Frugal friday - Budgets & savings

To save money, you must first know how much you have. Then you must know how much you need. Logical, eh? Written like that, it makes perfect sense - but somehow when translated to real life it is anything but that simple for most people. You work out all your bills, cut back on electricity use, and shop from a list and to the most frugal of budgets, then the car needs a service or the home insurance falls due and all your careful planning is thrown into disarray.

It is possible however to sort your finances out to a place where those sorts of occurrances aren't a disaster, and life carries on with no doom-laden soundtrack playing. How do we reach this magical state? Well we budget of course! So, what do we mean by budget? well Dictionary.com has the first definition as

"an estimate, often itemised, of expected income and expense for a given period in the future"

Pretty concise, that. The key word there in my view is future - that's what a budget is - forward planning for money. Knowing what you have coming in is only half of the battle - the key thing is knowing when it needs to go out again, and in what quantities!

The simplest of budgets can be reached by writing down all your regular expenditure. Then, when you've got it all written down, fetch a years bank statements and skim through for the stuff you missed - add those to the list too. Remember the irregular stuff - the cat needing her vaccinations, the kids new school uniforms, the car needing new tyres. (We have a separate budget for the cars actually - I added up a years worth of servicing costs, tax, insurance and MoT fees, then added an amount to take account of tyre wear and a further amount for contingencies - the final figure was divided by 12 and that amount is now set to automatically feed across into a savings account each month. I can't begin to tell you what a relief it is to know that the money for those things is there when it's needed!). Some things are easy to budget - anything that can be set up on a regular monthly direct debit for a set amount, for example, or that only has subtle month by month variations. Other things are tougher, and it is these that can catch you out - insurances are a good example - try to avoid paying by instalments if you can as there is nearly always a charge for that. Christmas hits many people hard in the pocket, leaving them dreading the January credit card bill, and yet again, by spreading the cost across the year and transferring an amount each month into a savings account you can have a nice little cushion of money there waiting to soften the blow. Just £25 put aside each month will give you a nice £300 cushion come December.

Once you have all the figures, then consider setting up separate savings accounts online for the "big spend" items. We have various of these, which help us budget for Christmas and the car costs as mentioned, through to one for general household stuff which means paying the contents insurance when the renewal comes through is less painful than it would otherwise be!

Finally, you need to consider the budgets as being an ongoing thing - they need regular reviews and revisions as things change. A good, well maintained budget will look after you and actually help you save money as you begin to see where it goes. So, where do you stand on this question - do you budget already? Has it helped? If you don't, how do you manage your money from month to month?

Robyn


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Hebrides countdown 2012...

Fay over at The Wind & The Wellies has been having some problems with these little chaps lately. Not these exact ones, obviously, as these are Hebridean Oystercatchers and hers, naturally, are Orcadian Oystercatchers, but with some of their cousins, who keep (along with the Lapwings and Curlews) waking her up earlier than she wants to be awake in the mornings. I can sympathise - when we arrive in the Hebrides it always takes us a few days to get used to the incredible range of bird calls at both dawn and dusk - Snipe, at nightfall, make a sound so spooky it makes the hairs in the back of your neck stand up!

It was up in the Hebrides where we first gained a real appreciation of the sheer number of different species of birds it's possible to see in one fairly small location in the UK. Over our last few years trips we've seen birds ranging in size from the tiny (Wren) to the gigantic (White Tailed Sea Eagle) and from the rare (Iceland Gull) to the common (Starling) - the thing they have in common is that they are all stunningly beautiful in one way or another. Under that fantastic clear Hebridean light even your common or garden Starling has an extra iridescence. Oystercatchers, by the way, have been described as looking like 'a Magpie carrying a carrot' - you can see why, can't you!

Robyn


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For Today...

I decided it was time to revisit the Simple Woman's Daybook - this is an exercise I like to do occasionally, it's a chance to stop, to reflect, to revisit.

 Outside my window...It's very nearly dark. The sky is an inky blue with just a hint of light left in it.

 I am thinking...of the jobs I need to do before bed tonight - a load of washing to the machine, and a quick clean round of the kitchen

 I am thankful...that there are no demands on my time this evening, other than those few jobs. Some TV, some internet browsing, some time for me.

 In the kitchen...it needs a clean! Aargh!

 I am wearing...comfy jeans. You can;t beat a pair of comfy jeans - you know, the ones you've had forever, so they fit just right.....

 I am creating...I have created, this time - my new website, which went live yesterday - it was a lot of work but I'm very pleased with the result.

 I am going...to meet with some lovely friends in Brighton this weekend - there will be wandering, and tea, and cake, and photos.......how exciting!

 I am wondering...what the weather will be like for our trip to the Hebrides, they've had far better weather than we have down here for the past little while....we're hoping that's not going to change before we get there!

 I am reading...City Girl by Patricia Scanlon. Unashamed chick-lit!

