The Four D's

FootyFanDan

Happy Hump Day! Mid week sun shining and some sense of normality creeping back in....what isn't to like!! hehe. Hope everyone is doing ok. It is amazing what a mood changer a little bit of sun is. 

So most of all bills have now left the account, just council tax to follow, had a bit of issue with EON payment been taken twice so that has depleted funds a little but not too bad, just waiting on refund going through for that. I have made the payment to debt and now have more savings than debt . 

Hoping today will be another good day, Finally started training my replacement so hoping over next few weeks that I can slowly step away from my current role but more than likely be 1st of May, she seems nice enough and seems to want to learn so that is a good sign. 

I have eventually decided to ditch the pots (sort of) and approach differently. So I have two accounts in my lloyds so one has EF in and the other now contains 'other savings' this is just one amount which will cover the 'true expenses' but in my YNAB that amount is allocated across the things it needs to cover. Hopefully this will be easier to track as the amount in bank and the amount across YNAB stuff matches and I won't need to transfer and monitor each pot. I will transfer a set amount every month. The pots were pretty depleated so I had £600 in EF so I kept £300 in that and spread the other £300 across the other stuff to give me a fresh head start. The main focus at the moment is car maintenance as I have MOT/Service end of May.

4 days now to work before I can finally go pick up the girls and get them back home and then we can maybe start enjoying some of the Summer. Anyways....before I ramble too much haha. Have a super Wednesday everyone! 😎🌞🌞🌞

alt80

sounds sounds like you’re doing well mate. Work sorted now you have your replacement for job looking like 1 month training assuming that will be when you’re off the nights. 

Ultimately you just need to know what you need to save suppose pots in budget iyswim 

I’ll not comment re pensions ha.

Great news girls back soon mate. 

mark55man

debt Neutral is not to be sniffed at - although seeing a big Zero in that column is even nicer still.

I've been money juggling so far this year, hopefully it will all come to the good now we are in the new (tax) year and I can focus on day to day stuff not a few years out.  So I can relate to your juggling with pots, it can get very confusing, especially with multiple accounts (and CC's which add a 4-6 week delay into everything.  I may try YNAB again, but it just did my head in first time round

alt80

I’d missed that @FootyFanDan you’ve smashed it mate at debt neutral now. Congratulations 🥂

I’ve def been there with the card juggling too ha still there lol. 0% doesn’t matter but do need to keep on top of it not do insane stuff.

mark55man

you'll be fine @alt80 - if you can manage a large property business, keeping track of a few CC's is not a challenge, you just got to not forget about them

FootyFanDan

alt80 said:

sounds sounds like you’re doing well mate. Work sorted now you have your replacement for job looking like 1 month training assuming that will be when you’re off the nights. 

Ultimately you just need to know what you need to save suppose pots in budget iyswim 

I’ll not comment re pensions ha.

Great news girls back soon mate. 

Thanks Mate, I think the idea of having the one pot of money is better for me.

Re work yes the plan is 4 weeks training however the girl is already miles ahead of where I would expect two days in so early signs are good. Plan is 3 sets of day shifts and then 1 final set of nights at the end of month and confirmed I start my Monday - Friday 8-4 shifts  

FootyFanDan

mark55man said:

debt Neutral is not to be sniffed at - although seeing a big Zero in that column is even nicer still.

I've been money juggling so far this year, hopefully it will all come to the good now we are in the new (tax) year and I can focus on day to day stuff not a few years out.  So I can relate to your juggling with pots, it can get very confusing, especially with multiple accounts (and CC's which add a 4-6 week delay into everything.  I may try YNAB again, but it just did my head in first time round

haha yeah can't wait til the big fat zero is there. I am making good progress and re-assessing every so often is good. I must admit YNAB took a bit for me to get my head round coz it was a total change of method in budgeting and the first time I didn't keep up with it - infact I was still paying the monthly fee but not using it, I then decided to get clued up and really commit and I haven't looked back. I do understand it isn't for everyone but for me its been brilliant and I am still making tweaks here and there but I think I finally have it in a good place.

FootyFanDan

Wow....I am starting to suck at this whole updating diary business! Nearly half way through another month! Where is time going. 

Things are ticking along ok, slight hiccup with the EON payment this month which left me £70 out of budget I wasn't expecting, but I had the funds to cover this without too much issue and after several calls to EON and convo's with Monzo it is now resolved so should hopefully get refunded within a week or so.

I need to properly update my diary and get back on board with keeping on track, overall finances are in a good place, also work is starting to ease a little now as I start to transition into the new role properly. Two weeks left before I come off the 12 hour shifts (in theory lol). 

Loving the sun, although still a little breezy. I know a lot of people are still concerned with the virus and probably rightly so but it was so nice seeing some normality back yesterday...although it did get me thinking budget tweaks as I know I will spend more. Anyways I will check in proper later for a mid month figure check and progress. 

Todays Tasks

- Cut grass (YAY.....)
- Try get the cut branches into garden waste too
- Clean the little one's trampoline
- Update YNAB budget and balance checks

I do need to tweak YNAB a little as I am going to track the utility and direct debits through tracking accounts rather than excel so it's all in one place. I like the idea of everything been in one place so I can see balances all in one place.

Hope everyone is keeping safe.

alt80

mark55man said:

you'll be fine @alt80 - if you can manage a large property business, keeping track of a few CC's is not a challenge, you just got to not forget about them

Ha yeah it’s not managing and keeping track I’ve got a problem with mate can do that easily.

@FootyFanDan great to hear how well you’re doing moving away from the shift work and everything sorted financially. You’re smashing it mate 100%. Really pleased for you.

FootyFanDan

alt80 said:

mark55man said:

you'll be fine @alt80 - if you can manage a large property business, keeping track of a few CC's is not a challenge, you just got to not forget about them

Ha yeah it’s not managing and keeping track I’ve got a problem with mate can do that easily.

@FootyFanDan great to hear how well you’re doing moving away from the shift work and everything sorted financially. You’re smashing it mate 100%. Really pleased for you.

Cheers mate, deffo getting there. Its been slow progress at times and not always thought I would get to where I am. Its not perfect and strangely now I have personal money to spend I very rarely spend it lol, I am trying to get back into the feel of things. I now know its not a race to spend all my money in one month I can roll over if I want. Theres a few stuff I need to purchase now the shops are back open but I will take my time.