Balancing not just the budget

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  • ZTD
    ZTD Posts: 24,327 Forumite
    I can understand those sorts of temptations...we're planning a Christmassy trip both North and West... :D

    I can't understand those sorts of temptations. Somewhere south sunny and warm during winter is the sort of temptation I can understand...
    "Follow the money!" - Deepthroat (AKA William Mark Felt Sr - Associate Director of the FBI)
    "We were born and raised in a summer haze." Adele 'Someone like you.'
    "Blowing your mind, 'cause you know what you'll find, when you're looking for things in the sky."
    OMD 'Julia's Song'
  • Well it turns out my instincts were pretty much spot on... YNAB refreshed itself today and somehow went from being all square and August correctly budgeted, to my CC being over £1,100 in the red and August all over the place. I am SO cross. :mad::mad: How can I use the thing if it doesn't do what it's supposed to? Yes, I know I could just clear the credit card every month and I guess that's what I will do - I've been paying the statement balance to get the interest free period and it just gets me confused, so now I will just clear it on payday regardless. I know I could also go and look for an alternative package but I have so much else going on right now that I don't think I can be **sed with the additional hassle of learning a new budget app. I've emailed them to complain though, so let's see what happens there.

    I've adjusted things and will essentially loan myself money from the buffer fund til next payday. This is what I thought was going to have to happen to enable the last trip away, but it wouldn't have been possible even after next month and it was awesome so I think that's excusable :D . It does mean another escape in October is rather less likely though :( and I'm not sure about later in the year... will see.

    Back to being a bit more careful, and actually enjoying fiddling with the numbers. I did check my insurance for both gadgets and animals but haven't really found any better deals and decided that to me it's worth the money for the peace of mind - since I can afford it right now, will just be grateful for that.

    I ought to do something about my food budget though...


    Rosa xx
    Debt free May 2016... DFW#2 in progress
    Campervan paid off summer '21... MFW progress tbc
  • ZTD
    ZTD Posts: 24,327 Forumite
    Well I'm still doing that "organised" thing using gnucash (yes, the novelty still hasn't worn off...). Although it's free, it's a full double-entry system so probably a bit overkill for most people. It sits well with me however, especially the reporting on the desktop version.

    It does however allow you to put transactions into the future and then tell you the lowest your money will go if all your transactions come true.

    The budget model doesn't work well for me, but maybe I'm just not a budget kind of person...
    "Follow the money!" - Deepthroat (AKA William Mark Felt Sr - Associate Director of the FBI)
    "We were born and raised in a summer haze." Adele 'Someone like you.'
    "Blowing your mind, 'cause you know what you'll find, when you're looking for things in the sky."
    OMD 'Julia's Song'
  • ZTD wrote: »
    I can't understand those sorts of temptations. Somewhere south sunny and warm during winter is the sort of temptation I can understand...

    Nooo....winter is meant to be cold! :D:rotfl:
    🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
    Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00
    Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
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  • Nooo....winter is meant to be cold! :D:rotfl:

    Totally :D
    Save
    Debt free May 2016... DFW#2 in progress
    Campervan paid off summer '21... MFW progress tbc
  • ZTD
    ZTD Posts: 24,327 Forumite
    Nooo....winter is meant to be cold! :D:rotfl:

    I live in the north. If I want cold, I have summer, spring and autumn...
    "Follow the money!" - Deepthroat (AKA William Mark Felt Sr - Associate Director of the FBI)
    "We were born and raised in a summer haze." Adele 'Someone like you.'
    "Blowing your mind, 'cause you know what you'll find, when you're looking for things in the sky."
    OMD 'Julia's Song'
  • ZTD wrote: »
    I live in the north. If I want cold, I have summer, spring and autumn...

    :rotfl:but those are a different cold
    Debt free May 2016... DFW#2 in progress
    Campervan paid off summer '21... MFW progress tbc
  • Slightly postponed Sunday shuffle to allow for payday. I've got the 'borrowing from the buffer' down quite a bit so it will be covered by October's paycheque - paid the full statement balance on the CC just now so I know it's zeroed and now I only owe myself. (Well apart from the winter clothes shopping that might have happened on the weekend... :o:D)

    I forgot that I have an expenses payment due shortly, but money back from relatives at the weekend since I paid in advance for the hotel and tickets. That should mean I reach the end of the week and month with the weekend away covered and some extra in the budget to reshuffle and get the 'debt' to the buffer fund down a bit more. It's given me a bit of a boot ITA and reminded me to be careful even when things look good. Helped along by finding that my electric account is significantly in debit and the washing machine drum really does look odd this time. Although I've also had a letter about the electric, apparently companies can't discriminate due to unusual meters any more... so much read that properly. Good news for me as the bills look high, even recently, and I'd been wondering whether it was worth getting the electrician in to look at changing the meter. Hopefully that won't be necessary any more. As for the washing machine, just going to use it while I'm present and hope it survives a little longer.

    Still wishing I could manage an escape north but not sure how it could happen...so just relaxing, enjoying the house and letting longer term plans brew :)


    Rosa xx


    Rosa xx
    Debt free May 2016... DFW#2 in progress
    Campervan paid off summer '21... MFW progress tbc
  • RosaBernicia
    RosaBernicia Posts: 4,868
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    Sunday shuffle report...

    Weekend was good fun and more than covered by repayments for the hotel and tickets I'd booked in advance. It would be more than covered except I decided to get membership of one of my favourite places, including a guest membership so I can take someone with me for free. It's already 1/4 paid for from this trip and I definitely want to go to the next exhibition so I think it will be worth it.

    Buffer fund further depleted as have ordered a new washing machine :( . The current one has made terrible banging noises on the last couple of washes so I gave in and got it now rather than wait for a drama. Although I'm annoyed at having to spend money now, I'm really looking forward to having a much quieter machine and a timer function - I have really missed being able to set the washing to run while I'm at work. I remembered to order through TCB so there should be a few quid due.

    Hoping for a quiet month money wise though not social life wise! :rotfl:


    Rosa xx
    Debt free May 2016... DFW#2 in progress
    Campervan paid off summer '21... MFW progress tbc
  • EssexHebridean
    EssexHebridean Posts: 21,200
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    Ahhhh...bearings gone on the old machine then I'm guessing - that was what killed our last one too, and yes the banging noise does rather make you fear the thing is going to leap out of the kitchen and get you! :rotfl: I wanted to get ours fixed but when I rang "a man" up about it he heard the symptoms, told me what was wrong, asked the make and when I said "Indesit" he just laughed and told me to buy a new one! :o

    Missed your earlier comments about YNAB misbehaving - that's pretty poor really, thank goodness you had the buffer fund there to cover.

    My September CC figures will also be somewhat influenced as a result of some clothes shopping...I wouldn't mind but I don't even enjoy it! :(
    🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
    Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00
    Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
    SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculator
    she/her
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