Positive Balance: Focused on Budgeting

PositiveBalance

Hello peeps,

Be warned...I have spent most of today thinking about money so this is likely to get epic: so epic that I might have to break it up over several posts.

Given that I have now paid off my CC (:j) I have had to think about the new financial goals and aims I will have.


These are:

1. Refill the sinking funds/pots with the money that I took out of them in emergencies (still calculating);
2. Get the baby emergency fund up to £1000 from £500 (so it's a slightly bigger baby emergency fund i.e. a toddler emergency fund. );
3. Pay off the remaining debt (£5069.01 at time of posting).

To help with these I have set up a monthly saver online at 2% interest. I didn't think this through 100% so I've kind of screwed myself over a bit financially for the rest of the month (more on this later.)

According to the main site, there is a monthly saver with a better rate of interest at 3%, but it needs to be opened in-branch and I'm not going to be able to do that, realistically, until August, so this is my next-best option. Hopefully, in terms of how much you can save in either account monthly I will need more than one as the one I just opened will only let you put £250pcm in there.

I think I'm going to keep the baby emergency fund in Premium Bonds. There is no earthly logical reason for doing this other than I have some psychological barrier preventing me from taking money out of this account as I have trained myself to think of this as the End of the World Account by now, meaning that taking money out of this would mean that something really, really bad has gone wrong in my world, but at the same time I'm aware that doesn't mean that I need to put more money in there. (Perhaps it's the very small chance of winning money that has done it for me – it tickles my practically non-existent gambling gland in a non-threatening type of way and yes, I am aware it is costing me the interest on this money.)

I've realised that I need to set up 2 new sinking funds/pots as well (from next month only): one for a new laptop (this one has a zimmer frame at this point) and another for a large expense that my remaining parental will need to pay out sometime in the future and I will need to help with that.

For now I'm going to lump money which can be used as either debt repayment or a larger emergency fund, if required. In my head it's going to debt repayment, but if the pooh really did hit the fan in some way, it could also be used to as a larger EF.

I've also realised that I need a WAY better method of tracking my sinking funds/pots as I just lump the money into an account with a decent rate of interest at the beginning of each month and transfer anything I spend back to my current account. This is not the most effective way of tracking the money in each category. I am currently combing my most recent transactions to see if I can find out what has gone in/out of each category and what the balance of each should be, but I'm not going to lie, it's tough going and I don't think I'll have any definitive answers as it hasn't been done since the beginning. Perhaps I should cut my losses and start from this month? This will also be tough as I have to take money out of there to go on holidays and I think it will leave me in a massive negative in the holiday category before I have the chance to figure out where it is up to.

Also – and this is going to sound really dodgy – I've opened another CC. No, it's not what you think...I have to go to a nearby European country on holiday and I may have to pay for some extra things while I am over there. As it is very uncertain if I will have to pay for them or not I don't want to lose out by changing a pile of money into Euros and then either having a potentially massive excess of Euros or have to change it back, thus losing out in terms of changes, so I have ordered one of those cards that has a practically perfect exchange rate, so if I need to pay for the things, I can do so interest-free and pay the £££s back when I get back, without all the phaff of having to change £££s to €€€ beforehand.

So, how did I screw myself with the monthly saver, I hear you ask? Well, you can save a max of £250pcm in it and when it asked me how much I was going to save I said £250, not realising that it starts this month and I most certainly do not have a spare £250 given how much I paid off the CC to pay it off!

I'm not sure if I can change it or not. I was trying to squeeze my budget so that I could compensate for it, but it will be really difficult, if not impossible. I may go back into it online to see if I can change it to a smaller amount this month and move it back up to £250 next month, which I should be able to cover at that point.

I'm going back to combing my sinking funds and will come back once I have more answers.

Wish me luck!

JamesByeTaylor

HI there Positive Balance.

I started reading your thread Saturday and I finished Reading it this morning. And if i'm honest it inspired me to do my own Diary, (not started yet though), when I do start it I will put it in my signature.

One thing that kept on Jumping out at me whilst reading your Diary was your repeated insistence that its hard to predict how much money you will get paid. And it just irked me for some reason. Why cant you predict your income? Aren't you on a fixed hourly amount? Are your employers deliberately making it hard to predict? Surely if you know your hourly rate then you should be able to predict your income. For me I can predict within a couple of pounds how much I am going to get paid.

Keep up the good work.:T

PositiveBalance

JamesByeTaylor wrote: »

HI there Positive Balance.

I started reading your thread Saturday and I finished Reading it this morning. And if i'm honest it inspired me to do my own Diary, (not started yet though), when I do start it I will put it in my signature.

One thing that kept on Jumping out at me whilst reading your Diary was your repeated insistence that its hard to predict how much money you will get paid. And it just irked me for some reason. Why cant you predict your income? Aren't you on a fixed hourly amount? Are your employers deliberately making it hard to predict? Surely if you know your hourly rate then you should be able to predict your income. For me I can predict within a couple of pounds how much I am going to get paid.

Keep up the good work.:T

Hi JBT!

Thank you! I look forward to seeing your diary and reading about your financial adventures.

As for how hard it is to figure out what I earn...I do a lot of overtime at work. It is paid down to the minute. I sometimes get extra pay for taking on some additional responsibilities temporarily. I rarely have just my basic pay - which is good thing as it's rubbish - but it depends on how much OT I have done each month, any additional responsibilities and when they are in the month. And all this is hard to calculate. I've been doing it long enough that I can generally have a reasonable guess, but sometimes it's impossible. For example, I'm getting a (small) payrise this month, but I'm not sure what that will iron out to after deductions and I'm due a bonus at some point, but I don't know how much it will be and if I will get it in July or August.

