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You are doing fantastic, I love all things budgeting and could watch all day long 😊

"You can't change the people around you, but you can change the people around you" Joshua Fields-Milburn, The Minimalists

Hello Nicola❤ thanks for this video. I'm 67 year old woman and retired because of depression. I'm always home alone and that's why I want to eat at restaurant once or twice a week and see other people. One meal is only 9 or 12 euros (here in Finland). It's not expensive, but because of that I can't save any money. If I have to go to a doctor or by new medicines the budget goes on minus. (Sorry my english is terrible)😊

I learned to grow these free (I get free manure) 2 varieties of potatoes, Bush & pole beans (green beans) Garlic & Onions. It shocked me at the Produce Swap that people weren't growing these. This saves us about $125 a month and it's healthier to get locally grown produce to buy/swap. Maybe you could do the same? We actually save more as the garlic we used to buy in abundance. We juice as our son has schizophrenia and we aren't that healthy, organic juicing veges and fruit is quite expensive.

Nicola, thank you. We're 57 & 65 yrs old in Northern Calif. Bought a major fixer Cabin to live in on 9 acres. It's nice now, we did all the work *Monthly Income- $1700 Social Security +$410 Food Stamps= $2110 a month* *Monthly Expenses*- $84 Property Tax, $16 CZcams, $25 Garbage, $75 Clothing/Grooming, $100 WIFI/Cell, $350 Transport, $150 MacBooks Wear & Tear, $75 E-Bikes Wear & Tear, $700 Groceries/Eat out, $50 Pets, $150 Misc, $150 Donation, $50 Gardening= $1975 a month expenses. Our son lives with us 50% of the year reflected in monthly expenses. He has schizophrenia. We usually have $150 or so leftover to go into the Emergency fund. We grow, for free, about 4 veges for free in abundance and hers we swap at the Produce Swap so earn about $125 a month doing that for about 7 months a year. This is not reflected above in numbers since it goes to the Emergency Fund. We also make about $200 during Xmas at the Craft Faire but it's used for gifts and food for family. We have a fenced backyard with 4 ducks, 15 hens, a small pond w/waterfall and a few dogs. Do not have these bills- Healthcare, Homeowners Insurance or Water

Have you thought about growing your own strawberries and raspberries. I was given one strawberry plant last year, and I’ve already got 9 new baby plants from the runners so should have an abundance of fruit in a few weeks. Also I got a raspberry bush from Morrisons for about £3, I think they sell blackberry and blackcurrant bushes too.

Yeah how did july get here so fast. Ours isnt to bad but just got a load of school uniform and thats been a bit if shock how much all thats come to, luckily i made some money on vinted so used that. Summer holiday ideas as ours us defo a low spend. Making a den or fort the kids can spend the day in with food and colouring or playing. Parks parks and more parks with a picnic (and i always do an icecream when we got some). Possibly low spend swimming! A nature walk and have to find things butterfly/certain trees ect. Libary, any local free museums sometimes have free or cheap activities. (Sorry a bit long) . Like others have said its been with the kids and just being happy. My kids love it when i make a new games up! Oh car boots a good idea as well (sometimes a little stressful) but if its makes a bit to pop in ur sinking funds that would be fab.

re the blueberries - they are super easy to grow - maybe you could ask for a couple of bushes as a Xmas gift? When I was in your position, and also had no money for going out during the holiday, what I did was to create a large wall calender type thing, and every couple of days there was a surprise activity - some days it might be baking together, some days it might be a movie day, complete with a small tray of mixed treats, it might be a treasure hunt, craft activities etc. My kids loved the surprise of opening each activity, even though they were all normal activities that we did anyway.

Nicola your channel is truly inspiring & thanks for sharing.

Good Morning, watching. Happy Monday.

In my country fuel prices increase at weekends and holidays. The exception to that is unfortunately rare. At least we can plan around it though! Perhaps you could fill a jerry can with fuel when the price is lower and keep it in the shed to use when prices are high. Keep going, Nicola. You're doing a great job.

Nicola,you can add cooked rice,oatmeal and some veg to your cat food.Even if you replaced a third of a can of cat food like this it would mean that after every 3 days you would have a free can of cat food.

