Paying the car tax via EBay, and other shenanigans.

mfmaybe

I need a list

[STRIKE]Car tyres need blown up[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Start Christmas list on bullet journal[/STRIKE]
Otherwise tidy up bullet journal
[STRIKE]Sharpen eye pencil[/STRIKE]
Various doc/dentist appointments
Update worlds worst blog
Update spreadsheet as payday looms
Horses
Nursery
[STRIKE]Email architect 1[/STRIKE]
Submit scottish water form
[STRIKE]make appointment with mortgage broker[/STRIKE]


That will do for now. Back later!

brizzledfw

Have a good weekend MFM..I too like lists

mfmaybe

Thanks Brizzle, it was good

At the start of the pay month I'm doing my usual budget examination. It seems to be getting harder and harder to balance and I wanted to know why. So I did some maths.

At the moment my fixed costs represent 66% of salary. I've excluded the flat costs because those are currently covered by the rent. This therefore includes the money I put into our house account (so everything house related like rent, utilities, savings towards our new house etc) plus nursery, mobile phone, charity DDs and the livery bill. This is the big part now. As it's winter the costs have gone up significantly. I'm not sure exactly what the cost will be so I hope I've budgeted generously but it means there is really no spare money. Fortunately now we own our field, the plan is that from late spring they can move there; so I just need to suck it up this winter. . It's too far away just now, and also doesn't have a water supply or any shelter, so it's really not possible to use it quite yet.

The variable bit ie food shopping, fuel etc, is 16%. The fuel isn't particularly variable though. With where we live, where nursery is, where the horses are and where work is, there's little we can do about it.

The preferable is 12%. That's the stuff that I really want to try to save for monthly - car tax, house repairs, tax bill. Some of it is more optional than others. And this month I've removed some categories such as holidays - so it's not really that optional at all.

Then the avoidable stuff - that's tiny, only 4%. Going out, waxing, etc. This even includes kids clothes so again not fully avoidable but right now I think we have plenty.

There's a bit of rounding, if you are adding it all up . But it shows why I find it so hard to change anything. I certainly don't want sympathy as my life is hardly frugal (2 horses eliminate me from that category!) but in a way it makes me feel a bit better. And I must remember all the good. Really big pension contributions, 2 sharesave schemes, a stocks and shares ISA, good equity in my BTL flat, no debt other than the flat. So I'm in a very fortunate position but it's a useful reminder to keep on top of the small stuff like lunches etc. I'm getting a little better at this again.

Anyway I better go and make tea now so thanks for letting me vent

mfmaybe

Sitting here twiddling thumbs doing an iphone back up. I back up to the cloud but for reasons known only to myself decided I needed to do a computer back up for the first time in forever. So meanwhile I will type.

Black Friday. Hmm it was ok except it wasn't deal-tastic for me.
I bought one of DH's birthday/Christmas presents and got 20% off but not sure that was a BF deal as such.
I ordered one nephew's combined christmas/birthday at £10 off.
I ordered my present from DH (;)) at about 25% off.
And a few smaller discounts on small presents for DS.
I bought a couple of other presents but not sure I got much discount.

But - I then saw some crazy price deals on a couple of places in the US that do really good kids clothes and a friend over there agreed to bring them home in December. Nothing that was absolutely impossible to buy here (well except a pair of work trousers for me); but they do good fleecy trousers and microfleece tops etc that are perfect for winter nursery clothing. So much for not needing to buy kids clothes

In day to day spending I've been quite good with lunches and coffees but I should really go and update the spreadsheet and see how it's all looking. Our weekend was good - not spendy other than food shopping, as DS has a nasty viral rash, so we've been a bit housebound. I did spend today on calpol and tempting snacks though.

mfmaybe

Just about to log on and do some work as DS has finally started being able to go to sleep by himself again; and DH is on a work trip and not home yet. But I'm going to do it in front of The Good Wife with perhaps a small glass of wine

This week has been crazy and not going to get much better. But a really important work meeting happened and seemed to go well. And I think I've had a fairly non spendy week. Today was free coffee courtesy of my loyalty card, plus I had lunch with me. Yesterday a colleague went and got my coffee and wouldn't take the cash; and also had lunch with me. Monday I was at home as DS was unwell but I may have ended up buying some medication; although actually that might have been Sunday!

Oh and yesterday was GivingTuesday so I've added a new charity payment to my payroll (£6 out of my payslip a month = £20 to the charity, courtesy of my employer's contribution plus tax relief) and agreed with my team to do a Secret Santa that is actually a charitable thing instead of buying tat for each other. So I've got my :A hat on and feel better for it after some splurges on Friday.

Right I said I was going to do work so I will....

in_need_of_direction

Sounds like a nice, fulfilling week so far!

mfmaybe

I've been delaying posting because I don't really know what to say. So much for good karma. I've been dealt a blow of epic proportions. I haven't really decided whether to reveal all on here, but it's health related of the Nasty kind. There have been some very low moments in the last month; and probably the first half of this year is not going to be very much fun. The irony of this being MSE is that it could be beneficial to my finances; but it's money I'd rather have done without.

But trying to look forward there is every reason to be positive. All further tests have been clear so far (one still waiting on); and I feel absolutely fine. Treatment has a very good chance of being fully successful, but things have still been scary. In amongst it all we managed to have a fun Christmas with a very excited DS.

PurpleFairy26

mfmaybe wrote: »

I've been delaying posting because I don't really know what to say. So much for good karma. I've been dealt a blow of epic proportions. I haven't really decided whether to reveal all on here, but it's health related of the Nasty kind. There have been some very low moments in the last month; and probably the first half of this year is not going to be very much fun. The irony of this being MSE is that it could be beneficial to my finances; but it's money I'd rather have done without.

But trying to look forward there is every reason to be positive. All further tests have been clear so far (one still waiting on); and I feel absolutely fine. Treatment has a very good chance of being fully successful, but things have still been scary. In amongst it all we managed to have a fun Christmas with a very excited DS.

Oh no mfmaybe thinking of you and sending you so many positive vibes I can across the miles. I’m glad you managed a fun Christmas with your son in amongst it. Thinking of you. Post when you can and feel up to it. Purps.

in_need_of_direction

Only post if it's right for you but feel free to come and rant or do whatever you need. We are all here for you. Take care

mfmaybe

Thank you, both. I am lucky in that the support I have received in real life has been nothing short of outstanding; and my "virtual" friends have been equally lovely. Mainly I feel ok, things carry on day to day. Horses help, a lot. And of course my little guy is the centre of my world. It's impossible to stay sad for too long.