LBM in 2003.. What have I been doing since??!

peaceandfreedom

brizzledfw wrote: »

Hello
Wish I could isolate my total spend amounts on YNAB in a weekly/fortnightly basis as I think its been lower for last fortnight, but YNAB Classic seems to only have the monthly (or longer) option for trend reporting.

Hi Brizzled

I've been away from the forums for a while but I'm back because I still have an old debt to tackle.

About YNAB reports - although it's somewhat bothersome, you could export your data from YNAB Classic into a CSV file and then create your own analysis in Excel, perhaps using PowerPivot. Or you could download Power BI (which is free) and use that to analyse your data - Power BI is an excellent tool and it is very easy to create graphs and other visualisations with it.

I am going to do a Power BI dashboard from YNAB data when I get my new laptop because I think YNAB's reports aren't very good really.

brizzledfw

Hello old friend :wave: Lovely to 'see' you again.. glad youre back although sorry its cos of debt.. have you restarted the diary? (will take a look )

I agree the reports aren't great.. but the constant checking (its like a part time job really) all helps. I will check out Power BI. Thanks for the tip.

So..as we near the end of the month....we are heading for a saving rate of around 25%. Like last month when we were trying really hard as part of the UFM set up by Mrs FW.

So not as much as I would like, but bearable. And interesting its in line with last month. Does this mean we can change and make this kind of level of savings a regular thing? 2 frugal months does not a MSE summer make...buts its intriguing none the less. And its certainly better than in many many previous months. I hope to earn quite a bit more next month which will provide a handy cushion and offset some of the months where I have not been able to hit 30%. So whilst I am not up to Mrs FW type ratios, far from it in fact, I am getting somewhere.

So where were the weaknesses?

- food. It is always the downfall. £794 on food this month. Our budget is £600. Why? Its was 3 supermarket shops, as well as a big bill for an evening entertaining lots of friends. We also did an AF order and bought a lot of organic food, including meat. I bought pre-prepared food to help me out as well, from C88k, which is amazing, but it was £52. Now we do have 5 adults (or as good as) in the house, so the budget is £125 pppm (effectively) as sometimes someone is away. So...plenty to go at. Next month hope to be more frugal with some of our choices. Less meat perhaps or use chicken instead of beef etc.

We also paid OH's tax bill and bought a load of logs for the stove. Not regular bills, but sizeable all the same.

Going up to London and spending there was a significant hit the entertainment budget. OH also went over his allowance. (I didnt :A :rotfl:) Girls had lots of clothes (summer wardrobe early and necessaries from Primarni which I never usually touch), some gifts as friends/MIL etc had birthdays that we purchased gifts for.


Where did I score well compared to last month?

Definitely less spent on kids' activities. Like £400 less :eek: The lack of CT also helps doesn't it? Lots of categories like alcohol and household items were less. Fuel was less. Haircuts were less as they all seemed to be in last month.

So..we saved in different areas to last month and spent in others too, but on balance landed in about the same space. Charitable giving the same as last month, ditto the general utility bills etc.

So the plan is that I am going to keep on with the 30% savings goal and try and get as close as I can. I am also going to try and get as much additional work over the next quarter as I reasonably can (without exhausting myself).

In other news, another 6 items to declutter - thank you DDs...nowt to sell tho Only 9 items off the target. Everything else ie. all other targets a way off though which clearly on 26th I am not going to claw back in only 2 days. Think we are hitting a low point in sales now. May have a word with OH re trying to clear some items out of the loft in next week or two and see if they go

peaceandfreedom

Wow, very interesting post, Brizzle. (Incidentally, I was in Brizzle on Thursday evening, woah, that traffic was something else :eek: I know it was down to Doris though, and of course the number of selfish morons on the road does not help.)

I know what you mean about the constant checking of YNAB - I do it all the time, I can spend hours on it fiddling with things. Your 30% target is impressive, I haven't really analysed savings to income. Also, my finances are separate from OH (which is a good thing believe me :mad:).

