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

Chrystal

Hope your day gets better TOPM and that the needed bonus arrives quickly. XX

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 58: Day 4

Sigh. DH's bonus 'should' be in next month's salary, according to the company. This is not a small employer, they really should have their act together in terms of telling employees when bonuses are being paid. I suppose it makes no real difference, apart from the fact I will rob my business account to balance YNAB, and we all know I won't pay it back when the bonus appears.

Yesterday's three things to do
1. Pack snacks and drinks to take to talk so I don't spend anything.
2. Plan parties/cakes/anything left to buy for birthdays.
3. Write and post a cart for friend's birthday on Saturday. Whoops.

Another super busy day. Client this morning, many work and house things to catch up on, then need to go food shopping this evening as DH is taking the car on the weekend to take the DCs to a relative - I am staying home as I have a client and acres of work to catch up on. I am really not enjoying this hectic week. Next week will be crazy busy too, but at least it will be focused on the DCs rather than work. My head feels all fizzy with the amount I have to do/that should be done - today was supposed to be my quiet catch up day but has become a client day because of the snow on the weekend. And I have overspent further on things like cake decorations, party stuff and random extra things because I won't have time to make things or think about creative solutions to make it nice, I just need the problem resolved and to go away. Gaaaaaaah.

Three things to do today
1. Yoga after client - no time this morning.
2. Write and post a cart for friend's birthday on Saturday.
3. Menu plan and food shopping.

Debt repayment:
- £22.77/31 March rounding down pot.
- £1,608.78/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.

wishingthemortgaheaway

It's tough this living/working/budgeting lark isn't it???

You have made such huge steps forward in your money spending ways over the last year. And, this week is not the week to necessarily change another habit, but please let me leave this here for you to think about when your head is in a better space.

I think you have to stop 'pre-allocating' hubby's bonus', payrises/expenses and the like. His company are shocking at getting it right and, at the moment you are suffering. I believe you absolutely must repay your business pots when it does arrive. (Or you will kick yourself at a later point.)


Also, now you have 3 months business expenses/salary in the account could you consider changing the way you account for your income by holding it in a 'pending' account (not on Ynab) until the end of the month after you have done the work? So the work done today gets 'paid' into ynab on the last day of the month, anything done in May gets paid into ynab on 31st May?
I think this would help you feel the benefit of the 'busy weeks/months work wise and reduce the anxiety I feel from you when you think you may have to cancel or refund a client.
(You May want to set up a nice little interest earning holding account to perhaps earn a little bonus)

I hope you have a good day and weekend and things ease up a little financially for you.

Wish.

enthusiasticsaver

Anticipating bonuses and payrises etc etc ruins budgets. Many people spend it before receiving it and then find it throws them out when for some reason it is late or less than expected. As you have found

You might also need to up the birthdays pot to cover things like cake baking and decorating etc etc.

I also strongly agree with wishingthemortgageaway that you must pay back the business account if you borrow from it. Otherwise you will have a summer like last year. I know you have a slight buffer now you have leeway to save for the extension but if you borrow from that too that will have ongoing consequences for your plans.

On the plus side if you are busy workwise this means more money eventually when paid.

Cherryfudge

It sounds like a very tough week, I hope you can find a little time to unwind (yoga, bubble bath, good book) - half an hour would help.

I think just as your bonus money gets 'stolen', so your time is being stolen. You started off on budget for time and really benefitted but now you are under pressure. You can cope with that for a little while but in the long run I think time is like money: it all gets accounted for somehow and where you take from one pot you have pay back from another, or cancel something. I wonder if you could in future save a little (money and time) by cutting back on the trimmings for the birthday?

We all seem to be nagging you this morning, sorry. I hope the weekend is productive and you get everything done.

ellen_vannin

I agree with Cherryfudge - lack of time and planning always costs money.

Birthdays and Xmas fall on the same dates every year - so planning in advance always saves money.

Last minute purchases always cost a lot more.

Whilst you are doing well - every over spend will delay the extension and ultimate debt free date.

Your children are at the cheapest age at the mo - teenagers eat money, school trips , uni , mobile phones, costly clothes etc.

armchairexpert

wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »

Also, now you have 3 months business expenses/salary in the account could you consider changing the way you account for your income by holding it in a 'pending' account (not on Ynab) until the end of the month after you have done the work? So the work done today gets 'paid' into ynab on the last day of the month, anything done in May gets paid into ynab on 31st May?
I think this would help you feel the benefit of the 'busy weeks/months work wise and reduce the anxiety I feel from you when you think you may have to cancel or refund a client.
(You May want to set up a nice little interest earning holding account to perhaps earn a little bonus)

This is what I do. I invoice all the February work on the last day of February, all the payments dribble into the business account during March, and I pay myself a set amount from that account on the last day of March (and also transfer tax, etc). Any excess stays in the business account, so that if I have a lean month in the future I can draw on it. So I always pay myself the same amount, which is roughly "Average monthly earnings - 20%". If I do well, I end up with a decent surplus at the end of the financial year and then I pay most of that to myself as an 'end of year bonus'.

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 58: Day 5

Couldn't summon the energy to pop back on here last night, although I did read your thoughtful comments.

Birthday spending/pre-allocating DH's bonus
The issue isn't so much that I've pre-allocated DH's bonus - I would have spent what I've spent this month regardless of bonus. If I hadn't been expecting the bonus I would have taken the money from my business account pots much sooner and would have had that minor stress earlier in the month, but it wouldn't have changed the outgoings. If I had pre-spent the bonus on top of that I would be in a right pickle!

