My 2016 Diary of impulse control and staying on a strict budget.

Disco_Dolly

Hi Steph, just catching up on your diary. I am a YNAB and Dave Ramsey follower too! Can I ask you, did you upgrade to the new YNAB?

StressedSteph

mummytogirls wrote: »

Evening Steph,

Re the school job, if you need any advise on the appl etc give me a shout as I work in a school office. You might aswell apply and if you get an interview great. This doesnt mean you have to take the job if you don't think its right for you.

I would also make an appointment to look round as our head really likes it if people do this!!! xx

Thanks for the tips MTG, been updating my CV today, it needed abit of creative writing considering I haven't had a regular job for 11 years :eek:. xxx

wantabetterlife wrote: »

Hi Steph..re the Afterschools and breakfast club...I also use these for our kids. Do you know that these can be counted as childcare under tax credits. I didn't believe it when I read it so I phoned up to check and yes it's definitely right. If it is in the school it's classed as a wrap around service and can be included. This might offset a chunk of the cost as it can be expensive. In our school breakfast club Is £1.10 each and Afterschools is £2.

Hi WABL
I didn't know that I could use that as Childcare in CTC, thanks for that. Every little helps xxx

Disco_Dolly wrote: »

Hi Steph, just catching up on your diary. I am a YNAB and Dave Ramsey follower too! Can I ask you, did you upgrade to the new YNAB?

Hi Disco Dolly

I did upgrade to the new YNAB for the first couple of weeks but I have now gone back to the old one. I can't put my finger on what I didn't like but i just preferred the old one.
I guess I will eventually upgrade but I felt annoyed that I paid for what I thought was, if not a lifetime then at least a fair few years of YNAB use to then only two years later feeling pushed into a monthly subscription.

Will you uprgade to the new one?

Love Dave Ramsey, I wish Martin Lewis embraced this way of teaching, would be great to listen to a British equivilent. I sometimes think I know more about savings plan and retirement in the USA than I do in Britain :rotfl:

xxx

muppets

StressedSteph wrote: »

Hi Disco Dolly

I did upgrade to the new YNAB for the first couple of weeks but I have now gone back to the old one. I can't put my finger on what I didn't like but i just preferred the old one.
I guess I will eventually upgrade but I felt annoyed that I paid for what I thought was, if not a lifetime then at least a fair few years of YNAB use to then only two years later feeling pushed into a monthly subscription.

Will you uprgade to the new one?

Love Dave Ramsey, I wish Martin Lewis embraced this way of teaching, would be great to listen to a British equivilent. I sometimes think I know more about savings plan and retirement in the USA than I do in Britain :rotfl:

xxx

Evening Steph.
I am another YNAB and Dave Ramsey fan.
I like you tried the new YNAB for a few days and couldn't get used to it, I ran it along side the old YNAB as I wasn't too sure about upgrading to the paid version just yet.
I listern to Dave Ramsey podcasts daily while in work in the evenings. I feel I know more about 401K's and ROTH's then I really need to, I live in Europe and no nothing about the pension system here yet and I have been here for 6 years. :rotfl:

StressedSteph

Morning diary,

Not a whole lot to report this week. Abit annoyed with the weather but I guess thats January for you. It seems to be either bitterly cold or raining . Neither of those make me want to get outside and get some jobs done. (Yes i am a wimp).

Not a bad day ahead of me today, tidying up this morning and then coffee with an old smallholder friend at 11.30, then straight off to give blood at 1.45. That will probably take me quite close to school pick up and then I have the cinema tonight. :T. Think I will need tissue's as it's the movie called "Room". I have read the book and just the trailer made me well up .

Not much else to report, YNAB is all updated and bills are covered until our next payday which should be next Friday hopefully.

I am trying to sneak money aside so we can have a little family break at Camp Bestival / Lulworth this year. I know I should'nt do it as I should be putting all money towards my debt but aside from the deposit we can pay by installments which makes it alot more affordable.

I am planning on cancelling the childrens swimming lessons, which they don't really need as they can already swim to pay for the installments. . I figure we can always go a couple of times per month to the family swim sessions at Oxley for them to keep their practice up.

So all abit boring here really, not alot to report. Still researching my business idea, next week I plan on contacting the Health & Hygiene and Trading Standards to see what hoops need jumping through. Just want to be prepared and think it all through before any money gets spent.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

xxx

hiddenshadow

StressedSteph wrote: »

Not much else to report, YNAB is all updated and bills are covered until our next payday which should be next Friday hopefully.

Very nice. I always like looking at a tidy budget, I find it restful.

I am trying to sneak money aside so we can have a little family break at Camp Bestival / Lulworth this year. I know I should'nt do it as I should be putting all money towards my debt but aside from the deposit we can pay by installments which makes it alot more affordable.

That sounds lovely! We ended up on the IOW during Bestival weekend a few years ago and it looked quite fun (though very messy - it rained buckets while we were there!).

Re: the debt - you also need to have balance. Yes, put as much as you can towards it, but - within reason - there's no point not enjoying life as you do it, either.

Hope the business planning goes well.

mummytogirls

Evening Steph,

Hope you enjoy you're evening out. I wouldn't feel guilty about booking the camping trip, you need to have some fun in your life too!!! xx

dawnybabes

The kids aren't getting younger, you need a balance and it's a perfect time to make memories xx

maddiemay

Hi there,
In a rush, but hope that you all OK?

MM
xx

clearmydebts

Hope all is well Steph xxx

NoOneAround

Hi SS,
Have been absent myself since before Christmas, just catching up gradually and followed link from your old diary:)
Good Luck for 2016
x
NOA