Thanks for sharing, I like to see other people's budgets. How they break down their spending. Also love a sticker and a bit of washi, brightness up a plain white page and brings me joy👍 As others have mentioned lots of cheap options for activities over the summer. It's just trying to find them before the event, I normally find out the day after🤣🤣 Take care and you're doing great IMO❤️

Hi do you get any financial help from the government. Or does your pay take you over the threshold. Sorry for being nosey. Take care xx

Hi is this £30 a month for cat food for two. Im only asking because ive got two i spend that on a week thats food and treats and cat litter. You are doing well if thats the case. Its hard trying to feed animals and humans these days . Take care and keep doing what you do x

Summer holidays…. You could teach them the old ways. Like my mum was worried one year that we were going to a place to fly kites without one, so I used an old Tesco bag with string on, worked just as well. And it was a funny memory. You could do a picnic in a public garden for free (check for free entrance), and also take photographs of nature. Teach them what you take out you give back and that we are all responsible for our own rubbish etc. or learn about some butterflies that you might see and ask which ones are which? You could take them for a bike ride; if you all have bikes. Strawberry or other fruit or veg picking can be reasonably priced, especially if it’s a working farm or something cause your contributing to the farm and local area and sometimes they have things to entertain people as well. Things indoors; painting/craft day, at home spa day, board games afternoon, movie night, cleaning bedrooms?; who can be more organised 😂, baking days or meal prep together, you could make ice lollies at home.

You've done a wonderful job! Congratulations on that! It is a continuous process, so just enjoy the journey. Love how you put the kitchen and dining room together. That was fantastic!

Hi there Nicola. Just realised that your 3 month budget books would complement the 12 week year idea that is being promoted a lot lately. One book would cover "a year". I also follow Kate Kaden who has been working and promoting those ideas this year on CZcams.

Hi there, as always your doing the best you can with what you’ve got. It’s too late for this year but you have a garden and two energetic little boys. Make some raised beds and get a cold frame or plastic green house. The boys can plant potatoes, carrots and turnips into the ground and grow more sensitive fruit and veg in the frame. Plant raspberry and other fruit canes along the fence. They will love watering them and watching them grow. Your not going to yield a green grocery haul but it is an ongoing project that overall is very cheap. P/S get them to plant a rose bush. They can give you flowers without spending more money 🤣

More than anything, your boys will remember the time spent together, so give yourself grace for not being able to spend a small fortune on daytrips. Your local library should have all sorts of free activities for the boys. a packed lunch to enjoy on a picnic doesn't need to break the bank - make the most of your local parks and beaches. Lots of supermarkets will probably have their kids eat free / eat for £1 offer to help stretch you budget. Turn cooking tea into an activity by getting them to help. Could you print off some activity sheets at work (puzzles / colouring) as a stand by for rainy afternoons? Use and enjoy the board games that you have. Enjoy a movie day in your pjs. have a massive lego building day. if you have or could borrow a tent, go camping in your garden. lots of paid activities (soft play, trampoline park, cinema etc) near us offer heavily discounted early bird offers - is there similar in your area?

When I was a child my parents didn't spend extra on myself and my sister on days out and activities in the summer holidays, we just played with each other or friends and that was it. I never felt that I missed out on anything. My daughter didn't get extra days out etc either as I simply had no room in the budget as a single parent and she doesn't feel she missed out on anything either. Forget what you have done before or what others spend on their children and just go with the flow and spend time in your new home and garden, you won't regret it honestly

Hi Nicola,does your ex husband contribute to the children's costs?

Hi I will buy your yearly one when it becomes available. The current one is very helpful for me ❤

Thanks

Nicola, this is your journey and budget. You do this to show people what you do. No one should be judging you. You're not telling them how they should do it and they shouldn't be telling you either. Carry on. You are an inspiration to a lot of people. Xx

I love Vinted for clothes and books. You can get high quality clothes for a fraction of high street costs, and books I tend to bulk buy collections on there and only pay 1 lot of postage 😊

I highly recommend an electric car. I changed over a year ago. You need to do some research thou and would lease new or buy second hand. Most have a long guarantee for the battery. You would probably save about £45 a week on petrol if you get a home charger.

Lovely channel 😊

Thank you for this video. I don't know how you do your weeks shop on so little. I just spent £120 for 4 for a week!! Anyway I hope this helps - take time out for a tasty coffee from Costa!! Katherine xx

30 for cats? What do you have a tiger lol on benefits you get Pdsa help for the poorly kitty

"Ladybugs, Katherine. Lots and lots of ladybugs." - Under the Tuscan Sun Thank you for sharing, Nicola. You are making wonderful progress for yourself and your boys. I'm so happy for you. Keep up the good work.

