How to beat inflation. Create a financial buffer.
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- Опубліковано 21 чер 2024
- The summer is coming to an end. Time to re-assess your budget for the coming year. I talk you through the winders of having a financial buffer.
Frugal Queen in France
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We are a British couple living in Brittany on a budget.
Frugal recipes, days out, home renovations and day to day making do in France.
We’ll give you hints, tips, advice and an insight into our life in France.
Website www.frugalqueeninfrance.com/
FaceBook / frugalqueeni. .
Instagram / frugalqueen. .
Twitter / batt_jane
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I form my buffers around food for the year. There's a woman a short walk from me with a grape arbor and a fig tree and a pear tree...She called and offered all the fruit if I picked it and said she didn't want any of the fresh fruit just one jar of each fruit preserved as jam or jelly. So I always plan my deserts and treats around the fruits I get from her for free. I get so much produce I share with a friend who helps me puck everything and we both make out very well...I have dehydrator and canners going all day every day right now! With the price of dried fruit right now this is a real saving!
I am so thankful for the blessing each year..Yes its a lot of work all at once but the savings gained for the few days with little sleep and a sore back are worth it in the end!
Fantastic video, I am about to start having "allowance" funds for my husband and me (my son already have his). We will use it for the fun things we want to do. I haven't started using buffers yet because I have been in debt paying mode but last week we reached a huge milestone - zero credit card debt!!! The cards are paid off and never to be used again. We are now focusing on reducing our overdraft and putting more money into our retirement.
Congratulations on paying off your credit card debt! Enjoy the freedom that brings.
Congratulations
Well done!
Way to go!
Congrats. Doesn't it feel good?
Your mid week money chats are the best. A lot of times I round up to the nearest dollar on my register, when balancing it, month to month, then I know I always have some hidden money in my checking account for " just in case". I hadn't paid attention to it for a while, and noticed I had an extra $500!!
When on Social Security in the US- you get paid once monthly. Sometimes you have 4- weeks till the next pay period but about every other month it comes out to be 5- weeks. So budgeting is very important.
Our pensions and income is paid monthly, 15th, 22nd and last day. We have to budget very carefully
Omgosh. That is scary. I so worry about elderly and disabled folks. 😢
There are sales on traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas food in the USA. We have cut out most Christmas gifts except for immediate family. No new decorations. Cards not gifts for family and friends. I usually give cash to my 2 kids and 1 grandson plus a few items they request.
My 1 splurge is to buy for an Angel Tree child, a local charity, usually
$ 50 to 75.
Nice, we’re not America so no festivities except Christmas. They reduce zilch…..inflated prices instead.
I love your abundance mindset. Your life is so rich and full of joy and gratitude.
Thank you so much!
I plant a small garden. We had weird weather this summer and the tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, and summer squash
pretty much failed. There was enough to eat weekly, but not enough to freeze. However, the swiss chard, beets, carrots,
rhubarb, herbs have done beautifully. Word to the wise: plant a variety of veggies, you never know what the weather will
bring. Love your channel!
In the US we have "senior day" once a week in many stores (except for food stores) and you get a discount of 15-20% even our second hand stores give a 20% discount if you are over a certain age. Usually it's 65 and over. It's good to be old (O:
Our local IGA supermarket here in Bendigo Australia , has 5% discount every Wednesday for seniors. I find it helpful to organise myself to shop there then plus it's when they also release their weekly 'specials'.
I keep 2 shopping lists. One is also for Aldis, for items which are always cheaper than the other supermarkets and which we constantly use.
Mary
There ARE grocery stores in the US that have discounts. For example, Family Fare stores in Michigan offer customers age 55+ a 5% discount every Wednesday, including weekly promotions and sale items. It pays to ask. My parents had no idea.
Sadly not in my area of the US
I agree that the charity shops are not as cheap as they used to be. I take my elderly mom often, she really enjoys them. I recently saw an item that still had the original price sticker, and the charity shop put their sticker next to it. The charity shop’s price was HIGHER! What?!
It pisses me off it really does.
That’s why I usually shop the deeply discounted clearance items at the end of the season. I get it for a fraction of the price and most of the time it’s for my kid(s) because I’ve got an over abundance of the things I “need” 😂
@@lifebeyondthesalary2458 Do you mean in the charity shops or in department stores? I know people who save a ton shopping only the clearance section of any store!
My sister volunteers at a church thrift shop, they get a lot of new item that still have tags on the. They also get merchandise from shops that close down or the stuff they can’t sell. The received tubs of beach wear which was great as they are close to Navarre beach Fl.
I am so dissapointed that charity shops have increased their prices so much.....
