Balancing not just the budget

doingitanyway

So glad you had a lovely holiday. Nice to see you back oozing positivity

RosaBernicia

I am not just oozing positivity, I'm fountaining it atm! :j

Faced up to YNAB, and found that despite the break I still appear to have £200 left over. And it's payday this week. That's rather confusing and if it wasn't for YNAB I'd swear it meant I had forgotten something huge. However, YNAB says everything is paid and I guess I did get the new work money coming in, plus I'd already saved up for the car expenses. So for now I've just hidden the extra in the house deposit line. I guess I do need to rethink my budget and decide how to allocate money again, so will hopefully do that on the weekend. It is a very odd feeling to realise that I can now save, and after all this effort I want my money and time to be going to the things that are important to me, not drizzling away on carp.

Have cooked this evening and will see if I can get the ironing done too. I'm going to a local festival this weekend, really looking forward to it. I may have to get used to doing admin in the week what with this social life turning up!


Rosa xx

doingitanyway

RosaBernicia wrote: »

I guess I do need to rethink my budget and decide how to allocate money again, so will hopefully do that on the weekend. It is a very odd feeling to realise that I can now save, and after all this effort I want my money and time to be going to the things that are important to me, not drizzling away on carp.

You have articulated how I am feeling. It's so easy for money to be spent on things that are not true objectives isn't it? I guess that's why YNAB is good?

RosaBernicia

doingitanyway wrote: »

You have articulated how I am feeling. It's so easy for money to be spent on things that are not true objectives isn't it? I guess that's why YNAB is good?

I think a lot of it is also about realising your true objectives. YNAB is a wonderful tool, and it has helped me identify where my spending didn't match my real wishes, but for me a lot of the journey has been and still is about figuring out how I want my life to be. And it really is about my wants and needs, not listening to anyone else however wellmeaning or admirable they are, because nobody else can know me better than I can.

I'm still a work in progress... but I'm progressing :rotfl:


Rosa xx

RosaBernicia

Today I logged into my bank account to check that my pay had gone in and nearly fell over. I was in credit by about half the amount I used to be in debt. I was astonished.

It's not at that level any more as I have paid the rent and cleared the credit card, but it was an interesting feeling. I somehow never thought that would happen. And now I would rather like to be able to have that cushion there all the time.

I've given myself a bit more generous budget for September, though in some areas I haven't spent all of August's allocation. This still left money to put in savings, so I put the appropriate amount in the car and laptop replacement accounts and a bit in the buffer. I also upped the amounts for the car maintenance and gifts pots. I'm still amazed how painless it is paying for the car expenses when it's been saved through the year and wondering if it really is possible to painlessly cover the replacement costs with the same principle of putting aside a little every month. We shall see (eventually) . I guess logically I should be filling the buffer pot before I put money aside for a house but that doesn't feel as motivating, so am doing it the fun way at least for now :j. I did work out my approximate budget last night so I know what goes where per month, but I think I might have been a little too generous as looking at YNAB, there are some categories where I've never managed to spend as much as I allocated and I have no need to try!

I do have to pay for a hotel for a conference and I'm not sure what to do about putting tax aside for the new work pay, but am just leaving it for now as I should have some spare each month for now.

I've got very little done this evening as it's raining so gardening is out and I am really tired so think I will go to bed with a book plenty of time for chores etc later as there is an extra day on the weekend.

Hope everyone else is good too


Rosa xx

ZTD

RosaBernicia wrote: »

it was an interesting feeling. I somehow never thought that would happen.

Why?

RosaBernicia wrote: »

And now I would rather like to be able to have that cushion there all the time.

If you have a little cushion, it does often make life easier and cheaper.

RosaBernicia wrote: »

This still left money to put in savings, so I put the appropriate amount in the car and laptop replacement accounts and a bit in the buffer. I also upped the amounts for the car maintenance and gifts pots. I'm still amazed how painless it is paying for the car expenses when it's been saved through the year and wondering if it really is possible to painlessly cover the replacement costs with the same principle of putting aside a little every month. We shall see (eventually) .

It depends what you mean by painlessly. It's drama free as you just have the money, but you'll never get past the "How much?!" feeling about a day after you've paid out... :rotfl:

Tinkerbelle2000

Glad to hear you had a nice break Rosa and that the budgets are looking good to.

Well I'm going to get YNAB set up again starting September due to my splurge this month which has left me skint. Yes it was a lovely day out but I'd rather have a bit saved so I can do it again guilt free. So YNAB to the rescue.

I'm afraid I might start asking you all quite a few questions though until I'm up to speed.

Hope you're having a good bank holiday.

Tink xx

RosaBernicia

ZTD wrote: »

Why?

Somehow I hadn't thought that far ahead. Possibly because I couldn't bear to think about how long it would take to get there :eek: . It's a useful lesson though... I will be thinking more about how I want things to be as I make new plans

ZTD wrote: »

It depends what you mean by painlessly. It's drama free as you just have the money, but you'll never get past the "How much?!" feeling about a day after you've paid out... :rotfl:

:rotfl:


Rosa xx

RosaBernicia

Tinkerbelle2000 wrote: »

Glad to hear you had a nice break Rosa and that the budgets are looking good to.

Well I'm going to get YNAB set up again starting September due to my splurge this month which has left me skint. Yes it was a lovely day out but I'd rather have a bit saved so I can do it again guilt free. So YNAB to the rescue.

I'm afraid I might start asking you all quite a few questions though until I'm up to speed.

Hope you're having a good bank holiday.

Tink xx

Hi Tink

Roll with the punches, that's a YNAB rule so starting over works when it works for you!

Feel free to ask away, we will all try and help and most likely learn something ourselves in the process!


Rosa xx

moneyonmymindsam

Hello Flower ...Hope you have had a great Bank Holiday


Sam