I’ve been helping someone with their budget. By year end, they will be debt free and have substantial savings. Luckily, they are getting better at not mindlessly spending and monthly expenses are 25% less than their income. Before I started helping them, they were spending twice as much. Watching your videos helped me to help them and myself. Thanks!
I agree with viewers who say that your episodes help and encourage me with my frugality, even if we have different costs/ discretionary choices. We don't have to be identical to be validated and encouraged. Thank you! And Happy October! 🍁🧡🎃
Jane. I am grateful for emergency fund. Here in Georgia USA we had Huricaine and tornados. It takes months for repairs and clean up of property. With cash I got 2 trees removed off house roof 75% off regular price and quickly.
Worse in the US is the horrendous healthcare that will literally wipe you out. So many Americans are bankrupt or in a lifetime of debt due to the criminal healthcare system.
@@Hadassahs-Holt i have lived in GA for 40 years. Never seen such distruction. Great neighbors. I got a generator and shared with neighbors with little kids. This brought us closer together.
I truly appreciate that you acknowledge that you make a huge contribution % for the social charges. So many say about their health care "It's free!! It's free!!". No matter how it's funded, no matter if it's good or bad, no matter how (in)efficient it is, it's never "free".
@@FrugalQueeninFrance that's true here in the states also, though you'll rarely hear about that. (and that's before charitable and county (local level government) hospitals.
My mum always told us pay your bills first then live on what's left, I was on my own with 3kids for 5yrs I just sorted my meals at the beginning of the week I did alot of baking and batch cooking.
I live on the West Coast of the US, but used to live in Florida. October was supposed to have been a no spend month for me too. Seems Mother Nature had other plans. I was so pleased that strict budgeting in the past meant I was able support a couple of charities serving people hit by the recent hurricanes. Savings and emergency funds aren't necessarily meant just for ourselves.
I agree with you. I had some money left over and I only had donated to the hurricane relief fund even though it was a small amount. They need any amount that is contributed
Jane, your scarf color is YOUR color! It really brings out your eyes. I always love the snaps of the girls at the end, particularly the one of the two of them lounging in the window. Also, I like the format you used today, Mike - everything is very clear and easy to refer back to. Have a wonderful week! Wood wood to Mary and Dolly! 🐾❤️🐾❤️
Watching your monthly budget helps me be mindful of my own. Thank you for sharing and for talking through why you do things the way you do. Even though I have a very different life circumstance, I find it extremely helpful.
Jane I am loving your haircut, looks like the last of your colour is gone and the greys have grown out. You are looking so healthy and thank you both for the budget every month, I really enjoy your videos
Love the updated graphics. It's always helpful seeing how your budget breaks down and reading everyone's comments. I'll be retiring on around $1400 a month after medicare is taken out. Saving as much as I can these next few years. Only debt is a car payment. I'll have that taken care of next year.
Jane, you are looking lovely today. That scarf brings out the blue in your eyes. Thank you for another great video. Always appreciate what you share and the encouragement to keep trying. Hopefully Murphy gives everyone a break as we head into the fall and winter months.
Your budget gives us a great picture of how you make it and how you choose/have to live. You live with style and lots of patience. Your luxuries, from my view, are your dogs, your crafting, and your French lessons. Your adventures, again from my viewpoint, are your driving to see places and your enjoyment of nature. I hope things get somewhat easier for you, but you live a nice and careful life.
I had some tomatoes and home-canned black beans in the fridge that needed to get used up, so I made a pot of chili in my digital pressure cooker and it turned out so good. Soup weather is here :)
Thanks so much for breaking this down. I’m just getting ready to retire and will need to keep a much closer eye on things than I have had to in the past. It’s great to see how other people are making it work.
i am in Northern Indiana USA, I also am on Disbility and have been for aprox 10 yrs. Current age is 65. yrs old. I live on $1232 a month. I have a house pymt of $504 which does include the property tax and the home insurance. So to say I am frugal is an under statement. But I manage. Oh also I have my granddaughter living with me.
Being debt and mortgage free does make a huge difference in retirement. As we have the NHS in the UK, there are no additional healthcare costs to worry about either, unless of course one can afford to go private. Because of all this, I was able to retire earlier, on less. Love your outfit Jane. It really suits you. 👌😃
You really understand the importance of having and sticking to a budget 😊 Thank you Jane and Mike for a very informative Video. Love the snoozy pooches 🇦🇺👍
I appreciate seeing how you do your budget. Mine is similar, written on loose leaf paper in a binder. I record all spending on these pages and put each month's paper in a sheet protector along with an envelope that holds the receipts for that month. Today is the Italian Festival in my town. It's not huge, but there's some great food and entertainment. I was looking forward to it but this morning decided it was too hot (even though it's cooled down to around 80F/27C) and I would end up spending $50 (45 euro) or more on pasta and desserts that I can make at home for a lot less. The bonus is no crowds and no people bringing their dogs when the organizers specifically ask people to not bring them.
