£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

Cherryfudge

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

I have the first Jack Monroe book (there may be more?) and we have a couple of recipes from it as staples, but I will give it another read for more ideas.

Same here: the carrot & coriander soup is a go-to recipe. If you ever find out how to make those bean burgers stick together, though, please tell me! My one attempt fell to bits.

I think there are now 2 more books but I haven't read them (yet).

KxMx

I know i've suggested local market before for fruit & veg but today I have examples
Passed on Strawberries because they were £2 a punnet and I like to buy at a cheaper price even though I am an addict. Iceland have had £1.69 punnets but alas also £2 today
Anyway, my £3 spend on £1 bowls netted me 6 meduim/large Fuji apples, 1.1kg of green grapes and 15 kiwi fruit. Pretty happy especially with the latter two.

Treadingonplaymobil

Managed to get DC1 safely off to cub camp, although the weather is absolutely atrocious - hope they don't get washed away! Similarly bad forecast for our first day of camping tomorrow, but our tent is enormous, so it's not too bad once it's up. And the forecast for the following days is ok.

Was hoping for a NSD today but ended up having to buy some medication - a recurrent (mild) health issue I have cropped up, and it's basically the same price to buy over the counter medication as get a prescription, so I did that. And also realised we needed paracetamol and ibuprofen for the DC, so bought own brand versions of those while I was in the shop.

to do today
1. WEED FRONT GARDEN. It will be a forest by the time we get home if I don't. Mostly done, hoping to get the last few bits done in the morning if the weather holds.
2. Bake cakes for DC1's cub camp. Done.
3. Tidy the lego. Shockingly DH has not put it away. Done.
4. Social media for work. Not done.
5. Squeeze in a bit of work once DH is home. Done, although not as much as I would have liked.
6. Ironing. Not done.
7. remove gel polish in case it chips while camping - I hate the discomfort of things catching on it. Done.
8. Put an iron on patch on DC1's trousers before he goes, so they last the weekend - hate buying new stuff for cub camp, last year they all had their shoes stolen overnight by a youth group camping nearby, and he lost something else I think. Done.
9. pack orders for smaller business. Done.

to do this week
1. charity shop run. Donations still cluttering up hallway.
2. take snacks and picnics for days out with the children - no unplanned cafe trips! This is going surprisingly well, one planned and underwhelming trip yesterday.
3. pack for camping. Done!
4. buy walking boots. Done, for DH, DC2 and me. Hurrah!
5. make a decision on house extension and email architect. Done.

Aims for July
1. Pay some extra off the MBNA card - I'd like this card gone asap. Well, a whopping £15 paid on top of the minimum payment so far, hoping to make another payment before end of month.
2. Pay for camping holiday commitments out of self employed income rather than adding to debt. So far so good, but there is one more camping trip to cover in August.
3. Stick to the budget even more closely than in June!

quintwins

Hope your ok.

Have fun putting a tent up in the rain/wind :eek: seriously tho have a fab time camping.

Treadingonplaymobil

Has anyone found a way around this trivial issue in YNAB?

When DH gets paid, I used to assign the whole salary to category called 'next month's money', which was fine, as it just sat there, but it meant I couldn't assign any categories before the 1st of the new month. So this month I tried assigning it to categories in August while we are still in July. All well and good, and because I have assigned every last penny of it, my available balance for July (and August) shows as zero. BUT if I overspend or add to any categories in July, it continues to just show as £0 (and green) rather than a negative balance and red. Of course, if I flick forward to august, that balance is showing as negative and red, because I have overspent in July.

I know that obviously I can just do the maths on what I can afford, but I'm finding it's a very 'out of sight, out of mind' situation as the red negative number isn't immediately visible to me.

I imagine it's one of those things I just have to deal with.

Treadingonplaymobil

In other news, I'm feeling very pleased with my very waterproof new walking boots, as I don't own any wellies. Bought not a minute too soon!

Wysiwyg49

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

Has anyone found a way around this trivial issue in YNAB?

When DH gets paid, I used to assign the whole salary to category called 'next month's money', which was fine, as it just sat there, but it meant I couldn't assign any categories before the 1st of the new month. So this month I tried assigning it to categories in August while we are still in July. All well and good, and because I have assigned every last penny of it, my available balance for July (and August) shows as zero. BUT if I overspend or add to any categories in July, it continues to just show as £0 (and green) rather than a negative balance and red. Of course, if I flick forward to august, that balance is showing as negative and red, because I have overspent in July...

