So week 3 cash budget comes to an end tomorrow so I’ve just sat down tonight and gone through the figures and after a very difficult week to stay within budget I’m happy to have made it through with still £3.12 left over to put in my cash savings jar!
This is my very first month of pretty much EVER doing a monthly budget where every single £ is accounted for. It’s not easy but I am so determined to change my life around economically in 2018 that accounting for every £ spent will be absolutely necessary to rid myself of past bad habits.
The reason this week was such a rollercoaster white knuckle ride financially was that £50 of my £57.50 weekly cash budget for food, car/petrol and household (entertainment, clothing, toiletries, other etc) was spent on petrol as I did a 500 mile round trip to move my daughter out of the University of Reading. The only other expense this week was £4.38 on food. I’m glad reset day is tomorrow and Week 4’s budget kicks in….phew!
That’s £59.22 I’ve saved in 3 weeks out of my weekly cash budget in addition to the £300 savings I had sent to TransaveUK Credit Union from payroll when I got paid! (but I’ve given up absolutely EVERYTHING to achieve that!!!!)
I’m pretty proud of myself for sticking with it! I can’t actually believe it!!!
As for eating healthily I don’t want to jinx it but for some reason the more I am taking control of my money the more I seem to be taking control of my eating. Is it because psychologically I’m feeling happier making positive changes and anxiety about money has had me comforting myself with food? Who knows! It’s just a theory right now and I’m going to see what happens.
Currently I’m eating well and eating somewhere between 1500-2000 calories a day with lots of vegetables and pulses/beans.
Today I had porridge oats for breakfast, a large leafy salad and 300g drained weight of kidney beans and some dressing for lunch, for dinner I had soup and bread and afterwards a single eggless pancake drizzled with a little golden syrup. If I’m still hungry tonight I will saute some white cabbage in a pan with some herbs and spices.
I hope everyone is doing well with their budgets. I’m rather liking this “make do and mend” malarky!
C xxxxx
All sounding good! Food wise I am doing okay (and I’ve lost some weight – woo hoo!) budget wise not so great – but the big expense of the month was dealt with today so hopefully I can start salting some away again!
I hate those big expenses!!!! Set everything back temporarily! Got my cars MOT beginning of February…. I have put away £300 towards that but fear it won’t be enough!!! xxxx Well done on the weight loss!! xxx
Thus far this month:
$745.00 for dental ‘catch up’ work [i.e. root canal; 3 small fillings] from 2017
$445.00 for vision exam and new eyeglasses
$169.00 for dental cleaning …
DH does grocery shopping and can never remember to give me the receipt!!! So, he will work on that, while I work on making our meals with whatever we have in the freezer or what I canned last year. Either way, our meals will mostly be made from ‘scratch’, and I am striving for the wartime meals.
You are my SUPER HERO!!
Thank you for sharing your journey.
p.s. I was looking into gym memberships when I realized all the stuff I had at home I could use:
dvds, treadmill, free weights/dumb bells, and various other items which I cannot think of a name for, so to save the $$$ I am going to use what I have on hand.
You are so right Virginia!!! I have a kettle bell and some dumbells too and two legs and fields and pavements right outside my door… plenty of exercise instead of the gym (although it was very hard to give up my gym membership). Those are some hefty dental and vision bills – ouch! But we gotta look after ourselves though! xxx Thanks for leaving a comment xx
I wish I could drive! Im getting lessons at…45!
Thankfully you were able to help your daughter out. Imagine if you didnt have 50 quid to spend on gas- it happens! You did marvellously well 🙂
Well done you for getting lessons! I hated EVERY SINGLE MOMENT of learning to drive with an instructor. It wasn’t until I was in a car on my own and could take my time on quiet roads that I truly began to really appreciate being able to drive around. xxxx
I’m sure you will really love it when you are out and about in your car when you get your license!! xxx Good luck!
I have just found your blog and am loving it. Especially the ww2 recipes. How did you make an eggless pancake? I often use the liquid from a can of chickpeas as egg substitute but wondered what you used as I hate to open a can just for the liquid.