No, you wish you had THIS weather. In the summer (mid-June to late September), it's more like 90 to 95F, feels like 110-125F, sometimes more, due to humidity. That would be 32-35 and 43-52C.
Your budget reads a lot like ours does. I was planning a low spend month, but we both came down with covid and have drained our freezer and cupboards of all the easy make meals. We had to have some extra food brought in which threw the budget out of balance, but we aren't going anywhere so no fuel expenses and any other shopping hasn't occured. I think the money spent and saved will offset each other so I'm not worried. I love the new graphics for your video. Good video.
Sally, I don't know where you live or how old you are, but, if you are age 65 or older and on Medicare in the US, your Medicare will pay for flu shots and a Covid shot for the latest variant. Best wishes.
Thank you, Jane and Mike! I saw a list of free websites to access libraries globally. Will retrieve it and share, for those who have a bookstore weakness:) All the best, Kate
Thanks for sharing. In the US, we bundle car and homeowners ins. I pay annually, and the savings is good. I pay property tax early and save a few dollars. 😊
I'm basically the same. Never had debt ever. I'm been saving since my first pocket money. My most expensive thing is flying back to England to visit family x
I have a budget question. When you adjust your budget on paper after you review it every month, does that adjustment stay in the monthly budgets, or do you change the yearly budget as well? Or do you leave the yearly budget and review it at years end to see the changes that needed to be made? I understand the zero balance budget and reviewing on a monthly basis. Trying to fine tune our brand new budget and will need to make adjustments later next year.
Our sinking funds/long term savings/car savings stay in their accounts as needed or until used. Our discretionary fund is variable and discretionary by its very nature. It just stays in the main account. We don't change our long term savings goals until we achieve them.
Great video. I dont usually have spare either. Had hurricane expenses and have tightened up but coworker going on medical leave so will be working extra for a few months so it came at a great time. Having baby, so happy medical leave😊
Sending good “notch that belt tight” thoughts to you, Jane, and Mike. Spending much time this past month on research, hitting the dreaded Medicare 65 early next year. I always leave your videos feeling energized to keep on being frugal as we’ve always been.
Wow, I realize I'm blowing money. I need to make a budget. Even though everything is paid off, I'm still using most of the income as free money. I'm sick about how much I'm wasting. I guess the first step is to add up the bills and deduct from the income. I need a 101 Getting Started Budgeting and 101 Sticking to the Budget.
Thanks for this Jane. I feel like I have fallen off the frugal wagon a bit so far this month so it is no spend the rest of the month and November. Back to it!
@@FrugalQueeninFrance Yes, in the next week or so I will set the November budget and stick to it. My goal is to save over 60% of the money we bring in in November. It is nice to see the savings accounts growing!
You are so encouraging to us thank you so much for your level headed ness and dedication to helping us all save a little more. At the moment as a Catholic the Lord is working on me to be more generous to our Church and to the poor. Do you have a giving budget? It’s amazing that you are able to save so much! We are able to save and invest about 10 percent of our income. God bless you Jane! Thanks again ❤for
We give 24.6% of our gross income so EVERYONE get housing, benefits, maternity leave, paternity leave, university education, healthcare so people don't have to go begging to charities. Thanks for watching.
Love seeing your budget and how you’re saving over half your income for trips, yearly expenses, and long term savings! We recently learned how to groom our Pomeranian, saving us $90 every 2-3 months. We cut his nails, give him a bath, brush him out, and have a nice set of grooming scissors for his beautiful coat. Lovely way to bond and lavish our time on him too. Also, if you ever want to learn, threading at home is a wonderful way to get rid of unwanted facial hair. I do this, and it saves me quite a bit of money! Again-not trying to make you change your ways since you certainly can afford these expenses and grooming the dogs can be a lot of work!
I got a sense of what my retirement income would be ast year when I was off on long term disability. It was tight and I wasn't saving but paying off debt. I won't be able to retire at 65 but am planning on 67. Will have higher pension amounts (work and government) then. Glad I had that experience and am continuing to watch my money (not budgeting per se).
How fun, you are planning a vacation in the South of France as well! I have just rented a flat for 2 weeks, and bought airline tickets. A friend of mine has a flat down there, and tipped me of a local to me owner of 2 rental flats. We have had the coldest summers in history the last 2 years. Rain, flooding and cold weather. I have a vacation fund, and will try to save up more before we leave. It has a well equipped kitchen, so I will cook at home mostly, but will eat out occationally. Happy planning. It is fun to have something to look forward to.
Good video! I had a visit from Murphy this month, extra bill of nearly £4k on the house. Saving means there were funds to deal with it, but it still hurts.
