Starting to control my finances

Mrsn

It’s taken a very long time to get to that point. My kids are 8 & 5 so no doubt it will increase in the future when their already bottomless pits grow larger. I try my hardest to bulk meals out with veggies etc and fortunately none of us have allergies etc as we would never be able to manage on that budget.

lightbulbtime

Mrsn wrote: »

It’s taken a very long time to get to that point. My kids are 8 & 5 so no doubt it will increase in the future when their already bottomless pits grow larger. I try my hardest to bulk meals out with veggies etc and fortunately none of us have allergies etc as we would never be able to manage on that budget.

That's one point I've just clicked on, padding out meals with veggies. I used to use 1kg of chicken on two meals, or three if I had the kids here. But now I pad them out and get four meals with 1kg. Some days I'm having meat free meals altogether, something I'd never had done before.

DancingInTheRain

Dropping in to say hi & good luck. However you decide to start to tackle this remember it's a learning curve and it's fine to try thing (and change things if needed), it's a work in progress x

MovingForwards

I love seeing how you are taking on ideas and adapting them to suit you.

Just a quickie to say lentils are cheap and also bulk food out. If you are a dab hand cooking you can make lentil lasagna, spag bol, curries, soups etc. One of my favourite cookbooks is a vegetarian student cookbook, it's cheap and quick 30 minute meals. Of course you can throw in meat to adapt it and have leftovers to freeze for another day.

Morrisons do 5 loyalty points per pound spent. Every 5000 points gets you a £5 Morrison's voucher - work out how much free money you can make in a year just by filling up your van! I don't cash my supermarket loyalty points in until December, means I've free food during the Xmas and New year period

If you use eBay/Argos sign up for a nectar card, link it up and get 1 nectar point for every pound spent. Often eBay and nectar do offers to bag bonus points. I also look through the nectar offers before buying things just in case the shop I am going to buy from is affiliated with them. Again, free money stored up for when needed

I saw your other thread about having different accounts, think about your annual bills going into one savings account, then you can move the money out as needed.

A savings account with restricted access ie 2 or 3 withdrawals a year before the interest drops, that could hold your emergency fund.

Pay your OD off as £6 pm in your pocket soon builds up!

lightbulbtime

Thanks MF, sometimes I think I'm being stubborn or making excuses, nice to know it's just called adapting haha. Morrisons loyalty card coming for sure, off tomorrow so will get it done.

I've opened up another savings account, should be active on Monday. I'll move all my savings for the annual accounts into that one and savings for birthdays etc into the other. Also have an ISA so that can be used for my emergency fund.

I can't thank you guys enough or express how excited I am to start saving and budgeting, feels so alien but also so exciting at the same time. Can't wait for this time next year to see all my budget graphs filled out.

lightbulbtime

So finally finished my budget sheet taking into account how much overtime i can get on average. This past couple of months I've started doing 45ish hours a month overtime, which is not pushing it, not burning myself out and providing things at work remain static, which we know it can fluctuate, this is more than sustainable. Sometimes I'll push the boat out, like this month, and do 55 but that won't be very often. I have calculated that to pay all my bills, a generous amount for fuel and shopping along with a decent budget for all other expenses including an over payment of £24.5 to my mortgage (reducing length by 2.5 years and saving £5149 in interest according to the over payment calculator) I need to keep a steady 41 hours overtime each month.

I've also noted that the position I was in when I took the mortgage on wasn't great, and as such my mortgage isn't the best one out there. When that's up for renewal next year I reckon I could drop my monthly payment from £375.5 down to around the £260 mark. But if I keep the payment at £400, as I'll be over paying by £24.5 each month from now on, it should reduce the length by around 10 years. But until that time comes, it's all conjecture. But very exciting and motivating to think it's even possible to pay my mortgage off in just 13 years!! :eek:

But as MF said above, it needs to be adaptive as this is just the first attempt. I'll run this for a few months and revisit it around September time.

NSD today woohoo!

MovingForwards

I forgot to ask whether you are paying into your works pension? As it's great you are thinking and sorting out the 'now' you need your 'future'

With your OT split it between all your accounts and OD to get that cleared, after all if you can budget for your normal wage your OT is a bonus.

