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

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 68: Day 2

Lovely day yesterday - spent the morning tidying the front postage stamp and back garden, then the afternoon at the beach, which was all rather lovely. The DCs just love the beach, they always have such a great time. We took dinner (soup) in a thermos, bread and apples, and didn't even buy an ice cream (no one asked for one, and I wasn't going to offer to spend an unnecessary £15 ). The saving rather pales in comparison to the huge spend over the weekend, but never mind.

Today we are going to pick up our new trailer, and maybe stopping by a bathroom or kitchen showroom - when I finish writing this I'm going to plan out our route! It will be a lot of time in the car today, but I'm going to try to break it up as much as possible with stops at nice places, maybe the odd park or a national trust place.

I am so looking forward to invoicing for this month's work in a couple of days. It has felt like a loooooonnnnng month, with big periods of no income. I know that's the way it goes in summer for me, but it's still tedious.

To to yesterday
1. Make dinner to take to beach.
2. Clear the front garden.
3. Check contract work for next week.
4. Check and send email to architect.
5. Laundry/ironing. Any progress is good! Lots of laundry done. Ironing not so much.

To do today
1. Plan route for road trip with the DCs.
2. Make packed lunches/snacks.
3. Pick up numberplate for trailer.
4. Pick up trailer.
5. Kitchen/bathroom showroom.
6. Make dinner before we leave, as we'll probably be back too late to start anything complicated.
7. Tackle some ironing.
8. Contract work for two weeks' time.
9. Packing list for camping (or at the very least a menu plan/food shopping list for any extras).

Mini goals:
- £38.61/30 May rounding down pot.
- £2,458.22/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £27.01 daily earning goal.

Treadingonplaymobil

Cherryfudge wrote: »

Your spending spree had one good result ar least - I suddenly realised a lap tray would make life easier for the next few weeks (I have a broken arm). So thank you, I've just ordered one!

Ouch! You poor thing! Hope you heal quickly. Glad to be of service with the lap tray.

mfmaybe

Not sure how big your trailer is - at the price you paid, probably fairly little. But are you ok with reversing it? If not, definitely do the kitchen showrooms before you pick it up!

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 68: Day 3

Morning! Yuck to balancing my budgets this morning now that all my bonkers spending from the weekend has been resolved. It breaks down into £190 on 'stuff' (new wetsuits for DC1 and DH as well as the bits and bobs mentioned the other day) and a £90 'overspend' on food. I always knew the food and entertainment kitties 'overspend' was coming, as I actually overspent at the very end of last month and left myself short in both pots for this month - I've actually only spent £425 (budget of £400) on food all month and £170 (budget of £150) on entertainment, but because both of those budgets were reduced at the start of the month by overspending on the very last day of last month, it's been an accident waiting to happen all month. Lesson learned (until next time...).

I've had to more or less empty my annual insurance and Christmas pots in order to cover the overspend, so have changed my extra income breakdown to help resolve this:
5% biz account savings pots
20% future months in biz account
10% debt overpayments
25% extension
5% house stuff
5% food/household supplies (5% towards wedding cake until at £100)
10% christmas
5% annual insurances
5% DS1 tutor
10% emergency fund

I'm annoyed with myself, but also not annoyed, because at the end of the day it was <£300, and split between a small mess up at the end of last month and a slightly bigger one at the end of this month. Yes, annoying, and yes it will cause me problems over the course of the year, but as long as I don't mess up again that badly again this year, it will actually be ok. Pre-LBM I would have been having little 'catch up spends' (ie buying all the things I had been thinking about for a while and decided we needed) at least once a month, if not more, whereas I think this is my first significant blip of 2018. The important thing is not to do it again, as if I don't rebuild that Christmas pot we'll end up reaching for the CCs again next December, as we did last year, and although the net debt went down over the year, it definitely went up significantly in November and December.

In brighter news, I've just written (although not submitted) my contract work invoice for this month, and it will be enough to take me back up to three months' buffer in my business account, plus all the usual savings pot divisions. I'm now covered in my business account for July, August and September, which should get me through the leanest period, although I'd always be happier with more in there - how times change! I used to consider myself enormously successful if I had anything at all towards the next month's budget, never mind enough to cover several months without income.

Had two work enquiries yesterday, hoping one or both turns into a proper booking as that would be a nice little boost to the business account. Every booking is to be cherished at this time of year!

mfmaybe we did indeed stop at the showroom on the way, for exactly the reason you mention! I did have a quick go at reversing the trailer when I picked it up (and yes it is tiny, an Erde 122, so only a little over a metre long), but quickly decided it was so light that I'm just going to unhitch it and move it if I ever need to park. :rotfl:

I was fairly underwhelmed with the kitchens we saw, even though they were in theory quite high end 'off the shelf' kitchens (german factories). Not sure what I'm looking for, but definitely haven't seen it yet. And the numbers are all meaningless until we have some build estimates back anyway, as we might end up needing to make do with a temporary kitchen for quite a long time (we've always expected this to be the case, so it won't be a shock!).

