Frugal Living Tips: July 2014 Edition

Welcome to my monthly roundup post where I reveal the personal finance articles that have really spoken to me over the last 30 days.

Not surprisingly the blogosphere hasn’t let us down and I’ve got some great links for you to check out in just a few minutes.

However before we get to that, what’s been happening in my neck of the woods recently?

First things first you shouldn’t be surprised to hear that as a personal finance blogger I spend a decent amount of time at the end of each month going through my finances. I like to dive deep into my online bank statements to ensure that my budget is still performing as it should (it is), that my income is what it should be and that all my various bills have been paid.

You see, most of my bills go out automatically; so I just like to check that they’ve actually gone out successfully. But a couple – like my rent – I pay manually each month.

At the beginning of June I was in a bit more of a hurry than normal so after checking all my figures I sent the bank-to-bank transfer of funds for my rent and thought no more about it. Until later that day, when I had a sudden realization that maybe I clicked the wrong button…

Logging in again I realized the terrible news; I’d paid my rent money to the wrong person. Infact, I’d accidentally paid it to the tax man (HMRC here in the UK) who are set up as a payee thanks to my annual tax return!

Great!

Even worse, logging into my online tax account I noticed no mention of this payment – meaning it had seemingly “vanished“. I’d definately paid it but it seems the tax man had no record of the payment. Worse, when I spoke to an advisor they said it could take 3 weeks to show up in my account.

So I waited. And waited. And after a full 3 weeks of waiting there was still no sign of the payment. So now I’m chasing the issue in writing to get it resolved. Hopefully they’ll manage to track down the payment and either apply it to my account or refund it (I don’t mind either way).

But I’m still kicking myself that I didn’t properly check the transfer before clicking the submit button. A couple of seconds of not paying enough attention has caused weeks of annoyance and chasing!

I’ll keep you posted on exactly what happens next! The only silver lining here is that this hasn’t caused the financial upset it would have done a few years ago. It wasn’t too long ago that transferring a sizeable sum of money to the wrong person would have financially crippled me for the rest of the month.

These days – thanks to our good old friend “the emergency fund” – I still paid my rent without any discomfort. And I’m looking at the accident as simply a “loan” to the tax man that I expect to get back – and then safely stash away in my emergency fund again. So it’s not all bad.

In other news I finally have a weeks vacation starting today and the weather is looking great! I’m looking forward to finally getting enough sleep, to catching up with my vegetable garden (which is looking amazing right now!) and spending some quality time with the girlfriend.

With that said and done let’s jump into the links that I promised you’ I hope you enjoy them as much as I did 🙂

How to Save Money by Planning Ahead

I’ve always felt that time and money are intrinsicly linked. The less time you have, the more tempting it is to buy “convenience” goods that cost more. The more time you have, the easer it is to shop around, find a bargain and save money. Now it seems that Laurie is in agreement! Here she outlines the magic of planning ahead when it comes to saving money.

What Is It Going To Take? Srsly!

Jacob’s thought-provoking post outlines the odd way in which becoming financially free is such a simple process, yet one that so many people struggle with. If it’s so easy, why do people fail? Here he examines some of the reasons and provides a gamut of inspiration to get you started on the path to financial success.

Is It Harder For Parents to Achieve Financial Independence?

This discussion post examines the concept of financial independence from the perspective of parenting. Are you a parent? Do you long for financial freedom? If so this article might be right up your alley.

50+ Money Saving Tips From Some of The Best Personal Finance Bloggers Today

This monster money-saving post outlines a huge range of tips from some of the smartest personal finance experts around. If you want to live a more frugal lifestyle and save more money each month then this is definitely a post you’ll want to bookmark and refer back to in the future.

Act Your Wage

It’s human nature that we sometimes feel “entitled” to nice things when we’ve worked our butt off. But Derek argues this can be a serious mistake and lead to financial issues – even for top earners. If you’re struggling to keep your spending under control you’ll find plenty of advice and tips on curbing the problem of lifestyle inflation here.

Give Yourself the Gift of Not Worrying About Money

Personal finance bloggers like me probably obssess more about money than most people. Having said that I’d argue we obssess in a “good way” – working out how to save money, pay off debt and get ahead financially. But even that might not be healthy. In this fascinating post, Mr MM discusses how to stop worrying about money once and for all (though you’ll need to put some legwork in first).

Are You a Prisoner of This Money Mistake?

Laurie’s second entry into my “best of” roundup this month must be a sign 🙂 It seems time and again that The Frugal Farmer hits the nail on the head for me. Here she discusses the importance of not getting sucked into marketing hype and how you don’t really need that designer item to feel good about yourself.

Hypermiling: The Complete Guide to Saving Gas

As regular readers will know, I became a car owner for the first time ever last year. As any car driver will tell you they can be quite a “budget buster” if you’re not careful. So here are some super-handy hints on how to get the most mileage out of a tank of gas possible.

Wonder How Some People are Always on Top of Daily Deals? Heres Their Secret

Coupons. We know they work and we all love to save money. But sometimes trying to keep up with the very latest deals can seem next to impossible. Fortunately Kate has the answer as she outlines some of the best deal aggregators that bring together all sorts of promotions and coupons to help you get the best deal possible without needing to shop around.

How did your month go? Any notable wins or failures on the personal finance front? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below…