I like writing down your budget and then comparing it to ours, seeing where your expenses are higher, and where they are lower. Yes, overall you do need more income than we do, your costs are higher in France, so kudos to you and Mark for making it work. We manage quite well on about $3,000 CDN, thanks to the garden, fruit trees, etc. And firewood is free (although we have to go and get it.) We also have free salmon, which I pressure can up for us and the 4 cats, reducing their feed costs. I do tend to help people out when they are struggling (I consider it in lieu of 'tithing', which I used to do when I attended church.) When a young couple comes to visit from out of town, they get to pick plums, cherries, apples and pears, and in return the young man gets to go up on the roof and clean the chimney, ha ha. My 82 year old husband is getting a bit leery of heights.
You are doing great ! Twice a year I look at my expenses ( I go over them daily) and see where I can cut back. Very recently I was able to completely cut out a monthly bill ! 🎉 Discussing finance with my family helps everyone. I now have that extra $124.99 a month to use or add into savings. I too am debt free, have some social security income ( and we get a small cost of living increase yearly) , and my financial ducks in a row, and am looking forward to receiving my late husbands full social security next year. 🥰🍃🍂🍁👻🎃
Great content as always! I'm still squirrelling away as much as possible as fast as possible for the second surgery in the spring. I feel like I've been on a No Spend Forever! 😂
Jane love your hair cut and your outfit. The color combination truly belongs to you. The information you share has made me a better and mindful saver. Thank you so much. Give the girls a hug from me.❤❤❤❤
Our ability to save just keeps going down because of fixed costs going up. House taxes, insurance on everything, utilities and such. We can only control certain things. I love to see what its like where you live and take ideas from others.
I am still learning about how to budget in a way that works for us. Our income is different each month and so are our expenses, we don't know in advance what all of our income will be as my husband and I both have our own very small businesses in addition to his teacher's salary and some months we make more and other months less. Same with expenses, this past year we had huge medical expenses that we did not foresee and could not save as much and many of our other expenses are different each month. I think that a zero balance budgeting cannot work for us but I do make a basic monthly budget, I track everything and I save every month. One of our biggest challenges is living in a country where the health system, education system and cost of living make it almost impossible to get a head. We have 3 more years to retirement and our priority is to move to a location with universal health care and lower cost of living.
Morning, love your video's and this channel is great. Questions - Do you get free eye tests, hearing tests, glasses & covid/flu jabs in France as we pay for all these in the UK under 65? Not sure what your healthcare costs cover in your monthly budget. Also 6 monthly checks to dentist in the UK at NHS is all ££.
Nothing is free here. 24.6% of gross income to social security payments then 108 euros on top per month isn't free. We have a system where we pay up front then get the money back. I chose 100% sante glasses so paid nothing at the time. We don't hand over any money for prescriptions either.
Question, I know that you adjusted some of your budgeting because of your emergency trip out of town. Trying to make up the 1500 that you had to spend that was not budgeted for that particular month. Are you still adjusting for that as well? just trying to grip on how you handle emergencies that come out of nowhere. I live in Southwest Georgia where we had hurricanes and storms that were history-making. We were fortunate very fortunate! But we did have to make some emergency adjustments that were not covered by insurance since what we had to spend was actually lower than our $2,500 deductible. In retrospect it ended up coming out of our long-term savings.
I appreciate the level of detail you showed here, great video. I'm American and will have approximately that same amount of money (after I pay my medicare premiums) at my own retirement from social security. And I'm single. This information helped me to feel less anxious about my finances. Thank you. I also have some savings that can be drawn from after retirement--which will be taxable. Maybe $600 or so a month. I notice you didn't have a line item for healthcare expenses/doctor and dentist visits (did I miss it?), is that no cost to you in France? I do not own a home, so I rent and will move from my very large, expensive city to a smaller, more affordable one in future, but will rent, so that worries me.
Unfortunately at 70 and 77 we are paying a mortgage. I pay the regular mortgage of $853/month which includes house insurance and property taxes which are escrowed by our Credit Union. Then I try to pay $100 to $200 extra towards the principle every month. Our medical insurance is expensive and we also have to pay for prescriptions every 90 days. Things have gotten so expensive we are not eating out much and I am making fewer trips to the grocery store. Our mortgage is the only debt we have. Both of our vehicles are paid off. We are retired and so trying to save every way we can. I have sinking funds set up.
Yes. We sold our home of 23 years and downsized but the cost of housing went up. We transferred all equity from old house to new house. Our house had a steep driveway plus steps so we physically couldn't do it. One floor plan now on flat ground. We are not moving anymore. Just doing my best to get this mortgage paid off. Ironically in the US its not terribly uncommon to have a mortgage at our age. We keep no other debt. Filled up my sinking funds accounts this morning. I am learning so much from your channel.
I'm curious as to what your property tax covers? For the area I live in (NJ) that is crazy low! Our property taxes are just over 8K a year, and the biggest piece of that pie is for the schools. Do your taxes covers the school tax?
