Extracting head from sand and facing the truth

redmel1621

Lydia42 wrote: »

redmel1621 i signed up for the free trial and really like the look of it, but having started half way through the month i've totally confused myself. I think as someone above has mentioned, i need to withdraw cash and not touch our main account for a bit so that all the random card payments clear and i know where i stand.

Yeah that is a good idea tbf. It's hard to budget what is in your account if you don't actually know what is in there.

I watched a video about starting out with YNAB when you have no money. It said kept emphasising not to worry about not having a lot in your bank to begin with as over time it will increase and increase, if you only budget what you do have.

I think once you have all your regular outgoings in it, then it will run smoothly

Brookside88 wrote: »

I was unsure too but I think I'll take the plunge. The price is in dollars so it's closer to 60 quid in GBP. I use a spreadsheet at the moment but it's on my work laptop so I lose track a bit over the weekend which is why I like the idea of the ynab app

Aaah is it in dollars? I hadn't noticed that tbh.

I'm the same with spreadsheets, I find it hard to keep them up to date if not at home much each day and some evenings I am too tired/busy to even open the laptop.

Lydia42

"I'm the same with spreadsheets, I find it hard to keep them up to date if not at home much each day and some evenings I am too tired/busy to even open the laptop" - redmel1621

Yeah, i'm the same. Not logged in on here for a few days as been so busy. Also full of cold and tired so i haven't kept up with logging stuff. I'm hoping YNAB will help as i have my mobile on me 99% of the time. I get paid on 25th and I've now set YNAB up with all my outgoings etc. I'm looking forward to giving it a proper go. I'm hoping once i have got to grips with it i can get hubbie on-board and give him the log in details so he can update it too as we have a joint account. Not sure how successful that will be though!!! haha

Lydia42

Just putting this in writing so i can see my logic when my head starts telling me i need to look at increasing wages......
I've contemplated asking to go back full time at my current job (3.5 days at the moment), but health wise it would destroy me as i am only just returning from a period of mental health issues and i know the stress/anxiety and depression would set in again if i didn't have a little time to get things done around the house on my days off. Very hard though as i know i would be taking home another 500 odd quid a month if i went back to 5 days a week. Aw man!!!!

On a positive note i have emailed our mortgage advisor. Our current deal ends 31st January so we have the option of changing our monthly mortgage payments to a lower amount to allow us to over-pay the debts. I'd rather do this than consolidate again. Then when that deal ends we will hopefully have paid the cards off and can amend our mortgage again. The good news is that we increased our payments to almost £1300 per month nearly 2 years ago so that we could pay down our mortgage which is currently on a 12 year term so there is wiggle room there. Thankfully.
I've also listed a few bits on fb having sorted some bits in the loft. Not a huge amount but it's helped stretch out our food budget this month which went crazy as we took our eye off the ball.

redmel1621

Hi Lydia,

That sounds like it would be a great idea. You could throw all the overpayment money to the debts and clear them a lot quicker.

Rather than full time, could you increase your hours just the 4 days initially. I know that won't be loads extra, but it all helps. No point going back full times straight off and this could be a transition from 3.5 days to see how you get on. I actually think work should only ever be 4 days...5 days a week is nonsense. I currently do 3 days, although my hours are spread over 4 days a week. I miss the full time money for sure, but after paying childcare costs, In reality, I am not really worse off. Our childcare bill was £600pm and tax credits did contribute a bit, but not enough lol.

BabyStepper

Lydia42 wrote: »

Just putting this in writing so i can see my logic when my head starts telling me i need to look at increasing wages......
I've contemplated asking to go back full time at my current job (3.5 days at the moment), but health wise it would destroy me as i am only just returning from a period of mental health issues and i know the stress/anxiety and depression would set in again if i didn't have a little time to get things done around the house on my days off. Very hard though as i know i would be taking home another 500 odd quid a month if i went back to 5 days a week. Aw man!!!!

My thoughts are ...don't increase your hours. Stay as you are for a bit. Keep getting/staying well and having the time to look after yourself. Your mental health is invaluable and knowing how to keep yourself ok and what you need to do is brilliant. (As I'm sure you know, many people are very ill and don't know how to get better.)

You can do this without increasing your hours. When you feel like like it you can try picking up a 'side hustle' (as DR puts it) for some extra cash. Go slow and keep checking in with yourself that it all feels alright.

Just my thoughts. Have a great day.

Lydia42

BabyStepper wrote: »

My thoughts are ...don't increase your hours. Stay as you are for a bit. Keep getting/staying well and having the time to look after yourself. Your mental health is invaluable and knowing how to keep yourself ok and what you need to do is brilliant. (As I'm sure you know, many people are very ill and don't know how to get better.)

You can do this without increasing your hours. When you feel like like it you can try picking up a 'side hustle' (as DR puts it) for some extra cash. Go slow and keep checking in with yourself that it all feels alright.

Just my thoughts. Have a great day.

Thanks BabyStepper. It's so hard not to focus on the debt and trying to clear it ASAP as that is affecting my mental health too, but work is the major contributor. I work in a stressful job and we already have two others off at the moment with similar issues - HR are looking into it all. I'm currently being phased back in so definitely think i need to take baby steps and keep well.

Lydia42

I've just updated YNAB ready for when i get paid on 25th. Already i can see i need to make cut backs to stay within budget this month which has scared the living **** out of me, but it's good to see it all staring back at me so i know what's what. Just need to track everything and tweak spending in some areas to stay on track in others......sounds simple right???

redmel1621

Lydia42 wrote: »

I've just updated YNAB ready for when i get paid on 25th. Already i can see i need to make cut backs to stay within budget this month which has scared the living **** out of me, but it's good to see it all staring back at me so i know what's what. Just need to track everything and tweak spending in some areas to stay on track in others......sounds simple right???

Oooh how are you getting on with YNAB?

Is it 'cheating' to update it before the money is in I was under the impression money should only be allocated once you have it.

I've not entirely made my mind up about whether to give it another go. Thankfully Dh found a job, so we could afford it now, but not sure about it yet. I've been sent a good spreadsheet that I am using to try and get myself organised. Once I given that a try, I'll make a decision on YNAB..

Lydia42

redmel1621 wrote: »

Oooh how are you getting on with YNAB?

Is it 'cheating' to update it before the money is in I was under the impression money should only be allocated once you have it.

I've not entirely made my mind up about whether to give it another go. Thankfully Dh found a job, so we could afford it now, but not sure about it yet. I've been sent a good spreadsheet that I am using to try and get myself organised. Once I given that a try, I'll make a decision on YNAB..

:rotfl: no i don't think it's cheating to allocate money before getting paid - although previously i did so maybe that's part of where i have been going wrong? It's all there listed, now i have planned it all first, including what i'd LIKE to spend money on as well as what we HAVE to pay for. So all our direct debits etc are listed as well as what i have budgeted for food, then i will allocate wages once they come in. Currently it's a huge red negative number lol but I'll allocate in order of most importance and when the DD's get taken, and update when hubby gets paid on last day of the month and allocate his money too. If we are short, i'll have to look at cutting back on what i'd like to spend on - something i definitely have gotten wrong for a very long time :cool:
At the moment i'm still on the free trial so i haven't made my mind up yet, but i'm liking the look of YNAB so far and plan to stick to using it properly until the free trial ends before i make a decision.

Lydia42

Just cancelled DD to Barclaycard as October payment will be a manual payment and the last to clear the outstanding balance before it switches to 20+% in November. Come on payday - i wanna do something that makes me feel i am actually getting somewhere with all this debt payment stuff!!!!!