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

Karonher · 13 June 2017 at 8:12PM

For what it's worth, I think you are doing the right thing by breaking the budget for holidays. If you were paying off a couple of thousand I would say have a really frugal year, but you don't want to realise that you are about to become debt free and the children don't want to camp anymore.

Surely it's worth adding a couple of months to the DFD to give them a holiday.

Treadingonplaymobil · 13 June 2017 at 8:18PM

Unexpected bit of free time this evening - DH was meant to be late home but ended up on time, so I have had a whole extra two hours to achieve things! Painted another batch of pickets - very nearly up to 40 painted (I think I need about 70, if my maths is correct). Need to buy the spikes to put the fence posts in and some batons to actually make the fence panels. Will be pleased to stop spending money on the front garden, but it honestly looks like a different house.

Had a lovely catch up with my friend this morning, but we ended up chatting in the sunshine for a couple of hours while DC3 played nicely for once, so I didn't get as much done this morning as I intended. She is self employed in a similar field and has just given up one arm of her business, so it was good to compare notes about successes and failures.

Another successful manic evening of swimming lessons then cubs - I made pasties again as they were a hit last week, and we even had leftover filling from last week in the freezer, so it literally cost the price of the pastry and an egg to glaze. Dinner win.

to do today:
1. paint another batch of fence pickets (I'm as bored as you are of seeing this on my list every day). Done.
2. finish my mum's socks. Not done yet, although hoping for 20 mins knitting once I've cleared off here for the night.
3. Chisel out some bricks next to the garden path to see how it looks. Not done, fell by the wayside after leisurely coffee.
4. Declutter and tidy the DCs' room. Not done. Same as above.
5. Mend DS1's school trousers. Not done, painted extra pickets instead as it was so nice outside.
6. social media for work. Done, yay.
7. Book camping weekend with friends for August. DH is on the case, as he needs to phone up thanks to our ginormo-tent.
8. Make pasties for dinner. done.
9. Cost out fence spikes and posts and figure out where the money is coming from to pay for them :eek: . done. More than I'd like to spend, but not as horrendous as I expected.
10. Pay balance of holiday booking. We had saved £350 of the £425 due, but I have had to take the remaining £75 from Christmas/birthday/car maintenance budget pots, which are virtually empties for umpteenth time. Won't be able to top them up until end of summer. Argh.. Done. Depressing.

to do this week:
1. Make picket fence panels.
2. Finish digging trench and make gravel channel under fence location.
3. Go through camping stuff and plan what we need for the summer's camping trips.
4. Keep focusing on smaller business while main business is quiet - made a couple of sales yesterday, the attention does pay off.
5. Ask my mum about the chair and relist it with better description (assuming it doesn't sell by Tue).

in_need_of_direction · 13 June 2017 at 10:41PM

Stumbled across your thread and have just read from the get go. I think you're doing really well and you have def given me food for thought. I've recently moved to self employment and panic every time there's another cost to the business as, while I have some work, it'll be a while before I receive any payments. I'm currently living off my OH and savings. What your recent entries have allowed me to see is that even though my savings are going down, apart from a blow out holiday for OH's 50th that was saved for, my mortgage is actually reducing more month on month than the savings. That's gotta be good so thank you.

armchairexpert · 14 June 2017 at 5:00AM

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

I think there's never a perfect time to start a budget, it's just a case of starting and wiggling things around again and again as you keep going to try to make things balance a little better each month.

Yep. On this, we started in February, so very near the start of the year, nice and tidy, and immediately got hit with annual expenses like the years' school fees. Whenever you start, you'll be hit by at least one big bill that you haven't had time to save up for.

Treadingonplaymobil · 14 June 2017 at 5:02AM

Week 18: Day 4

Phew, quietest day of the week today. Mondays and Tuesdays are so full on with clubs now that it’s a relief to get to Wednesday.

All the holiday chat yesterday reminded me that when we had our ‘mini LBM’ last October (when we started using YNAB and realised quite how amazingly bad our situation and overspending was, before joining here in Feb), my aim for 2017 was simply to not increase the debt - I had no ambitions of reducing it at all. I just wanted to spend the year tracking our spending and ensuring we stayed within budget. Becoming debt free actually seemed a totally impossible dream, I hadn’t even begun to think it was possible.

it was only once I realised how much we could improve things by starting to pay back debt and reduce our minimum repayments so we were less stretched that actually becoming debt free one day became an idea on the horizon, and swiftly morphed into ‘let’s get rid of this debt for good’. Of course, actually doing that has been a little harder to do than to say, but we’re making progress.

This year is proving such a huge lesson in all the mindless ways we previously spent money, from too-regular cafe trips to camping spends and clothes shopping. I have honestly been shocked by how many of these mindless spends there are - I thought we were generally pretty ‘good’ aside from our big issues (overcommitted on rent, childcare costs etc), but have realised that DH and I had both been overspending in an idle way since before we even met, and have continued to do so ever since. Turning this ship around has been much more oil tanker than gazelle, but I do feel we’ve made the turn. It might take us a little while to accelerate up to speed though

.

Here endeth the deep thoughts.

Back to today. My biggest plan for today is to really tackle the DCs’ bedroom - with three of them in there it needs regular tidying and decluttering to be an enjoyable and useful space, and it’s well overdue a clear up.

