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

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 38: Day 2

You know, typing out that week/day number at the top every day is such a good reminder of either how far I've come or how far there is to go, depending on my mood. Sometimes I think 'Oh my gosh, I've been at this nearly A YEAR, yay me.' Other times I think 'there are SO MANY weeks, months and years to go, arghhhh.' Either way, I'm pleased that I've stuck at it, even with all the ups and downs. The amount we've paid off isn't impressive, but it is being paid off.

Just had a rough tot up of the debt. I can't do exact figures due to not being able to log in to anything, but I think that the debt has gone up roughly £100 since my tot up on the 8th (to about £55,280), which given how bad things were at the start of the month, I'm not unhappy with. I haven't yet paid off the MBNA card, so November will get that boost (although it will also have Christmas shopping to balance that out)

Won't be too heartbroken to wave the DC off to school today - half term was great for them to recharge, but they were knackered, we didn't do anything wildly exciting, it all felt very functional rather than a great bonding time, so I'm not as sad to see them go back to school as I sometimes am.

Have done a preliminary draft of November's budget in YNAB. After my salary and child benefit are added in to DH's already-there salary, there's still around £90 spare in the budget, which is totally unheard of. I'm going to just add it straight onto the Christmas pot now, so it doesn't get sucked up with other things.

Oh, I was reading an interesting article on the 50/20/30 budgeting rule the other day. Have you come across it? The idea that 50% of the budget should be on essentials (rent, utilities, minimum CC payments, bare minimum clothes budget, basic food etc), 20% on discretionary spending (nicer clothes, mobile phones, activities etc) and 30% on financial goals (extra to debt payments/saving for future etc). I know mine in no way reflects this - we no doubt pay far more on 'essentials', which encompasses the minimum payments on our debts, and nothing on 'financial goals' as we pay nothing over the minimum debt payment most of the time. I also wonder what percentage we spend on discretionary stuff. Might add it up later.

Still waiting to hear provisional yes from mortgage broker about the remortgage, and even once that's happened there will be a wait for valuation etc (it's dependent on house value having gone up). I'm not remaining terribly optimistic.

To do today
1. laundry and ironing (too boring to even separate out into two items).
2. check expiry date on partnership card - it either expires this month or next and I haven't received a new one yet. I'm going to need it at some stage for Christmas shopping!
3. tidy our room, it has become such a dumping ground recently.
4. hoover as much house as possible - my dust allergy has been a total pain since we started having the heating on occasionally, which lifts all the dust out of the radiators.
5. browse the two photo stock sites I have subscriptions for and download images (this is for work) so I can cancel the subscriptions I've had for two months - the number of images I get with those two months should be enough for the website for 6-9 months so no need to keep up the sub any longer, but not sure if I'll be able to use the unused credits once I cancel the sub.
6. knitting - trying to finish my scarf so i can start on Christmas knitting, but will need to abandon it until after Christmas if not done soon.
7. catch up with some other work admin bits and bobs.

To do this week
1. declutter and tidy DCs' bedroom.
2. declutter and tidy our bedroom.
3. plan November's budget.
4. Plan November working time/business goals etc. Done.

To do this month
1. keep the total spend for the month below £3,500. Well on track for this (around £3,100 expected), although haven't added to savings pots this month.
2. work a sensible number of hours, even if it means slower progress on the work and debt front. September was rubbish. This is going well so far, with the odd hiccup.
3. make any homemade Christmas gifts. I think things like candles and knitting will have to carry over into November. Where did this month go?

Verbatim

Thank you for your wonderful daily diary. I look forward to starting my day reading how you are doing. Well done on finishing (almost) the month with left over money.

enthusiasticsaver

We used to follow that rule of no more than 50% on essentials and 20% on discretionary and remaining 30% saved although we included saving for holidays, home improvements and pensions in that 30%. it worked brilliantly for us but we were lucky enough to have secure employment and an aversion to debt (as I was an arrears counsellor). Something to aim for once the debt is sorted.

System

If I have time later I am going to see how far of the above % I am, will give me something to aim for.

enthusiasticsaver

Cumbria_lass wrote: »

If I have time later I am going to see how far of the above % I am, will give me something to aim for.

It is definitely an eye opener. We were always on reasonable incomes but even so when we calculated monthly repayments on loans for things we wanted rather than needed it would tip us over the 50% so anyone with large debt would find the 20% discretionary and 30% for future goals stretched. So it is small wonder that anyone in high debt finds it very hard to live without juggling money.