The school buildings and maintenance are funded locally. Part of our property tax goes towards all local services including schools. Most of education is funded from central government through income tax.
Just curious, are you on mains drainage there? I notice you don't budget for septic tank maintenance, so I assume your water bill covers water treatment too.
@@BrittanyLucy our septic doesn't need maintenance. We had it installed new in 2019 and it just decomposes and the liquid/water filters through a sand bed.
@@FrugalQueeninFrance That's good then. We managed for years on a small old fashioned one at the old house, when we sold it was written in for the buyers they would have to replace it with a modern one within a year. I was very pleased to be moving to mains drainage, but in fact it's quite expensive, we basically pay twice for every litre of water, once to have it coming in and once to have it treated going out, quite a lot more than we used to pay to have the old tank emptied every few years.
I believe you are in the North of France, so have you investigated getting a Satellite dish and receiver for TV, as you should be able to pick up UK TV on the Astra Satellite for free, you wouldn't need a UK license as you are watching from France and the rules don't apply (this isn't avoidance or illegal).
This month it’s 300 and that’s less than they usually use and Jane says they have a surplus of some things but in January she stated that they would have to increase it to restock what they will have used.
I’ve been helping someone with their budget. By year end, they will be debt free and have substantial savings. Luckily, they are getting better at not mindlessly spending and monthly expenses are 25% less than their income. Before I started helping them, they were spending twice as much. Watching your videos helped me to help them and myself. Thanks!
Thank you for helping them and watching our channel.
Bet theyre pleased with the work you've done with them. Must be very sstisfying
That's wonderful
I agree with viewers who say that your episodes help and encourage me with my frugality, even if we have different costs/ discretionary choices. We don't have to be identical to be validated and encouraged. Thank you! And Happy October! 🍁🧡🎃
@@carolynredinger439 thank you
Jane. I am grateful for emergency fund. Here in Georgia USA we had Huricaine and tornados. It takes months for repairs and clean up of property. With cash I got 2 trees removed off house roof 75% off regular price and quickly.
Glad to hear you had those savings
I am glad you are safe. Hello from Virginia.
Worse in the US is the horrendous healthcare that will literally wipe you out. So many Americans are bankrupt or in a lifetime of debt due to the criminal healthcare system.
Glad you are ok! Friends on GA/SC border say they’ve never seen this level of destruction. Stay strong.
@@Hadassahs-Holt i have lived in GA for 40 years. Never seen such distruction. Great neighbors. I got a generator and shared with neighbors with little kids. This brought us closer together.
You look amazing in those colors and your hair and outfit are very pleasing on you. You're a natural beauty.
🤗
I truly appreciate that you acknowledge that you make a huge contribution % for the social charges. So many say about their health care "It's free!! It's free!!". No matter how it's funded, no matter if it's good or bad, no matter how (in)efficient it is, it's never "free".
It's obviously free for anyone who can't work, for whatever reason. We all contribute for everyone
@@FrugalQueeninFrance that's true here in the states also, though you'll rarely hear about that. (and that's before charitable and county (local level government) hospitals.
My mum always told us pay your bills first then live on what's left, I was on my own with 3kids for 5yrs I just sorted my meals at the beginning of the week I did alot of baking and batch cooking.
I live on the West Coast of the US, but used to live in Florida. October was supposed to have been a no spend month for me too. Seems Mother Nature had other plans. I was so pleased that strict budgeting in the past meant I was able support a couple of charities serving people hit by the recent hurricanes. Savings and emergency funds aren't necessarily meant just for ourselves.
I agree with you. I had some money left over and I only had donated to the hurricane relief fund even though it was a small amount. They need any amount that is contributed
Jane, your scarf color is YOUR color! It really brings out your eyes. I always love the snaps of the girls at the end, particularly the one of the two of them lounging in the window. Also, I like the format you used today, Mike - everything is very clear and easy to refer back to. Have a wonderful week! Wood wood to Mary and Dolly! 🐾❤️🐾❤️
Thanks, how kind of you
Watching your monthly budget helps me be mindful of my own. Thank you for sharing and for talking through why you do things the way you do. Even though I have a very different life circumstance, I find it extremely helpful.
You are so welcome!
Jane, you look beautiful in this color combination you have on today! The outfit looks cozy and warm allowing you to save money in heating costs! ❤
Thank you so much
@@FrugalQueeninFranceYes Jane you look so pretty in these colors.
Glad to know that I'm not only one that had to adjust monthly budget
Thanks again, Jane. So clear and useful.
Frugal to me is saving to travel as a writer. It's social, but the money has to stretch.
Sounds good reason to me
Hi Jane and Mike. Thoroughly enjoyed your video. Love your hair Jane. Have a great week☘️☘️
Thank you! You too!
You encourage me so much. I love your attitude of abundance.
You have what you need, because you plan it that way, with some to spare.