It nice budjet so far. Thanks. Iam in Africa Tanzania to our place it is difficult to buy those things in that price but. I learn something from from your budget

Not sure if you have space but growing things like rhubarb and raspberries are really easy. They should be in a container, they come back yearly for us and are basically like weeds! Very hard to kill and have provided more and more each year. Check local allotments and see if some are willing to see you some for cheaper. My friend grows as she loves it and gives away surplus as returns are normally good each year.

i feel for you... decisions with no good answer are very difficult to make. i always improvise & use low spend as my guide. and i rarely listen to other people. when i bought my beach cottage everyone thought i should gut it to frame & completely remodel . - instead because i wanted it to be as cheap as possible but still livable. i improvised it mostly myself. i used a nice dresser i found on side of the road as my counter and another dresser as an island. a coat of paint & voila. my cooker is induction $150 and very cheap to run. for an oven i use a nicer toaster oven air fryer. the kitchen sink was stand alone from the early 190ss - - i left it alone - the water ran % drained.. i simply swapped out the faucet for a nice bling. dishes are washed by hand - no dish washer. i painted all the walls myself .and even pained some floors because they were dreadful and needed to be replaced. in the end - it came out amazing. i loved it so much that i decided to advertise it for summer rentals when i was not using it.. it is 300 steps from a tranquil sandy beach and my guests love it. the tiny cottage came out so cozy and now it is also a source of income.

I changed from a diesel car that did 50 mpg to a petrol that is doing up to 68 mpg, for just a few hundred cost to change and it is saving me a huge chunk off my fuel costs, whereas an electric car would cost much more to change to and it won't be long before government looks to tax them more heavily as fuel duty revenues dip, so I can't see a frugal case for trading up to one now. My current car even has the £20 a year road tax, so it is about as cheap as motoring gets.

Buying fruit in general from Aldi or Lidl by looking at their weekly 5 or 6 picks where they sell at a lower price is a good way to buy fruit "cheaply". The other way is to eat in season. Buy more of it when it is cheaper/in season :) also if you have markets near by who sell fruit by the bowl they will sell it cheaper at the end of the trade day so they dont have stock left over :)

You could get soil from a garden for litter tray instead of buying kitty litter the cats love it

Thank you for this interesting video. A few ideas to help with your food bill is to make homemade quiches and freeze them using leftover cheese and veg as fillings. I have also just bought a yogurt maker and this has saved me a lot of money as individual pots are really expensive to buy now. You can create lots of flavours using fruit. My son’s favourite fruit are blueberries, so I have recently invested in four blueberry bushes, grown in tubs. Hoping over the next few years they will save me some blueberry money 😅

Why don’t you cut out the other binders until you build up a buffer . ?

Canned fruit is canned fresh and cheaper then fresh fruit .

When my dog needed regular medication, I used an online pet medication supplier. You have to get a prescription from your vet before the online vet will prescribe,but I found that the drugs were half the price of my vets for exactly the same brand. Worth checking out. I am in the U.K. btw.

Have been meaning to do one of these budget planners for years. Will get onto it right away. I used to be a fantastic saver, bought my house and a brand new car in cash. The last few years I;ve wasted so much $$ on takeaway food and stuff we don't need. Hoping to travel to New York for my 50th in a few years so need to knuckle down and save every cent from now on.

Are your cats allowed outside? If they are, do they really need a litter tray? If they do, then perhaps look at bulk buying or google for alternatives, when I had guinea-pigs, I was using wood pellets for them which absorbed the urine and swelled up... they were cheaper than any bedding and smelled better too.... to save money on cleaning products, i only buy bleach and put a squeeze of it into the bottom of an empty spray bottle then top it up with water, I use it for everything... you can get a prescription from your vet and then order meds online... cost it up, your vet will charge for the prescription but it might work out cheaper than buying from your vet each month... or there might be a different brand of the same med that is cheaper....

Really appreciate you showing how you can divvy up a low weekly budget. I really need to get onto this. X

Soon there will be no more cash. All digital..

You have 2 boys if I remember well,do you have any relatives that can take your boys fishing.After the initial layout for basics, they might fall inlve with fishing. That means that you are not having to pay entrance fees into places etc. Or if one of your relatives loves gardening and has a plot to learn about growing veggies . This may be something they are interested in, you could pack up home made picnics to take along. Things that don't need you to pay exorbitant fees for. 😊

I buy frozen berries fruit for my breakfast, much cheaper than fresh

So many saved nags binders! I can hardly understand what you are 🗣️ speaking So I’m not getting much out of your video First time watching