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

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 70: Day 7

Well yesterday was awful. Still feeling really low about it, but have clients today and need to get up and on. Another incentive to get away from client facing work - having to work on a day like this when I need to curl up and recover a bit is deeply rubbish.

Haven't looked at my budget again, will probably leave it until tomorrow at this stage. Need to actually clean and do half the things to prepare for clients that I usually do the day before and haven't actually done yet.

To do today
1. Make nice breakfast for DH (we bought smoked salmon, eggs to scramble and bagels yesterday).
2. Bake biscuits.
3. Tidy dining room.
4. Clean bathroom.
5. Plan next week out.

Mini goals:
- £17.57/30 June rounding down pot.
- £2,787.85/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £25.80 daily earning goal.

armchairexpert

I just wanted to pop in and say that I did the same thing as you with the business account/buffer/thing. Last financial year (runs 1 July-30 June here) I looked at what I'd actually earned the year before, averaged it out, and made that my new official income. Which put my official income/household contribution up by 50%, and theoretically decimated my buffer.

BUT. What happened was that as soon as I made it official in my own head and on YNAB that I would be contributing $3K instead of $2K to the monthly budget, my earnings went up. I think my mental sense of how I was doing changed, so as soon as my income drops past $4K in a month (that's what I have to earn gross to net $3K) I get worried and start hustling. Whereas before, I was seeing anything over $3K as a bonus, and therefore available to dip into as sort of free money - I didn't worry as much about how it was being spent.

Does that make sense? I wonder if you'll find the same thing. Once it's out there in the light as what you earn, it's part of the equation instead of being mysterious magic free-for-any-emergency-or-impulse money.

Anyway. I'm sorry you've been having a rough time emotionally, I should have started with that!

Suffolk_lass

So sorry you had a rubbish day yesterday TOPM - I really hope things settle a bit for you. A couple of things you could do around your business activities -

You mention accountant - you could use your personal tax account with HMRC to save this cost and track your business and personal taxes in the relatively new (but crucially, more stable) digital service they offer. Lots of accountants now use it - they get their junior staff to enter it all, it does the calculations and then they print it off and offer it as their own work and charge it on as a fee-paying service. If you are interested the link to their promotional page (please make sure you look on Gov.UK - not any of the other platforms) is here. This is free, accurate and I am told (by DH), simple to use. And you can do the calculations and stop short of submitting if you need to. - You could save the accountant fees (even if it is only... and even if it does give you peace of mind - it really is not that hard).

Second, mileage - the first 10,000 miles is 45p a mile with no tax - I use google maps to separate business and personal mileage - it takes seconds and not apps (I am probably old-school). Beyond that first 10k miles it drops to 25p a mile. Make sure you deduct this from your income - or even, add it to your client fees as expenses - just itemise it so they can see it is totally transparent and not a fee rise.

Thirdly - advertising and links from your web-site. Have you explored increasing these. And also, conscious that you have lots of readers on here, have you considered blogging and receiving the advertising income for the products you use? DH and I were talking about shampoo bars yesterday and I came back to your diary to look up your research - you could be paid for this - post your research and then put the links up so you receive the income. Check out Simplyfading's web-site for ideas here.

lindez

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

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!

Thank you TOPM I will have a look at it today. You are doing really well and I enjoy reading your diary you and the other people commenting are giving such great inspiration thank you x

MatyMoo

Sorry to hear there are problems in the family, hope there is better news today.

Whenever we have had a crisis it has always been followed by a spending frenzy, almost like a life is too short moment. The trouble was it always put me further in to debt! Just wanted you to be aware of this odd phenomenon!

Treadingonplaymobil

armchairexpert wrote: »

I just wanted to pop in and say that I did the same thing as you with the business account/buffer/thing. Last financial year (runs 1 July-30 June here) I looked at what I'd actually earned the year before, averaged it out, and made that my new official income. Which put my official income/household contribution up by 50%, and theoretically decimated my buffer.