Thank you Susan
Jane I am loving your haircut, looks like the last of your colour is gone and the greys have grown out. You are looking so healthy and thank you both for the budget every month, I really enjoy your videos
I haven't coloured my hair in eight years. You mean it's greyer now. I'm fine with that.
@@FrugalQueeninFrance the salt and pepper colour is gorgeous
Love the updated graphics. It's always helpful seeing how your budget breaks down and reading everyone's comments. I'll be retiring on around $1400 a month after medicare is taken out. Saving as much as I can these next few years. Only debt is a car payment. I'll have that taken care of next year.
Thanks so much for watching
Jane, you are looking lovely today. That scarf brings out the blue in your eyes. Thank you for another great video. Always appreciate what you share and the encouragement to keep trying. Hopefully Murphy gives everyone a break as we head into the fall and winter months.
Thank you! You too!
You do such a wonderful sharing your life and great ideas with us. We appreciate you all.
Our pleasure!
Your budget gives us a great picture of how you make it and how you choose/have to live. You live with style and lots of patience. Your luxuries, from my view, are your dogs, your crafting, and your French lessons. Your adventures, again from my viewpoint, are your driving to see places and your enjoyment of nature. I hope things get somewhat easier for you, but you live a nice and careful life.
Thanks so much
I had some tomatoes and home-canned black beans in the fridge that needed to get used up, so I made a pot of chili in my digital pressure cooker and it turned out so good. Soup weather is here :)
Nice!
Thanks so much for breaking this down. I’m just getting ready to retire and will need to keep a much closer eye on things than I have had to in the past. It’s great to see how other people are making it work.
Glad it was helpful!
Your a big help in your advice and honesty
@@joycegonzales4994 thank you so much
Love the way you budget. Always aspiring to be as good as you two! And love the cute little pictures as you talk
Thanks so much! 😊
You have works hard on your budget system. Knowing any data about your life expenses can bring awareness and savings. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for your feedback
Thank you.....😊💜
Loving the new haircut!
Great video Jane and I love your haircut!
i am in Northern Indiana USA, I also am on Disbility and have been for aprox 10 yrs. Current age is 65. yrs old. I live on $1232 a month. I have a house pymt of $504 which does include the property tax and the home insurance. So to say I am frugal is an under statement. But I manage. Oh also I have my granddaughter living with me.
I'm sorry to hear that.
Oh my goodness, I hope you get some financial help with the child's expenses.
Brilliant video Jane and Mike .and I always keep the ads running now .I never knew to until some months ago .
You're the best!
Being debt and mortgage free does make a huge difference in retirement. As we have the NHS in the UK, there are no additional healthcare costs to worry about either, unless of course one can afford to go private. Because of all this, I was able to retire earlier, on less. Love your outfit Jane. It really suits you. 👌😃
Thanks so much
Jane! Your hair... looks absolutely gorgeous!!!❤😊
Thank you so much
Thank you for the explanation of sinking funds. You've inspired me to use an unused savings account to start budgeting better.
You can do it!
So much easier to understand this way. Thank you.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for your reply
You really understand the importance of having and sticking to a budget 😊
Thank you Jane and Mike for a very informative Video.
Love the snoozy pooches 🇦🇺👍
Our pleasure!
I appreciate seeing how you do your budget. Mine is similar, written on loose leaf paper in a binder. I record all spending on these pages and put each month's paper in a sheet protector along with an envelope that holds the receipts for that month.
Today is the Italian Festival in my town. It's not huge, but there's some great food and entertainment. I was looking forward to it but this morning decided it was too hot (even though it's cooled down to around 80F/27C) and I would end up spending $50 (45 euro) or more on pasta and desserts that I can make at home for a lot less. The bonus is no crowds and no people bringing their dogs when the organizers specifically ask people to not bring them.
Thanks so much and I wish we had your weather
No, you wish you had THIS weather. In the summer (mid-June to late September), it's more like 90 to 95F, feels like 110-125F, sometimes more, due to humidity. That would be 32-35 and 43-52C.
@@MariinSC we have 85% humidity all year so a bit of heat would be fine
Thank you for your video. Your budgeting has helped me tremendously. I'm out of debt makes such a difference.
Always appreciate your openness with your budget. Also… your hair looks amazing
Thank you so much!!
Your budget reads a lot like ours does. I was planning a low spend month, but we both came down with covid and have drained our freezer and cupboards of all the easy make meals. We had to have some extra food brought in which threw the budget out of balance, but we aren't going anywhere so no fuel expenses and any other shopping hasn't occured. I think the money spent and saved will offset each other so I'm not worried. I love the new graphics for your video. Good video.
Glad you like it. Thanks
Sally, I don't know where you live or how old you are, but, if you are age 65 or older and on Medicare in the US,
your Medicare will pay for flu shots and a Covid shot for the latest variant. Best wishes.
@@bookmagicroe9553 I've already had my flu and covid shot for this year.
