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

System

Thanks TOPM , will be doing a gluten free version of the flapjack, just need some more syrup from shopping today.

Hoping you get a dry tent and happy children and hubby returning later .
You have had a bad month , but if the end result is that your debt has gone down then all is not lost. Maybe you need to reevaluate the pots that have taken a bashing this month , for next year.

enthusiasticsaver

I am puzzled. Your income on soa (on average month?) shows as around £3100 but you are aiming for maximum spend of £3900? Is the extra £800 coming from your erratic income?

I actually don't think that you have done that bad this month as the kids have been off school, you have had 4 trips away and the debt has gone down albeit by £120 rather than the normal £500 or so. Budgeting for summer holidays for you is a must though if you are not going to stop the trips. Start in September so you have a decent pot by next summer.

Looking at your soa I think if you are still spending £550 on food for a month for 2 adults and 3 children that is a lot. I know you were trying to get this down but shopping in Aldi and cooking from scratch as you do should be lower than that. That might be an area to focus on. Try no extra treats and no alcohol for a few weeks to see if it makes a difference. You may already have brought it down in which case well done.

Treadingonplaymobil

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

I am puzzled. Your income on soa (on average month?) shows as around £3100 but you are aiming for maximum spend of £3900? Is the extra £800 coming from your erratic income?

I actually don't think that you have done that bad this month as the kids have been off school, you have had 4 trips away and the debt has gone down albeit by £120 rather than the normal £500 or so. Budgeting for summer holidays for you is a must though if you are not going to stop the trips. Start in September so you have a decent pot by next summer.

Looking at your soa I think if you are still spending £550 on food for a month for 2 adults and 3 children that is a lot. I know you were trying to get this down but shopping in Aldi and cooking from scratch as you do should be lower than that. That might be an area to focus on. Try no extra treats and no alcohol for a few weeks to see if it makes a difference. You may already have brought it down in which case well done.

Yes, the extra each month has come from my self employed income, which is why it has come as such a shock to me this month to have no income, as I have been propping up our budgets massively with my SE income. It wouldn't be inaccurate to say I have been in total denial about this.

I have been tracking food shopping very carefully this month, and the culprits are becoming clearer, will do a bit of a roundup of it when home, but basically it's not the weekly shop that's the issue, but the little extras - grabbing lunch from the supermarket, an extra bottle of booze to take to lunch at a friend's (and grabbing nice crisps, snacks and treats while in there), etc, that we're not planning and managing at all. This month is unusual due to summer hols and being away a lot, but I'm definitely getting closer to managing it.

enthusiasticsaver

So you know where the extra £800 has been spent then as the soa shows spend of £3100 so one or more of your budgets is being massively overspent. Can you limit your supermarket visits to just two a week and no grabbing lunches out and take packed lunches from home and maybe just one bottle of wine a week? It sounds like your socialising budget is maybe one of the culprits towards your £800 overspend but it would be difficult to see how that could add so much on to your spends unless you are out every night.

Is that you or your OH who is to blame for buying lunches/treats/alcohol?

Treadingonplaymobil

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

So you know where the extra £800 has been spent then as the soa shows spend of £3100 so one or more of your budgets is being massively overspent. Can you limit your supermarket visits to just two a week and no grabbing lunches out and take packed lunches from home and maybe just one bottle of wine a week? It sounds like your socialising budget is maybe one of the culprits towards your £800 overspend but it would be difficult to see how that could add so much on to your spends unless you are out every night.

Is that you or your OH who is to blame for buying lunches/treats/alcohol?

I'd like to blame DH entirely, but actually it's a fairly even split of uselessness! I'm struggling to find time to do much more than keep up to date with YNAB at the moment, but I'll take a proper look at it at some stage and have another breakdown of the overspends. We've only spent £2,900 so far this month though, so absolutely miles under previous months (amazing what you can do when the money isn't actually there ).

System

TOPM lovely plum flapjack in the freezer. Thank you .

