It's not a lot, but it's enough

SpekySquarehead

Hello, hello. Been a busy busy bee but keeping a keen eye on spend, as always now.

Given I had an injection of £150 for my switching incentive, I bought my GF a dress for £12 and bought us lunch in Glasgow at £36. The remainder will be stowed away. I get paid on Thursday (4 day) and I’ve more money in my account than I’ve had this close to pay day in yonks and I put that down to YNAB.
Speaking of which, my only criticism/annoyance is dealing with money in/money out. For example; I had to buy a suit for work which I’d get the money back afterwards, so I spent £100 and I’ll now need to balance it out with cash I’ll get from work. Another example is that my GF’s online account wasn’t working to buy herself some clothes, so I bought it and she’ll give me the cash. They’re minor things, but annoy me nonetheless.

I done a big shop yesterday in Lidl, so I should rack up a good few NSD’s in a row this week.

I’ll check back soon.

Take care.

SpekySquarehead

Hi all,

It's payday!! And I take £300 odd into June. First I've done that in a long time and I put that down to YNAB. Looking at my spending for the month compared to what I anticipated this time last month;

Petrol - £171.00
I was £9 under my month budget. I'm happy with this as I can now use this as a benchmark and try to get it down.

Debt - £15.08
This was my minimum payment.

Cash - £50
This was my spending money for the stag do in Newcastle. I managed to get cash later after I bought things for my GF and she gave me cash for it.

Avoidable - £250
Cringe! Haircut, parking fine, lunch, train fairs and unfortunately - the stag do again.

The upside of the month was that, as predicted, it was a quiet one, so I managed to stow away £200 for the holiday (thanks to YNAB).

As for the month ahead; my diary is empty apart from the wedding I'll be attending. That concerns me though as I've a feeling some impulse events may happen, particularly if there is nice weather. I'll be sure to remain MSE throughout though.

SpekySquarehead

I may have found some teething problems between myself and YNAB.

I am used to living pay check to pay check and so I budgeted for that. I’d essentially budgeted for only 26 days (as I got paid on the 26th) so any spend I’ve had since then it appears that I’ve not got the money. So I’ll have to delay the payment and put them all through as June and make my June budgets last longer. A small, but annoying thing.

My car was in for a service on Saturday. I needed a new tyre too so it cost me £162!!!! Something which I hadn’t budgeted for. Damn. I’ll spend some time and play about with YNAB later.

Unfortunately, my gran passed away yesterday and so my plans for the week are a bit vague. Whatever I do, I’ll be sure to keep spending low and rack up NSD’s when I can.

SpekySquarehead

No Spend Day today!! However looking at the week ahead, spend is inevitable. I need a new suit for the funeral next week, the cheapest I see in Slaters is £50 - ideal.

Determined to keep YNAB super organised for this month and I'll also eat few frogs such as sell stuff on ebay, start a help to buy etc.

Productive month ahead I hope.

doingitanyway

Sorry to hear about your gran. I hope the funeral goes okay.
I don't post here, but I do read all your posts.
I pass Leon every morning and like you look forward to the day I can have my breakfast there.
You are doing great. Keep going.

SpekySquarehead

doingitanyway wrote: »

Sorry to hear about your gran. I hope the funeral goes okay.
I don't post here, but I do read all your posts.
I pass Leon every morning and like you look forward to the day I can have my breakfast there.
You are doing great. Keep going.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read over and your kind words help provide motivation :beer:

SpekySquarehead

Morning!

Yesterday was unfortunately not a NSD. My GF offered to go out for dinner and we'd half the bill. This is progress because it is usually myself who pays the full thing. I think my MSE'ness is rubbing off.

Today will however be a NSD. Brought my lunch and some snacks into work. If needs be, I'll get by on cups of tea/coffee/bovril.

Tomorrow I'll need to go into Glasgow to get my suit for my grans funeral next Thursday. I'll also do other costly bits and bobs which should allow me to get some NSD's next week. I believe the weather is to be nice so I might make a picnic and take the GF somewhere nice.

Have a nice day

SpekySquarehead

In my opinion, Saturday and Sunday were much more spendy than I'd like. On Saturday I bought my new suit for the funeral on Thursday (£80), car parking while I got the suit was £5 and the coffee and cake I had later was £3.75.

Sunday was spent in a park, which sounds free, however the ice cream van nearby scunnered that. The heat was incredible and I hadn't brought any juice. Having my niece and nephew meant I was 3 x ice cream cones and 4 x drinks - £15.

My GF's brothers wedding is this Saturday and my grans funeral is this Thursday. Outwith those 2 days, I should managed to spend very little.

My GF had a look over her finances on Saturday and has reluctantly had to pull out of attending my step-bro's wedding in Korea in January. This could be a blessing in disguise and it may be the nail in the coffin to force me to pull out too, which is something that has been playing on my mind for soo long anyway. The money for that can go towards the debt.

Anyway, today will be a hard days work followed by a trip to the gym then who knows what. Whatever it entails will be free, that's for sure. Need to rack up the NSD's for the challenge.

SpekySquarehead

I’m working 8.30am-10.00pm today. It’ll be a long shift but I’ll have gaps in which I can do some other personal bits and bobs. Also work kindly pay for food throughout so it’ll be a NSD.

Funeral tomorrow. Not looking forward to it. It will be good to see extended members of family but it’s a shame it’s under these sad circumstances.

Anyway, better start doing some work. Toodles!

SpekySquarehead

The funeral went well yesterday. Was a lovely service and it was nice to see some distant friends and family. My gran will be truly missed.

In MSE news, I’ve racked 2 No Spend Days (NSD) in a row and I’ll go for my third today. It’s my GF’s brothers wedding tomorrow, so I’ll have some spend on drinks on the night and the hotel (£70). After that I’m going to be tight with my cash for the remainder of the month for sure and SAVE, SAVE, SAVE!

I’m still undecided on attending the wedding in Korea in January now that my GF has pulled out. Let me quickly draw out the pros and cons

Pros;
1. Get to see my step brothers wedding
2. See parts of the world I wouldn’t see otherwise (Dubai, South Korea and Thailand)
3. Support my Mum (family politics)

Cons;
1. Estimated cost = £3k
2. Have to take 20 days off work

I’ve kept it short but those are the main points and I can’t seem to overlook the £3k in costs and how that’d clear my debt. I bet everyone who reads this will tell me the obvious answer – don’t go a clear the debt!

Food for thought.