Love the new slides very helpful
Glad you like them!
Great presentation
You look great, Jane!
Thank you so much
Looking forward to more tips & ideas to tweak the budget. Thank you. Kind regards. :0)
Thank you, Jane and Mike! I saw a list of free websites to access libraries globally. Will retrieve it and share, for those who have a bookstore weakness:) All the best, Kate
Your budgeting system is excellent, very effective.
Glad you think so!
Your hair looks nice Jane,just cut mine same length 😊
Thanks for sharing. In the US, we bundle car and homeowners ins. I pay annually, and the savings is good. I pay property tax early and save a few dollars.
😊
Thanks for sharing!
I'm basically the same. Never had debt ever. I'm been saving since my first pocket money. My most expensive thing is flying back to England to visit family x
That's lovely. Thanks for watching and commenting
Just be glad you're there.
Where? Why?
loving the new style graphics, and your scarf just make your eyes pop and complements your colouring beautifully
Thank you so much 😀
Good video well explained!
Glad you liked it!
I have a budget question. When you adjust your budget on paper after you review it every month, does that adjustment stay in the monthly budgets, or do you change the yearly budget as well? Or do you leave the yearly budget and review it at years end to see the changes that needed to be made? I understand the zero balance budget and reviewing on a monthly basis. Trying to fine tune our brand new budget and will need to make adjustments later next year.
Our sinking funds/long term savings/car savings stay in their accounts as needed or until used. Our discretionary fund is variable and discretionary by its very nature. It just stays in the main account. We don't change our long term savings goals until we achieve them.
Love how you guys watch your money. Love watching your videos.
Thanks so much!!
Great video. I dont usually have spare either. Had hurricane expenses and have tightened up but coworker going on medical leave so will be working extra for a few months so it came at a great time. Having baby, so happy medical leave😊
Good news about extra income
Great haircut!
Thanks!
Very inspiring. ❤
Sending good “notch that belt tight” thoughts to you, Jane, and Mike. Spending much time this past month on research, hitting the dreaded Medicare 65 early next year. I always leave your videos feeling energized to keep on being frugal as we’ve always been.
Good luck 👍
I love it. ( Try not to dread😮)
Wow, I realize I'm blowing money. I need to make a budget. Even though everything is paid off, I'm still using most of the income as free money. I'm sick about how much I'm wasting.
I guess the first step is to add up the bills and deduct from the income. I need a 101 Getting Started Budgeting and 101 Sticking to the Budget.
That's two video titles for me right there!
Watch this right to the end th-cam.com/video/eH8Go1VLJMY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=L4Vr6oHmelv4ZKyY
@@FrugalQueeninFrance Thank you so very much for helping. ❤🥰
Thanks for this Jane. I feel like I have fallen off the frugal wagon a bit so far this month so it is no spend the rest of the month and November. Back to it!
You can do it! Get your budget ready in advance and track everything you spend and all your bills. You've got this.
@@FrugalQueeninFrance Yes, in the next week or so I will set the November budget and stick to it. My goal is to save over 60% of the money we bring in in November. It is nice to see the savings accounts growing!
Great breakdown video
Glad you liked it!
You are so encouraging to us thank you so much for your level headed ness and dedication to helping us all save a little more. At the moment as a Catholic the Lord is working on me to be more generous to our Church and to the poor. Do you have a giving budget? It’s amazing that you are able to save so much! We are able to save and invest about 10 percent of our income. God bless you Jane! Thanks again ❤for
We give 24.6% of our gross income so EVERYONE get housing, benefits, maternity leave, paternity leave, university education, healthcare so people don't have to go begging to charities. Thanks for watching.
@@FrugalQueeninFranceso no you don’t actually give you pay taxes. Unsubscribed
Love seeing your budget and how you’re saving over half your income for trips, yearly expenses, and long term savings! We recently learned how to groom our Pomeranian, saving us $90 every 2-3 months. We cut his nails, give him a bath, brush him out, and have a nice set of grooming scissors for his beautiful coat. Lovely way to bond and lavish our time on him too. Also, if you ever want to learn, threading at home is a wonderful way to get rid of unwanted facial hair. I do this, and it saves me quite a bit of money! Again-not trying to make you change your ways since you certainly can afford these expenses and grooming the dogs can be a lot of work!
Thanks for watching
Your hair looks lovely.
I got a sense of what my retirement income would be ast year when I was off on long term disability. It was tight and I wasn't saving but paying off debt.
I won't be able to retire at 65 but am planning on 67. Will have higher pension amounts (work and government) then.
Glad I had that experience and am continuing to watch my money (not budgeting per se).
Go on Trixie, get that budget written.
Your hair is looking lovely!
Always interesting, and entertaining!