I also have been using a buffer in my personal finances since my first part time job in highschool. During my Nursing career, I continued using a financial buffer.
Since I had buffer when I had to retire early 50's due to a medical disability, I was able to retire mortgage and debt free. What a wonderful secure feeling. ❤ Thank you Jane and Mike for your informative and interesting channel.
I enjoy your content and am happy to see your channel growing to 28.7K. Well deserved.
Thank you very much!
I also like to watch the counter...I found this channel when Mike and Jane were on 25000 and give a little mental high 5 as I've seen it climb😊
Here in the United States the food stores have lots of sales around the holidays competing for customers. Last year for Thanksgiving Aldi went back to 2019 prices for traditional Thanksgiving foods. I stocked up on the items I use. Great video! Thank you!
Yep. We don't have any festivities except Christmas. Nor is our food ever cheap.
I caught that Aldi sale too. I grabbed a few boxes of gluten free dressing.
Great video. We try to create buffers for pretty much every budget category by rounding up from one year to the next by 10-15%. Insurance of all types in the US are increasing, and I had budgeted a 15% increase for house insurance but just got the next year's bill and it's 20% more. We budgeted 30% for real estate tax increase and that looks to be about right based on the reassessment notice we received. Thankfully, not all budget categories have increased as much as we budgeted for, but we will need to look for more areas to cut back to make room for 15-20% increases or even more year over year. We are debt free which really helps. I have no idea how people with debt are managing and feel badly for them.
So I helped at friend’s estate sale and this time I got to take some dirty canning jars but easy to throw in the dishwasher. Then they were getting rid of t-posts, like 5, and 3 rebar piles all of which I will use in my garden! Free! T- posts run about $5-6
Awesome! Those are my favorite type of finds!
Great tips, and I like that you also take time to acknowledge that not everyone can do all these strategies depending on personal situations. I fully agree that a bit of discretionary spending is important to build into a budget where possible; a coffee with friends or a planned budget day out can really lift one's spirits and ensure human connection.
We are careful with money. Keep up the good job of helping us all.
I began buying nice second-hand clothes for my first child when she was a toddler. I always searched for good quality and pretty details. When she was in 7 years old, she asked for a dress from an expensive store. Her friend at school had a dress from that store. I asked her to go through her closet and find the clothes that she had outgrown. I explained that a new dress from the fancy place would cost $30-$50. Then I showed her that 10 dresses had cost me that same amount. When she saw that big pile of pretty dresses, she asked to go get a bunch of "new" used dresses. She is in her late thirties now- and she still gets most of her nice clothes from the thrift shops.
Thank you for your talks. I have long been frugal, but I still learn so much from you.
Thanks very much for watching
Thank you for such a thoughtful video, Jane! I love reading the comments too. Planning ahead definitely shows me that simply because the money is there, it is not to be spent on whatever. There are future needs coming up!
Wonderful tips! I love your channel and watch weekly and you have helped me with finance a lot! My husband and I are in our early twenties and had our first baby two months ago. My mother gave me the same tip about kids clothes. Have used baby clothing tucked away for the next year and a half. Will certainly be making a kid buffer savings. Thank you Frugal Queen for your tips!
That is awesome!
Congratulations on your baby!! Babies are such blessings ❤️
To create a buffer we use our credit card - we charge all our fixed monthly expenses (mortgage, water, gas, electric, phone etc) and pay them off right away. This way we earn reward points with zero added fees or costs to us. We cash out those points every 2-3 months for $150 in grocery store gift cards. Some months that’s the only way we can afford food! It’s saved us so many times. Oh and we also use pick up for our groceries because our local store offers $10 off coupons a couple of times a month if you use pick up (they offer the coupon because no one uses the service - everyone wants to buy in store in person)
You mentioned how expensive Charity shops are lately. My husband and I recently went to a local charity shop to drop off donations and to look for some specific items. 3 months ago we moved into a granny flat in a friend's back yard, similar to a mother in law suite in the US, as we had to move out of our almost 10 yr rental. The area we moved to is what you would refer to as more upmarket and more expensive on housing prices and rentals. And we knew the local charity shop would be more upmarket and the quality of goods would be better than what we were used to. But what a big shock we received when we walked into the charity shop. It was just like a fashion store only for 2nd hand clothing. I went there for a sheet set and a dressing gown, and hubby wanted some new jeans. No household items only clothing and decorative kitchen and decor items. And the Jeans were the same price as a new pair of jeans are. We walked out with nothing but a look of disgust on our faces and shaking our heads at the preferential treatment given to the more upmarket areas. I knew all the good clothing etc went to these areas but had no idea how biased it was. We ended up at the local variety store like that of Walmart and bought brand new everything we needed at the same price we would have paid at this charity store.
