Mighty Titan Overdraft will crumble!

hohum

The totals for this month...I've rejigged categories slightly so some spends are in different places. But check this out:

£3924.63 income this month! :shocked:

You'll see from expenditure that not all of this has been spent, and has gone to fund next month's budget. But still, I wasn't lying about a variable income was I?

'discretionary' type spends

£172.6 on groceries (more than my £150 target but averages out at that over the three months)
£119.87 on my spending money
£138.03 on his spending money
£25.10 on takeaway
£87.75 on driving lessons (fortnightly, three weeks worth here as fell a bit oddly with diaries/ weeks this month)
£4.99 clothing
£15.50 on household items
£12.98 on haircuts

= £576.98

Bills:

Rent £450.00
Phone & internet £25.22
Council Tax £150 (odd month, May's came out beginning June but had budgeted out £75 for it last month so no drama to cover)
Gas & Electricity £50.00
Water £26.80
Mobile me £21.67
Mobile him £20.00
NI him £10.80
NI me £11.00
TV licence £12.12
Joint A/C fees £2 15th £2.00
Software £7.99
AmazonPrime £9.99
Car ins monthly £75.90 :eek: (again this is seriously the lowest premium we could get. Did price comparison etc)

Total £873.49

Employment expenses:

His employment exp £119.96
My exp £16.00

Total £135.96

Travel:

Fuel £30.03
Public transport £73.10
Parking £7.60

Total £110.73

Debt repayment:

OD £94.70 (this is allocated to a category not actually 'paid', my OD currently stands at -£1000 of a -£1940 credit limit)
My NI Debt £89.02 (annoying as it's 0% but they will start sending letters as deadline for payment is coming up. I'm being a bit cheeky in only paying half of it this month, should be able to pay remainder when they letter me)
His NI Debt £89.62
His OD £5 (again this doesn't actually get paid anywhere as he's no longer in OD, it's just we started with an OD so paying back the 'debt' that we covered by shifting money around)

Total: £278.34

Rainy days, savings and future bills:

Road tax £56.50 (and PAID so now another 6 months to save the next)
Emergency fund £25.10 (better be a small emergency huh)
Car repairs £475.93 (parts, MOT, electric, repair)
House maintenance £1 (budgeted not spent - I have no idea why I've left this here!)
Annual car insurance £40 (this is me being optimistic trying to save for our annual renewal next year)
Birthdays £153.97 (my birthday trip away, Mum's birthday, sister's belated birthday)
Christmas £40
Holidays £7.50

Total £849.75 budgeted this month, £763.90 actually spent eg we don't have the money anymore

Savings
Friend's wedding £100
Computer upgrade £32.64

Total £132.64

Cost of servicing debt

My OD interest £27.49
His account fees and charges £15
My OD usage fee £6 :mad:

Total £48.49 (HALF of what we spent last month!)

Charitable donation £10

It's a bit confusing but basically we budgeted £2934.79 of expenditure in June however we actually spent £2698.19.

We have allocated £1177.03 of income to be budgeted in July. :T So basically we have covered rent, food, the earlier month bills and some necessary expenses for July already.

My overdraft debt is now £1740.13/ starting debt of £1934.83 (as above, the actual balance is smaller but is made up of money that's allocated to other purposes. Still, cuts down on interest I pay).

My NI debt is now £89.03/ starting debt of £198.05 (also managed to remove £140 of debt owed due to small earnings in the relevant tax year)

His NI debt is now £143/ starting debt £411.84

His OD debt (not actually in debt to bank anymore, but to ourselves if that makes sense) £87.44/ starting debt 92.44

Phew! Truly an epic post.

Am really starting to see the benefits of following envelope/ YNAB system. I would never have been at the point of budgeting for NEXT MONTH before using it, but as clearly illustrated by income that's exactly what we need to do. Boyfriend's income next month is going to be nowhere near what we got this month so we have to insulate ourselves against the vagaries. I'm realising this is becoming as much a 'living with a variable income' diary as 'reducing debt' diary because it's SO key. One feeds the other.

liltdiddylilt

A numbers freak just like me. I find it cathartic to write it all down as many times as possible. Even when it is on a budget app, it gets followed through to a spreadsheet, then my diary usually. I can literally tell you any cost for DD/Standing Orders etc. My downfall is incidentals. Takeaways, shopping in supermarkets when hungry, stupidity etc.

I am glad YNAB is working so well for you. You're way ahead of the expected 4 months to get a months worth of income stored up as a buffer!!

hohum

liltdiddylilt wrote: »

A numbers freak just like me. I find it cathartic to write it all down as many times as possible. Even when it is on a budget app, it gets followed through to a spreadsheet, then my diary usually. I can literally tell you any cost for DD/Standing Orders etc. My downfall is incidentals. Takeaways, shopping in supermarkets when hungry, stupidity etc.

I am glad YNAB is working so well for you. You're way ahead of the expected 4 months to get a months worth of income stored up as a buffer!!

Lilt there's a totally addictive reporting section on YNAB. It's a bit skewed still by my opening balances but all the figures above came from the income/ expenditure report. It's even starting to show average spends....

And yup, incidentals totally my downfall too. I am REALLY good at not shopping for clothes and other items. But anything under £5 and it's all too easy.

