Tired of playing catchup!

Baldybear

snowscreamer wrote: »

Not far from Guildford, keep horses, you don't live down my road do you?

Am outside guildford, in Byfleet

Baldybear

denialanderror wrote: »

I've had a quick flip through your diary, which in any other context would sound very strange, I admire your commitment to your future and your animals, although I've never understood the horse thing myself, they just cost so much!.


Learning to budget and manage money better is very important to me though, and I will get the hang of it, this is after all only week 1.

No problem re diary surfing its mostly boring reading but keeps me motivated, yep hossies do cost a lot but its my sanity :rotfl:

Qe the last Quote above - remember that and you will be fine

denialanderror

Continuing on the theme of feeling obliged to spend money to keep up appearances I've just had to make a £10 donation via JustGiving for my bosses charity bike ride. I'm happy to support a good cause but could've done without the extra expense!.


Roll on the weekend 4 more social commitments this month then hopefully I can give it a rest till payday and bring that average social spend per day down to something more sensible.


- Pub tonight, won't spend any money apart from fuel as I'm driving.
- Lunch tomorrow with other half, it's her turn to pay so shouldn't cost anything apart from fuel.
- BBQ at a friends Sunday, will need to buy some food to contribute, estimate £10.
- Been invited to someone's house Monday night, host is t-total so not sure what to take.


I suppose that averages out at less than £5 each for 4 days out which isn't bad, but on the other hand it doesn't include that it was my turn to buy dinner out a few weeks ago, plus I'm getting through more fuel than budgeted for.

denialanderror

denialanderror wrote: »

Continuing on the theme of feeling obliged to spend money to keep up appearances I've just had to make a £10 donation via JustGiving for my bosses charity bike ride. I'm happy to support a good cause but could've done without the extra expense!.


Roll on the weekend 4 more social commitments this month then hopefully I can give it a rest till payday and bring that average social spend per day down to something more sensible.


- Pub tonight, won't spend any money apart from fuel as I'm driving.
- Lunch tomorrow with other half, it's her turn to pay so shouldn't cost anything apart from fuel.
- BBQ at a friends Sunday, will need to buy some food to contribute, estimate £10.
- Been invited to someone's house Monday night, host is t-total so not sure what to take.


I suppose that averages out at less than £5 each for 4 days out which isn't bad, but on the other hand it doesn't include that it was my turn to buy dinner out a few weeks ago, plus I'm getting through more fuel than budgeted for.

Cost of this weekend 22.80 - Not too bad in the grand scheme of things but now the misc. cash pot I started this with has all been allocated (1.41 left!) and there are still things I'll be expected to attend.

- Pub Friday didn't happen, friends invited people round instead, ended up taking stuff to eat / drink - 10.50. Should get a lot of this back as it was stuff I agreed to pick up for someone while I was at the shop but will count it as spent until I do.
- Lunch was as expected free, and very nice aswell, restaurant in the middle of nowhere on a sunny day.
- BBQ stuff for later the same day came in at 12.40.
- Tonight I should have enough stuff at home to take something with me.

Rest of this week should be cost free till Saturday where I'll be doing something with OH, not sure what at this point.

Only other social obligation I'm already comitted to at the moment is a "I'm leaving the country forever / drunken crying and heartfelt promises to keep in touch forever / won't be back in 3 months honest" party at a pub in town I'll be going to with my other half for a friend we never see since she got engaged.

Other halfs already suggesting she might go on to the club with them as she hasn't had a Saturday night off for a very long time but hoping to talk her out of this as it's really not a good place to go.

It is on the 27th though so at least I'll have been paid.

In YNAB I've staggered the climbdown of the social budget so I can hopefully scale back to a level I'm more comfortable with without offending anyone or it being noticed and still allowing me to progress to covering the move costs and pre-planning for the big annual bills. First test of the success of these will be the tax, MOT and Service I've planned to accrue for between this month and October.

denialanderror

Struggling with staying positive about all this today, very much a day where I feel like my spending is out of my control, stopping this from happening being one of my goals for this diary.

Invite round didn't happen last night in the end, secretly quite relieved as it saved me money and fuel.

Have changed the budget in YNAB for next month so I can clear a much larger amount from the smaller of the 2 credit cards (the one where the balance is mostly this months dentistry bill) and defer setting up accruals for the Service, MOT and Insurance to the following month, doubling up the amounts.

I've added notes in YNAB indicating which account will be used for a particular budget item, but been wondering if I should be storing the accrual money on the high credit card to reduce the balance interest is being added to, whilst still splitting the figures out in YNAB as accrual and pre existing debt payments so I can ensure the pre-existing debt figure comes down.

Same logic applies to my fuel budget - I could clear the smaller credit card balance completely and then charge this months fuel to the credit card or keep the fuel money as cash and leave a balance on the card for another month. The benefit of this being that next month I'll be ahead with the fuel budget (spending from cash) rather than using the card.

Really worried about keeping to the budget though, just not feeling like the social and fuel budget is realistic, even though I know to some it is already eye-wateringly high, stuff just keeps appearing, now been asked to attend a wedding for my other half's friend next month (not yet guaranteed) and go to my Uncle's 60th about 2 hours drive away in August. I haven't spoken to him in years!

Need a cheaper plan instead of eating out this Saturday however I find what you save on the meal you end up spending in Fuel. I'll have to fill up this week either way which is eating into next months budget just over a week before payday, which ties in with my calculation that spending is about £30 over budget each month in this category.