We are off to the zoo today, using our membership passes. At least I'm doing something right!

To do yesterday
1. Plan route for road trip with the DCs.
2. Make packed lunches/snacks.
3. Pick up numberplate for trailer.
4. Pick up trailer.
5. Kitchen/bathroom showroom.
6. Make dinner before we leave, as we'll probably be back too late to start anything complicated. Failed there, but luckily we were back so late that DH had fished out some frozen soup and reheated it.
7. Tackle some ironing. You all know this was never going to happen.
8. Contract work for two weeks' time.
9. Packing list for camping (or at the very least a menu plan/food shopping list for any extras). Ran out of steam and couldn't face this! Although did discover a packing list from last year (the joy of being an obsessive list maker) so will use that as a starting point.

To do today
1. Packed lunch for zoo.
2. Prep dinner.
3. Packing list for camping.
4. Return client enquiries.

Mini goals:
- £39.20/30 May rounding down pot.
- £2,458.22/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £27.22 daily earning goal.

Paspatur

I can recommend diykitchens.com - I got a solid wood kitchen for the same price as Howdens wanted for mdf
Units come assembled with doors attached which cut back the builders time for installing
You do need to design it yourself though but they are very helpful if you have questions
I also recommend Duropal worktops where your budget does not allow for granite, quartz etc.
Although they are laminate they are high quality, look good and are very hard wearing, mine are immaculate after one year
My granite sink and tap I sourced on Ebay

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 68: Day 4

Ugh, paying for the plumber on top of last week's extravagances has really killed my budget. Sigh. One day I'll learn.

Although my savings pots have taken a massive, near terminal hit, I'm relieved I've managed to balance the budgets without borrowing from next month's money at all, which I am always prone to doing at the end of the month, and has been creating a deferred problem for the past two or three months really as I've done it more and more at the end of each month, promising myself a 'good' month next time. Only maybe £50-100 each month for a food shop or something, but it's left a bigger and bigger hole each time, which has needed to be plugged from the following month's money. I hadn't even really realised I was doing it, or that it was getting worse. Funny how those little 'oh, it will be fine, you can be better next month' voices are so insidious that I don't even register them until after the event.

Zoo was lovely yesterday, and I managed to spend nothing more than a tenner on hot chocolates and tea all round. Which was a total mistake as DC2 then went on an adventure playground, got indigestion and was sick. But never mind.

Not a lot else to report. We're going camping today, for our first trip of the year. The first trip is always a bit of an experiment to make sure all our gear has survived being packed away for the winter and check that we have everything we need for the coming summer. And there's always the moment of tension unrolling the (canvas) bell tent to see whether it's gone mouldy over winter! Ours is on its fourth summer now, and I wonder how many years we'll get out of it - we use it a lot, and although it's still in really good condition, it definitely doesn't look like new any more. I suspect this might be the last summer for our porch, which has several small tears in it, but that's <£100 to replace, and hopefully it will last the year. I really want the trailer to be our only big spend this year.

Have had three provisional client bookings this week. Fingers crossed they all turn into paid work.

I'll pop back for a more thorough end of the month round up later on if I get a chance.

To do today
1. Clear as much laundry as possible before we go, to minimise the mountain upon our return.
2. Pack for camping.
3. Go camping!

Mini goals:
- £41.11/30 May rounding down pot.
- £2,450.72/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £27.24 daily earning goal.

JWPopps

Well done on getting everything balanced! It must be dispiriting having to raid your savings pots but at least that was an option - and you can see it as re-setting at zero for the new month.

-JW

ellen_vannin

I know everyone needs a treat now and then , but £10 on drinks each time you use the Zoo membership will add up over the summer. If you see it as £150 for example if you use the membership 15 times, surely you could use it on something nicer.

I don't think kids miss something like this.

Instead why not buy individual cartons of juice from the supermarket , or bring a flask.

I always keep in the car a few emergency snacks when travelling , e.g. nuts juices etc. - saves a fortune in the long run.

lindez

Hi TOPM well done on re balancing your budgets, you are doing really well, I hope you enjoy your camping trip.
Just a quick question I hope you don't mind me asking is YNAB easy to use, I am not good with the computer I thought perhaps a reused spread sheet or the other option of subscribing to YNAB, I did purchase YNAB audible book but I am not getting very far with it. x

Treadingonplaymobil

Back home! Will update tomorrow with latest finances (nothing wildly exciting, but nice beginning-of-the-month payments going out).

Ellen vannin we haven't bought drinks the last couple of times at the zoo, so it's not an every time sort of event, thankfully. It was more because we went with a friend who struggles with the heat, and I didn't want to leave her to sit inside alone.

lindez YNAB is easy to use, but takes a while to fully get to grips with - I'd say it took us three months to really start making the most of it. BUT I'd say it's totally worth it. Honestly, it has revolutionised the way we save and spend, and I have no doubt we wouldn't be paying off the debt at the rate we are if it wasn't for it. Jump in and give it a go!