Treadingonplaymobil

Lovely to be back home after a full week away from home. Four whole days here before heading off for the last trip of the summer. Lots of things to get done though.

to do today
1. as much preserving as I can fit in. Did quite a lot.
2. respond to the other work query I got yesterday - funny how it picks back up for September. Done.
3. get even further ahead on regular contract work. done, but not as much as I hoped.
4. make green veg quiche for picnic dinner. Done.
5. more website planning stuff. Done.
6. take some photos for social media - have neglected this slightly over the summer. Not done.
7. order a cheap waterproof coat for walking holiday. Not done, but my mum has loaned me hers, so no need to spend anything at all just now.

to do this week
1. plan DS1's birthday with him (this fell by the wayside last week).
2. tax return - I have a feeling this needs to be done to apply for the 30 hours funding for DC3. No idea how I'm going to fit it in!
3. dry out the tent if DH brings it home wet (although the weather is looking positive at the moment!). Yay, it came home dry!
4. uniform and shoe shopping for the DC (weep).
5. check any other supplies needed for walking holiday (I think we have everything we need though).
6. Start a list of camping supplies that need replacing/repairing for next year - will he much better to do that in stages over the winter than in one big spend next May.

to do this month
1. Pay some extra off the MBNA card - I'd like this card gone asap. More than the £15 I managed in July would be nice. Well that's not going to happen.
2. Find ourselves with more than £228 in the savings account on 31st August. Ha. Ha. Ha.
3. Keep that overall spend figure down below £3,900 (baby steps!)
4. business planning and scheduling, so that I am ready to start making some immediate profit in September when DC3 starts preschool. Ongoing.
5. think outside the box with the food budget and keep a close eye on anywhere it might be going wrong.
6. Try not to need the child benefit money to balance August’s money, so it can go towards Septmber’s (it is paid four weekly, which is currently falling towards the back end of the month, so I have balanced the budget to work without it, and will aim to put it towards September’s income rather than August’s. We’ll see). Again; Ha. Ha. Ha.

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 28: Day 2

Morning! Sat here in front of an enormous pile of camping equipment that needs to go away until next year. I'm quite sad all the camping is over. But looking forward to having a week's holiday in just a few days.

I need to try to apply for the 30 hours funding for DC3 today. Slightly panicking that I'll need to get my tax return done in order to get it (my income for 15/16 isn't high enough, my income for 16/17 is plenty high enough but I haven't done my tax return for it yet). So going to get online to do the form first thing and find out, because if I do then I need to do it over the next two days, in between looking after the DC. Argh!

to do today
1. 30 hours funding application
2. clear work emails.
3. start tax return if necessary.
4. menu plan and mysupermarket.
5. tidy camping gear.
6. laundry.
7. remove my rather chipped manicure.
8. start a packing list for holiday.
9. add my CC to YNAB and balance the budgets (I have used a CC that I never use and had a zero balance, so it's not even on YNAB).

to do this week
1. plan DS1's birthday with him (this fell by the wayside last week).
2. tax return - I have a feeling this needs to be done to apply for the 30 hours funding for DC3. No idea how I'm going to fit it in!
3. dry out the tent if DH brings it home wet (although the weather is looking positive at the moment!). Yay, it came home dry!
4. uniform and shoe shopping for the DC (weep).
5. check any other supplies needed for walking holiday (I think we have everything we need though).
6. Start a list of camping supplies that need replacing/repairing for next year - will he much better to do that in stages over the winter than in one big spend next May.

to do this month
1. Pay some extra off the MBNA card - I'd like this card gone asap. More than the £15 I managed in July would be nice. Well that's not going to happen.
2. Find ourselves with more than £228 in the savings account on 31st August. Ha. Ha. Ha.
3. Keep that overall spend figure down below £3,900 (baby steps!)
4. business planning and scheduling, so that I am ready to start making some immediate profit in September when DC3 starts preschool. Ongoing.
5. think outside the box with the food budget and keep a close eye on anywhere it might be going wrong.
6. Try not to need the child benefit money to balance August’s money, so it can go towards Septmber’s (it is paid four weekly, which is currently falling towards the back end of the month, so I have balanced the budget to work without it, and will aim to put it towards September’s income rather than August’s. We’ll see). Again; Ha. Ha. Ha.[/QUOTE]

Treadingonplaymobil

Well the childcare application is in, with no proof of income asked for, but it says I might not get a decision on the funding for up to 7 days, so I think I'm going to have to prepae my tax return just in case they suddenly say I haven't earned enough. Grr.

Cherryfudge

It's amazing how much can be fitted in to an hour early in the day. Hopefully it will all just go through smoothly but I guess that tax return had better be in the wings, just in case.

Good work