A Ditherer's Diary (again)

Naomim

Treadingonplaymobil sorry I don't seem to be able to quote on my phone..but yes I think I will do what you suggest. Keep the negative figure off ynab and set part of my budget to clearing this off.

For the first time ever I checked the pre- advice of charges today. I have never ever done that so at least ynab and the thought of budgeting has made a small change.

If I was really brave enough I'd change bank accounts and have no overdraft but the thought terrifies me.:(

armchairexpert

I don't know if this helps, but I did three things that help:

1. I put the monthly figures and the due dates into my category descriptions. So instead of putting "$1000" into the actual budget for March against the mortgage category, the mortgage category itself is called "Mortgage $1000 due 30/". That way I can always see how much I will need to budget that month in that category, and the "30/" tells me that it's due on the last day of the month.

2. I set up my master categories into 'Mandatory/Fixed', 'Flexible' and 'Nice to Have', and then within each of those categories I ordered it from top to bottom in order of how important they are. Mortgage comes first in mandatory, for example. Rates come before utility bills because if I'm late with the rates they'll sock me with large late fees PDQ. In 'Flexible' I have things that I do have to find money for, like groceries, but I can cut back on in tight months. Again, ordered top to bottom from most important (food!) to least (pocket money).

Between DH and I we get bits of income 5 times in a month, so this set up means that I can see a) how much I'm aiming to allocate in each category, without having to budget for it before I have the dollars, b) order of priority in date terms and c) order of priority in consequence terms.

This month (March), for example, I have half the month's income already sitting in the account, so I've allocated the most urgent bills as well as half a month's worth of things like groceries, bus tickets and spending money. When the next bit comes in I'll top up those figures and allocate money in the next few categories, working from the top down. If I never get to the point of allocating money in the bottom few lines it doesn't really matter, because those are things like 'Christmas savings account'.

Naomim

Thanks Armchairexpert, that sounds like a great idea. I'm a bit out with my figures now as I'm not sure how much I've spent this month.. I'll get there no doubt.

I've just set the kids up with GoHenry accounts. They don't get pocket money so the 11yo constantly asks for money and the 7yo just gets random things bought for her. So I decided that as part of budgeting and making them aware they need to "do" something to earn their pocket money I set the accounts up. They are like a pre-paid debit card They get a nominal amount each week then if they have done their chores they can earn a little bit more. For 11yo I ask that he makes his bed every day, walks the dog and tidies/dusts/hoovers his room once a week. He can earn £1 extra for each chore a week. The 7yo has been asked to make her bed every day and tidy/dust & hoover her room (it's small but full of junk:rotfl:) She's a bit too small for walking the dog on her own just yet.

Today we have plasterers in finally sorting out our porch-way. This was part of what the builders had done and was left unfinished. So now we wont have a massive draught coming in through the gaps and once it's dry we can paint and get coat hooks up and finally get the shoes and millions of football boots out of my hall and front room :T We also have Hillary's blinds here putting shutters in the front room. They were ordered and paid for months ago when the builders were still here but couldn't be installed until the work had finished.

Nothing much to say on the money saving front. I haven't spent out of the bank account but I do have a purse full of receipts which I'm about to look at and hopefully give YNAB another bash.

Naomi x

Treadingonplaymobil

My eldest is DESPERATE for a GoHenry account, but I'm not quite sure he's ready yet (8yo, but not wildly mature). I look forward to hearing how yours get on with it!

Naomim

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

My eldest is DESPERATE for a GoHenry account, but I'm not quite sure he's ready yet (8yo, but not wildly mature). I look forward to hearing how yours get on with it!

Money burns a hole in my 7yo's pocket and when I found she was taking money out of her piggy bank to take to the corner shop when walking the dog with the 11yo, I realised I had to remove piggy bank and access to cash. I'll keep hold of her card. But 11yo is starting to go into town with his friends at the weekend so I think this is a safer option for him. They can use it contactless or at a cash machine withdrawing the cash. You can choose a limit on how much can spent in one day or how much cash can be withdrawn. I'll let you know how we get on!

Naomi

GeorgianaCavendish

The GoHenry accounts sound like such a good idea, as does your way of teaching the kids about earning money. I don't want to sound like I'm blaming my parents for my debt, but I wish they had taught me about budgeting and handling money properly.

Treadingonplaymobil

GeorgianaCavendish wrote: »

The GoHenry accounts sound like such a good idea, as does your way of teaching the kids about earning money. I don't want to sound like I'm blaming my parents for my debt, but I wish they had taught me about budgeting and handling money properly.

Me too! I've mentioned this on my diary, but my parents are REALLY financially astute, so we always had money for what we needed growing up. However, they literally never once mentioned how to budget or manage money to me, and I was left with this feeling that I would be fine because I came from a financially savvy family, and the rest would just kind of fall into place. It didn't, obv.

Naomim

armchairexpert wrote: »

I don't know if this helps, but I did three things that help:

1. I put the monthly figures and the due dates into my category descriptions. So instead of putting "$1000" into the actual budget for March against the mortgage category, the mortgage category itself is called "Mortgage $1000 due 30/". That way I can always see how much I will need to budget that month in that category, and the "30/" tells me that it's due on the last day of the month.