I’m fairly new to using the liquid in with chickpeas but what I’ve done with it so far is amazing!!! Meringues were so tasty but problem is I ate all of them! Hi Amanda – here is a link to a wartime eggless pancake recipe I use. You can use a bit of oil in the pan if needs be. xx https://the1940sexperiment.com/2014/03/03/pancake-day-wartime-eggless-pancakes/
Gosh, just looked at your eggless pancake recipe. I’ve been in the US for 22 years and I had no idea that there was a difference in tablespoon size! (Slaps forehead with palm). It took me a year or two to notice that our pints are different (I always knew gallons were). Thanks. And they look very nice pancakes, by the way.
Thank you. This looks great. I shall try this tonight with some lemon. It’s been ages since I had pancakes.
Very Proud of you Sis! I made Mums “Grandmas Chicken Soup!” Been noshing that for two nights Tea! Leftovers for Lunch tomorrow!also made a Shelpards Pie too! No Puddings so far ! Lol xxx
I love leftovers and soup!!! xx
Not worked out my totals for this week yet, namely because I have to go out tomorrow to buy a sympathy card for my daughter’s friend. The life support for her new born baby was turned off today, so many people are just devastated. All I can do is send a card, which feels so inadequate.
Oh that is so sad 🙁 I card is lovely though as you can share your thoughts and I am sure she will find much comfort in reading the cards now and again as she moves through the grieving process. Hugs xxx
Thanks you
I’ve been sick for the past three weeks, and dealing with other issues. The finances are doing okay, but we have ‘cheated’ and gotten take away a couple of nights.
Also, I broke my tooth yesterday. I got it fixed today, thankfully, but that’s another unexpected amount out of the budget. I’m hoping to be back on track next week.
Ouch… I hope that broken tooth wasn’t too painful and will now be OK xxx |How do they mend teeth? Do they glue the tooth back on or have to replace it? Hope you feel better soon xx
I finally got a full night’s sleep. A dozen more of those, and I’ll feel great!
They mended the tooth by using the composite that they use for cavities – the white stuff, not the old metal amalgam. They put a flexible metal ring around the tooth, then put the composite in, do whatever they do to make it hard, remove the ring, and it’s done! Thankfully, it wasn’t cracked or more damaged, otherwise it would have taken more work.
hurrah for you, finishing 3 weeks with money over! and the trip throwing a problem in it all!
the idea is to have a handle on all of your years expenses (car coming up) a column for each one, and each pay period set aside the correct fraction for each expense on each pay period. (if paid every week, it would be 1/52nd of the total expense)
by the time the expense comes up, you will have enough to cover it. it does take a good while to work all this out. and there needs to be an “unexpected” column as well. I will leave you to it now, think I have spoken out enough for a good while!! You are doing amazingly well Carolyn many give up after a week or so, when the going gets a bit rough. it pays off in the end, believe me. I’ve been on this plan now for scores of years and it has saved my biscuit many times. the comfort of knowing the money will be there is a great relief.
it helps to have a “column” for yourself, a small reward at each months end for being such a good girl!!
afn, ann lee
Yes absolutely- the budget will be a work in progress for the next few months until I find out what works for me and you are right, budgeting in advance covers all eventualities! I do have some car savings (£300) set aside for my car MOT due in February so that was successfully forward planned but the birthdays this month (no!!)….I definitely need to tweak! Am really happy so far I’ve stuck with it… Thanks for sharing your thoughts, I do enjoy reading them xxxx
my last (I promise) words (for a while): Maureen has been telling you about Gail Vax Oxlade, basically that is my method as well, the use of jars for your weekly food, gas etc money, when its done, its done. between Gail and David Ramsay (great long term planning) you will be positively thrilled where you are in another year or even 6 months. ann lee
I’m going to look her up right now again before I get my head down for the night!! 🙂 xx
Oh hang on I forgot her name- yes I watched quite a few YouTube videos with her in- I need to find more written stuff though. Yes enjoyed her advice she was giving people xxx
Fantastic Carolyn! You are doing incredibly for just three weeks and having an unexpected expense thrown at you.