I am also going to pop into town and try to find a cheap washing up bowl - can you believe I still haven’t bought one?! I know.

to do today:
1. paint another batch of fence pickets (I know. again).
2. finish my mum's socks.
3. Chisel out some bricks next to the garden path to see how it looks.
4. Declutter and tidy the DCs' room.
5. Mend DS1's school trousers.
6. social media for work.
7. order fence spikes etc to pick up on friday
8. plan out DH’s annual leave with him for the rest of the year.
9. pick up a fathers day card (and some card for the DCs to make cards) for DH and my dad from town.
10. Ask my mum about the chair so I can relist it (didn't sell).

to do this week:
1. Make picket fence panels.
2. Finish digging trench and make gravel channel under fence location.
3. Go through camping stuff and plan what we need for the summer's camping trips.
4. Keep focusing on smaller business while main business is quiet.
5. Ask my mum about the chair and relist it with better description (assuming it doesn't sell by Tue).

warby68 · 14 June 2017 at 5:56AM

Good morning, I'm back rooting for you in every way after my moment of complete exasperation yesterday

I saw self-sabotage rather than deeply deeply ingrained behaviours which lead you to underplay the cost of most things.

When I think about it, after 15 years solid overspending, getting the budget under control and standing still with debt would be a great achievement for year 1.

Perhaps it would help if you posted some of your non-essential spending plans here BEFORE committing. I think its telling that you commit and then 'confess'. I promise to pipe down if you do (if you prefer)

Another change might be just to learn to actually have the money in the right pot BEFORE committing, to force yourselves to gradually get a little bit ahead. I would think its quite depressing putting money in pots but always having to take it out for something else. That would mean, not booking more holidays until there was something actually in the holiday pot. You know every penny of your budget is accounted for so any new spends will need to be robbed from somewhere else. The discipline of waiting is probably a key change for you to make.

Good luck with the washing up bowl and everything else today

PS My squidgy bottomed WUB is available for £5.99 from Amazon compared to £8 John Lewis - you can borrow my Prime

Treadingonplaymobil · 14 June 2017 at 9:47AM

warby68 wrote: »

Good morning, I'm back rooting for you in every way after my moment of complete exasperation yesterday I saw self-sabotage rather than deeply deeply ingrained behaviours which lead you to underplay the cost of most things.

When I think about it, after 15 years solid overspending, getting the budget under control and standing still with debt would be a great achievement for year 1.

Perhaps it would help if you posted some of your non-essential spending plans here BEFORE committing. I think its telling that you commit and then 'confess'. I promise to pipe down if you do (if you prefer)

Another change might be just to learn to actually have the money in the right pot BEFORE committing, to force yourselves to gradually get a little bit ahead. I would think its quite depressing putting money in pots but always having to take it out for something else. That would mean, not booking more holidays until there was something actually in the holiday pot. You know every penny of your budget is accounted for so any new spends will need to be robbed from somewhere else. The discipline of waiting is probably a key change for you to make.

Good luck with the washing up bowl and everything else today

PS My squidgy bottomed WUB is available for £5.99 from Amazon compared to £8 John Lewis - you can borrow my Prime

Your post just made me realise that I commit to these spends (camping, and a barbecue this weekend that I arranged a couple of days ago, among others) and it literally does not occur to me at the point of arranging it that I am committing to an outgoing, only that I am making plans to do something fun. It is only a few days/weeks down the line when the costs start to accrue (booking camping, shopping for barbecue) that it even occurs to me that I have committed to something with a cost attached. When I said mindless spending, it turns out that I really meant it! This is another area for me to think about and figure out strategies to avoid.

Chandelier. · 14 June 2017 at 12:41PM

I've been following your diary from the beginning and it always amazes me how much you get done!

I too am sometimes quick to commit to things. Our holiday for next year is a prime example. I need to work out total figures and start putting money away for it.

I hope you manage to get your list done. It must feel great achieving everything you do

Wysiwyg49 · 14 June 2017 at 12:46PM

warby68 wrote: »

I would think its quite depressing putting money in pots but always having to take it out for something else. That would mean, not booking more holidays until there was something actually in the holiday pot. You know every penny of your budget is accounted for so any new spends will need to be robbed from somewhere else. The discipline of waiting is probably a key change for you to make.

This is me exactly - on month 4 of YNAB and I'm at the depressed stage of thinking every month "I think this month will be sooo much better" - and about 2/3 through start having to transfer money out of the longer term pots to cover unexpected overspends. I cheer myself up by tracking how much money I put forward to the next month, and try to increase that each month. Also by sticking, more or less, to a 50/20/30 ratio for essentials/debts and savings/choices, which I am finding very useful and not too complicated.

enthusiasticsaver · 14 June 2017 at 4:36PM

Unfortunately if you keep borrowing from longer term pots like money saved for Christmas, car service or insurance then you are always playing catch up and it will be difficult to get budgeting sorted for the long term which you need to do to sort out your debt problems.

Having lots of fun things booked to look forward to makes life enjoyable and I fully understand it is miserable having to constantly think, can I afford this but you can't really afford not to. Barbecues can be done on the cheap though and just use the grocery money to buy your contribution if a joint affair with friends and family.

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

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