Eurgh. Least the weathers nice!

denialanderror

Afternoon Internet,

Mood a little more realistic, if not optomistic today.

With the fuel light on and with it being my turn to take my other half out this coming Saturday I took the decision last night to transfer £100 out of my savings account back into my current account as I can't avoid either payment and credit carding both and having them come out of next months budget is just self delusion.

Total fuel 57.71.
Leaving 20.00 I still had available allocated for a food topup at the weekend and 45.03 allocated for the weekend with other half.

Hoping I'll only spend 30.00 of that 45.03 as another week + weekend till start of July without spending any money is unrealistic, especially with this leaving do thing next Friday.

After Saturday's meal out I'll be back in control in terms of "turns" so can talk to her about cheaper "dates" and stopping eating out so regularly.

It became a regular thing as she's had issues with her family who she lives with and I live in a house share so cooking at home isn't the pleasant, romantic experience it might otherwise be due to lack of privacy and so on...

I've tended to avoid bringing it up as I didn't want to spoil our last few months together by arguing about money particularly since she's got a lot more money than me despite not earning even half, as she has no real bills but the reality is I'm not comfortable continuing to blow so much cash on meals I don't enjoy due to cost.

On the plus side, we have got out of going the wedding. Will still have to attend the 60th though.

I've not made any other plans for the weekend as tbh I just want a quiet, relaxing Weekend, but I have got next months budget ready.

Next months budget to follow shortly...

denialanderror

Direct Debits -
Rent + Bills - 559.80
Netflix - 5.99
Mobile - 60.31
Contacts - 22.00
Sum: 648.10

Debt Repayments -
I did have lower payments allocated for the smaller card and higher accruals but the small balance outstanding was bugging me too much, just want it gone so I know in my head that I have 1 debt to worry about. Also, the second card balance is all payments that were made this month, mostly dental and fuel.

Card 1 - 110.00 (Balance -3381.20, 0.00 Interest)
Card 2 - 326.50 (Balance 0.00, 0.00 Interest)
Sum: 436.50


Accruals -
Budget worked out that over the next few months enough should be accrued to pay these bills. Only question mark is over the house move as cost is only an estimate at this point.

House Move - 400.00 (Balance 700.00)
Service + Mot - 20.00 (Balance 20.00)
Tax - 20.00 (Balance 20.00)
Sum: 440.00


Other -
"Social" doesn't seem like a lot in actual money at 3.54 a day out of the 63.03 per day I earn (over the calendar month, not working days) but on the other hand it is 5% of my income so do need to get it down to free up more for the move accrual and debt repayment.

YNAB License - 40.00
Car Cleaning - 21.00*
Prescriptions - 8.05
Fuel - 120.00
Food - 80.00
Social - 110.00
Change - 11.42
Sum: 390.47

The amounts are what I believe to be a realistic estimate of what my commitments will cost. Just have to hope there's no unplanned expenses during the month.

denialanderror

Bleurgh. Awful Weekend in so many ways.

Total Spend -
Saturday - 1.50 Car Parking, 54.10 Dinner and drinks with other half, 6.80 Pub with friends, 8.40 Sainsbury's top-up.
Sunday - 8.45 Pub with other half and friends.

= 79.25

Of which, 53.50 was budgeted for.

So 25.75 over budget for the month with 8 days remaining till 1st June.
Not good.

Not sure what's happened though as to accommodate this I've had to reduce next months budgeted spending by 54.17 but I can't see where the 28.42 difference has come from. Definitely haven't missed any spending off. I do have 6.45 in cash but still, can't get my head around this 20.00 difference.

snowscreamer

Baldybear wrote: »

Am outside guildford, in Byfleet

Missed this! My sister has a horse she keeps in Rowtown. She used to part loan a horse in Byfleet though - just near the corner shop (Sanway Rd) before she bought her current horse. My parents live in Pyrford. I have since moved closer to Guildford though as that's where I work.

Funny old world...

snowscreamer

denialanderror wrote: »

Bleurgh. Awful Weekend in so many ways.

Total Spend -
Saturday - 1.50 Car Parking, 54.10 Dinner and drinks with other half, 6.80 Pub with friends, 8.40 Sainsbury's top-up.
Sunday - 8.45 Pub with other half and friends.

= 79.25

Of which, 53.50 was budgeted for.

So 25.75 over budget for the month with 8 days remaining till 1st June.
Not good.

Not sure what's happened though as to accommodate this I've had to reduce next months budgeted spending by 54.17 but I can't see where the 28.42 difference has come from. Definitely haven't missed any spending off. I do have 6.45 in cash but still, can't get my head around this 20.00 difference.

Hey denial. So close to the end of the month now - you're doing pretty well by the sounds of it so don't beat yourself up!

1. £25.75 over budget (or even £54.17) isn't at all bad for your first month of proper budgeting. Our first month we went £500+ over budget! Albeit it could be you were more generous with your budget.

2. Just think how much worse this would have been if you hadn't taken control. You'd be in dire straights now with your house move approaching and money running away from you like water...


Can you post your YNAB figures for:

June
Not Budgeted in May
Overspent in May
Income for June
Budgeted in June

July
Not Budgeted in June
Overspent in June
Income for July
Budgeting in July

And also all negative balances on categories in June (you mentioned you had overspent on social spending / drinks)

Then I will try to help you figure out where the discrepancy is.

Have you got a Cash account in YNAB to keep track of cash spends?