money saving amateur, expert wannabe

financially_exposed

Uh oh, October not a good month, my ex decided not to pay child maintenance at all this month... I might have to contact CSA or whoever takes care of this these days... as it's the 2nd time this year. Looks like I'm having to readjust the amounts this month.

On a different note, I'm trying out YNAB... is there any other tool that's similar but free?

financially_exposed

And on a good note, I managed to stick to my Mon-Tue-Wed NSD plan so far... one more day to go and I can... have another NSD

financially_exposed

Keeping my diary updated with good things mostly. I managed to come up with a good Excel pivot table for tracking all spending, it works with my bank account exported data so no need for paid software. I might revisit YNAB in 2-3 months from now, it is indeed a good system, I've been playing with it lately...

I've just been told that my employer will offer childcare vouchers starting next month so that's apparently over £900 saved per year, as I'm still a basic rate tax payer (nearing the limit) so I qualify for the full £243/month.

Managed to do 3 NSDs in a row since Monday, incl packed lunches for work. Next week it will be even easier as we are getting free lunches as part of a 2-day training session.

And finally my ex sent me the maintenance money today, a bit less than usually but better than nothing. I'm debating whether I want to involve CSA or some other agency to get him pay the minimum of 15% of net that the govt recommends (mandates?). Does anyone know how do I go about that? How easy is to go through the process? Thanks!!