Often, new is cheaper. Especially for clothes.
Just lovely. Always a pleasure to listen to your posts.
🙂 i love your videos, i relate so much with all of this, and it's not because i was taught to, it's just...makes sense (and it's kind of challenging...and fun!) ! It is so important to create this awareness theses days. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for sharing!!
Thank you Jane for another encouraging chat. We appreciate you and your sound advice!
You are so welcome!
We have in the USA the EPP, equal payment plan for gas and electricity, for 11 months and month 12 you either pay the balance or get a refund.
We each have a small allowance each week and even in retirement we save for the unexpected.
Thanks for sharing. ❤
Thanks for the info!
We use cash for gas and groceries. Whenever I have a week where I don't use it all it goes into an envelope for special holiday foods like the Christmas roast, a meal out on vacation, a nice dessert for a big family gathering. I also use it to restock my pantry as well. It's a planned buffer.
Great idea!!
Thank you for your financial chats I'm sure they are helpful lots of people with their finances.
Glad you like them!
Such a timely video. Sinking funds are such a great way to plan for the expected and unexpected expenses.
Great tips to create financial buffers👍
Glad it was helpful!
Excellent tips on how to create buffers Jane - your comment about Thrift Shops being more expensive really hit home for me. I rarely (and I mean rarely) buy anything new. The increase in prices in our Thrift Shops here in NB, Canada is astronomical and disheartening to say the least....which now means I rarely buy anything. When you go to a Thrift Shop and the items are almost the same price as they would be if you purchased them new, well, to me that's disgusting! I realize inflation hits them as well however to me, it's not a Thrift Shop if they're charging just 1-5 dollars less than if I bought it new. Frustrating to say the least. Thanks so very much for the great video Jane & Mike....you're work is appreciated as always!
Thanks for watching
I realized recently that my local dollar shop is now more expensive than the regular supermarkets I frequent. I don’t shop in there anymore!
Thanks for sharing how you create a financial buffer. Here in US, November is the best month to stock up on baking ingredient i.e. flour, sugar, spices,etc
No sales for us sadly
In Canada we pay our utilities using the “budget billing” method, paying the same amount each month all year, with consumption/totals trued up once a year…we too find this easier to manage our funds. Property tax is paid 10 months with no payments in Nov & Dec which also I find helpful with the budget. We are debt and mortgage free😊 Just want to remind people to check the expiration dates!!! Buying soon to expire products in bulk isn’t saving money and in my area the grocery suppliers seem to be distributing a lot of soon to expire items only as their sales options…sigh!
Great tips and tricks my husband and I do pay a flat amount for the electric bill which is always a overpayment in turn it creates a credit which is perfect for the winter months 👍🏾
That is awesome!
What wonderful advice.😉
Thank you for another great video.... keeping open to opportunities... like hearing the feed store wants to get rid of 15 turkeys... for free!
Yes, prices in charity shops are increasing.
My core thinking was to pay off the mortgage early, on a minimum wage, so needed to be mindful of where the money was going, that was the day when i was able to begin to save and to build a healthy buffer and longer term savings it affords piece of mind to live within your means, I was always conscious that life can serve you a swerve ball you can loose employment, have ill health, personal circumstances can change, family/relationship changes large expenses can arrive something either breaks and you need to repair or replace and without that buffer suddenly things can get tricky. Ive not always been mindful of how Ive understood how to use money to my best advantage and thers lots to learn xx
Thanks
Very good ideas. That’s what I’d do when the kids were little, try to buy ahead etc
That's the plan!
Very helpful suggestions! "Buffers" are our friends! Thank you for the variety of ideas...pink scarf is Ab Fab!!!
Great advice. Thank you!
I have my electric set up to pay the year round average and it really helps with the highs and lows. January is my no-spend month. I also have no-spend weeks, usually the last week of the month.
My husband gets paid minimum wage (Australia) also he is a casual worker. We put money away weekly into out envelopes recently for bills whether we have any or not. We just paid our 3rd quarterly round of bills. And if we have any extra during the month it goes into our online bonus savings account.
This was a great video, thank you. I would like to ask if you set up your sinking funds differently while you were paying off your debt. Did you still have the gift money? Or maybe lesser amount? I ask because I am 66 years old, live alone, on a low income. I do work full time, and trying very hard to pay off debt. I sacrificed gift giving as part of this payoff plan. Adult children who live very well, so they understood. I sacrificed socializing, but trying to find the free things to do. I really do appreciate all the advice and knowledge you share.
When paying off debt, I gave what I could, maybe a pot of homemade marmalade. Until we were debt free, we just had an emergency fund.