BUT. What happened was that as soon as I made it official in my own head and on YNAB that I would be contributing $3K instead of $2K to the monthly budget, my earnings went up. I think my mental sense of how I was doing changed, so as soon as my income drops past $4K in a month (that's what I have to earn gross to net $3K) I get worried and start hustling. Whereas before, I was seeing anything over $3K as a bonus, and therefore available to dip into as sort of free money - I didn't worry as much about how it was being spent.

Does that make sense? I wonder if you'll find the same thing. Once it's out there in the light as what you earn, it's part of the equation instead of being mysterious magic free-for-any-emergency-or-impulse money.

Anyway. I'm sorry you've been having a rough time emotionally, I should have started with that!

I think you may just be 100% right about this - I can already feel the 'ooh, I need to earn more' feeling creeping up. The trick for me is not to turn that into a huge source of stress, but I do think I have it in me to work more than I have been in the first half of this year.

Treadingonplaymobil

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

So sorry you had a rubbish day yesterday TOPM - I really hope things settle a bit for you. A couple of things you could do around your business activities -

You mention accountant - you could use your personal tax account with HMRC to save this cost and track your business and personal taxes in the relatively new (but crucially, more stable) digital service they offer. Lots of accountants now use it - they get their junior staff to enter it all, it does the calculations and then they print it off and offer it as their own work and charge it on as a fee-paying service. If you are interested the link to their promotional page (please make sure you look on Gov.UK - not any of the other platforms) is here. This is free, accurate and I am told (by DH), simple to use. And you can do the calculations and stop short of submitting if you need to. - You could save the accountant fees (even if it is only... and even if it does give you peace of mind - it really is not that hard).

Second, mileage - the first 10,000 miles is 45p a mile with no tax - I use google maps to separate business and personal mileage - it takes seconds and not apps (I am probably old-school). Beyond that first 10k miles it drops to 25p a mile. Make sure you deduct this from your income - or even, add it to your client fees as expenses - just itemise it so they can see it is totally transparent and not a fee rise.

Thirdly - advertising and links from your web-site. Have you explored increasing these. And also, conscious that you have lots of readers on here, have you considered blogging and receiving the advertising income for the products you use? DH and I were talking about shampoo bars yesterday and I came back to your diary to look up your research - you could be paid for this - post your research and then put the links up so you receive the income. Check out Simplyfading's web-site for ideas here.

I used to actually do my own accounts. I think I lost my nerve a bit when I changed my business a few years ago - I've had an accountant for maybe four years now, but I've been self employed for 11, so I managed at least seven tax returns perfectly competently. I really should bite the bullet on this one. Actually, I'm going to add it to my list for this week, to spend an hour doing some research and make a decision. I provide her with all my book keeping, mileage, utilities breakdown etc, so I am literally paying £450 a year for her to file the return and create an account summary sheet, which is madness really.

I do have a (non debt related!) website, but my hits are still very low (and I don't think linking it from a debt diary would exactly create the brand I want :rotfl: ), but as it grows I do intend to use affiliate links alongside selling products through it.

Gemsy81

Hope your day is better TOPM, and just wanted to offer some support....you are doing really well. Starting with an accurate SOA is going to make you feel so much better too.

Treadingonplaymobil

MatyMoo wrote: »

Sorry to hear there are problems in the family, hope there is better news today.

Whenever we have had a crisis it has always been followed by a spending frenzy, almost like a life is too short moment. The trouble was it always put me further in to debt! Just wanted you to be aware of this odd phenomenon!

Ha. This is totally true. I spent £40 on a top up shop full of treats yesterday (within budget), and the french press I bought DH for father's day was, erm, not the cheapest one I might have purchased (not within budget).

Treadingonplaymobil

Well one good thing - with the budget adjusted to the most recent proposal, my daily earnings requirement (in order to meet the £5k target for our pre-build costs) is a truly horrifying £3.56 . That's really quite reassuring actually.