19/04/2010 and have used 27 cubic metres of water! At £1.69 per cubic metre to buy it and £2.76 per cubic meter to dispose of it! So my bill for two months is £126.96!!!! It comes to something when you have to cut back washing to save money! I am though saving money as my bill for un-metered water was £1224.13 last year! and a direct debit of £122.40 for ten months of payments!

Well that's it then! I'll be nipping into the sports centre for a two or three showers a week, piddling in my compost heap and 'airing' clothes instead of always washing them! It comes to something when an ordinary person has to cut back on groceries and lighting to pay to have a poo! GGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!! It's time to get a few of these and save my own rain water!

hard cheese

I'm going to need to steel my resolve, to find my Blitz spirit and polish up my cliches to get through this month. It's truly wonderful that Dearly Beloved is 100% eye candy as he's going to be all I'll see this coming month! I have had to work out a very tough budget for May and we will have to grit our teeth to get through it!

Every month we sit down (well, we do now that we've come to our senses..........if only we'de done this yaars ago!) and write out our budget for the month. We leave nothing to chance and make sure we're putting money aside for car tax, water rates (now that we're metered), clothes, birthdays and Christmas, car tyres, and eventualities. We then know what we have to spend on food. This month we have a big food budget of £64.82; we don't need that much and will be able to direct more money towards debt payments. It's going to be a very very tough month though as we have to renew the house/contents insurance and the car insurance. We hoped we would have a few days camping in August, but it is not looking likely. We should see a reduction in our utilities now that we have cheaper tariffs and we're being very stingy with gas and electricity.
Here on my spreadsheet I can see every penny coming in and out, what we have to put by for bills we don't pay monthly and what we have left to go shopping with. There is nothing for going out and there are two bank holiday weekend, so I hope the weather will be kind to us and allow us time on the moors with a picnic.