2015 is our year

DD265

Thanks both

OH bought me the YNAB software as an early birthday present when it was in the Steam sale so I've just had fun putting in transactions since the 29th December and making sure that everything balances!

I was complaining yesterday that Lloyds don't process standing orders/direct debits on a non-working day. Surely as it's all automated they should just let the computer systems get on with it. I guess once I've been using YNAB for a couple of months I'll know what's out and what's going out so it won't matter.

But darnit, there's a £150 credit card overpayment sat in that queue. :rotfl:

DD265

So spoken to therapist who saw horse this lunch time and I've agreed to pay for two more treatments now and then assess again.

So it's £70 which I would've been overpaying against the CC, but hey at least I have the £70 to use either way! I am withdrawing £100 from PayPal from my sales and will make a £30 overpayment with the spare bit.

Also my direct debit went out to the Barclaycard but for £105.48 instead of £150. Haven't worked out why yet as they haven't updated my statement, so I'll pay the difference over too.

That makes a £74.52 overpayment - not to be sniffed at!

Edit: whilst I was in Barclaycard making the payment I thought "why the heck not" and reduced the limit from £4500 to £2000. It's basically my emergency cash (after the bank of parents/OH) so I don't want to ditch it completely yet plus I don't want to be maxed out on my Halifax card with no available credit as that would probably look just as bad as having too much available credit!

DD265

Balls I missed a large (almost £300!) bill off my budget for the month. Can't think how on earth I managed it. Was wondering why my bank balance was just over £100 when I still have about £400 to pay out!

Thankfully I can reduce some of that (was having £20 per week spending money, will drop to 10, fuel isn't actually £150 I just aim high) and my physio should actually be £10 cheaper than I budgeted for. I'm getting just short of £60 in expenses this/next week, may get lucky with some money for my birthday next week, have £50 in the horse's account and also have over £150 from sales in my PayPal account so I'm not screwed.

I haven't gotten as far in YNAB as setting up the regular monthly expenditures yet so I will do that tomorrow. I have a head like a sieve sometimes I swear.

The good news is my small credit card is down to £115. Even if my sales don't continue at the same rate (and even if they do I had best inject some cash into my bank account!) it will get paid off on payday at the end of the month.

DD265

So I'm almost back on track I think.

I made £54 today from selling an old iPad to CEX which is not too shabby given it was a hand-me-down so I didn't pay for it in the first place!

Also pulled £100 from PayPal (from sales) into my bank account so it's looking a little healthier. Shame it couldn't go against the CC but for once I am being smart!

So the Barclaycard is currently sat at £114.88. If I get the opportunity to pay this off in the meantime I will do - at the minute I still need to inject a little more cash into my bank account. Worst case scenario it's gone at the beginning of February when the direct debit is set to clear the full balance.

DD265

I decided my problem is that I don't plan ahead enough. For example, I spend about £130 on horse feed every 3 months or so. But rather than putting aside £45 per month, I just pay out the full amount when it's due.

I've been getting the YNAB emails about how to budget and one of the rules was having 12 normal months rather than having good months and bad months - i.e. you put money aside for these things every month. I have a feeling that because I haven't been forward planning I will have to start small and build up those amounts but once I've started it shouldn't be too hard.

I need to begin by listing everything I spend in a year (not to say I will be spending on all this, this year!). So I have:
Car - HP, fuel, insurance and maintenance
Horse - rent, feed, physio, supplement, feet trimming, vets bills, insurance, treats, equipment
Mobile phone
Clothing
Entertainment
Groceries
Gifts/presents
Holiday
Gym membership
Personal training
Physio
Charity donation
Prescriptions
Dentist
Bank account fee (includes breakdown, mobile insurance, travel insurance etc)
Credit card repayments
Student loan repayment (over payment and therefore not deducted from my salary)

I think that covers it! I would also like to add an emergency fund and a house fund.

DD265

Right just tackling the horse's insurance at the moment which renews on the 1st Feb. It's in Mom's name (so I always ring up as her) and I'm wanting to get it transferred to my name. The reason we haven't done this before is because there is a bonus for being with the insurance company for so long and in the past we would lose that. It's only £19.45 so if that's still the case I may sacrifice it - as I'm moving out it would be a lot easier to have it in my name.

My only concern is if it needs an up-front payment (now it's just direct debits all year) which I may or may not be able to manage.

DD265

So the end up was that we'll lose the returning customer bonus but it's only £20 and having the policy in my name will make it easier to look after going forward especially when I move.

I did shop around a little but either I couldn't get the same level of cover (as he's an older boy some companies place restrictions on what they'll offer for "veterans") or it was only ever so slightly cheaper. Horse insurance is not quite as simple as car insurance and there are horror stories about companies not paying out etc so I decided to stick with the company we know that we have had successful claims with before.

Unfortunately I couldn't set up the new policy today because due to one of the conditions we claimed for, the lady has to speak to the underwriters which will be done tomorrow. Still at least the ball is rolling!

In other news, I have a couple of sales going through hopefully tonight.

DD265

Hmm still not sorted the insurance.

I just made a £30 overpayment on my credit card (other £70 has gone to pay for horse's treatments). Whilst I was in there I noticed that I had set up to pay the full balance off on my next direct debit... why wasn't this the full balance showing on the account?

Fraud. Three transactions, totalling £42.99 to a company in the US on the 12th January.

Rung Barclaycard, the card is now blocked and I'll be getting a new one in the post plus a dispute form. Looks like I'm destined not to see that £0.00 balance for a while longer :mad:

DD265

So thanks to SeduLOUs who very kindly pointed me in the right direction, I now know a lot more about YNAB and am starting to create a budget rather than just record transactions.

At the moment I'm struggling to get my head around only budgeting with what I have right now. I want to be able to plan ahead for the income that I am certain of next month as well as the expenses.

I understand what is being said though and the fact that you want to budget for February with the salary that you got at the end of December (for January). At this point I'm not sure how I'm going to get there and still pay off my debt quickly.

I will need to decide what is more important as my debt isn't costing me anything, so at least I feel like I have the choice!

DD265

I am getting the hang of this budgeting lark and actually really enjoying allocating my money. Expenses paid in this morning so I spread that out where it needed to go, and will do the same with my salary tomorrow.

I am currently torn between trying to get a month ahead in my budget (i.e. the salary that I get at the end of January, which is effectively for February, actually pays my bills for March), saving towards our house move (which is looking more like a rental to be fair) and paying off the Halifax credit card. I don't particularly see the benefit in spreading myself thin trying to do all three at once!

Still haven't received the dispute forms from Barclaycard - most miffed. Also rang them about my 0% on purchases and it expires 1st March. I need to decide whether I want to try and squeeze another deal out of them.

Unfortunately a neighbour has driven into my car and it's going to be expensive to fix. Just cosmetic (although if another vehicle were to hit the door I'm not sure how much protection is left in there) but it is just short of £1000. I guess with it being a new model of car they can't get and fix up a second hand door so it's brand new all the way.

The neighbour is mortified and they feel bad for the accident (which is all it was!) and I feel bad about how much it will cost them to get it fixed! It can go through their insurance but neither of us want that (they lose no claims, it would probably need to be declared at my renewal) so I suggested that I may be able to take payment over a couple of months. We will talk again at the weekend so between now and then I need to work out how I can manage that.

I know that I didn't need to offer but if the roles were reversed, I would really appreciate the offer of a split payment. It was just an accident, one of those things, and it's just a car which can be fixed. I would much rather maintain a good relationship with the neighbours.