The ups, downs, and occasional sideways bits of trying to be mortgage free

armchairexpert

It's a bit like that, Velvet! It was 30 on Friday and then yesterday (Sunday) we were shivering under a deluge at the dog park again.

I think the thing here is that Mr E genuinely doesn't see how much I've cut things, and doesn't realise that my norms for a shop have changed. $160 wouldn't have been awful, back in the day. The whole shop was like a blast from the past: two big boxes of branded muesli bars, Coke Zero AND fancy cordial, Nutella AND fancy jam, and I could see how he could shrug his shoulders and go "but I didn't buy anything extravagant" because no one particular thing actually was, you know? We all know that being properly MSE is quite a process - when I started, I would also have thought I was already careful and frugal, and I would have said "there's just nowhere else to cut", but my perception has changed.

Interesting re: Classic YNAB, which is what I have. I did look into syncing it to phones but it seemed to involve Dropbox and complications. Mr E said he was happy if I just told him what his categories had in them, but I'll look into both things again.

armchairexpert

Anyway, onwards and upwards! That horrendous shop put me over my Grocery Challenge amount of $1050 by a couple of dollars, but I did budget an extra $100 in YNAB so we're not totally stuffed. I count months on a strict calendar basis, and Saturday is still part of September so it'll be a very cheap weekly shop. Mr E also failed to get any decent sandwich fillings so it's cheese sandwiches for the kids I guess.

Old Me would have just borrowed money from next month and hoped it'd be cheaper, or taken it from another pot, but there's no pot from which to take it. We blew every single budget this month: $626 on home stuff alone! Half of that was materials for the new bookshelf, which looks great (well, it will once painted), but the other half was impulse buys. A sign for the back fence that hopefully stops people coming to the wrong door; some plants; a new set of linens for the bed because ours has a tear in it; some drinking glasses because all of ours are mismatched, it's SO MUCH now that I look at it. We went over the clothing budget by $50, the alcohol budget by $60, the cat needed a vet at $160. I've raided every single savings pot already. So it's bean soup and like it. Also I'm adding in 'home stuff' to the categories I screenshot to Mr E!

I did, however, sit down and work out that I can increase my household contribution by another $500 so I'm putting in $3,000 a month and still have a bit of a buffer for the quiet months over summer. I hope I'm right. It'll scare me into hustling for more work if nothing else. So that's a bright spot.

Yesterday was a NSD. Mr E worked on the shelf all day, the kids and I baked raspberry muffins and walked Doggie and just didn't do much really. Today I have promised to take Big Girl to a cafe while Little is at ballet - she wants a heart to heart, and it's been a while.

armchairexpert

Tiny spend of $5.90 today on some natural yoghurt and some salami slices so I can make pizzas tonight for school lunches. This is last week of term, so I'll have to think about how to adjust the shopping to allow for the kids being home next week. Yesterday was the cafe trip, but we kept it pretty low ($9.50 for the two of us) and we'll go back to free dog walking next week! My kids always get a bit ratty and frazzled when it's nearing the end of term, so the occasional treat does wonders.

I've cleared most of my workload in order to deal with an urgent and well paying job that's due to land tonight, but now it's looking like it might not happen. That means I get a few clear days to concentrate on business development, but it also makes it touch and go whether I'll have enough income in September to meet my outgoings, and I just used up most of my business buffer last month because some software subscriptions came due in the same week as I bought a new phone. Ah well - panic is often a great motivator.

Tacos tonight, roast chicken and veg tomorrow, and Thursday evening there's a school event at which they serve soup and bread rolls so that makes life easier.

VelvetFreak

I know what you mean, re. the shopping, Ace.

I've realised over time how much of those things I've had to cut out if I want to stick to any kind of a budget. Still somehow manage to buy plenty of crap though. I've realised that you don't have to buy SO much stuff/ingredients to have a nice meal. For example, if I would make pizza I would buy every topping imaginable, if I wanted salad would do the same thing. I am learning that it's not necessary to be so over-the-top like that.

Hope the job pulls through for you!

P.S, Awesome homemade chocolate muesli bar recipe can be found here
http://www.economicaleats.com/2009/08/chewy-chocolate-chip-granola-bars.html

armchairexpert

Oooh, thank you! Might give that a go. Managed to make a pizza this morning (pre made base) for the girls: olives, sun dried tomato strips, salami, it'll last them three days which will be end of term.

