Debt free by 40 -- 19 Months and counting

maddiemay

I only ate an omelet for lunch, but I am now so weary, had a full on couple of weeks and in need of my B12 injection (9 more sleeps to wait tho':()

Just giving myself a kick and going to go and pot up a lovely container I bought with some birthday money back in the summer, got some bulbs this morning, so will be something to look forward to in the short winter days:D

I also have gone over budget in Sept, haven't looked at the detail yet:(:o, have a few more days away in Oct, so had better go through all the cupboards and freezer and do some kind of a plan, my worst spending is on food and toiletries (I am a skin care junkie) I normally am fine with this, but gone a bit mad what with the holiday and an awful allergy thing of my face, I need a healthy dose of your will power Steph:)

StressedSteph

Just read an absolutely brilliant thread about Envelope Budgeting systems.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5071080


I have so far kept all the money from my savings pots in my main bills account. I did this from the beginning so that if I got caught out unexpectedly with a missed bill then at least there would be my savings sat in the same account to avoid going overdrawn.

Now I am 9 months into my debt busting I am beginning to wonder if this is now becoming the wrong idea.

I think I am beginning to spend subconsciously knowing that my savings are there to catch any overspends. This then put my YNAB into the red and I have to recover from that the next week.

After reading the above thread, I think I will open some more online savings accounts to transfer my different savings into. I may make sure there is £100 extra in my main bills account to cover an small accidents but otherwise leave it down to basics. I think the fear of an unauthorized overdraft will make me stop and think about impulse purchases a little more.

What do you guys think? How you you organize your finances?.

xxx

Puzzcat

Hi Steph,


I have one main current account of which I have about 10 savings accounts coming from it where I put money for chirstmas, birthdays, car, etc. etc.. I then use plastic wallets for cash which I get from OH on a friday and split between catagories such as groceries, fuel and sundries.. needless to say with a 16 year old dd my sundries wallet is always empty by Monday....


With the savings accounts I can just move the money over online in a second if I need it for its purpose...


I don't have any fancy budgetting software, I use a pad and pencil... old fashioned.. start of month - wages in + what's left if anything then list all the dd's including my saving account amounts and what's left in the bank is mine to spend.. usually about £20 if i'm lucky...!!!


Hope your enjoying your sunday.
Puzz. x

debtfreewannabe321

great idea! I've been doing the same for a few years now I have one current account, and savings accounts for - rental house, xmas & birthdays, car, emergency, clothes, bills (and as something becomes pending on the current account I move it over), health & beauty ( skin care/ prescriptions/ dentist/ toiletries) and then my isa. I did do the envelope system but I rarely use cash so prefer having it all online

every month on payday I top each account up dependant on what I have budgted for each (I.e car fund is for tax, insurance, mot and servicing and I budget £80 for all so by the time something is due its sat there and I just move it across as I need it)

StressedSteph

Thanks for your replies Puzzcat & DFW.


Well that was very easy. I went onto Santander online and opened 8!!! new savings accounts and they automatically popped up into my online banking


I have renamed them:-


Emergency £106.25
Christmas £260.85
Birthdays
Vehicles £101.79
clothing
Heating Oil £420.00
Pets £33.45
School Costs
Holidays / New Car £116.20


The last savings account is just being used for my spending money for the Portugal weekend coming up .


I have transferred all my different savings into the right accounts.


I have just left my Heating Oil money in my main account for a few days as a buffer until the next wages where I can make sure there is a little extra left in the account and then I will also move that over.


This is already making me think "Oooh I had better be careful not to spend any un-budgeted money as there is no buffer anymore"........Just the result I wanted :T.


Weird that I am pleased about making my life harder and more uncomfortable. But comfortable and easy doesn't get the debt repaid does it

StressedSteph

maddiemay wrote: »

I only ate an omelet for lunch, but I am now so weary, had a full on couple of weeks and in need of my B12 injection (9 more sleeps to wait tho':()

Just giving myself a kick and going to go and pot up a lovely container I bought with some birthday money back in the summer, got some bulbs this morning, so will be something to look forward to in the short winter days:D

I also have gone over budget in Sept, haven't looked at the detail yet:(:o, have a few more days away in Oct, so had better go through all the cupboards and freezer and do some kind of a plan, my worst spending is on food and toiletries (I am a skin care junkie) I normally am fine with this, but gone a bit mad what with the holiday and an awful allergy thing of my face, I need a healthy dose of your will power Steph:)

Sorry MM I must have missed your post earlier.


Sorry to hear you are feeling run down and worn out. Roll on your injection...I could do with one of those


I am glad you mentioned bulbs. I saw Monty Don showing you how to do a three tiered planting of bulbs, If I remember right it was Tulips near the bottom, then tet-a-tet daffodils and then miniature Iris on the top. Then he planted some small pansies in the top of the pot. I thought that was a lovely succession of flowers for the whole spring.


We have an annual market in our local town every first Monday in October called Pack Monday, you may have heard of it. They always have a stall selling cheap bulbs, so think I will make a list and get some for my pots.


I am also terrible MM for overspending on the food shop. I sometimes feel I REALLY ought to draw out my weekly £60 and drive into town and get my shop because I always go over up to around £80 for my food shop :mad:. Its just the petrol cost that puts me off, but I might be able to save a lot if I went to Lidl.


I might give that a try next week.


Take care of yourself. xxx

maddiemay

I never went to Pack Monday, I always had to hold the fort while my boss went as he was born and bred in the town, it was the same for Melplash Show, but I did get to go to that the summer that I left Dorset (3 years in 3 weeks time - has gone so quickly:()

Great idea about the accounts, I had noticed DFW doing it:A

Bulbs planted, all miniature ones, tulips, daffs and crocus with some immature Hidcote Lavender at the top, to tell the truth they are some I grew on from weeny plugs and didn't really know where to put them, have a few French Lavender to find home for, think I need to stop e-mails from Thomson and Morgan:eek:

It is easy for me not having children to feed, but I shop in A*di once every 2 weeks or so, then sometimes pop into T*sco if necessary, but my downfall are the lovely butchers, bakers, deli etc in my lovely little market town, I must only buy if it is on a list!

Buffythedebtslayer

Am a bit late to the party but I also do the various savings accounts thing,


Christmas, Pets, Clothes, Car, August (emergency fund really) and my ISA.


I try extremely hard not to borrow from them. I am having an argument with myself about just paying off the debt with them and restarting in again January.


As a system it has worked very well for me for the last couple of years.


XX

abba1772

I have my normal account hubby has his own as his credit is rubbish and he doesn't want his credit rating affecting mine by opening a joint account

I also have a savings account online should I ever need it and the Isa for our mortgage deposit xx

misstara

Hi Steph, I have a christmas savings account (with a credit union and I can't touch the money until nov), a savings account where I save for everything else and my current account where all my bills and living expenses come out of.

However, reading your diary tonight plus the envelope budgeting thread have got me thinking, it certainly sounds as though it would be easier to keep an eye on everything if I had separate accounts for each budget.

So my job for tomorrow is to investigate whether my bank will allow me to open lots of different savings accounts. Thanks for making me think about this.