I am still right at the beginning of the process of successfully holding onto my savings pots (remember last month was the first time I had ever ever achieved having my savings pots intact at the end of the month), so there simply isn't the money in the birthday pot yet to cover two DCs' birthdays and a couple of family children's birthdays too. My priority at the moment is preserving (a) the main salary/expenses pots in my business account and (b) the savings pots in the joint account, both of which I have done. The business account pots I raided are my 'extra money' savings pots - things that will be good to have for my business but aren't required to keep it afloat (eventual new equipment, training etc). I haven't emptied the pots, just removed any money I had already put into them this month. Those just get topped up as and when, with no particular plan, so I'm ok with not repaying them, hence the casual attitude yesterday.

Paying myself for work done
I'm really happy with the system I have for the moment - usually when money comes in it is divided up into expenses and profit, and the profit is plonked into the expenses/salary pots, and any roundings down to the nearest tenner popped into those training/equipment savings pots. This month any profit has gone straight into the birthday pot instead of saving for future months (so I will be down to only two months' buffer at the end of this month), to avoid us turning to a CC or other essential savings (christmas, car maintenance etc) to cover the birthdays. This has meant no saving for future months' salaries, but also no additional CC debt, so I feel is the best available option. Obviously it's always a pain if/when I have to give a refund, but it's only one £20 in refund in over a year, so it's not going to make me change the way I run that account.

For me those monthly savings pots are untouchable once the money is in there - I would do pretty much anything to avoid raiding them, as it's just creating a problem for down the line (as discovered last year!).

Back to today
Looks like I'm going to need to spend more on the car next week, two fun new issues. The first is that rather excitingly, the boot has started unlatching while I'm driving along! Presumably just a short somewhere, so hopefully easily resolved. It doesn't ping open as it's heavy and clunky, but it was enormously stressful worrying about it while driving. Will strap it down today somehow. The other minor issue is that the handbrake has become a bit loose - I need to lift the handle higher than before to lock the brake on, and it's not secure even at the firmest angle of 'on' - I need to leave it in gear and wouldn't leave it parked on a steep hill at the moment. I have £90 in the emergency pot and £42 in the car pot, which I doubt will cover it, but I have absolutely no means of increasing those before next Tuesday when the car is booked in, so I'll just have to do what I can when the bill comes in.

My end of month invoices aren't going to be very much this month - my usual contract work has been going through a process of change. April will be fairly good again, but I'll hardly be invoicing anything this month. It means that when I draw out April's salary at the beginning of the month I won't be able to top the account straight back up to three month's salary and expenses, and realistically with the Easter holidays coming up for half of April, I'm not going to manage to top it up significantly in April either. A real shame, but that's why the buffer is there. I'm going to work as hard as I can to add something to the monthly pots in April so at least I'm not down to one bare month in May. I figure I have the end of April, May and possibly a little bit of June before my major summer slowdown begins, and I need to get it back up to at least three months within that period.

I had one of those chats with DH where I try to figure out how to be less busy last night, and it struck me halfway through the conversation that he has gone back to doing very little. I felt bad as it sounded like I had started the conversation just to have a go, but I realised that the things he was meant to take on - coming up with budget meal ideas (not doing the menu plan and shopping, just finding some new meals), making some of the packed lunch supplies on the weekend, doing the DCs' homework with them on the weekend - have all fallen completely by the wayside and been picked up by me again.

He is really stressed with work at the moment, but his chores have diminished to doing the DCs' bedtimes (ie being responsible from after dinner/clubs until they are in bed, so from say 6-8pm - I might step in and help a little, but not much), end of day washing up (which can be quite a lot if I've had a busy day - all the dinner washing up plus things from lunch and/or after school snacks) and the bins. I am doing all other household-running stuff, from managing finances (a big job!) to sorting DCs' clubs/school activities etc, cleaning, laundry, cooking, sorting DCs' clothes and getting hand me downs in and out of boxes as they change sizes, tidying rooms, all the little 'running a house' jobs. I don't actually mind most of these and none of them are big by themselves, but I feel like I do a lot more when I have the DCs in the week than he does when he has them on the weekend if I'm working. I'm really not sure how to address this in a non-aggressive argument-starting way, especially after last night's chat inadvertently turned into a bit of a 'you do nothing' sort of rant. I'm also wondering if I expect too much, as he does have a fairly full evening between childcare and washing up (he is the sloooooowwwwest washer upper in the world, it can take him an hour or more to do what would take me 20-30 mins, but he really can't seem to increase his speed).

I'm wondering about writing down everything that needs doing during the week and just asking him how we should be dividing it up, but I'm worried it's going to come across as 'here's a massive list of everything I do, why aren't you doing more?'. Which it basically is, of course .

Anyway, must get on, have written another essay so it's probably time to stop!

Three things to do today
1. Bake biscuits for client tomorrow.
2. Post a card for friend's birthday - have been meaning to do this since Weds and REALLY need to do it now.
3. Get extra food shopping bits from town that I couldn't get in the supermarket.

Debt repayment:
- £22.77/31 March rounding down pot.
- £1,608.78/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.

warby68

I wondered why you were late posting this morning ToPM

warby68

In all honesty ToPM, he sounds busy enough but so do you. It seems more like you have too much to do in general, or set yourselves too much to do. Maybe some things have to give rather than you both doing more and more.

If he works a pressure job plus 2 hours childcare every single weekday plus an hour's chores then am not surprised he's up for slacking off at the weekend.

You remind me a bit of the baby years when we argued ridiculously about who had had 30 minutes more sleep just from the sheer frustration of it all!!