Don't sacrifice a social life. Paying off debt can be a lonely journey ( been there). Instead I used improving my health as an ' excuse' to offer free things to do with friends such as: a walk and talk; low sugar cake and coffee at mine. Supporting a local chior who give free concerts and ask for donations to keep a local church building going ( so a couple of pounds), participating in a local beach clean etc. Those so- called friends who don't want to join in clearly are just stuck in their ways. One friend thanked me for the changes, as, recently retired, she was struggling with having less money. Now we are frugal allies!
Thank you for keeping it real.
A wonderful store called Faith at Work has a used purse sale once a year. Purses go for 5 or 10 dollars with the proceeds helping unwed moms and their babies. It is a great sale.
In the US, we have food sale during holidays like Thanksgiving and Xmas. Last year we got half price rib roast and we got two, I cooked one for Thanksgiving and the other one for New Year. You shared a good idea to dedicate a certain amount of money to stock up sale items to be used later. We need to research around for sale prices.
No such thing here
I overpay for utilities so that I don't have to pay for them in the month i go on leave. Overpaying also useful to give buffer for upcoming price increases
Great! Thanks Jane and Mike
Excellent advice!
Thanks Jane for your help 👍
Thankyou both x
Awesome advice. Thanks for taking time to have these chats!
Our pleasure!
Thanks Jane. Some good advice. Looking forward to Fridays video. Petrol is on the rise here in UK again so I’m budgeting more for that.🤦🏻♀️🤗
Sorry to hear that
Same in Ireland, fuel prices are creeping up again.
Same here in Australia too 😢
Always a great insightful video. 😊
Glad you think so!
YoU are such a great teacher!
Thank you! 😃
Down to earth talk. Planning is the key to budgeting.
Wise words
Our charity thrift stores prices have nearly doubled. Many who used to shop there are priced out and they are having less foot traffic but making more money because they are attracting new shoppers who used to go to the malls or department stores. We do have several discount and short date grocery stores where we are still able to get amazing deals. We are stocking up on nonperishables for the winter months to create a buffer and I have purchased items for winter/ Christmas baking. We are doing a family gift exchange with everyone drawing a name at Thanksgiving when we are all together. My husband and I have never exchanged Christmas gifts but do enjoy getting gifts for the children…Deb Gnagey
You are a true inspiration Jane , keep up the good work 💯👍
Thanks very much
👍👍👍
Love your pretty lamp
In September I will be starting to pay a set amount over my bill so that in the summer months it will cover extra hydro for the air conditioner. Same with the natural gas for heating in the winter. This way I don’t get big bill during the seasons.
Great tips, thank you! We also overpay our gas and electric when we can, so it gives us a little buffer for the lean or high use months.
Great point!
👍
It pays to ask about discounts. For example, Family Fare grocery stores offer customers aged 55+ a 5% discount every Wednesday, including weekly promotions and sale items. My parents had no idea because they overlooked the flyers posted at the entry. Similarly, a coworker asked about buying potatoes and squash directly from the farmer rather than the farmers market. Also, if you're a frequent customer and ask store managers about a soon-to-expire or end-of-season item that isn't yet on clearance, they may authorize a discount.
I built a recession budget as last december the uk was in a recession, but now cant decide if we are or not. Im in recession mode already. Its reassuring.
It’s best to be prepared
We buy meat in bulk when it's a really good special. Also frozen veggies . That means that we don't need to shop sometimes for about 3 to 4 weeks for these things... milk etc is weekly.. we make our own bread. Like you cook and have 2 evening meals from that.. as also a great video thankyou.
Thanks for watching
Hi, how did you transfer from Using excel spreadsheets to the method you use know? Do you just log on to your internet banking and transfer and draw cash out each month according to you sheet of paper? I still use excel just to set out income and expenses, but i also use ynab app which i do fine usefull. I wish i could transfer over to a non paying way i.e. paper and pen like i used to, including got paid in cash 😅
I use my internet banking to move money. We never use any cash but the 50€ we take each as discretionary spending. We withdraw 100€.
Do you guys have garage sales there? Where locals put out stuff for sale that they don’t need or want.
Vide gernier's during the summer.
Didn't buy any clothes this year? And the video from a few weeks ago? You then proudly showed off your new purchases. Sorry if I misunderstood you but I thought I heard say you didn't buy any clothes?
I didn’t buy them. It was a sponsored post and clearly stated so at the beginning of the video and throughout the video. Those clothes were given to me. Also, all those clothes and other clothes I’ve shown on the channel were donated to Les Puces nearby, which is a charity raising money for animals.
Ahh thought it was so strange.@@FrugalQueeninFrance
I'm really enjoying your videos. You may have answered this before, but may I ask how old you and your husband are?
We’re 58.