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

warby68

Shopping for nice things is your personal 'go to' reward.

The easiest way to avoid temptation is to simply not look and do something else instead. It worked for me years ago, I just stopped going to physical shops - there were a variety of reasons at the time but it soon became clear to me you don't miss what you don't see. Online shopping is a more subtle trap these days but really, if you can train yourself not to go browsing at things to buy its an end in itself. If you really need a 'fix' perhaps you could browse for things that are in the budget now such as Christmas and take advantage of sales and bargains to buy for the children.

PS Before you think that's a bit holier than thou, I'm still as tempted by nice things as the next person and am in recent possession of a rather nice Joseph Joseph loo brush myself !! But simply not looking most of the time is actually a good cure on a day to day basis and easier than I ever thought.

PPS You sound worryingly like you are 'nesting' - hope that's not the case either

PPPS In all fairness, your budget is very light and tight on personal spending for both you and OH. If it wasn't for the dratted extension, I would suggest relaxing a bit more to build in a little pleasure money to help keep you going for the longer term you need.

wishingthemortgaheaway

Your situation TOPM seems to be known as 'YNAB Broke' you have money, but it all has a job and none of it is to spend as you wish.

Treadingonplaymobil

wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »

Your situation TOPM seems to be known as 'YNAB Broke' you have money, but it all has a job and none of it is to spend as you wish.

This is my life! :rotfl:

Treadingonplaymobil

warby68 wrote: »

Shopping for nice things is your personal 'go to' reward.

The easiest way to avoid temptation is to simply not look and do something else instead. It worked for me years ago, I just stopped going to physical shops - there were a variety of reasons at the time but it soon became clear to me you don't miss what you don't see. Online shopping is a more subtle trap these days but really, if you can train yourself not to go browsing at things to buy its an end in itself. If you really need a 'fix' perhaps you could browse for things that are in the budget now such as Christmas and take advantage of sales and bargains to buy for the children.

PS Before you think that's a bit holier than thou, I'm still as tempted by nice things as the next person and am in recent possession of a rather nice Joseph Joseph loo brush myself !! But simply not looking most of the time is actually a good cure on a day to day basis and easier than I ever thought.

PPS You sound worryingly like you are 'nesting' - hope that's not the case either

PPPS In all fairness, your budget is very light and tight on personal spending for both you and OH. If it wasn't for the dratted extension, I would suggest relaxing a bit more to build in a little pleasure money to help keep you going for the longer term you need.

This is so true - I don't actually go to RL shops much, but time browsing online is a real 'soother' for me, a treat when I need to relax. And obviously it leads to more desire to spend. Good point to note.

NO NESTING HERE. God, I would never survive another child :eek: .

Treadingonplaymobil

Updating my list as I am making good progress today...

Three things to do today
1. Pack and post order for smaller business.
2. Update appointment calendar to show availability.
3. Product listings for smaller business.
4. Print recycling info out and tape it up so DH and the DC stop asking me which recycling bin everything needs to go in.
5. pack the other order that came in this morning right after I put everything away from packing the first order! And then nip out and post it.
6. Make a slightly awkward phone call to a client, that I don't want to make.

DawnW

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

Of course, I do have my eye on a really tasteful (erm, expensive) loo brush as a reward for hitting my next debt milestone, but let's gloss over that for now.

As far as I am concerned, loo brushes are a thing that need to be replaced frequently, however much you pay. I did once buy quite a nice one, when we had our bathroom done, that came in a white ceramic holder. I am sure it didn't measure up to your £50 washing up bowl standards :eek: as it certainly didn't cost anything like that, but it looked quite tasteful and nice, as good quality white ceramics do. A few months on, and the brush needed to be replaced again, as these things do. I hit upon the idea of keeping the nice white ceramic holder (which is very easy to keep clean, and practical in that you can put a little disinfectant in the bottom if you wish) but putting a replacement pound shop loo brush in it each time. The loo brushes are white plastic, and only the handle shows when it is in the holder. It looks pretty much the same as the white plastic loo brush that originally came in the nice ceramic thingy, but costs all of £1 to replace each time. One to ponder perhaps?

I do think / worry about putting yucky old plastic loo brushes in the refuse bin every few months, and you may have a solution to this - can you get them made from bamboo or something for example? And if so is it as easy to clean / hygenic as plastic?

XSpender

wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »

Your situation TOPM seems to be known as 'YNAB Broke' you have money, but it all has a job and none of it is to spend as you wish.

This is so me too. :rotfl:


I never feel flush anymore, even after we are both paid and there's thousands sitting in the bank as I never look at the actual bank balance (unless I am checking my entries in YNAB), even available to budget is always at zero 'cos it's all allocated.

Treadingonplaymobil

Did lots of walking today (thanks to forgetting my posting the first time I walked into town) and I feel so much better for it. Wish I had the time to fit a good hour or two walking into each day.

Toilet brushes - there are various wooden/natural bristle ones (I have never ordered from Trouva, no idea if they're reliable, so please don't take that as a recommendation, just the first one I found), but they are slightly expensive given that eventually they're going to need changing - I'm not obsessive about changing ours all the time, but I don't like them hanging around forever. Also biodegradable items are only really worth it if you intend to put them in with your garden waste/recycling, as they don't break down well in landfill - I would stick one of these in my garden waste. The other option is one with changeable heads, which at least minimises the amount that gets thrown away each time, although the head for that one is practically as much as a whole wooden brush, so maybe just the wooden brush and a nice tin bucket to put it in is the solution. I much prefer brushes with brown/black bristles as they don't discolour, so as long as you keep them hygienic they can go on a lot longer. White bristles is just madness.

XSpender ours is always all allocated in YNAB too. Nothing brings on a spending spree for me like unallocated money!

Three things (and another three) to do today
1. Pack and post order for smaller business.
2. Update appointment calendar to show availability.
3. Product listings for smaller business.
4. Print recycling info out and tape it up so DH and the DC stop asking me which recycling bin everything needs to go in.
5. pack the other order that came in this morning right after I put everything away from packing the first order! And then nip out and post it.
6. Make a slightly awkward phone call to a client, that I don't want to make.

arsenalbarnie

Omg you've gone and done it now. I've never heard of Trouva, love it!

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 55: Day 3

With all this talk of toilet brushes, sanitary products and toilet roll, I think I'm well on track to becoming the most bathroom-centric diary on here.

Having a quiet day of catching up again today - I am so appreciating the chance to do that this week after the past manic few weeks! It's been lovely to earn good money, and I am very open to earning more again very soon, but I m enjoying a bit of downtime between bits of work this week. Although feeling very aware that tomorrow when I pay myself I will no longer be three months ahead with my business account! Hoping my end of month invoicing pretty much tops me up.

Three things to do today
1. Confirm schedule for contract work.
2. Update next batch of product listings for smaller business.
3. Hem shorts for DC1's world book day costume.

Debt repayment:
- £1.72 last few days of February 'rounding down' pot (£195.17 already paid off CC debt so far this month)
- £1,241.97/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.