Once your current mortgage term is coming to an end you can have a look to see what offers they have as you may not need to go through remortgaging with someone else.

lightbulbtime

Yes, I'm paying into a works pension. Never really thought about the "future" in this way before, sad I've not before but glad I have now.

OT shall be split between all the accounts in one go, and any extra above the budget will go into the emergency account.

I'll be searching for a mortgage via all avenues, won't be going through an advisor though, that cost me a packet last time and I suffered because of it. Never again!

lightbulbtime

So yesterday was another NSD, not because I didn't want or need to. Was because I was so depressed about my current position, sometimes i get that way. Coming off nightshift doesn't help, my sleeping pattern is all to hell, hence a 1am post. My spending budget isn't looking great as I only have £30 to last me 9 days and my hunger for chocolate is driving me nuts. Emotional eating 101.

I know I will get through this, I always do somehow. Amazing what I can put myself through and still get out the other side smiling. But sometimes I just get low, think about my financial situation and the fact I lost the love of my life because of it too.

Bad day, worse night, tomorrow when i wake I'm sure I'll feel better. Guess I wanted to point out that it's not all about the money, it's about how it affects you mentally and physically. And that in turn affects your work and social time. Sure I'm not the only one who goes through this. I'll start again tomorrow by going to the gym before work (free gym at work).

Happy days lol

lightbulbtime

Hi,


Been a while since I've posted a diary entry so I thought I'd update those subscribed.


Budgeting has been working very well, better than I ever expected in fact. My original current account that my wage is paid into just has bills coming out, nothing else. And it's quite satisfying seeing ONLY bills come out of it. Tallying it against my spreadsheet I see everything going out in the order it's supposed to, when it supposed to. Feels much more controlled somehow.


I had a second current account which I used to pay fuel, shopping, gas and electricity from. I only paid these when I needed to top up, but this hid how much I really had to spend on shopping. So next month, lesson learned, I'll top up the gas and electricity with my monthly allowance straight away. Same goes for the car, I only fill up once a month so I'll just fill up with the monthly allowance as soon as I move the money across. That way I'm only left with shopping money. If I don't need all the fuel or gas/electric, I'll transfer it across to a savings account instead and leave only the shopping budget.


I'm very pleased with my reduction in shopping, I had a trip away with the kids for the first time in two years. Within driving distance and we had a meal out both days and made food the rest of the time. It all came out of my shopping budget (£130) but I'm still on track to stay within my £250 budget for the month because I've managed to cut out the fizzy drinks. The knock on effect is a reduction in appetite and therefore a reduction in spending. So very happy about that. Will have to track for a few months and amend budgeted figures accordingly.


One other thing I've found very motivational is looking into minimalism. Whilst I've never been a hoarder by any measure, I do see how I clutter my house and let things pile up making it feel like a burden to be in. I spent some time cleaning my very small kitchen, removing items I had either never used or not used for years. I cleaned out the cupboards of packets and jars that were out of date etc. (OMG ones that went out of date as far back as 2013??!!!) And since I don't drink tea or coffee, and hardly use the kettle, I put it away in the now spacious cupboard. The kitchen has a different feel to it, pleasurable and welcoming. I enjoy my kitchen, enjoy cooking in it and keeping it clean and tidy. Much more than I ever did. And that increases my happiness level when in the house, a house I may add I live alone in. And I'm a firm believer that my spending habits, especially centered around sweets and fizzy drinks, are linked to my mood. So happier mood means less emotional eating, a win win I'd say!


Overall I feel much more in control of my spending, much more mindful as they say. I've not felt like I've had to cut back or deny myself anything so far, apart from maybe an excursion to the cinema or something of that ilk. But otherwise it's been easily sustainable.


Kids have also been introduced into budgeting and minimalism and they seem to both understand and appreciate it, so that's a bonus.


I'll update in another couple of weeks time after I've been paid. Hoping to have a positive bank balance by the end of next month and have cleared my £1200 overdraft. That'll have been just three months of overtime and budgeting. Next to go is £732 on a carpet loan, the payments of which will then go towards my emergency fund along with any overtime.


Lightbulbtime