And it is not just a theory. At least it was not for me. The more in control of our finances we got the more secure and happy I felt and the less I needed comforting. The stress and nervousness and constant anticipation of something horrible arriving in the mail and then the weight lessened with each month that we paid down our debt.
And then when we were able to really save a safety net and for retirement I became the calmest, happiest person and lost that 110 lbs that had been hanging around for years.
You always have such delicious meals especially the salads. I copy you quite a bit.
Well done on coming in under budget when you had to spend so much money on petrol! That is a real win!!
So far this month I have spent $44.06 on food and stocking my pantry . My yearly tax bill has been paid $1890 property tax, and my heater is out, so I transferred the funds from the heat bill to my electrics bill as I am using space heaters. I have also begun to stock my pantry with discounted and coupon items. I now have a year and a half of laundry washing soap ( I also use this to make an all purpose cleaner for my bathrooms, floors and walls so I don’t have to buy a separate cleaner other than 99 cent bleach and vinegar), shampoo and soaps for at least a year, all included in the $44.06. Also included in the $44.06 was 6 pounds of dry beans I have pressure canned. To buy beans here it’s $1.00 or more per tin. I have brought that down to an average of 25 cents a jar. I currently now have 20 jars in my pantry, ready to eat. I also now walk to the market to save fuel in the car. This challenge has really got me motivated!
It might have been difficult but YOU DID IT … I’m seriously impressed, well done.
I have a whole different attitude to fuel in my car now. I am a much more conscious driver and every time I accelerate I imagine I am pushing the fuel out of the tank …which of course I am … and I try and keep my speed down and I mostly coast down hills, of which there are a lot here in Wales 🙂
Hahaha coasting down the hills…..love it!!! 🙂 I found myself, on my 500 mile round trip cruising at the speed for optimum fuel efficiency which was 60 mph in lane 1 of the motorway ( I did do speeding up and overtaking a few times)…. Not tried coasting down hills…will remember that one!!! Xxx
Brilliant achievement! That extra journey ? I would have cheated and not included it.
My saving this month? Cycling into town to buy one item (saved €6.20 fare!!) and then buying 2 shirts for €44 with the saved fare. SALE time. (maths was never my best subject.)
So, I have spent a total of £14.53 this week, £3.19 on groceries, £7.40 on travel, £1.59 on the dog and £2.75 for the sympathy card. The category that I am finding most difficult is the travel, I have only used public transport twice this week, once I walked one way, the other time I walked part of the way, and it’s still, by far, my biggest expenditure. I am trying to look at it as a little money saved and a tiny boost to my health, but it is slightly demoralising.
I have just made some soup, using up the odds and ends of veg in my fridge, and in typical fashion, for me, I have made tons! There’s easily 3 litres and I only wanted it to feed me for the weekend. Anyway, I’ll probably freeze some so that I can take it for meals at work. I’m also finding that I need a little treat to look forward to, so last week I made a tea bread, which should last me over the weekend, then I have some mincemeat and some apples that I’m planning on making into a flan or tart or something and hopefully that should last next week out. I think it’s partly to do with the weather, this needing a little something to look forward to, but I’m not going to beat myself up about it.
Hope everyone has a good weekend.
I think you’ve done marvelously well xxxx Having a treat to look forward to sounds like a GREAT idea! I had my sons birthday today. I had already bought his present (out of some Amazon gift cards I had) but had to spend some of my birthday money on buying a few treats for his birthday tea (for 5)… very simple, I made a flapjack and bought a few nibblies and now I’m drinking one of my Christmas beers… that’s my treat over and done with now! xxx
Ooh, I love flapjacks! Haven’t had any for ages either, so I might make those for my little treat in the near future. Hope the birthday tea went well. Enjoy the beer, real ale I hope?
Absolutely!!! I love an occasional ale! Xxx
Hello Carolyn I am so thrilled I found your site, I have been thinking of rationing my food for a long time to help lose weight & save money & prevent food waste…thank you so much for all the work you’ve put in to keep this up, you’re an inspiration!…
2 things please, I am vegan, can I sub the meat with vegan meat/tofu? How about the regular animal oil?
& where can I learn more about the points?
Xox
Thanks a heap