Spend Nowt, Buy Nowt, Owe Nowt

Suffolk_lass

greenbee said:

brizzlegirl said:

I’m with SL. Toothpaste works a treat! 

And gin or vodka for the stones... 

...And you can drink the rest 

XSpender

Suffolk_lass said:

greenbee said:

brizzlegirl said:

I’m with SL. Toothpaste works a treat! 

And gin or vodka for the stones... 

...And you can drink the rest 

  Wouldn't last long enough in this house to clean rings.  DH sees it as a challenge to consume any bottles that cross the threshold.  All except my Baileys which is still sitting there since Christmas.

Two thirds through our month and money is feeling tight.  £110 left in the food budget and £20 in bulk buys to last until 27th.  Money for fuel, and all the remaining bills is budgeted for and available.  I need to find some money to buy a couple of t shirts for DS sports camp next week as his are a bit tight as the lack of activity is making him chubby.  He found out a couple of his class mates are going and is really looking forward to it.  That and the fact that he is being allowed to walk home on his own (under a mile, one road to cross with a pelican crossing and then straight up our street plus he is a sensible kid).

The last couple of months I have set myself mini savings challenges, just little amounts like £20/week, £2/day from my spending budgets or the spend free week I am planning for August, but am finding it difficult to hang on to this money and not use it to cover other things like the dog's prescription this month, transferring it out of it's pot in YNAB to wherever it is needed. I have also attempted to build a £200 buffer in the current account since June, on top of the money I leave in there for some of the sinking funds, for those unexpected expenses or when a bill is slightly different  etc. as we use a zero based budget.

I have printed off some The Budget Mom free cash envelopes, one for each month until December, and am going to take the savings challenge money out in cash each week (start of the month for August) and stuff it in the envelope so it isn't there to use.  At the end of the month I will pay it off my target CC.  The account buffer will be my focus sinking fund and completed by September as I don't want to reduce our monthly regular saver deposit and save it all next month.

DS got his report yesterday and is where he should be at the end of this year for all core and non core subjects.  Even though he has missed 14 weeks of school the teacher has really got to know him and her comments about his behavior, personality and interests is spot on.  She is a young, truly inspirational teacher and the kids love her.  Such a contrast to the one the year before who was awful, picking on some of the kids, having favorites, and almost destroying DS love of school and learning.  I have heard lots of good things about his year 6 teacher and he will be his first male teacher since reception.  I can't believe this time next year he will be going to secondary school!

XSpender

Lovely day today, I had the washing on the line before 8 am.  I hung it out in my jarmas though😊 We’ve been on a 2 hour bike ride and had a NSD.

There’s about £23 left in the food budget and £10 in bulk.  We went to Mr T on Friday night to do the food shop as DH was desperate for a pair of jeans as his had worn away.  Picked up the jeans for £16 and over 60 YS bread portions for £2.08.  I never usually get that lucky.  Not so lucky was having to drive back on Saturday to get them to remove the security tag that had been left on DH jeans by mistake.  I did get to pick up the decaf tea bags I had forgotten the day before.

In this Tesco they have some other shops  including a charity shop and a Starbucks.  DS bought a phone case at one shop and we popped into the charity shop and got a pair of unworn black patent court shoes (to replace the pair that I chucked at the beginning of lock down as they were worn out) and a top for me, a new work shirt for DH and 4 paperbacks (one of which I have finished already and will re-donate) for £16!  

Saturday we went back to the jewellers and changed my birthday gift for a smaller size.  I was worried that I would catch it on a door handle or something and that it would be uncomfortable.  It will take 6 weeks as has to be made so I wont have it for my birthday but as i will be wearing it for ever it needs to be right.

We also picked up some T-shirt’s for DS at H & M.  I love the style of the boys clothes in there and the low price!

DS is at sports camp from tomorrow.  He will be shattered when he gets home.

I have a hectic week ahead but would like to add some exercise into my weight loss regime.  Ideally I would like to take the dog around the village for a good walk before DH leaves for work but I may change my mind when the alarm goes off!

apple_muncher

I put my exercise clothes in a pile by the bed so I collect them on my way out of the bedroom and downstairs when I wake up. That way, dh can keep snoozing without me opening and closing drawers.

XSpender

I still haven’t been for an early walk with the dog 😊

Not much to report.  DS has been to sports camp and he really enjoyed it. I might have to get him some new trainers tomorrow as he says his feet are sore and I am not sure whether his feet have grown or he is just not used to moving so much. His pre season rugby training starts in a couple of weeks which almost feels like life returning to normaI.

I have been reviewing our budget and feel I may be planning to do to much with funding too many sinking funds while trying to build the savings back up.  I have decided to focus on Christmas and the vet pot for the dog and hitting our end of year target for debt pay off and EF savings, birthdays and other pots will have to be started in January.

apple_muncher

That seems to be a sensible focus - you can always use that money if an emergency needs funding. But you won't be adding the stress of trying to fill every pot.

brizzlegirl

Have a great weekend XS x

XSpender

XSpender said:

XSpender said:

APRIL 
SAVED - £1040
PAID OFF - £569.20
FOOD SPENDING - £620.09

MAY
SAVED - £450
PAID OFF - £1003.42
FOOD - £564.93

JUNE GOALS
SAVE - £1000
PAY OFF - £1000
FOOD - £360
BULK -£40

JUNE
SAVED - £900.20 - 24%
PAID OFF - £921.62 - 23%
FOOD - £392.03
BULK - £47

JULY GOALS
SAVE - £830 (mainly into sinking funds)
PAY OFF - £2315
FOOD - £450 (5 week month)
BULK - £40

Scores on the doors for July........