I have YNAB 4 not the new subscription one, and what I do is split the income (Split->multiple categories) and make part of it "Income for July" and part of it "Income for August" (or whatever). Then you only have available in July what you have assigned as income for that month. So at the moment, even though I have £1250 "stashed" in August, if I overspend on my July categories it shows as red. I have to do it like that because I get paid on a weird date and need to reserve some for the first part of the next month! Maybe that will help?

XSpender

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

Has anyone found a way around this trivial issue in YNAB?

When DH gets paid, I used to assign the whole salary to category called 'next month's money', which was fine, as it just sat there, but it meant I couldn't assign any categories before the 1st of the new month. So this month I tried assigning it to categories in August while we are still in July. All well and good, and because I have assigned every last penny of it, my available balance for July (and August) shows as zero. BUT if I overspend or add to any categories in July, it continues to just show as £0 (and green) rather than a negative balance and red. Of course, if I flick forward to august, that balance is showing as negative and red, because I have overspent in July.

I know that obviously I can just do the maths on what I can afford, but I'm finding it's a very 'out of sight, out of mind' situation as the red negative number isn't immediately visible to me.

I imagine it's one of those things I just have to deal with.

I'm not keen on this feature in new YNAB either and haven't found a solution. I pay my DPIL for looking after DS and their loan on the last working day of July out of August's pay so I have this issue every month. I either allocate the August pay to it in July and don't allocate any in August or I enter it as paid in July and then change the date to the 1st when it is the 1st just to keep everything in the right pay month. I tend to do this with all payments made from pay day to the 1st but as I get paid right at the end of the month it isn't that many transactions.

In an ideal world I would have enough 'buffer' to cover everything paid at the end of July and not start using August's money until the 1st but I have a long way to go before I have £500+ just sat there!

I would be interested to hear f there is a better way of doing it.

oldskintwithyoungkids

hi

just started dipping into your posts and am really impressed with the control you have taken of your finances. I have skimmed over the financial info and will look again to see if ideas can help us. Can i ask if you have tried to reduce the mortgage outgoings? 698 per month seems a bit high?

sorry i am old so if the text i write is a bit slow......its because i am

db2016

hi, ive read all your diary over the last week or so (i nipped on forums to ask some questions and found myself getting hooked on diaries and read a couple from start to date lately!)

I may have a couple of suggestions:

You could try more downshifting of products?

Is making your own bread etc, really cheaper than buying? can you cost them and see, or maybe bulk buy ingredients to save on per use basis?

and i've noticed a couple of times you mentioning train travel, could you not use buses, or for longer distances coaches such as megabus? they tend to do very good deals, and im lead to believe from reading news stories etc that trains are expensive? i've not had to use them pretty much ever.. so wouldnt know personally.

and also the coffee shops / unexpected drinks or snacks needed when you forget.... if its you need a drink, DOES it really have to be chain / high price coffee shops? I get the idea of "going for a coffee" even though i dont do it, and thats a treat or a catch up with friends etc, but if you just need to get one because you have forgotten, they could be alternatives perhaps.

but i guess thats a habit to break in general looking at your spends and diary, you seem to be of the middle class aspirations, when thats fine, but (sorry to mention it again) pricey basic items such as washing up bowls etc arent really going to be much different from any from a pound shop or wilkos (yes i know you didnt go for the expensive one in the end, just saying).

and i totally get that its a mindset, and tbf its probably a gender thing too (i'm male) and as such, gadgets yes i like decent kit, but most of household stuff is functional and thats it! I don't have a.... oooh that goes with such as such in the kitchen or house mentality lol, a spoon is a spoon, or a mug a mug, it serves its purpose and thats all it needs to do :rotfl:

that's a point actually, all the diaries i've come across seem to be (judging by writing styles and usernames), written by women / mothers... i wonder if there's any male based diaries on here, it'd be interesting to see the difference in attitude and take on things.

also another thought, i dont know if its transferrable, but theres a website fiverr - which as name suggests lists people willing to do jobs for 5 usd, £5, 5 euro etc, as a start price. . . . do you have any skills that you could do ? i have used it to get a design template i needed photoshopping for photographs.. and was very pleased with the results. you post up a job or enquire about one and then it connects people etc.

i seem to be hearing about it more and more especially from small or home businesses using it for business stationary designs or logos etc and know a couple of web designer mates who offer services on there.. things that come easy to them 10 min jobs, and can get an attractive EXTRA hourly wage from it if they have a queue of easy jobs.