 I am hoping...for a good weekend, some sunshine would be nice!

 I am looking forward to...Brighton! Cake! Lovely company!

 I am learning...how to darn socks effectively.

 Around the house...HRH The Cat is looking for trouble - uh-oh!

 I am pondering...the best way to make a case for my iPad.

 A favorite quote for today...If you don't climb, you can't fall, but then you never get to see the view.

 One of my favorite things...my wedding ring - as seen in the photo below. We've been married 12 years this year, time's just flown!

 A few plans for the rest of the week: Some work, some fun, some tea, some cake, and possibly some darning.

An Amble Round Ambleside...

...and other adventures.
At the start of this year I put together a list of 'places we want to see/visit' - some in the UK, some abroad. For the moment all fairly modest and easy to pull off - this is a serious list rather than a fantasy type thing, so no round the world cruises on there yet! Fairly high up on the UK locations was the Lake District - we pass round the edge of it on the M6 reasonably often, but hadn't been there since our honeymoon when we spent a day there visiting a friend. As our trip to the Hebrides is later this year, we decided to use the long weekend at Easter to make a trip up to Cumbria, then continuing on to Edinburgh afterwards to visit friends.
As ever with us, we decided to try to do the trip on a bit of a budget, so the car was loaded up with the tent and sleeping bags and a decent campsite hunted down just off the A66 for the first three nights. Slightly alarmingly the day before we headed off large parts of the area found themselves under a blanket of snow, much of which was still in evidence when we got there the next day!

Rather fabulously we arrived on site in brilliant sunshine to find we were the only people there - giving us the pick of the place, we chose a spot on the riverbank bordering one side of the site. A beautiful location - with fantastic views of the hills in the background....(please don't ask for details of the site by the way - due to their complete failure to enforce their own site rules regarding quiet times between 10am - 7am we won't be returning ourselves, or recommending to others - think loud noise from a group who pitched up after us until 2am and you'll get the picture. Shame as the site, facilities and location were superb).  Anyway, tent pitched up we headed off to explore - first stop Shap Abbey which proved to be fascinating - much wandering round looking at the plan of the building then trying to work out which room was where...


Shap Abbey



...an hour or do later we left with masses of photos and half a dozen eggs from the on-site hens via the honesty box. We usually try to buy eggs when we see them like that - they are usually cheaper than the supermarket and far fresher and tastier. We have two campsites we use regularly which both sell eggs from their own hens and it really is such a plus point! (and eggy bread as a camping breakfast just can't be beaten!)

From Shap we headed round to Ullswater - so beautiful! A nice tea shop with a garden was quickly identified and tea and cake consumed...well it would clearly have been rude not to!

Yum! Tea & Cake!

The following day dawned rather wetter and greyer. Undaunted though in spite of a poor nights sleep we jumped in the car and headed for Dalgarth in Eskdale - home of one end of the Ravenglass & Eskdale railway. To get there you are required to cross two of the Lake District's toughest passes - the Wrynose, which leads to the Hardnott. All the books warn you about these as being rather "challenging", let's say! I wasn't too worried, and as it turned out the roads were no worse than plenty I drive regularly in the Hebrides - single track, passing places at regular intervals, and if you leave the road be ready for a sheer drop! What we had forgotten, however, was that the clutch in our rather elderly (in miles, more than years - 153k and counting!) Citroen is well and truly at the end if it's life....just a short distance along the Wrynose pass I stopped in a passing place on a quite steep upward slope to allow oncoming traffic to continue, only to discover on trying to pull away again that I had NO drive whatsoever. Hmmm! The further we went, climbing all the way, the worse the situation became - when we found the parking spaces at the half way point I pulled in gratefully in a cloud of hot clutch fumes and we reluctantly agreed that to continue would be foolhardy in the extreme - potentially putting others as well as ourselves at risk. Turning round and retreating at least meant that we had mostly downhill stretches to do, so that was the decision. Sensible, but annoying.

View from the half way point on the Wrynose Pass

The following day we drove the short distance up the A66 to Penrith, leaving the car there for the day while we let the train take the strain! When we were on honeymoon one of the bits of train line that we travelled on was the line around the coast from Carlisle to Barrow-in-Furness, so the decision was to re-trace our steps getting off at Ravenglass to complete our plans of the day before. The Narrow Gauge railway runs from the coast inland to Dalgarth - a seven mile stretch through increasingly stunning countryside.

Ominous clouds looming overhead near Ravenglass

Many people use Dalgarth as a base for starting walks - we didn't have time for that this time round but did enjoy some spectacularly good ice cream! Back to Ravenglass and just time for a wander around the pretty village, and a beer in the pub before our train back to Penrith. Cheers!

Robyn


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Thank you...