Our payslips are also written in a very confusing manner. It's almost as though they don't want you to understand what is going on with them...;)

I'm very tired as I have worked a simply outrageous number of hours in the past 4 days so I'll see you soon.

Get cracking with that diary!

JamesByeTaylor

Wow, sounds like they are making it hard to work out.

PositiveBalance

JamesByeTaylor wrote: »

Wow, sounds like they are making it hard to work out.

Pretty much!


Where's that diary? *Peers up like a meekat*

PositiveBalance

Hello again,



I've been away for a few days hence the radio silence.



I've also applied for two new jobs. I don't know when I will hear if I got through to interview, though.


I need to have a go-through of my finances now I'm back. I still haven't had the chance to update my sinking funds spreadsheet.
I'l be back when I have had the chance to look through it all.

PositiveBalance

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaack! *Runs and slides into thread*

I've been trying to figure out my sinking funds after my holiday and it has become almost impossible as I've realised that my records are not very complete; I dump a set amount of money in each month, but haven't been keeping 100% records on what is taken out of the account I keep that money in.

Add to this money that I've taken out over the past few month for fence panels etc. and lending money to a family member and it's hard to figure what is left in what category.

So I have made the decision to completely start again. With a brand new very specific spreadsheet that breaks down exactly how much has been put into each category, how much is taken out and what for and how much is left in each category. I'm really happy with it and I think it will help me to keep better a better track of things.

I've also created a new sinking fund for a new laptop as my current one is very old and started to play up just before I went away on holiday. I doubt it will last that much longer, so I'm putting £40pcm away for a new one and crossing my fingers.

As part of starting my new pots I will clear out my current one as it will be easier to start from zero. Between the remains of my pots and some money over from my budget which I have not spent so far this month, I have £122.43 which I plan to send to my excess emergency fund/debt repayment at the end of the month as I may be able to add a little more on the last day of the month when I get paid as the max for any given month is £250 and then I can put anything above and beyond that which I can afford to save into the same account in August. (1 paycheck, 2 different payments over 2 different months, 1 day's difference. ) My pay should be quite good at the end of the month, but as per usual I won't know what to expect until I get my payslip. I'm going to have to see how much I will have left after I book hotels/transport to put into the savings account that will be my fund for repaying the remaining debt.


However, this next month is going to be annoyingly social. I have two out-of-city trips to take which may require overnight stays and therefore hotel rooms and next weekend I have to go to a party as well. I don't have that much money left in my budget for the rest of the month, so things are likely to be a bit squeaky. (The holiday was expensive.)

I'm still waiting to hear back about the jobs mentioned in the last post. Either would result in a payrise. One of them would result in a significant pay rise, so please cross your fingers for me! :A

I have enough money put to one side this month to get the remaining balance of debt down to under £5K before I get paid at the end of the month, which will be a nice psychological boost. I'll see what else I can add when I get my paycheck.

I hope you are all well.

PositiveBalance

Hello all,

Still no word on the jobs - very annoying.

I've created a shiny new sinking funds spreadsheet and it's great apart from missing a few formulae. I shall have to get a more spreadsheet-capable friend to help me with it.

I got paid £1702.83 this month. On top of my normal expenses I have to pay £100 for some official documents and am having an unusual month socially meaning that I have to travel to some other cities to meet people/do things. As a result of this, I have allocated myself £150 fun money. I guess this can also be my celebration for paying off the CC.

I have opened one regular saver with a decent interest rate and am due to open another this week, but I have to go in for an appointment to do so, annoyingly.

I have filled my existing one with £250 this month, £89.64 from my ravaged pots to bring them back to zero so I could start afresh with them, then £176.02 from my wages. This means that I should have £105.30 left over from the difference between my bills and my wages, to which I will add £15 for the classes I couldn't attend last week, meaning £120.30 to add to my new regular saver once I get it.

I'm also due £125 cashback this month for opening my new account, but that won't arrive into my account until the end of the week (assuming no hiccups.) I'm not sure if I will have to deposit money into the new regular saver. If I don't, I could put this into the second regular saver as well, which would potentially give me £125.00 to put in there on top of the £120.30. The max you can put in is £250pcm so I would love to find an extra £4.70 to put in it, but am wary of over-extending myself in a really expensive month. I'm sure I can manage that, though, subject to the £125 coming through when it should!


All of this money is to repay the remaining debt (£5069.01).


In short:

Regular saver 1: £250.00
Regular saver 2: to be opened with hopefully £250

Offset against debt: £500/£5069.01 = £4569.01 left to repay.

That's not bad for one month! :j

(Gosh, that £0.01 is going to annoy me, though! :rotfl:)

PositiveBalance

Hello again,


I heard about the jobs: no dice. I'm on some waiting list so I may/may not hear about other roles in the future. I'm not holding my breath too hard, anyway.


In better news, I got a text off my bank yesterday saying that I will get the £125 paid into my account by the end of he week, so I will be able to move £250 over to my soon-to-be-opened second regular saver.


I'm not complaining!

PositiveBalance

So..I had to take Fido to the vet's late last week...just shy of £180 (some of which can be claimed *back* on insurance - don't get me started! :mad:), Fido has a long-term condition that will mean going on a special diet which will cost approximately £70 a month on food.


My mobile came back from repair but has been damaged due to the idiot in the shop not putting the SIM card back in properly. I'm due to go away overnight at the end of the week, so this is not helping at all. :mad:


All in all, I'm quite annoyed with work as well, so I'm a very happy bunny indeed.


I'll be back when I've calculated the damage...