Peonie's journey to smart money management

Peonie

My current account spreadsheet is too complicated with constantly moving funds and saving for annual bills, like insurance, it's getting hard to know how much available cash I have. So I have decided to move the annual bills to another pot and the interest rate is higher.

Also, the spreadsheet tracks my spending throughout the month so I do not have an absolute start and end point to the month. It would easier to start the month when I get paid, so I clearly know how much money is left at the end of the month, but I am edging towards a calendar month start as I will change jobs at some point. Any suggestions?

Hurdler

Peonie wrote: »

My current account spreadsheet is too complicated with constantly moving funds and saving for annual bills, like insurance, it's getting hard to know how much available cash I have. So I have decided to move the annual bills to another pot and the interest rate is higher.

Also, the spreadsheet tracks my spending throughout the month so I do not have an absolute start and end point to the month. It would easier to start the month when I get paid, so I clearly know how much money is left at the end of the month, but I am edging towards a calendar month start as I will change jobs at some point. Any suggestions?

I start mine at the start of the calender month and then chuck money about the savings pots.
I have one spready for my main current account and can you believe I still use the last version of MS Money. That has ALL my accounts but what I do is copy my current account spready to my iPhone and there is a sheet for the "piggy-banks) so I can see how much I have in my treat account when I go shopping.

BUT... as I have no Saturdays left anymore because of Journo school - I am now going to throw myself into cash back buying so... I am wondering whether to have a spready with my piggy banks and start weaning myself off MS Money.

Lois_E

I have various monthly incomings and outgoings that are all between 22nd of the month and 6th of the next month, with the mortgage payment being the last one, so I start my spreadsheet month on the 7th.

Peonie

Lois_E wrote: »

I have various monthly incomings and outgoings that are all between 22nd of the month and 6th of the next month, with the mortgage payment being the last one, so I start my spreadsheet month on the 7th.

Hi Lois,

Would you change your start/end date if your mortgage payment date changed? But then again, who chooses the mortgage payment date; the provider or the payee?

Our mortgage is paid on the 1st so if I worked on a calendar month it's our first payment.

Did you plan it so you would not have any out-goings the rest of the month?

P.

Peonie

Hurdler wrote: »

I start mine at the start of the calender month and then chuck money about the savings pots.
I have one spready for my main current account and can you believe I still use the last version of MS Money. That has ALL my accounts but what I do is copy my current account spready to my iPhone and there is a sheet for the "piggy-banks) so I can see how much I have in my treat account when I go shopping.

BUT... as I have no Saturdays left anymore because of Journo school - I am now going to throw myself into cash back buying so... I am wondering whether to have a spready with my piggy banks and start weaning myself off MS Money.

I have never used MS Money is/was it good?
Do you attach the file to an email and save it so you can access it on your phone?
Why are you cash back buying?
Sorry about all the questions.

Lois_E

Peonie wrote: »

Hi Lois,

Would you change your start/end date if your mortgage payment date changed? But then again, who chooses the mortgage payment date; the provider or the payee?

Our mortgage is paid on the 1st so if I worked on a calendar month it's our first payment.

Did you plan it so you would not have any out-goings the rest of the month?

P.

I get paid on about the 26th/27th of the month, so if I get a choice about dates of direct debits, I always choose either the very end of the month or the first few days, so that they'll happen when I've just been paid, although there's one that I've had for ages that goes out on 22nd. My money from X arrives around the end/beginning of the month too. I do almost all my spending on CC, which is paid off in full by DD on the 4th. Then when I got the mortgage they arranged it with a payment date of the 6th.

So my current account month basically has two weeks from 7th to 21st when not a lot is going on - a few cash withdrawals, the occasional cheque going out, not much else - and then two weeks from 22nd to 6th when it's all happening - in out and shake it all about. I decided I'd like to start my spreadsheet month at the point where it's all just happened and has finally calmed down, so I know how much money I've got for the rest of the month, and can decide what to do with it.

My TCs and CB are 4-weekly, of course, so shift slowly through the month as the year goes by, just to confuse the issue.

Hurdler

Peonie wrote: »

I have never used MS Money is/was it good?
Do you attach the file to an email and save it so you can access it on your phone?
Why are you cash back buying?
Sorry about all the questions.

Watcha - yeah it was really good in its day - but then it tried to do too much and link with online banking, and that seemed to kill it stone dead.
I never had it link to any of my accounts - I prefer to do all my reconciliations manually (if only to frighten myself about how much I was spending).

Cash-back buying? Well - I changed my credit cards over to Amex for Cash back (paid annually, I think) and a Play.com visa for places that don't take amex.
So next year I intend to use those cards on either Quidco (who I'm a bit miffed with at the moment) and/or Top Cash Back to maximise Money-saving-ness!

I don't get cash back using the play.com Visa but I do get points that give me vouchers to use on the site, and I use them A LOT!

In terms of the files for the iPhone- I just transfer the spreadsheet to my iPhone and can quickly look up what's in my accounts although I am considering having an uber-speadsheet and retiring MS Money.

It would make my life a bit easier I guess ... but I also have an exam to prep for at the end of January - so unless I can knock this spready out in my 15 minute breaks between revision, I might have to abandon my idea for the start of 2012

Peonie

Thanks for answering my questions. You've told me some things I'll mull over.

Peonie

In 2011, we:

Increased the mortgage from £73,847 to 154,000.


Saved £9,090:

£4,590 into or destined for rainy day savings.

£2,250 saved for renovating the kitchen/utility room.

£2,250 saved for the extension.

Paid £14,896:

Paid £4,146 capital off the mortgages and £2,050 in interest.

Paid £6,975 in house moving costs.

Spent £875 on the credit card and paid it off.

Spent £2,000 on a kitchen; £850 paid off and £1,150 remaining.

Plus, not included in the total above, paid an extra £11,000 into the house deposit.

By the end of 2011, we owe the world £152,591.


My signature is:

Mortgage at its highest: July 2011 at £154,000.
Mortgage now: 1 December 2011 at £151,441.16.
Mortgage free date: originally July 2036, now June 2036.
MFW no 214: overpayment £700 plus £11,000 extra deposit, target £2,000, target achieved.
Rainy day fund: saved £9,775, target £12,000, achieved 81.5%.

coldcazzie

Peonie wrote: »

Any suggestions?

I start ours on payday (23rd), all our DDs go out over the following 10 days and whatever is left is then ours to do with as necessary. My regular saver SO is setup on the 19th, which gives me ample time to see if I need to dripfeed any money into the account to make it up to the full amount. My main difficulties come from the fact that the CB and TC are paid 4 weekly, and I've a Park customer who pays 4 weekly as well - these make it very difficult to follow the money around as each month is different, and I'm keen not to have too many accounts floating around fulfilling different tasks so I can sympathise with how you're feeling.