Working the numbers 2019 style

mark55man

steps 5100
NSD today at last- mainly living off HSD from previous days
not alcohol free, but it was free alcohol
not veggie as SIL prepared meal
took the train into work - so feeling green, but was a long out

clean/fix - cleaned the lounge for FIL and shifted more boxes
save/make - nothing today

mark55man

3100 steps - way too hot
NSD - packed lunch and free fruit day
Not veggie - although no meat
Not AF but using up Xmas presents

Clean/fix - usual chores
Make save - have to undo a previous claim as DS1 GF had some salary withheld for sick days so I agreed she could underpay rent. But payday tomorrow so I can live with that.

Sat out in the garden most of the evening with a cold salad and cold beer. Very pleasant.

Will do numbers next weekend at month end but mostly payments/ savers out tomorrow

mark55man

3600 steps
NSD - but quite high consumption as we were eating and drinking stuff that we had shopped for over the last few days :-)
Not AF - had some friends round for a summer bbq (weather just about held)
Not veggie - Mr Morrison provided 3 for £10 goodies
No petrol used - WFH and got a lot done

clean/fix - cleaned up for friends coming round, but now messier than we started. I could never do the clean up after the party thing so that will be my report tomrroow

save/make - did my expenses and was super diligent, and picked up a couple of things I might have missed

mark55man

Just been playing with my spreadsheets. I am going to try and start tracking spends weekly rather than at the end of the month. This means a little more bureaucracy and spreadsheet fiddling, but hopefully will allow for a bit better control.

Normally we run budgets by awareness of whether we are living our normal life (if there is such a thing - personally I wonder) and then using the overall balance across our accounts as our real time control. I am going to try being a bit more aware and see maybe if we can use that to avoid going over budgets. Kind of YNAB style which has inspired me to try, but building on effort I already spent with my sheets.

My budget will be set based on average spend from Jan to end of last month- this will have effect of locking in improvements and smoothing inaccuracies, but need to be careful we still look to not spend because its there. Anyway will be interesting to try

mark55man

Steps : 1300 (the peril of rain and being a sofa loving spreadsheet junkie)
LSD: - Just needed some bread and tortilla
Alcohol free
Not veggie - too many leftovers

clean/fix - cleared up after BBQ - I think every utensil and serving bowl we own got used.

save/earn - earned £4.90 on lottery tickets that cost me £10 earlier in the week - not much, but all I got today

Progress: I spent most of today upgrading my money/transactions spreadsheet into a better budgeting/tracking model. Main achievements
* Can now compare spends uploaded before the end of the month against my current average for the categories I use to see possible overshoots
* Better shows and helps me understand the division between fixed costs (annual and monthly - and which are generally best value for mid range services) and discretionary spends - like groceries and entertainment. And means I can focus on things I can change quickly
* can track my short and long term debt repayments better and help with motivation and momentum
* Have identified some frogs both financial and family

So not a bad day! Tomorrow is busy and hopefully more active

mark55man

Steps : 15600 (another long early morning walk recovered me from yesterday's poor show)
LSD: - Just needed some almond croissants
Alcohol free
First veggie day since I started reporting - if not for couple of coffees would have been vegan

Clean/Fix - made a little progress in the garden, and kept on top of dishes
Make/save - started re reading the boost your income thread for a few idea as I've been getting a bit stale. I could claim to have managed to talk the kids out of a pub supper, but that was their own doing really :-)

mark55man

Steps 4600
not veggie - hoping for 2 on the row, but OH did her fabulous tuna mayo jackets so gave in as beans was not in favour
HSD- big shop at Lidl. Over £60 but will see us through for a while
Not AF - attended a free town hall event and went to the pub with some neighbours

Clean/ fix. Nothing to report
Save/ make. Nothing to report

mark55man

steps 3600 - too wet for lunchtime walk, too knackered in the evening
Not veggie - had nice cheese & bacon fritata mainly using leftovers and freshly laid eggs from OH's friend
LSD - my turn to buy biscuits for the weekly meeting, which no one had told me was cancelled so I made some new friends by sharing them out
weight - +2Kg from start of year, most added in last 4 weeks, so I need to track it better - won't mention every day but at least once a week

clean / fix - bit of work in the lounge cleaing up and sorting this months paperwork

save/make - kudos to my OH for battling the universal credit system - we will be a month late getting money. also my help to DS2 with antandec has resulted in a refund of overdraft and a chance of getting the scammed money back. but it's such hard work on both fronts

doingitanyway

mark88man wrote: »

save/make - kudos to my OH for battling the universal credit system - we will be a month late getting money. also my help to DS2 with antandec has resulted in a refund of overdraft and a chance of getting the scammed money back. but it's such hard work on both fronts

I know what you mean. I felt the same with battling a tricky pay/delay a few months back. Well done to you and OH for staying with it.

mark55man

Thank you DIA - its nice to get support. My OH and I are professional worldly people, I am not sure if that is an advantage or a disadvantage in dealing with the nightmare of bureaucracy and obscure process.