Budgeting and shopping for the month ahead
Evening everyone.We get our pension paid monthly, and, as soon as we are paid, I like to sort it out, so that I know what we have left to spend. Firstly I put some money into one of our accounts to pay for all the direct debits. I then draw out cash for shopping, fuel and Hubby's spending money. The rest I move straight into a savings account. This is for birthdays, Christmas, repairs, holidays etc. If I have any left over cash from the shopping/spending/fuel money at the end of the month, I put that into our Isa savings account ( this is usually rare!). These are long term savings that we try not to touch. ( not a fortune by any means and they have to last us a very long time as we have no means of replacing them now that we don't work anymore). We only have Hubby's income as I don't get my pension until next July. Hopefully things should get a little bit easier financially once we have that bit extra coming in..
The first shop of the month is always our most expensive as I stock up on enough toilet rolls, soap powder, toiletries, cleaning products, and tea and coffee to last the month. I go to two different shops to buy these to get the best deal. The following 3 weeks shopping is basically fresh meat, fruit, veg, milk and yogurts and anything that we may of run out of.
I always do a meal plan for the week, but, I am flexible and will change things around if we don't fancy the particular meal that's down on the plan. I make a plan, so that I don't buy food we won't eat, and, so nothing really gets wasted. It also means that over the course of the week we get a balanced diet.
How do you manage your money? Do you make a budget or meal plan? Do you find it helps?
Until tomorrow
Jules x
I will try to read all comments and reply. Please be polite and kind. Thanks :)
You bet I have a budget....I like to live WITHIN our means, not just to the very last penny lol. I keep an account book of various living expenses and allot a certain amount per month to those items...something always goes into savings and I keep an emergency fund (which I hope and pray I never have to use lol).
ReplyDeleteI keep an account book too. It's a real eye opener of where our money really goes isn't it. x
DeleteSame here. One pension household for 3-4 more years yet:(
ReplyDeleteIt's doable though with a little care and infinitely better than going to work x
DeleteI always plan our meals, and shop for the ingredients accordingly, but have been very lucky in that I have never had to worry about money or budgeting . We are not rich by any means, but have always had " enough". We don't buy " new" cars, and don't have expensive holidays which I guess helps.. Been in the same house for 40 yrs....also an ingrained " saving" gene must have been passed on from my parents!!
ReplyDeleteBoth in our early 70's so we don't spend much apart from food ( and drink in my case!!)..oh and the dogs cost quite a lot too!
Hi Frances, I'm with you on dog expenses! Love ours to bits but we would definitely be better off financially if we didn't spend so much on him. I'd go without myself though if he needed anything. Same here too about the holidays and cars. I think that saving seems to be out dated nowadays in favour of credit. I too was brought up to save for anything I wanted and I don't think that's a bad thing. x
DeleteA budget is a must here.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame that it's not a must in every home. Budgeting is a really useful skill and makes for a happy and healthy household. x
DeleteI more or less plan our meals, but we don't (have to) budget. Fortunately we can buy what we need/want. What's left goes into our savings account.
ReplyDeleteYou're lucky Ivy and I'm sure it's most probably down to good money management that you are financially secure now. x
DeleteHi, I've been blog hopping today so can't be sure where I popped over from but .... I have recently made the decision to retire earlier than I had planned. I thought of going (comfortably) at 62 but now realize I just can't face my horrendous commute any more and have decided to leave at Christmas (I will be 60 in September). I had to take out a new mortgage at 53 to buy my husband out of the house when he left me but since then have been throwing everything I can at the mortgage and it's thanks to THAT that I can actually envisage going early. I realize that while I like to cook I am still wasting food so when I do leave work I'm going to have to really watch it. But then if it gets me away from that commute two years early I'm up for the challenge. Anna
ReplyDeleteLovely to meet you and welcome. Good for you for making that decision to leave early. We got to that point too and haven't regretted it for a minute. You will do it easily with careful planning and budgeting. Good luck x
DeleteMy husband took early retirement when he was 53 when he turned 65 his pension increased we kept to our budget and spent the extra on travel and cruises. It was the best decision we ever made.
ReplyDelete