I hadn't thought of our rollover of income this month as a month's buffer as per rule 4, but now you mention it I suppose it is! hah, I thought it would be a full year before we get to that. I suppose at some point I'm expecting that buffer will disappear again as we have a lean month, which will happen at some point (possibly August). Our average outgoings are £2653 per month but that includes £500 last month on car things, so prob would need £2k to be fully buffered.

liltdiddylilt

Think this is sounding more and more up my street everytime I see something posted. I am wanting to use it to the best of my abilities so still haven't started the trial. I'm only really free after 7 in the evenings as even on non-work days I spend all day cleaning, running around after Jelly etc. I will try my best to get it started this weekend! Then I have some real free time on Monday!

Of course the rollover is a 'buffer' - you're paying for next month with this month. Think about the past. You would have increased spending to go with the uptake in income and struggled hard next month. So by definition you have a buffer. No one is saying it has to be there 100% of the time. Just when you need it!! With clear reasons when you don't as to why! i.e. 2 months with hardly any income!

Your outgoings are astronomical compared to mine!! I average £1300 on a bad month in outgoings. But I have no car.

hohum

liltdiddylilt wrote: »

Think this is sounding more and more up my street everytime I see something posted. I am wanting to use it to the best of my abilities so still haven't started the trial. I'm only really free after 7 in the evenings as even on non-work days I spend all day cleaning, running around after Jelly etc. I will try my best to get it started this weekend! Then I have some real free time on Monday!

Of course the rollover is a 'buffer' - you're paying for next month with this month. Think about the past. You would have increased spending to go with the uptake in income and struggled hard next month. So by definition you have a buffer. No one is saying it has to be there 100% of the time. Just when you need it!! With clear reasons when you don't as to why! i.e. 2 months with hardly any income!

Your outgoings are astronomical compared to mine!! I average £1300 on a bad month in outgoings. But I have no car.

Yeah I'll take it being the buffer!

you do really well to cover you and jellytot on £1300! Funny, I don't think of our outgoings as astronomical. But then £2k would cover bills, decent level of spending money and groceries, travel, self employment expenses, debt repayment and rainy day /annual bill funds. Our expenses last month were £1500 for two of us, that covered everything except car repair & birthdays so it's totally possible to do on less, but I'd rather have £2k as the figure to aim for rather than £1.5k

And the reporting should get more accurate the more data it has. Ahhhh data eg car costs this month are mostly annual, except we haven't got annual saved up. So we have a massive spike in the middle of our averages. Likewise the opening balance debt, skews the reports. I can run reports excluding that section or for a specified time period however.

I think you might well get on with YNAB. Bit of a steep learning curve at first but once it's set up you can input spends from your phone if you have a smartphone? And then you just need the desktop app to do the adjusting re planned budgeting and actual spends....

liltdiddylilt

To be honest, my actual 'bills' minus the variable outgoings like shopping etc, are just under £800. If I didn't have to pay for nursery at £60 per week, then I would probably easily live on £1k. My rent is £450 per month, which for this flat in this area is pretty amazing. However, I am the perfect tenant who decorates and puts up new curtain rails, and buys new carpet, not to mention uses her child tax credits and minimal 'income' as a way to get the landlord a brand new boiler installed for free... he is lucky to have me and he knows it

Him is here 3 days/2 nights per week when I am at work with 2 playstations, his own tv on the wall and a laptop on 18 hours a day. He uses food, water, gas, electric etc so for nigh on half the week my outgoings cover 3 people. not bad eh

I did my first few years in the world of work at Capital One, first in debt management, then activating peoples cards. I memorised their debt budgets, so what they assumed as per guidelines that the average household could live on. I then moved on to a power company and learned all of their budgets, guidelines and tips and tools for energy efficiency (not to mention the free eco kettle and lightbulbs!! ) I bought a house, tried to stick to my budgets, eventually moved away from a bad ending of that relationship, and 250 miles away to where I now call home. Somehow with all my experience got myself in debt. Probably mostly due to only me with a minimal income and a huge travel expense each month. Plus Him was almost but not quite living with me. So all his expenses on my tiny budget. Since I crept out of that particular hole, with help from moving home closer to work, tax credits and Jellytot making me make more informed choices... I have expanded my income, but left my outgoings pretty much as they always have been. I save £300 per month, but treat it as a 'bill' so it is a necessary spend for me. It works!

I have switched on my YNAB trial. It just may become a necessary spend. Its hooked up to my iPhone and I have dropbox! I am playing with it as soon as I finish diary updating!

Thanks for commenting by the way. No offense taken. I will respond in there!!

hohum

Sooo refund of £236 from 2013/14 tax return has arrived and been applied to my overdraft debt. Which means that my 'official' debt balance on YNAB is now -£1504 of starting balance of -£1934. My actual account balance is -£753 (which I shouldn't really look at because the money in it is spent but it has been YEARS since I've seen it at below -£1k).

Not bad for three months progress!

liltdiddylilt

FAB news! Well done you!!

sunnyskies2

Hi there Hohum

You really are keeping on top of YNAB, excellent news finances going in the right direction:) things have been busy for me and so only just had a chance to post and have a good YNAB session too:)

Sarah x

hohum

Ooo I love a good YNAB session Sarah. It's all about tracking spending on the move - I'm glued to my phone most of the time anyway, so tracking on it is a breeze.

I think I might have to start a chapter of the diary called 'Mighty Titan Overdraft - The Battle of the Spending Money' because boyfriend and I are being bloody terrible (Muriel). I made the mistake of showing weakness re overspends and it's like I've opened to floodgates to spending with glee. I have, at least, bought my lunch today which should avoid the £3 odd expense of buying that. Our rent is covered, money is sat ready and waiting and we have spending money burning a hole in our pockets apparently...