Thank you
How fun, you are planning a vacation in the South of France as well! I have just rented a flat for 2 weeks, and bought airline tickets. A friend of mine has a flat down there, and tipped me of a local to me owner of 2 rental flats. We have had the coldest summers in history the last 2 years. Rain, flooding and cold weather. I have a vacation fund, and will try to save up more before we leave. It has a well equipped kitchen, so I will cook at home mostly, but will eat out occationally. Happy planning. It is fun to have something to look forward to.
It's so important to have a reason to be frugal
Thankyou J and M. I find that we are constantly having to readjust our budget. You have to be really on the ball with it! 😂
So true!
Pretty scraf. Great video.
Thank you! 😊
Our home owners insurance and taxes are much higher. Thank you for sharing. Puts perspective on it for me.
Thanks for your feedback
Good video! I had a visit from Murphy this month, extra bill of nearly £4k on the house. Saving means there were funds to deal with it, but it still hurts.
Oh wow! Sorry to hear that
Thank you so much for your video, always helpful xx
@@PaulaBrockhurst-oj2ip you're welcome
I like writing down your budget and then comparing it to ours, seeing where your expenses are higher, and where they are lower. Yes, overall you do need more income than we do, your costs are higher in France, so kudos to you and Mark for making it work. We manage quite well on about $3,000 CDN, thanks to the garden, fruit trees, etc. And firewood is free (although we have to go and get it.) We also have free salmon, which I pressure can up for us and the 4 cats, reducing their feed costs. I do tend to help people out when they are struggling (I consider it in lieu of 'tithing', which I used to do when I attended church.) When a young couple comes to visit from out of town, they get to pick plums, cherries, apples and pears, and in return the young man gets to go up on the roof and clean the chimney, ha ha. My 82 year old husband is getting a bit leery of heights.
Thanks so much
You look fabulous! Enjoy your videos
Dear Jane and Mike. I enjoy your Videos, there ist Always Something top learn!
You looked very healthy and Radiant Jane, the blue scarf suits you! 👍
Thank you
Enjoyed the video Thank you
Glad you enjoyed it
You are doing great ! Twice a year I look at my expenses ( I go over them daily) and see where I can cut back. Very recently I was able to completely cut out a monthly bill ! 🎉 Discussing finance with my family helps everyone. I now have that extra $124.99 a month to use or add into savings. I too am debt free, have some social security income ( and we get a small cost of living increase yearly) , and my financial ducks in a row, and am looking forward to receiving my late husbands full social security next year. 🥰🍃🍂🍁👻🎃
Thanks for sharing!
Love it x
Great content as always! I'm still squirrelling away as much as possible as fast as possible for the second surgery in the spring. I feel like I've been on a No Spend Forever! 😂
Good luck with the surgery
FYI: your scarf makes the color of your eyes pop. Excellent color for you.
Great video!
Thanks so much
Jane love your hair cut and your outfit. The color combination truly belongs to you. The information you share has made me a better and mindful saver. Thank you so much. Give the girls a hug from me.❤❤❤❤
Thank you so much!
Great video
Thanks!
Our ability to save just keeps going down because of fixed costs going up. House taxes, insurance on everything, utilities and such. We can only control certain things. I love to see what its like where you live and take ideas from others.
Our discretionary spending has evaporated to almost nothing due to the cost of living. A meal out is now an impossibility.
👍👍👍
I am still learning about how to budget in a way that works for us. Our income is different each month and so are our expenses, we don't know in advance what all of our income will be as my husband and I both have our own very small businesses in addition to his teacher's salary and some months we make more and other months less. Same with expenses, this past year we had huge medical expenses that we did not foresee and could not save as much and many of our other expenses are different each month. I think that a zero balance budgeting cannot work for us but I do make a basic monthly budget, I track everything and I save every month. One of our biggest challenges is living in a country where the health system, education system and cost of living make it almost impossible to get a head. We have 3 more years to retirement and our priority is to move to a location with universal health care and lower cost of living.
Love your breakdown of expenses, i was curious, how did you do with Kirk? It looked like France was going to take a hit, I hope it was not bad❤
Didn't touch us. Thanks for watching. Kieran wiped up out last year
How were you able to stay in France for more than 90 days? To retire there? Thanks!
We have a residency visa. Look this up on the French government immigration website
Thanks for sharing your budget. This has been very helpful for me and my budgeting. I really like your glasses. Did you buy them in France?
I did optic2000 - cost nothing on the day 100% santé
@@FrugalQueeninFrance Thanks
Morning, love your video's and this channel is great. Questions - Do you get free eye tests, hearing tests, glasses & covid/flu jabs in France as we pay for all these in the UK under 65? Not sure what your healthcare costs cover in your monthly budget. Also 6 monthly checks to dentist in the UK at NHS is all ££.
Nothing is free here. 24.6% of gross income to social security payments then 108 euros on top per month isn't free. We have a system where we pay up front then get the money back. I chose 100% sante glasses so paid nothing at the time. We don't hand over any money for prescriptions either.
