XSpender Speeds it Up - £0 to £60k in 27 months

XSpender

1) [STRIKE]Dentist - check up and clean -[/STRIKE] Done
2) [STRIKE]Eye test [/STRIKE]- Done and glasses ordered
3) Order repeat GF prescription - due towards end of month
4) [STRIKE]Order a set of car mats for new car (work pay for these) [/STRIKE]Done & DH has fitted
5) [STRIKE]Ensure Asda refund received (£12)[/STRIKE] Done
6) [STRIKE]Order charity Christmas cards[/STRIKE] Done
7) [STRIKE]Book waxing appointment [/STRIKE]Done
8) [STRIKE]Visit Mum for the weekend [/STRIKE]- Done
9) [STRIKE]Arrange night out with girls [/STRIKE] I am already booked up the dates they are available
10) Lunch with BF Booked a possible date
11) Read 2 books (I have a few already on my Kindle) Read one, started 2nd
12) Look into getting audio books at library (I drive a lot!)
13) [STRIKE]Arrange possible lunch and cocktails with old work colleagues[/STRIKE] I am now booked up in December
14) [STRIKE]Find an inexpensive Christmas party outfit [/STRIKE] Done
15) [STRIKE]Take donations to charity shop/cash for clothes [/STRIKE] Done
16) Paint kitchen
17) Gloss internal doors
18) Finish Christmas shopping (excluding me who hasn't a clue what I want) - almost there:)
19) Visit favourite NT place again before it closes for winter
20) Visit favourite seaside town
21) Find an event/goal for after December's run - spotted 2 half marathons

I am sure a few more will get added as I think of them.

XSpender

Decluttered my personal email and half a box of GF profiteroles, well no-one else would have eaten them OK I won't count the profiteroles in my declutter total.:o

30 min easy run tonight, chest felt OK so will swim tomorrow and run 5 miles on Wednesday. Not sure when I will get my long run done this weekend as DH is away.

Spotted tonight that there is a new Cormoran Strike book out so that will be one of the 2 I read this month

YNAB all up to date with today's DDs and the £1.50 I spent on nail polish remover. Could have sworn there was 1 in the house but couldn't find it anywhere.

All food and exercise logged in MFP but the profiteroles ruined a clean eating day Worth it though

Pearla*Merle

Love me some lists. Good luck slaying them!

newgirly

XSpender wrote: »

Much better thank you SHS, I am attempting a run tomorrow, first one in over a week!

I :heart2: YNAB newgirly I used to use an excel spreadsheet to record incomings and outgoings and was never very good at keeping up a spending diary. YNAB helps you budget what your money is going to do every month but if you go over in one category you just move money from another category. I used to get stressed out if say I overspent on what I had budgeted on eating out but now I just choose to spend less in another category. It also helps you budget to put money aside for annual bills.

It enables you to track the pay down of any debt and the build up of savings, everything is recorded in one place.

I never look at the bank account anymore as I don't need to, the spreadsheet tells me what I have to spend. You can enter a spend on your phone using the app and it updates your spreadsheet at home instantly so you don't need two places to record it. For example if I budget £400 for food when I get paid, £50 for booze and £50 for clothes for my son so if I go to Mr T and spend £50 of which £30 was food, £10 was wine and £10 was some clothes for my DS I can either enter the spend, easily splitting it into the categories, on my phone there and then or enter it on the main spreadsheet when I get home. It deducts what I have spent in each category and tells me what I have left to spend.

YNAB offer a free 30 day trial so you can have a go and if you like it and buy it you don't lose what you have inputted. They have a lot of tutorials on their site and there is a forum if you have questions. You can also take part in their seminars where you can often win a free copy. The YNAB forum has referral codes on too so you get it cheaper and someone earns a few dollars for the referral.

It is a US company and you pay for it in dollars. You choose the currency you want to run it in.

If you mess it all up or lose track (which I have done several times) you can 'start over' without losing absolutely everything. I am on my 3rd edition They say this happens to everyone :rotfl:

Oooh I sound evangelical, I'm not on commission honest!:rotfl:

I hope that helps, let me know if I can help further.

Many thanks for this what ever i use i seem to go back to pen and paper but with a free trial its worth a go, will let you know how I get on!

XSpender

I've put my swim off until the morning as I'm not feeling it tonight, time of the month and tired and grumpy TMI sorry

Diet has been blown and not much accomplished as away with work at the moment. MFP has been updated and it ain't pretty.

Asdar refund on it's way after a technical problem at their end meant I never received my item and as it was a fancy dress costume for DS it's is no longer needed.

We received a little interest on our current account so I have sent this and a TT to the mortgage account and added it to the £351 challenge target. YNAB updated.

I have received another chunk of pre course work to do this month which involves a lot of reading so this may become my 2 books I read this month! The audio books are looking like a really good idea now so I can listen while driving.

Bath, bed and early night for me

newgirly

Hi xspender hope you are feeling bettter today

Can I pick your brains please?

I use a cc for groceries/ petrol/ misc.spending and the bill is paid on the due date 24th of each month on the day we get paid. So I am effectively borrowing all the time, would if be easier if I get ynab to stop doing this and get out of "arrears" and just use a current account?

Many thanks in advance, have a good day

XSpender

Hi newgirly

You can do either with YNAB; use a card for your spending and pay it off when you get paid or only spend the money when you get it. You can also allocate part of your budget to CC debt that you have accrued in the past. There is a video on the website that shows you how to do this.

YNAB encourages you to build up a buffer of 1 months expenses so that for example Novembers bills are paid out of the pay you received at the end of August but I haven't managed this yet!

newgirly

Thanks xspender, I guess not using the card would be simpler, but paying nov's bills from august's wages :eek::eek: That would cost 1000's ! So to use ynab could you use augusts money to pay septembers bills or would oct be the minimum ? Sorry to be a pain

Edit, also does does it actually connect to your bank accounts as I read somewhere it does or do you have to mannually check accts and update? Many thanks !

XSpender

I get paid on the last day of the month so use that pay to pay the following months bills. e.g. paid 30th October and have paid November bills out of that, just like you would do normally. The buffer is supposed to be built over however long it takes you but I prefer to have that money doing something else like sitting in savings or paying off the mortgage.

You can import transactions from your bank and reconcile it with YNAB but not sure how it does it as I have never done it, I manually check the DDs and card transactions match every couple of days but that's it, just to make sure I haven't missed anything. You could do it less frequently. If you get in to the habit of inputting transactions from receipts as close to the spend as possible it will be up to date and more accurate than trying to work what you spent on what from the bank account. This is where it acts like a spending diary too.

U tube has a lot of YNAB videos too.

XSpender

• Claimed £13.89 cashback
• £12 refund received
• £1.68 TT and refund OPd

Attempted a 5 mile run on the treadmill at the hotel gym and just not into it tonight and managed 3 not very fast miles, I am hoping this bodes well for the weekend as I usually run well after a rubbish run. I am going to have to do my long run on Friday as DH is away so I will have DS all weekend.

I have been planning lots of fun things for me and DS this weekend but the forecast is dreadful so may have to move to more indoor activities.

Long driving day tomorrow and last nights early night still had me wide a wake at midnight so a bath and some studying for tomorrow afternoon's course are all I'm planning tonight.