Electricity bill through today. I've been dreading this, because our house is large, powered entirely by electricity (no gas), and I work from home and also Mr E feels the cold a lot. And electricity prices just went up by 20%. So for three months, it came to $1150. Eye watering. It's the most expensive three months of the year, and in fact our consumption is down from last year but prices are up. Must save for those solar panels. I haven't been budgeting enough in YNAB for this: I would have enough if I'd started budgeting in spring, because obviously it's much cheaper then and I can build a buffer, but I started at the end of summer so no buffer. I'm $150 short for this one, which I can cover but booo.

Household NSD yesterday and hopefully the same today. I sent Mr E a screenshot of his personal budget and also what I call 'Household Variable': groceries and things. Might have scared him, because he hasn't spent a cent!

armchairexpert

Gosh, it never rains but it pours. Unexpected strata fee today - well, not unexpected, but there've been some extra expenses over the past few months in this category that have used up my pot so I'm $250 short this month. I'm also short on the Emergency Services Levy because I forgot about it entirely when I set YNAB up, so that's an extra $300 this month. I didn't have enough in the power bill category, that was $150 extra. And Mr E needs a $500 procedure this month, which I split over this month and last, so another $250 there. All in all, I'm down $1300, which is quite astonishing when I look at it. I'm covering it by a combination of not putting anything into emergency funds, savings funds, etc., and also contributing an extra $500 from my business. Needless to say, no overpayment this month.

Plus, while I'm complaining: my mother's unit needs a new air conditioner and heater: currently she has one of each, both old and rattling and inefficient, and summer's on its way. That's going to cost about $1000 with installation for a new reverse cycle unit. She also needs a ceiling fan in her bedroom, another $500. We also need a ceiling fan in our bedroom, same price. All that's to be saved up for.

The girls' birthdays are November/December, and of course there's Christmas. I think I have enough in each of those pots if I add bits in October and November, although I haven't got much of a clue about how much those things cost. Mr E's mum and sister are coming over for Christmas this year, and he likes to be lavish in terms of food and drink. We do have a fair collection of good red wines, left over from before I stopped drinking, which can be brought out, but his family like their gin and white wine and liqueurs, too.

Ooof. On the bright side, Mr E is away for ten days in October, which should garner some decent overtime, although there's rumblings that the budget is tight and he might just get the time back as flexi later on. Not as useful.

greent

Can Mr E's mum and sister not contribute at Christmas - at the very least by bringing along some bottles of their favourite tipples?
x

armchairexpert

Oh, I'm sure they will. They're not ungenerous types. That's the least of my long pile of problems! But you know how it is at Christmas, it's all about overly-lavish spreads, and the culture of Mr E's family is such that not doing that is not an option.

armchairexpert

Well, another day looms. Should be an NSD: Big Girl has ballet and Little Girl and I will take Doggie for a walk. Have informed Mr E that October is tight, about which he seemed unperturbed. Helps that he's away for ten days of it and won't be near any shops - he'll be out bush, as Australians say.

I've been invited to quote for an ongoing job that will, if I get it, replace the client I fired for double the money and the same amount of money - and mean I've reached my next income target. My income fluctuates, because I'm self employed, but I try and aim for a certain benchmark of regular work from ongoing clients and then any one-off jobs I get after that are a bonus/go into my business savings account. This quote would see my guaranteed income go up enough that I can put $3,000 into the household accounts every month plus start putting a tiny bit into superannuation (my pension).

armchairexpert

Lovely weekend behind us. It's the school holidays, and Mr E has taken this week off (I have next week off, we usually split rather than pay for child care) so I get to do proper long working days without school run, bliss. We have mostly been pottering around the house, but yesterday we went down to a seafront market and poked around all the vintage bric-a-brac shops. Little Girl is obsessed with ornaments and nic-nacs.

I bought two books, $2 each, to christen the new bookshelf Mr E is finishing this week. Big Girl found a gorgeous dress for $10, Little Girl picked a rainbow slinky and a cat ornament, we packed a picnic (I give Mr E some grief in this diary, so let the record show that he was the one to make sandwiches and pack a picnic to keep costs down) and then splurged on ice cream. Mr E found a pewter dish, signed by the artist, for $3. Not bad for an entire day out and everybody happy and tired at the end of it.

I'm finding it easier and easier to not spend money. A couple of months ago I was feeling so deprived about not having much spending money: one breakfast in a cafe and a new book and the week's budget was gone! But now, a breakfast in a cafe plus a new book seems like a lot to be able to buy every week, and I'm not doing that any more. This is the thing about budgeting I wish people knew and could believe: it genuinely does get easier as the habits ingrain.