Question, I know that you adjusted some of your budgeting because of your emergency trip out of town. Trying to make up the 1500 that you had to spend that was not budgeted for that particular month. Are you still adjusting for that as well? just trying to grip on how you handle emergencies that come out of nowhere. I live in Southwest Georgia where we had hurricanes and storms that were history-making. We were fortunate very fortunate! But we did have to make some emergency adjustments that were not covered by insurance since what we had to spend was actually lower than our $2,500 deductible. In retrospect it ended up coming out of our long-term savings.
We adjust by banking our spending money until we've recovered
Jane you look nice! I'm having to pay £32 to get my hair done for a simple cut and blow cut and blow dry it's alot!
It is. I pay 20 for a dry cut and 5 for the tip
I have a log burner and worry about breathing in bad air. Could you share how you use an air filter please 😊
Put the Dyson air filter in the house, switch it on.
@@FrugalQueeninFrance does it need to be in the same room as the fire or is it better in the hall?
@@IrbyGirl same room , thanks for watching
I appreciate the level of detail you showed here, great video. I'm American and will have approximately that same amount of money (after I pay my medicare premiums) at my own retirement from social security. And I'm single. This information helped me to feel less anxious about my finances. Thank you. I also have some savings that can be drawn from after retirement--which will be taxable. Maybe $600 or so a month. I notice you didn't have a line item for healthcare expenses/doctor and dentist visits (did I miss it?), is that no cost to you in France? I do not own a home, so I rent and will move from my very large, expensive city to a smaller, more affordable one in future, but will rent, so that worries me.
7€ to see the doctor no cost for meds. I have no idea how retirees get by if still renting
@@FrugalQueeninFrance That's why I'm moving soon--to lower housing costs.
Just a quick question. Will you be able to collect a French pension and an English pension from the Government?
I just watched the video and got my answer. 😊
Jane I am super curious that you didn’t have a water bill listed. Do you have well water? And if so, do you have a water filtering system?
Yes we did list it, it was in the sinking funds water is 250€ a year
@@FrugalQueeninFrance Thanks I missed that
Unfortunately at 70 and 77 we are paying a mortgage. I pay the regular mortgage of $853/month which includes house insurance and property taxes which are escrowed by our Credit Union. Then I try to pay $100 to $200 extra towards the principle every month. Our medical insurance is expensive and we also have to pay for prescriptions every 90 days. Things have gotten so expensive we are not eating out much and I am making fewer trips to the grocery store. Our mortgage is the only debt we have. Both of our vehicles are paid off. We are retired and so trying to save every way we can. I have sinking funds set up.
You took out your mortgage in your 40s or 50s?
Yes. We sold our home of 23 years and downsized but the cost of housing went up. We transferred all equity from old house to new house. Our house had a steep driveway plus steps so we physically couldn't do it. One floor plan now on flat ground. We are not moving anymore. Just doing my best to get this mortgage paid off. Ironically in the US its not terribly uncommon to have a mortgage at our age. We keep no other debt. Filled up my sinking funds accounts this morning. I am learning so much from your channel.
I'm curious as to what your property tax covers? For the area I live in (NJ) that is crazy low! Our property taxes are just over 8K a year, and the biggest piece of that pie is for the schools. Do your taxes covers the school tax?
The school buildings and maintenance are funded locally. Part of our property tax goes towards all local services including schools. Most of education is funded from central government through income tax.
Just curious, are you on mains drainage there? I notice you don't budget for septic tank maintenance, so I assume your water bill covers water treatment too.
@@BrittanyLucy our septic doesn't need maintenance. We had it installed new in 2019 and it just decomposes and the liquid/water filters through a sand bed.
@@FrugalQueeninFrance That's good then. We managed for years on a small old fashioned one at the old house, when we sold it was written in for the buyers they would have to replace it with a modern one within a year. I was very pleased to be moving to mains drainage, but in fact it's quite expensive, we basically pay twice for every litre of water, once to have it coming in and once to have it treated going out, quite a lot more than we used to pay to have the old tank emptied every few years.
I believe you are in the North of France, so have you investigated getting a Satellite dish and receiver for TV, as you should be able to pick up UK TV on the Astra Satellite for free, you wouldn't need a UK license as you are watching from France and the rules don't apply (this isn't avoidance or illegal).
@@MrDryfield thanks for watching, we don't want British TV.
Did I miss what you allocate for food every month?
Yes you did. Supermarket 300€ all food, drink, toiletries, cleaning, laundry and bathroom products.
This month it’s 300 and that’s less than they usually use and Jane says they have a surplus of some things but in January she stated that they would have to increase it to restock what they will have used.
🏴❤️🏴 We were doing so well, but my chemotherapy has doubled in price and the damn toilet is leaking 😢😢😢 🏴❤️🏴
@@lynnegeddes7532 so sorry you have to pay, if you were here in France, you wouldn't