No more being "FinanciallyUnsavvy" in 2014!

FinanciallyUnsavvy

Hi everyone :wave:!

Well, my new year's resolution/initiative is to sort out my finances. I have around £4,000 credit card debt and a £1,500 overdraft I'd like to clear, but more importantly I need to learn to be more frugal with budgeting and tracking exactly where every penny is going.

As much as I'd like to be debt-free by the end of the year, I'm not setting myself any hard to reach goals just yet, but I'm starting by taking things baby steps at a time.

The first week of the new year has seen me set up a comprehensive budget planner (I've downloaded "You Need a Budget" (YNAB) which I'm really liking so far. It encourages you to give every penny a job - it's basically just the old-fashioned way of splitting up your income into 'envelopes' for each category of outgoings).

As you can see from my signature I'm also taking part in a few challenges to keep me on top of things.

Presently, my short term goals are:

• Have money left over at the end of every month - to be able to put some into savings, and to pay extra off the credit card
• Make some extra money where possible - so far my outlets are selling on ebay and survey sites. I've also signed up with some mystery shopping sites and I've just signed up with TextBroker and UserTesting

Well... I'll be updating here regularly with my progress, so... wish me luck and hope you'll all come along for the ride!

owen-b

YNAB is awesome - you'll be on your way to success in no time if you're strict with yourself and stick to the Four Rules Of YNAB! We've had it for a year or so and looking back now at the 'Net Worth' report it goes steadily up and up. So rewarding!

Good luck!

FinanciallyUnsavvy

owen-b wrote: »

YNAB is awesome - you'll be on your way to success in no time if you're strict with yourself and stick to the Four Rules Of YNAB! We've had it for a year or so and looking back now at the 'Net Worth' report it goes steadily up and up. So rewarding!

Good luck!

I'm glad to hear from another YNAB user! It's great to hear its been so successful for you. It's been less than a week for me, but so far so good! I'm really enjoying using it too, which is good. I've tried lots of different budgeting apps before, and even the good old pen and paper budget log, and I've soon lost interest. Hopefully this time I can stick it out - I feel like I will be able to, since it's just so pleasant to use.

FinanciallyUnsavvy

...and I haven't completely fell off the bandwagon yet!

So far, so good. I'm sticking to my budget - and actually enjoying doing it. It's rewarding seeing the numbers on the app so it's incentive in itself not to spend unnecessarily... as sad as that sounds!

So far I've had 4 no spend days, which is excellent for me! I was spending pretty much every day, mostly because I was buying lunch at work - so I'd end up withdrawing £10 every couple of days, and just blowing it on nothing. So far I've taken lunch every day and it's making a big impact :j

This evening I've listed about 10 things on eBay - mostly clothes - a few posh dresses I've bought for weddings and wore once never to be wore again, and a few things I've bought then not fit into so still have tags on... They all finish on Sunday evening so fingers crossed I'll make a few quid!

I've also been regularly checking into GlobalTestMarket and MySurvey and building up a good amount of points with each. Can't cash out yet but when I can it should be a good £50 or so, hopefully by the end of the month.

I've also signed up for some other sites that people have talked about on here... waiting for confirmation emails from them, so watch this space.

The diet side of my new year's revolution (yes, revolution!) (i.e. lose lbs, make £s!) is... so-so. I've not been as good as I intended to be, but I've been a LOT better than I was over Xmas and previously, so I'm not totally disheartened. Today I've been hankering for something sweet so I had to grab a finger of fudge at lunch time and just had a few squares of white chocolate Weigh in day is going to be Saturday morning so we shall see if there's any results...

owen-b

FinanciallyUnsavvy wrote: »

I've also been regularly checking into GlobalTestMarket and MySurvey and building up a good amount of points with each. Can't cash out yet but when I can it should be a good £50 or so, hopefully by the end of the month.

I've also signed up for some other sites that people have talked about on here... waiting for confirmation emails from them, so watch this space.

What are these sites really like to use? Do you not have to sit and do mind-numbingly dull survey after mind-numbingly dull survey? I tried 'SwagBucks' and gave up on that nonsense after getting kicked out of so many surveys about 15 minutes into them because suddenly it didn't like the (honest) answers I was giving. Decided that life was far too short to waste an hour or two of my life for what amounted to less than a couple of quid - and in vouchers, at that.

FinanciallyUnsavvy

I tried Swagbucks for the whole of about 10 minutes once and it seemed totally mind numbing to me. A lot of people here rave about it so I keep meaning to give it another go but I don't think I'd make much on it.

GlobalTestMarket and MySurvey seem okay. I've only been signed up a couple months, and only active a couple weeks of that. You do get screened out of a lot, but within the first few answers so you don't really feel like you've wasted too much of your time. It also lets you cash out with Paypal credit - which is essentially cash (especially to me since I have a PayPal MasterCard so can use this credit anywhere!)

FinanciallyUnsavvy

A quick update for today...

# No spend day n!mero 5!
# Had £30 transferred to my bank account from selling a compact camera to my brother
# Managed not to have the heating on today - thank god for sofa blankets and cuddles!

So far so good. I still feel like I'm not being proactive enough at tackling my debt though, but I'm struggling to think what I can do to make any kind of impact...

FinanciallyUnsavvy

I'm feeling very positive today! It's entirely possible this is just because it's Friday and I have a week off next week! :j Me and OH are off for a midweek break in the countryside - luxurious, but a bargain! And in 2 years of being together this is our first time going away together so I think we deserve it

This week I've managed to take my lunch to work every day! I think this is the first time I've done this in years... Since I lived at home and my mum made my sandwiches for me! So quite proud of myself- small achievement but it's saved me probably at least £20 and also been very kind to the waistline!

Speaking of - my weekly weigh in was yesterday and I've lost 5lbs in my first week just by watching what I eat :j

Today I perused the freebie board and signed up for some things - few cat food samples for the moggy and also some drain freshener - very pleased I spotted that since I've been needing some for a while- the kitchen drain stinks at times! :S

I've also tried my luck by sending a letter to HMRC about a tax rebate for work clothes as per MSE article. I don't wear a uniform to work, just smart office clothes so I don't expect anything, but people apparently do succeed to get some money back for non-uniform outfits - and it's not cost anything to try (minus the price of a stamp but I had one spare in my purse from Xmas!)

I've also been doing really well budgeting. I've had 6 spend free days so far this month and anything I have spent has been justified and budgeted for. Considering January is the longest pay month I think I have a lot more money left at this point than I usually do!

StressedSteph

Hi FinanciallyUnsavvy,

How are things going?. I found your post after search the forum for YNAB. I have started the free trial as I am abit fed up on my excel spreadsheets. I am still feeling my way round it. Its tricky for us as my hubbys wages go in weekly, so I have split the categories up into weeks 1-4.

Currently switching banks at the moment, so I am waiting until the start of next week bbefore i can really test it out.

I have subscribed to your thread, it will be nice to chat to a fellow YNAB'er. xx

dearlouise

How are you getting on m'dear?

StressedSteph

Hi

Come back FinanciallyUnsavvy, Stick with us xxx