£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

Bobarella wrote: »

I always find cash a funny one to reconcile. Is it better to just write down, £20 cash point and then you know that's a solid amount to take out of the budget or do you bother with writing down every single item bought with the cash?

I tend to lean more and more to being a card tapper contactless makes it so easy.

I now have a YNAB 'account' which is all the cash in our house (kept in a tin, we keep about £100 in there most of the time), and every time we spend any it is entered into YNAB immediately. It's working well for us - we used to fritter away a lot of money by taking out a tenner for something that was a couple of quid and then the rest would disappear into the ether.

Week 5: Day 3

Morning! Have just about recovered from trauma of epic food shop yesterday. So much stuff! I'm going to try to bag up things like treasure hunt prizes this week and make sure we have enough of everything (sweets and chocolatey stuff, mainly, which is at least cheap if we need more). I'm hoping to find we have far too much and that we can save some for snacks and treats over Easter, but I doubt it somehow!

Have a fairly un-busy day today, so am going to do a good walk with DC3 into town and back to pick up shower gel, which I forgot in the excitement of buying 12 metric tonnes of sugary junk yesterday in Aldi. Parent's meetings for DC1 and 2 this afternoon. Need to discuss the general thuggish behaviour going on in DC2's class (he is always coming home with a fresh scrape or bruise from someone being silly, but it doesn't sound like bullying either to or from him, and he isn't unhappy - want to check it with the teacher though).

To do today:
1. Eat healthily and walk 10,000 steps.
2. Get at least one laundry on the line, preferably two. This time of year is always tricky for laundry - heating not on enough to easily dry inside, but frequently raining and cold outside!
3. Check valued opinions for surveys
4. Social media for work.
5. Try again to make two meals while cooking this evening, since I now actually have some ingredients!
6. Balance YNAB - forgot to do this yesterday and there's always a few transactions to add as they clear after the weekend.
7. Plan both party treasure hunts and print out pictures.

To do this week:
1. List old unloved handbag on eb@y - this didn't get done last week, annoyingly.
2. List old nursing chair on eb@y too, unless my mum wants it back (we 'borrowed' it 9 years ago, she had said before we can sell it when we no longer need it, but I will double check)
3. Make more candles - essential oils are here and I am running low again! (I spent a fortune on scented candles before starting to make them!)
4. Finish sock knitting and cast on socks for my dad's birthday.
5. Pay preschool bill.

I have come to the conclusion that I am better with a black and white 'don't spend any money at all' rule. Since having these big birthday spends I am aware I have been much more careless with money. Not loads, but have definitely overspent by perhaps £20 this week on various bits and bobs, which our budget doesn't have the scope for (certainly not every week or even every month really). Have just realised this after popping into town for some ribbon, and coming back with too much ribbon, fancy herbal tea (£2.50 a box) and a bag of sweets. All mentally justified on the basis that we've already overspent for this month so it hardly matters. This is a real weakness of mine - once I'm over budget there is a huge temptation to just go '**** it, I might as well keep on spending.' Must try to be even more aware of this.