Let's Do This....Debt Free Before 2019

12_month_challenge

I am not sure if I have done it right though.

I have added all of the money I expect to to into my account and the dates etc. I have also added my bills etc.

At the moment mine is showing a big red deficit at the top. I'm wondering if it sort of updates in February as my funds start to go in. Am I being a thicko (Derrrr)

enthusiasticsaver

Good choice on switching bank accounts. I have just switched to First Direct myself from the Santander 123 for the £150 switching bonus and the 6% regular saver. Ideal home for your emergency fund, holiday money etc etc. YNAB is also highly recommended, not used it myself but sure you will find it useful. I use spreadsheets myself

Orange_Ena

note3 wrote: »

Orange ena where do you get online savings accounts as my bank (tsb) appears to only let me have one esavings account and I like your idea of putting the money for things like car maintenance budget in separate place

Hi note. I use Nati0nwide for my day to day spends and little savings accounts. My wages go into and direct debits go out of my First Direct account then I transfer money to Nati0nwide leaving a small buffer. The savings accounts are instant access saver accounts, can be opened with a £1 and you can rename them (via online banking, not the app). I'm not sure if there's a limit with how many you can have but I've got 12

Mine are:
Overpayments
Fuel
Birthdays / Christmas
SHTF / Emergency fund
Hair / Beauty / Medical / Dental
Clothes
My cat
Line rental / House insurance
Car
Days out
Boiler service / Glasses / Will storage
House decorating

I love their app, it's so easy to use. And also, they have an impulse saver button that you don't need to log in to use. You set amounts, such as £1, £2 or £5 and which account you want the money to go from and to and then if you save money on a shop or decide that you're not going to buy that coffee / cake / bag, you just press the amount, confirm and then it moves it over. I probably haven't explained that very well

They soon build up and it's so handy seeing what the accounts are actually for. Somehow, knowing that's my fuel fund, or my clothes fund, I don't want to touch them :T

Good luck

Orange_Ena

ShiftThisDebt wrote: »

I have a YNAB trial right now. I think I'll have a go at using it and seeing if this helps me account for every penny like it's supposed to!

YNAB is good although I don't use it to its full potential. I just like budgeting to zero and seeing how much I have in my savings accounts. I'm not good with spreadsheets so this YNAB is good for me.

ShiftThisDebt

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Good choice on switching bank accounts. I have just switched to First Direct myself from the Santander 123 for the £150 switching bonus and the 6% regular saver. Ideal home for your emergency fund, holiday money etc etc. YNAB is also highly recommended, not used it myself but sure you will find it useful. I use spreadsheets myself

I've got a lovely spreadsheet too which I recreated last week. It does all the sums automatically and even has a snowball section . However, I think I may try YNAB and see if it's easier/more helpful for me.

Glad the first direct account with saver is a good choice!! :beer:

Do you switch accounts often?

ShiftThisDebt

Orange_Ena wrote: »

Hi note. I use Nati0nwide for my day to day spends and little savings accounts. My wages go into and direct debits go out of my First Direct account then I transfer money to Nati0nwide leaving a small buffer. The savings accounts are instant access saver accounts, can be opened with a £1 and you can rename them (via online banking, not the app). I'm not sure if there's a limit with how many you can have but I've got 12

Mine are:
Overpayments
Fuel
Birthdays / Christmas
SHTF / Emergency fund
Hair / Beauty / Medical / Dental
Clothes
My cat
Line rental / House insurance
Car
Days out
Boiler service / Glasses / Will storage
House decorating

I love their app, it's so easy to use. And also, they have an impulse saver button that you don't need to log in to use. You set amounts, such as £1, £2 or £5 and which account you want the money to go from and to and then if you save money on a shop or decide that you're not going to buy that coffee / cake / bag, you just press the amount, confirm and then it moves it over. I probably haven't explained that very well

They soon build up and it's so handy seeing what the accounts are actually for. Somehow, knowing that's my fuel fund, or my clothes fund, I don't want to touch them :T

Good luck

Love this, can I clarify its just one account but inside the app you can segregate your money into categories. Is that nation wide?

Those categories are exactly what I need to budget properly:money:

Orange_Ena

12_month_challenge wrote: »

I am not sure if I have done it right though.

I have added all of the money I expect to to into my account and the dates etc. I have also added my bills etc.

At the moment mine is showing a big red deficit at the top. I'm wondering if it sort of updates in February as my funds start to go in. Am I being a thicko (Derrrr)

Have you seen the thread on the dfw board?

I'm on my 3rd reincarnation of YNAB cause I could not get it right. It's so frustrating in the beginning so I feel your pain!

But this might help you.......only enter the money that you actually have now. Right at this moment. Don't put money that's going in next week of whatever. Just ask yourself what does that money that I've got in my account right now need to pay for before the next lot of money goes in. I found in the end it was easier to start mid month once most of my direct debits had already gone out.

So say I had £300 in my account on the 14th January, I only needed to budget for food, my mobile, my broadband and a meal out so I put money in those categories. I didn't need to pay for my mortgage out of that because I'd be getting paid again before that was due (although I could have put a bit in). I think it also helps to have a holding category so that you can adjust things that haven't been budgeted for. When I allocate money at the beginning of the month, whatevers not accounted for goes in this holding account so that I have budgeted to zero, rather than leaving an available budget.

Sorry if I've confused you :)

Orange_Ena

ShiftThisDebt wrote: »

Love this, can I clarify its just one account but inside the app you can segregate your money into categories. Is that nation wide?

Those categories are exactly what I need to budget properly:money:

I've got multiple savings accounts which I set up online and they only took a day or 2 to show on the app. So when I log in I see my current account at the top, then my CC (with a balance of 0 :j hehe) then my 12 renamed savings accounts, then my mortgage. If you g00gle Nati0nwide mobile app image you can sort of see it, but the brilliant thing is the renaming of them so you can see at a glance. I don't think you can have the savings accounts without the current account though but I could be wrong.

You could set up an account easily though cause as I said above, First Direct is my main current account and then Nati0nwide is my day to day spends and savings accounts. I've even got a 3rd current account with H@lifax Since I've been doing it this way, I've built up a small buffer in my FD account which will hopefully help me to build a whole months wages so that I can truly be a YNABber living on last months income

ShiftThisDebt

Ah so you do literally have 12 savings accounts!

I dont have a current account with nationwide but I do have a mortgage with them. Wonder if that would allow me to save with them? Probably not.

Think it's a cool idea. I guess the alternative is only having one savings account (like I will have in a week) and keeping tabs via a spreadsheet as to how much of the cash is in each pot.

I can see pie charts and all sorts being produced here :rotfl:

Orange_Ena

ShiftThisDebt wrote: »

Ah so you do literally have 12 savings accounts!

I dont have a current account with nationwide but I do have a mortgage with them. Wonder if that would allow me to save with them? Probably not.

Think it's a cool idea. I guess the alternative is only having one savings account (like I will have in a week) and keeping tabs via a spreadsheet as to how much of the cash is in each pot.

I can see pie charts and all sorts being produced here :rotfl:

Haha yep 12. :rotfl:

Yeah that's the other way, just one savings account. If you're using YNAB, it doesn't care what account the money is in as it's budgeted in the YNAB categories. I guess spreadsheets do the same. I think it's just a visual thing for me so when I log in I can see I have X amount in my fuel account or whatever. Anything for me to keep my paws off my money :rotfl:

Haha pie charts are in YNAB too. Not that I use them, but I've seen them