Oh my - having taken this evening to catch up on some "me time", I found my way onto reading some of my favourite blogs - what with working on the new website (coming soon, remember!) I've neglected my reading list a little bit lately, so it was nice to catch up. Imagine my surprise, and delight, when upon reading Cheri's lovely Cwtch Corner Blog I discovered that I'd been given a Liebster Award!

How lovely is that? Here's what Cheri had to say about the award “The origins of the Liebster Blog award are somewhat unclear but the general consensus is that it originated in Germany, Liebster meaning favourite or dearest, to showcase bloggers with fewer than 200 followers. Upon accepting the award the recipient can then pass it on to five more blogs of note. A way of introducing other bloggers to the blogs you enjoy.”  Thank you Cheri - what a lovely thing to do...now I need to choose the 5 blogs to pass this honour on to. Cheri had already chosen Jenni and Fay - and good choices they are too, so mine will go to:

 -  Dreamer at Living a Slow & Simple Life - one of my absolute favourites this, and full of inspiration for living simply, frugally, yet exceptionally well.

 -  Bec & gorgeous little Bella at Life, Love & Beauty - tales of coping with being a first time Mum, and lots of crafting inspiration too!

 -  Donnie at Photo Hebrides - completely different this one - a photo-a-day blog in little square photos of the Hebrides. Beautiful, thought provoking, and quirky by turns....

 -  Wendz at 15 Coast Road - constantly makes me want to go and search charity shops for beautiful things!

 -  GB at Eagleton Notes  - GB lives on the Isle of Lewis during our summer, and in New Zealand during our winter - there are different blogs dealing with the two states of residence - this is specifically for the Hebridean one as when I'm not there myself I have to enjoy it vicariously through others!

Now it is their turn to pass the award on - I will look forward to seeing who they choose!

Robyn

Frugal Friday... Let's go shopping!

How do you shop? Do you rush into the supermarket on the way home having just realised you desperately need milk? Or wander in on spec, "in case there's something we need" - and emerge 30 minutes later laden with bags and £20 lighter? Perhaps you're one of those annoying people with a list? If you are, congratulate yourself - for you are on the chosen path to shopping frugality!

Tesco, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis

Lists seem boring - I know, they seem like something your Gran would have had don't they - "The Shopping List" - but that boring bit of paper, so long as you stick to buying only those items written in it, is a sure-fire way to reduce your grocery spend each week. Our household is fed, washed and cleaned up after on about £150 per month or less - that's one (reasonably!) normal adult, one rugby player with appetite to match, and one HRH The Cat, who has learnt over time that if she wants to survive without too many ribs showing, she would be well advised to eat what she's given. She is the recipient of one of our grocery shops few branded items though - we've reached a compromise with Go Cat on the grounds that she will grudgingly tolerate eating it and I will grudgingly tolerate paying for it.

There are a few tricks to the list thing. First would be to note things on it as you think of them - so when you use the last of something, it goes on the following weeks shopping list. That way you don't forget something vital, and have to make one of those last minute dashes to the shop, which is invariably when a pint of milk turns into two bags of things you didn't know you needed. Second - plan your meals, then write on the list the things you need to make those meals. This reduces the odd rogue items cluttering up the fridge that end up getting thrown out because you bought them on impulse and have no idea what to do with them. Third - stick to the list! Initially, this needs to be "stick like glue to the list" as you get used to working this way - over time it may get more fluid. Fourth - as well as the main meals, remember lunches and breakfasts - and basics like bread, milk and fruit and veg of course. "Man cannot live on meat alone....." although Ben would have a pretty good go...!

Market in Barcelona

Don't neglect the reduced counter either - if there is something on there that fits with your meal plan, or that you can pop in the freezer ready to incorporate into the following weeks plan, then snap it up, it can be a great way to make savings. Finally, all those vouchers that you get through the post - use them! BUT - and I know this sounds obvious - ONLY if they are for things that you buy anyway! If you're spending £3.50 because you've a voucher that gives you £1 off - it's only a saving if the product was on your list anyway!

Robyn


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Hebrides Countdown 2012

Quite topical this photo. This was taken on our first evening on North Uist a few years ago - we'd gone for our usual first night stroll down to the roadend, and as we turned to come back the sun was just setting. As we walked, and watched, it got steadily more and more dramatic until it looked as you see above. The cottage you can see the silhouette of on the horizon is Tigh Alasdair - where we usually stay.

Sunsets in the Western Isles are often stunning - with no trees or tall buildings to get in the way you have no problem seeing them either - I have quite a collection of sunset photos from various years trips! This remains the favourite though.

It's topical because as well as being the top banner for this blog - it is about to be the top banner for my new website as well! If all the testing goes smoothly then the new site should be launching next week - keep an eye out here and follow @EssexHebridean on Twitter to find out exactly when. Once the site has launched you will see a different address being used in links to this blog, too - as the site and the blog will be linked together and should look pretty similar in style.


Robyn

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