Prosperous soul in the making

MovingForwards

Can you get a list of all DHs outgoings / bills / dates for this year then you can plan accordingly? I know it's after the event, but will help.

You are shouldering everything, but are a couple with 'adult' children, everyone must start working with you to ensure the family budget works. Perhaps a family meeting is overdue and you set everything out again.

Have you enough banked hours to have a long weekend off soon?

savingholmes

Hi MF - unfortunately not in terms of flexi. Our work computer systems keep crashing which messes with my day. I have got a day off in a couple of weeks though - and then I have a week off at the end of August leading up to the bank holiday. I'm worried that my exhaustion could be sugar related so want to try and make myself diet again to see if things improve. I need to try and do some work tonight as the connection to work got so bad I abandoned any attempt to work mid afternoon. The good news though was that DH and I walked to a lock park with the dog and enjoyed the sunshine and an ice cream. I took some photos that I can use for work at some point so it had some benefit for them too. I do want to catch up a little though.

Budget wise I am going to scale back my planned debt repayment for this month as with various motoring bills things haven't quite gone to plan. I think MF that I had the bills in my head for a month later than they were so it's kind of my fault but not really the end of the world. 

MovingForwards

Do you have a book for all your outgoings or are you relying on memory alone? Until you are feeling yourself it may be better, comforting in a way, if they are written and easy to refer to / cross off.
Your work access won't be helping with how you are feeling as it's another thing mentally filed and to do.

Break into your diet again slowly, over a few days or a week, adjust to it and it should be a little easier. Maybe even vary it so your calorie intake isn't as low as it should be on the 2 days.

Things will get back on track, you've had so much going on this year, let alone before that. Try to scale back and set days for the different things, remembering time for you too.

hugglemonster

Phew you're busy as always but glad you've got some time off soon and managing to get out for fresh air and ice cream! 

H x

Blackcats

I agree with others - be kind to yourself.  Your debt repayments are going well and you are on track to meet your goals.  Pushing yourself too hard month after month could make you fall off the wagon completely - steady and slower works best in the long run.  (Speaking from experience 🤭)

Really frustrating when work IT connectivity Is bad.  When it happens in the office people stop for a coffee and a chat - it always feels worse when working from home.  I've spent hours today staring at an MS Teams screen for meeting after meeting.  It's very draining and there just isn't enough time to do the actual work.  Hope the connection is better tomorrow. 

Tahlullah.H

Hi Savings, if the money came out before his payday, doesn't that mean he was expecting it - it was just early?  so can't he give you they money back?  Sorry for my lack of understanding?

savingholmes

hugglemonster said:

Phew you're busy as always but glad you've got some time off soon and managing to get out for fresh air and ice cream! 
H x

It felt like a real summer's day for once!

MovingForwards said:

Do you have a book for all your outgoings or are you relying on memory alone? 

I have a spreadsheet but if I've put the figures in the wrong month it doesn't help

Blackcats said:

I agree with others - be kind to yourself.  Your debt repayments are going well and you are on track to meet your goals.  Pushing yourself too hard month after month could make you fall off the wagon completely - steady and slower works best in the long run.  (Speaking from experience 🤭)

Really frustrating when work IT connectivity Is bad.  When it happens in the office people stop for a coffee and a chat - it always feels worse when working from home.  I've spent hours today staring at an MS Teams screen for meeting after meeting.  It's very draining and there just isn't enough time to do the actual work.  Hope the connection is better tomorrow. 

It takes me so long to get in the mood to work and then if it repeatedly kicks me out it is really hard to stay motivated. I've just done 3 hours tonight and it was really easy and I had no connectivity issues. I think you are all right - and I need to be kinderto myself on the debt repayment plan and as you say slow and steady wins.

savingholmes

Tahlullah.H said:

Hi Savings, if the money came out before his payday, doesn't that mean he was expecting it - it was just early?  so can't he give you they money back?  Sorry for my lack of understanding?

Hi Tahlullah - I use the word I a lot - but all our accounts are joint - although we give each other £100 personal spends a month. He just never looks at his app / statements so didn't warn me that something we'd agreed he would buy for DD on his card in case they didn't deliver was going to a) be due (I'd forgotten about it) and b) be due the day before payday. Tomorrow I get paid - and then he gets paid next Monday which will be great. 

Right I am going to leave some stuff out for charity and hope it all gets picked up in the morning.

PurpleFairy26

Agree with others, you’re doing well on debt repayment don’t beat yourself up. One thing I notice is that you often refer to using your EF and on the last page you said you had motoring expenses such as tax to pay from it. A true EF should be just that - emergencies. Such as fridge breakdown etc... would it help to have a proper EF and then another savings account for all your annual bills such as motorbike tax and maintenance. That way you can protect your EF and not touch it rather than feeling like you constantly need to top it back up. 

savingholmes

Thanks PF  - I have had separate payment pots in the past - and it helped with guilt free spending - but in practice I raided them as much as when they are in a single pot as now. I try to keep my EF/total savings about £1K every month and hope by Xmas to get it above £2K. We are in the fortunate position on 2 incomes that our major bills and minimum CC payments are less than half our income - so if need be - we could pay almost anything but a holiday abroad in month if needed - by lowering the total paid to CCs. I have a spreadsheet that lists out when I expect annual bills to hit each month and how much I need - but in practice - sometimes I find they are in the wrong month or something crops up. I also still have a constant fight with fritter spending - either on food or Am**** or similar currently.

Moving on, the good news is I have been paid! Woohoo! So I have made a payment of £1,116 which takes us to £17,999 total . CC debt. That takes that target CC down from £7.6K to £6,484. A good start to the day.