JULY 
SAVED - £86 
PAID OFF - £2347
FOOD - £515.99/£450
BULK - £35.28/£40
TOTAL DEBT PAID OFF IN 2020 - £6847.93

My food spending is still £10/week above where I want it to be so more work required this month.  We were well under our booze budget.  Lots of purchases this month including a gift for my big birthday, clothes, sports camp and school uniform for DS, a 2nd hand office chair and 2 x 2nd hand wardrobe, hair clippers, a trip to the hairdressers, jeans, jewelry cleaning, vet prescription, large waste removal, a water filter, a mop, new baby gift, birthday gift.... a fondue set and a cuddly toy 

No plans to repeat that level of spending this month (or the rest of the year!!).  Although we paid for everything without using debt, I did not enjoy seeing the savings balance go down.  We will have to cover the cost of the rest of DS school uniform and footwear from this month's pay and his music lessons and training fees from September pay. I have set up a sinking fund for the rest of the year to cover all his costs which I will be adding to monthly.

I failed miserably at my savings challenge and from August I am intending to save this in cash to remove it from YNAB/budget so it can't be moved about to cover spending in other areas.

Our savings and debt payoff will reduce significantly from August as our mortgage holiday ends now we are both back to work/no longer furloughed.  

AUGUST GOALS
SAVE £490
PAY OFF £479
FOOD £450 (to cover 31st July to 3rd September as I am sick of YNAB spending been out of sync with my pay check budget)
BULK £40

Savings Challenges - Freezer/Pantry use up (save £50 towards Costco sinking fund), 20 NSDs and Fiver Friday (save £5 from any of my spending pots each week).  Its tight budget wise this month so no big amounts to save from the budget.

Suffolk_lass

I use regular savers to make sure I put an amount away every month that does not come back until a year on. Over the last few years they have funded some big planned purchases for us, paid a lump off the mortgage, and one of last year's is topping up our occupational pensions in the absence of state ones. I can't remember what people call it but the principle is to pay your savings first as though it were a bill. I hedge mine by also having an instant saver behind the C/A and I tidy the balances into that, aiming for £10k (I'm about £8nn short at the moment). There is definitely a reluctance to move it back after putting it there but I have used it to top up, cover big things and in an emergency, as well as paying £10k into PBs this year - with your change in approach, you might find physically moving the money makes it stickier

XSpender

I am saving our emergency fund in our regular saver first (monthly DD) with any extra above the monthly limit paid into our ISA.  I don't find I dip into these accounts to cover spending in other areas although we didn't have significant amounts in there before lock down.  It is more the small amounts I am putting away monthly towards my sinking funds for Christmas, birthdays, uniform costs etc. that have been used in July.  I only started most of them in July so it wasn't significant amounts and the Christmas savings was used towards my big birthday/Christmas gift and DS category was used towards his school uniform order which had to be down this month and was a lot more than I had saved in July.  These funds showed on YNAB but were in an account with a different bank so still visible to me. Strangely, the sinking funds for my annual bills which are also visible on YNAB (£35/mnth for YNAB subscription, house insurance and national trust) never get touched.

I am not a cash spender so my theory is that if I take the cash out for the sinking funds and put it in fancy, individually named envelopes in my desk draw, telling YNAB that I have made an outgoing payment rather than moved it from current account to cash, the money is no longer available/visible to me.  I am hoping seeing the cash build up will be motivational too.  Oh, and the fancy envelopes have no impact on my ability to save/keep my mitts off the money, I just think they are pretty and are free printables 

These funds are not going to be used for some months and can be paid back into the bank quite easily when I want to use them as we have one of those bank branches in the village which is a glorified cash point with a paying in machine rather than a counter.  There are 2 branches with counters no more than 3.5 miles away if I need them.

As a zero based budgeter I don't tend to do the rounding down of the account thing as a every £ is allocated to a budget.  I am doing little savings challenges instead where I take an amount from my spending budgets say £5 or £10 weekly or aim to come in a certain amount under budget depending on the challenge.  This will also be taken out in cash and have it's only monthly envelope and then paid into the ISA or off the CC.  All my £2 coins and change (not that there's much as I don't use much cash) get saved in a piggy bank which I intend to pay in at the end of the year to pay towards the focus CC.

It would be much simpler if I had better discipline but as Dave Ramsey says it is a behavior issue not a money issue. 

I am also going to attempt once again to build a £200 buffer in my account.  This will be an amount not allocated to anything that my balance will not drop below.  I am only allocating a small amount to this each month to let it build up slowly.  I monitor my account closely and never go overdrawn but it will give me a little wriggle room if I need it.

It's the last day of my 40's today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!