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

mummytogirls

Good Morning TOPM,

Found your diary and caught up last night, I have to say what a week you had last week!! So glad you've risen to the challenge and not thrown in the towel in xx

Treadingonplaymobil

Had a realisation today about my previous financial daftness. I made two sales today (I have a small online shop as well as my main business) and had a real comedown moment when I left the money in my business account rather than transferring it straight over to our joint account and merrily chucking 100% of it in the pot (with the ensuing joy of "ooh, look, I've got money!).

I've literally just realised that somewhere along the line I've mindlessly got into the habit of withdrawing everything from my business account every time anything is paid in, and then needing to pay it back the following month for my ongoing expenses. Which is really stupid, obviously, and was leaving me particularly short if I went on a spending spree with a high turnover one month then had no money left for higher stock replenishment costs the following month.

I feel very silly, being a semi-intelligent person who can do maths and things, but it was such a thoughtless habit I hadn't even realised i was doing it! I also realise now that I got a bit of a thrill doing the transfer each time, and I miss that moment of excitement of increasing the balance in our joint account (a 'fake' increase, obviously, as 50% of it needed to be paid back for stock). Interesting to start to unpick all these little habits that contributed to our debt.

JoJoC

You're really inspiring me with all this identification of bad habits! I'm trying to do a bit of that myself but not getting very far with the in between state that we are in with the finances this month!

You'll have to let us know how it works out in practice as time goes on and how you get on with not having that thrilling transferring feeling. I know the exact feeling you're talking about!

Treadingonplaymobil

Bit of a swimming through treacle day today, work wise, so I'm not feeling as far ahead as I'd like. Ready for the children to go back to school tomorrow so I can get back into my little weekly routine (child 3 has one of the whopping two hour sessions at preschool tomorrow, and I do enjoy that bit of peace and quiet while she's there, even if it is only about an hour by the time she's settled in and I'm back home!).

Treacle-like day has not helped with list progress...

To do today:
1. Go through the ‘spares’ box of bathroom supplies (shampoo, shower gel etc) and make a note of what’s in there, so things can be crossed off as they are used, to stop us duplicate buying things. Haven't done this. Whoops.
2. Again, do some social media while working today. Did do this!
3. Make fishcakes for dinner to use up tinned salmon in the cupboard. Did this, with a little help from DH, who sent me out for a walk while he finished cooking because I was feeling all cooped up after working all day.
4. Help DH make nice packed lunches to take to national trust house today - first time in a while they haven't gone to the cafe so it needs to be good enough to forestall any whinging! Done! And they didn't spend anything at all, which I'm really rather impressed with. I think total spends this weekend by DH are under a tenner, and half of that was a library fine that's been hanging around for ages on the card we share.
5. Make welshcakes. Done!

To do this week:
1. Sit down as a family (we have a weekly family meeting on a Monday, this seems a good time) and come up with ways to reduce water usage.
2. Look for paper/online copy of washing machine manual to see which cycle uses least water/energy, as part of an ongoing mission to reduce costs of both.
3. Log into ee - our last two bills have been c.£91, which is even more ridiculous than the £85 contract fee, so we’re clearly overspending somewhere.
4. find out how much preschool bill is for this month and pay it - they seem terrible at giving out invoices and I don’t want to inadvertently get into arrears!
5. Ask at school whether there is dressing up for world book day.

Mad week coming up with lots of work (mostly already paid, unfortunately for my budget, as I generally get paid in advance. Friday's work will bring in about £150 extra though), so I'm going to try not to overface myself with debt busting stuff and stick to the essentials.

angelpye

:j Evening!

Sounds like you are staying on top and really knuckling down tot he task. Well done to OH too for the support and resisting spending - with kids its so hard to stop spending even though most of the time they don't notice. Picnics are part of some of my best childhood memories.

As we both had our LBM fairly recently I am totally with you on the reflective period, its interesting what motivated us to do what we did. Although we now have the pain for paying for it all I think by the end of it life will be so much better than its ever been because we would have corrected all that nonsense.

Keep it up - you are doing great!

Bobarella

The family meetings sound like a good idea. Glad the kids had a good day out too.

The business account thing is an interesting one. Do you have an accountant? Mine has advised me of the level of wages I should be drawing each month. Anything over can be taken as a dividend. My point is, you need to be taking a wage so if you are taking money for that purpose, you shouldn't feel guilty.

It is a ball of worms how you should handle business finances. If you are not making enough and have to prop up your accounts (been there) then that is a rubbish thing but is it poor money management to pay yourself first? No.

enthusiasticsaver

I agree with Bobarella that you need to know the level of wages you can draw from your business or it is a hobby and not a wage earner. Similarly you need to leave enough in your business for stock turnover. Do you do your own bookkeeping? What about the tax side of your business?

You do seem to be watching every penny though so that is good and will help knock that debt down.

brizzledfw

If its any consolation the reason I got into my latest fix (after getting my DFD in 2014) is precisely because I raided my business account..and didn't leave myself for the tax payments at the end of the day..so then couldn't withdraw any money at all for about 3 months..which trashed my domestic accounts which relied on my drawings iyswim. Thank god for 0% CCs..

Anyway lesson learned and now 1) trying to save a significant proportion of our income for paying down debt; 2) trying to leave much more each month in the business account and 3) trying to hustle for extra work when I can. OH too. Telling the kids we need to watch it and why has been good as well..despite no family meetings (scarred by them as a child ).. mine are much older, teenagers, they are beginning to see that we can't just keep on frittering money away. Only today DD2 walked for about 4 miles to avoid using the bus and although she initially asked for some sweets, she then immediately stopped herself before I could respond and said it didn't matter..she didn't want to waste the money

Small victories..

EmmaMicawber

I'm enjoying reading your diary- will be following your journey- we've just started ours too (similar debt). I'm also a recent convert to YNAB - it makes such a difference, doesn't it.
Good Luck!

boxofpaws

brizzledfw wrote: »

Only today DD2 walked for about 4 miles to avoid using the bus and although she initially asked for some sweets, she then immediately stopped herself before I could respond and said it didn't matter..she didn't want to waste the money

Small victories..

That's pretty impressive. I wish I had been taught good habits like this.