2. I set up my master categories into 'Mandatory/Fixed', 'Flexible' and 'Nice to Have', and then within each of those categories I ordered it from top to bottom in order of how important they are. Mortgage comes first in mandatory, for example. Rates come before utility bills because if I'm late with the rates they'll sock me with large late fees PDQ. In 'Flexible' I have things that I do have to find money for, like groceries, but I can cut back on in tight months. Again, ordered top to bottom from most important (food!) to least (pocket money).

Between DH and I we get bits of income 5 times in a month, so this set up means that I can see a) how much I'm aiming to allocate in each category, without having to budget for it before I have the dollars, b) order of priority in date terms and c) order of priority in consequence terms.

This month (March), for example, I have half the month's income already sitting in the account, so I've allocated the most urgent bills as well as half a month's worth of things like groceries, bus tickets and spending money. When the next bit comes in I'll top up those figures and allocate money in the next few categories, working from the top down. If I never get to the point of allocating money in the bottom few lines it doesn't really matter, because those are things like 'Christmas savings account'.

Hi armchairexpert,

I've set up my YNAB how you have suggested above. I've just not entered an account or balance yet. I think I'm going to do it from the day MrM was paid and then deduct what's come out already. I'm not sure what I'm doing but I'll get there. We only have a laptop at home which I have to wrestle off of MrM. In real life he coaches 3 x kids football teams who are all on winning streaks. On the PC he plays Championship Manager. He thinks he's Anotnio Conte! :rotfl:

GeorgianaCavendish wrote: »

The GoHenry accounts sound like such a good idea, as does your way of teaching the kids about earning money. I don't want to sound like I'm blaming my parents for my debt, but I wish they had taught me about budgeting and handling money properly.

I'm sure my kids think money grows on trees but then again we as parents have perpetrated this myth. We've also gone out and done things.. had days out, a holiday every year, Merlin passes, meals out a few times a month. Hopefully mine are young enough to learn.

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

Me too! I've mentioned this on my diary, but my parents are REALLY financially astute, so we always had money for what we needed growing up. However, they literally never once mentioned how to budget or manage money to me, and I was left with this feeling that I would be fine because I came from a financially savvy family, and the rest would just kind of fall into place. It didn't, obv.

This was us. I grew up in a low income family. We didn't have a car or holidays but we also didn't owe any money. Once a month my Mum would shut herself in her bedroom and work out all the bills etc. I wish she had shown me how to budget within my means.

Positives this week - We have found the address for the builder. I have sent a 7 day notice letter.

7yo and I made chocolate chip cookies. Although I spent £12 on all the ingredients, obviously some bits you only use a teaspoon or so; so we will make them again and hopefully some cakes or something soon. It's a fun thing to do indoors together.

I've also still been really good with my packed lunches although I have been bad with coffee's buying at least 4 last week.

All bar one of my bits on ebay sold. I have £54 in my paypal. Have spent about £13 on postage so just waiting for the ebay invoices to come in then I know how much I have made and can transfer it to the bank account.

Plans for this week:
continue with YNAB and try and get head round it!
Packed lunches for me & MrM everyday and 11yo at least 2 times this week.
Continue with meal plans. - we've been very good with this.

Naomi

Naomim

So in my lunch hour and when I got home, I entered all our outgoings and MrM's wages into YNAB. It looks like we are overspending by £200+ which of course is MrM's cigs :mad:

We've also got £700 to pay on a ski trip for 11yo. I'm going to allocate most of the child benefit to that every month. I was hoping to pay off the overdraft by £200 per month but that's not possible. The mad thing is, by putting it all into YNAB I can see we are servicing our debts at around £450 a month. What I couldn't do with that money !!! :eek: I seriously need to see if we can make some extra money somewhere. I do have some of my Mum's jewellery that I keep meaning to get valued but have no proof it's mine. She never left a proper will.

Also Legal & General have taken an extra £150 from our account. We have life assurance & health cover which is £105 a month but when we remortgaged we had to apply again. I haven't sent off the paperwork so not sure how they have taken the payment already.

Next month the mortgage will be slightly less by about £25 I think. This is the 1st payment of the extra borrowing so they add a bit more interest to catch you up.

Meal plan for this week is:

Sat: Party bits - loaded potato skins/chicken goujons/chinese selection etc
Sun: Roast pork
Mon: Lasagne
Tues;Chicken wrapped in bacon
Weds: Pie & veg
Fri - Toad in the Hole.

You may have noticed I missed off Thursday but that's because MrM & 11yo have football training so eat at the in-laws so 7yo and I just have something silly like fish fingers or chicken dippers.

Naomi x

Naomim

Hello diary,

I'm sitting at my desk eating my home made egg mayonnaise sandwiches and stinking out the office :T

Today I have cancelled Amazon Prime. I usually sign up for the free month in the run up to Christmas then cancel. This time I didn't cancel as our SKY was broken so it gave us something to watch and MrM was interested in seeing the "Road Trip" . I overheard someone at work talking today about the student discount for Amazon Prime which reminded me I needed to cancel. This month's payment had "just" come out so I've cancelled and getting this month refunded. :money:

MrM's car is in the garage. It failed it's MOT due to the airbag light being on. They have to investigate where and what the fault is. It's been in for 2 days so I can see this being something expensive that we can't really afford The worst thing is my airbag light is also on so likely to be an expensive fix too.

It never rains but it pours.

Naomi