Treadingonplaymobil

Ha. Just did a very rough tot up of where our percentage spends go. On essentials (minimum debt payments, utilities, £350pm on food, fuel for commuting, car maintenance costs, TV license and landline/free internet) we spend 77% of our income. I think it's safe to say we're a fair way off that ideal spending ratio... Makes me feel better in a way, as it makes it even more clear (as if that were needed) why we struggle so much to make things balance each month. BUT if we were debt free our essentials would be a cool 55% of income, which is a great theoretical balance. So the basics are there, it's just the minor issue of the £55k debt standing in the way of a nice ratio. Details, details. :rotfl:

Mortgage broker has asked for more proof of my income - never sure whether that's good or not, but it does irritate me that all an employed person has to do is produce a couple of bank statements and a P60, and I have to produce three years annual statements and tax returns. Madness. As if what I earned three years ago has any bearing on my earnings this year - I could have saved every penny or spent it three times over, the raw number is really fairly meaningless. Luckily my income doesn't change much so no drama there anyway.

To do today
1. laundry and ironing (too boring to even separate out into two items). Laundry done, am mid-ironing and procrastinating, hence posting on here.
2. check expiry date on partnership card - it either expires this month or next and I haven't received a new one yet. I'm going to need it at some stage for Christmas shopping! Expires end of Nov, will call at some point to check new one is on its way.
3. tidy our room, it has become such a dumping ground recently. A bit done. More progress needed.
4. hoover as much house as possible - my dust allergy has been a total pain since we started having the heating on occasionally, which lifts all the dust out of the radiators. Not done.
5. browse the two photo stock sites I have subscriptions for and download images (this is for work) so I can cancel the subscriptions I've had for two months - the number of images I get with those two months should be enough for the website for 6-9 months so no need to keep up the sub any longer, but not sure if I'll be able to use the unused credits once I cancel the sub. Done, subs cancelled. This has been hanging on my to do list for a few days so pleased to get it cleared away.
6. knitting - trying to finish my scarf so i can start on Christmas knitting, but will need to abandon it until after Christmas if not done soon. Done, was really nice to sit and knit for half an hour, and i'm further through my scarf than I thought, yay.
7. catch up with some other work admin bits and bobs. Some progress made. Seem to have an alarmingly long list for tomorrow though. Better get that ironing finished today I suppose.

To do this week
1. declutter and tidy DCs' bedroom.
2. declutter and tidy our bedroom.
3. Plan November's budget. Done.
4. Plan November working time/business goals etc. Done.

To do this month
1. keep the total spend for the month below £3,500. Well on track for this (around £3,100 expected), although haven't added to savings pots this month.
2. work a sensible number of hours, even if it means slower progress on the work and debt front. September was rubbish. This is going well so far, with the odd hiccup.
3. make any homemade Christmas gifts. I think things like candles and knitting will have to carry over into November. Where did this month go?[/QUOTE]

DrSpendLittle

All sounds good, TOPM! JL cut it very fine when sending through new Partnership cards! I recently received mine about two weeks before the other expired :eek:

armchairexpert

I looked at this the other day because I was also wondering why I find it so hard to balance things. Ours looks like this:

Essentials: includes mortgage, rates, bills, food, school fees (this is just the $400/pa per child that covers stationery and things, they're not in a private school), medical costs, mobile phones and internet (We're sim-only deals for phones, there's no percentage for buying the actual phone included, so as far as I'm concerned this is an essential not a luxury): 70% of income.
Discretionary: includes all clothes, toiletries, haircuts, spending money, family entertainment, extra curriculars, pet costs: 18% of income.
Savings: 12% of income on a good month. Includes emergency funds and short term savings goals as well as (entirely theoretical) long term goals.

We don't have debts, but we do run a second property for my Mum and her rent falls short of covering the costs by quite a lot. I'm still always mystified by these percentages, though, because I have always felt as if we're on a pretty good income, and I know people with far higher mortgages than mine who seem to have far more spending money.

Sorry for long hijackey post!

Cherryfudge

armchairexpert wrote: »

Discretionary: includes all clothes,

Amazing what I never knew about Australian society. :rotfl:;)

armchairexpert

We are very laid back okay don't judge us