Working the numbers 2019 style

mark55man

Thank you BCNS

Have spent today doing some light tidying and heavy spreadsheeting, plus finished off the tree so am in 100% xmas mode

Have worked out a payment plan for my cards next year, which I hope will minimise interest and get things paid off in the right order.

An inflation matching pay rise will help keep spending in check, just need to not get carried away on holiday in Jan/Feb.

Am pondering how to manage next year. Think will probably go back to basics - budgeting, monitoring and simplification as my end of year wobble was precisely the opposite

doingitanyway

Bonus and pay rise? That should help with balancing the books.
A Christmas tree sounds nice and, well, Christmassy

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Sad to hear about your cat....

The flurry of overspends sound like they'll be mopped up shortly. We always find this time of year painful financially, December seems to be a perfect storm of expense!

Look forward to hearing more of your updates and future plans.

Merry Christmas!!

mark55man

Thank you very much, and season's wishes to you all in return. It is so much more exciting with little ones, but older children have their rewards - particularly when they are old enough to buy rather than consume alcohol

I did think of you a little as I was looking back over the past two months just prior to putting my head up above the parapet again and thinking OSHDTH

mark55man

doingitanyway wrote: »

Bonus and pay rise? That should help with balancing the books.
A Christmas tree sounds nice and, well, Christmassy

Thanks DIA - we got an artificial one 10 years ago when there was a spike in real tree prices and its done us very well with built in lights which we then dress with our family heirlooms (we get one new decoration a year so now we have many)

Yes I know I'm lucky to work in a business which is not facing too many headwinds at the moment, or under government austerity. It will help, although probably not as much as DD2 leaving Uni in June

mark55man

Christmas day was nice - held at my SIL's about an hour's drive away - my turn to drive which was a shame as a glass with every course would render me illegal, so I had a glass of bucks fizz at the start and then nothing.

Back home late and caught up with presents for DS GF who had work and then today has been mainly tidying and chilling (but not in that order)

Both NSDs although tomorrow wont be as going down to the seaside to drop DD2 off back at Uni.

DebtFreeMonkey

Glad to see you've been well and reaching your goals! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

mark55man

Thank you. Yes I am generally pleased with how this year has gone, except the last couple of months have been a bit of a roller coaster and I have a bit more to do next year than I hoped, and my regular savers will have to be partly used to clear up the mess not clear off the debt - however a couple of years ago I would have had the mess without the savings so that's some sort of progress.

Funnily enough I was reviewing my goals, as despite my absence in this last quarter of the year they are still important to me - I will total up all the financial stuff on NYE as that is already planned as a NSD with a friends party to look forward to and food and drink for that already spent on.

Health, weight and fitness - 2/10 - I weigh more, I feel less fit and healthy - but my recent work medical wasn't completely dreadful so 2/10 seems fair. Did well on alcohol, with moderate consumption of stores and very little purchasing

Money, debt busting and budgeting - 7/10 - All in all I am £16K less in debt this year than I was last year with a little extra in savings. I have ended the year with a bit of a bonus and an increase in salary - However I have still not quite got out of boom and bust so only 7/10

Green, household and personal - 7/10 - I have ended up the year being much better organised with recycling and avoiding single use, and much more fuel efficient in my driving - however a house with 5 adults in has 5 vehicles, so 7/10 is possibly optimistic. Have failed woefully on decluttering / Ebay - lots of effort zero profit so will just concentrate on decluttering and have signed up to a challenge there

Vegetarian/vegan - difficult this one, 3/10 - its just been easier not too, although I think I need to make more of an effort and do more cooking as my OH is not keen, but enjoys it when I do the cooking whatever it is

FootyFanDan

''Money, debt busting and budgeting - 7/10 - All in all I am £16K less in debt this year than I was last year with a little extra in savings. I have ended the year with a bit of a bonus and an increase in salary - However I have still not quite got out of boom and bust so only 7/10''

This is a huge achievement, even given the last few months have been pretty tough this is something you should be amazed by! This stands you well moving forward into the new year even if you have a little more to do to achieve the end goal you will get there

DebtFreeMonkey

Here, here! I'm with Dan. You've made some amazing progress, despite everything not quite going the way you would have ideally, liked.