You've given me food for thought as I plan to get rid of my final debt and add to my contingency fund. Also, am planning to remortgage as work needs doing before the house falls down .

Your food bill is definitely reducible. I know that an evening entertaining can easily add a vast sum to a monthly bill. Overall you do very well. It can be hard to strike a balance between eating well and not spending too much. What's interesting is that you know exactly why your food bill is a certain amount, good analysis. The bulk buying should reduce your food bill for March.

brizzledfw

Thanks P&F..the savings rate goal is a new one for 2017 (thanks Mrs Frugalwoods in snowy Vermont) but already I am finding it very helpful. It also makes me keep an eye on my income:expenditure ratio rather than just logging under the categories which can be the default approach with YNAB.

yes the food bill needs to go down and £38 on coffee beans (see previous post at beginning of the month) is a no go this month!! :eek:...don't ask, that's OH for you. Think he thinks he's in Spitalfields :rotfl: Next month DD1 says she is sending him to Aldi

PS. Our traffic is well known....I am increasingly not driving at all if we are going across town now. Its just not worth it. But yes Doris was horrendous. Not as bad as in Wolverhampton though but it has caused a lot of disruption around Bristol Bridge etc

doingitanyway

Lidl have just started doing premium coffee beans. I was tempted to try them but I don't have a grinder. They looked interesting...Might be worth a look. Nice coffee is important

brizzledfw

Thanks DIA...we can try there too. We bought an electric grinder as a wedding gift many many years ago that recently conked out and we bought a new one. About £15 I think and we use it for spices as well as coffee so it's good. I would say it's worth it. In a minute, well less actually, you have a fresh powder for your pot/filter etc.

A NSD today. Whoop!! Not that I am anywhere near my target, but it's good to gain another. Will update my signature and ask DD2 if she has anything she can declutter too to get me to 50 items this month.. AFD today too.

Just done some invoices. More to do tomorrow I think. Best also chase down some additional work whilst I am feeling chirpy

Brizzle x

PurpleFairy26

You're doing amazingly Brizzle ok your food spends are high and could come down, but it's not like you haven't identified that yourself. We struggle on food too we don't seem to be extravagant but it just adds up.

Well done in the savings. Great to have such a target.

We drove to London on Saturday :eek: to traffic. An hour to get from one side of the Thames to the other through a small tunnel

brizzledfw

Hello folks!

Hope everyone is doing good on St Davids Day Particular greetings to Igamogam

I keep on losing posts, probably because I am travelling. But....looks like the Brizzle finances survived into March. I need to do a proper and thorough analysis, but looks as if we were able to put 25% of our income towards debt. Not bad. Always room for improvement though and I am looking to cut back on our grocery bill with smaller purchases, maybe more frequently, and to keep out of the supermarket. We are hosting a big dinner again on Friday though, but I will try not to over cater :eek: (my usual downfall, that even with freezing leftovers means it's a big initial hit on the budget)

We also finished with a good run on the sales. About £50 made this month. I am wondering if my overall goal could be £750 from sales over 2017. It would help massively with some big expenses we planning for later in the year too. Another AFD yesterday and a LSD with just some small fruit and veg, milk and bread bought. So not shabby at all.

Roll on March. Hope to consign another CC to history in about 10 days time - whoop :j

brizzledfw

Updated my signature.

February scores-

Sales £50 (plus £10 from Jan)
AFDs 15 and will be keeping my target of 20 for March (partly as it's a longer month )
LSDs - 5 in Feb and will keep my target of 10 for March as it's a good way of minisming the discretionary spends
NSDS - pretty hopeless at 5. Given my terribly strict rules on what constitutes a NSD this is hard, so have dropped my goal of 20, but have kept it at 10. With the LSDs, this means that 2/3 of the month are meant to be minimal or no spend days.
Decluttering remains at 50 items. That's doable, especially if we are pulling out items to sell...becomes part of the job really.

Thanks for your support ladies and gents...have a great March

takingcontrolatlast

Excuse my ignorance but what are AFDs and LSDs please Brizzle