I’ve written a long list of household jobs that I want to complete before the summer is out and I’m starting with the freezer – as you can see it’s badly in need of defrosting!

My list includes spring cleaning and household maintenance items, and if we complete everything on the list it will put us on top of our household again – something we’re a little behind on. I feel a lot happier when the house is clean and all the small issues are sorted out, so I’m eager to get started.

I’m not sure why we’ve procrastinated on things so much – perhaps it’s down to the miserable weather – but the sooner everything is done, frugally of course, the better. I’m reminded of Step 3 in the ‘Think before you spend’  check list from Your Money or Your Life: Take care of what you have – it’s a good step to live by.

Do you have a maintenance summer to do list? 

Summer To Do is a post from: Move to Portugal

Staying focused on this…

leads to this….

leads to living here…hopefully!

I’m feeling very under the weather today but wanted to blog, so I’m saying it with pictures. Further budget posts to follow

Focus is a post from: Move to Portugal

The last time I wrote about our gas and electricity bills we were paying a combined monthly cost of £99. However since then we’ve managed to reduce the amount to £72.  I’d like to take all the credit, but my son moving out during term time (university) has been the main reason – there’s a definite reduction from September onwards.

Here are a few graphics which illustrate the reduced usage:

Key:

Electricity:

Gas:

Total combined:

I’m pleased with the reduction but very aware that the energy is still being used – just in a different house. The real test will be next years figures – can we reduce our usage even further?

Are you trying to cut back on your energy usage? If so, what steps are you taking?

Reducing our energy usage is a post from: Move to Portugal

I’ve changed the way that we work our budget this year – the cash jars are gone and we’re back to using (for the most part) a debit card.  It’s early days yet but so far it’s working out quite well. We do use a credit card for large purchases, but pay it off immediately.

Here’s how it all works -

Account set up:

Personal checking | Joint checking | Personal checking

Personal E-saver | Travel Fund | Personal E-saver

Gift and Mini E-Fund

E-Fund

Portugal Fund

• Both checking accounts get funded with wages – mine weekly, hubby monthly (on the 20th), we then have (weekly/monthly) automatic transfers set to fund the joint account. The transfers are all of our respective salaries minus our £80 personal spending allowances. We both have the same allowance.
• We also both have an e-saver attached to our personal checking accounts – the travel fund and gift/mini e-funds are attached to the joint checking.
• Our long term emergency fund is kept in an ISA and our moving abroad funds are kept in a separate ISA.

From the checking account we then pay the bills and fund our savings….mainly with automatic payments.

• Bills: All our automatic payments (Direct Debits) are set to be paid between the 25th and 1st of every month and are, where possible, the paper free kind.
• Savings: Are part automatic payments, part manual transfers, this way I can adjust the amounts when needed.
• Grocery: Paid for on a cash back credit card except farm shop visits, where cash is used. This is a big change for us in 2012 as we currently pay cash for all our groceries.

And the actual budget..

• Budget System: We use a zero based budget system which means that every penny is allocated, every month.
• Extra Income: Any extra income gets directed to one of our savings goals.

If you have any questions then please ask in the comments or shoot me an email at movetoportugal(at)gmail(dot)com

(photo credit)

How we organise our budget (2012 version) is a post from: Move to Portugal

This is our finalised budget for 2012…the essentials and non essentials that make up our normal monthly budget before we start saving towards financial freedom.

Notes:

• Mortgage: Our normal monthly payment which we will increase to £2,000 for the next twelve months.
• Council Tax: An annual bill which we pay over ten months
• Water Rates: Another annual bill which we pay by direct debit over ten months
• Gas & Electric: Our average monthly cost which was recently reduced from £99 (Yay! Finally!)
• Telephone Basic Line Rental: We pay this annually which compared to paying monthly, saves us £55
• Contents & Building Insurance: Renewed every April (by us searching for the best deal) and paid annually to save money
• Life Insurance: Fixed monthly cost which would pay off the mortgage and give either of us a large lump sum if any dreadful was to happen.
• Digital & TV Licence: Annual charge for TV Licence (£145.50) and monthly digital subscription (£70.25, includes £10 paid by daughter for her bedroom box)
• Grocery: This is a variable expense which I’ve set at £50 a week for 2012. It will vary every week depending on my son being home from university, but on average I’m hoping to keep to £216.67 a month.
• Gifts: A monthly saving we make to cover the cost of all gifts throughout the year. I plan to be a little more savvy with gift buying next year and shop for bargains.
• Miscellaneous Expenses: My iPhone charge (£35) and the cost of our monthly local window cleaner (£9)
• Miscellaneous Personal: £80 each for all of our personal spending…clothes, books etc.

Inspired by how great our budget would look without it’s monthly payment, I’m really looking forward to attacking our mortgage in 2012!

What are you most looking forward to (financially speaking) in 2012? 

Our Budget for 2012 is a post from: Move to Portugal