Young And Dumb

Mx_Emmin

Ok so I need to isolate up to and including the 21st. A colleague at work has tested positive.

Not sure if 😔, 😑, or 😁 in regards to time off work but now I need to sort online groceries. 
I was meant to go shopping tomorrow for groceries, I have nothing at all in, so I've had to put a last minute grocery shop in for Monday so that's expensive (and later than I wanted, but I wasn't smart about delivery slots).
I also need to figure something out for week beginning the 22nd as well, because the day I come off isolation is the day I go back to work so I need two deliveries before then. One delivery for now because the cupboards are bare. One delivery for before I go back to work because I won't have time to shop before going back.

Mx_Emmin

Payday! Budgeting day! 
I think I've overbudgeted for groceries slightly but I'm leaving it as is for now. I haven't budgeted for this months takeout anyway so I'll probably WAM from there when I get one. The grocery delivery that's coming tomorrow popped up in my account already, so I added it to YNAB with my salary, then covered the overspending, THEN started budgeting my pay check and filled the category to the brim. So I think that category has £40 too much in.
~*~
So anyway here are where my savings are at:
Emergency Savings £2,415.00 - Initial Goal £3000 then I work on budgeting a month ahead, currently contributing £115 per month

Next Move £200.00 - Initial Goal £1000 then I work on E-Fund and budgeting a month ahead, this month I contributed £50 but as I just filled out my Therapy Goal next month I can contribute £150

H2B ISA £859.20 - Currently contributing £25 per month

Therapy £200.00 - Goal Reached

Christmas Gifts Family £39.91 - Currently contributing £12.50 per month

Christmas Gifts Friends £15.00 - Currently contributing £5 per month

Christmas Misc £22.50 - Currently contributing £7.50 per month

Divorce £1,000.00 - Goal Reached, ex initially contacted but he said he needed more time to save up

YNAB £43.44 - Goal £90 by October 31st, on track

Dad's Birthday £305.00 - Ok I honestly don't know what's going on with this, we all agreed to pay for a holiday for Dad for his birthday but then the world collapsed. I'm just adding £5 per month to this category to buffer any price changes when things start moving again. I originally agreed to £225 by August 2020

Pride Savings £120.78 - For, you know, if and when. This was the money for Pride 2020 that didn't get used. £120 was about what I was aiming for by Pride month. Currently putting in £5 per month to keep the category ticking over, after I next go to Pride (which.... I don't think will be this year, unfortunately) I need to up the contributions to £10 per month.

New Laptop £360.00 - Currently contributing £30 per month

New Phone £217.00 - Currently contributing £31 per month, and my phone is holding up surprisingly well so I'm not feeling the urge to upgrade yet

Subscription £10.87 - Goal £50 by December 31st, on track

Financial Advisor Diploma £402.89  - Currently contributing £30 per month, £35 would be better but here we are

New Year Whiskey £28.48 - Goal £90 by November 31st, on track

Fitbit £45.01 - Goal £130 by July 2022, on track, review prices in 06/2021 and 01/2022 to make sure goal is reasonable

Microsoft Office £60.00 - I still haven't pulled the trigger and bought this, the other month I had to WAM from this category, it's just not a priority

Name Update Documents £51.58 - Currently contributing £10 per month, I have enough money to ask to reissue my degree certificate, it just looks complicated, and their website said they wont do it for a deed poll, but they will do it for gender reasons, and I do have gender reasons, but all I have is a deed poll, but I don't think they're allowed to ask for a GRC? And also nonbinary people cant get GRCs? So yeah I'll deal with that admin at some point

Tattoo £40.00 - This month I contributed £10, but I've decided to switch goals with the Sims category. From next month I'll be contributing £5. My next tattoo idea is fairly simplistic (i.e. likely cheap) and I don't feel tattoos are a priority in a pandemic

Sims £15.00 - This month I contributed £5, but I've decided to switch goals with the Tattoo category. From next month I'll be contributing £10. In March I'm hoping to combine this with "Birthday Of The Month" to buy myself a new Sims Pack.

Period Panties £10.00 - There's no set goal on this, I'm just trying to find spare change as and when. Individual items are £28 each and there's no bundle packs of the ones I like the look of. 

Miscellaneous/Temporary Savings £50.00 - An idea for mum's birthday that'll cost more than the standard £25 and hotel chocolat Easter eggs. I made categories so I don't accidentally spend this money, but I'll be deleting these categories in April so they're barely worth talking about. 

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I've got my birthday coming up in March. Fingers crossed my family actually remember this year. Personally I'm planning on buying myself a new Sims expansion pack (I'm thinking... Get Famous?) and a birthday box set from the fancy tea place. I have £15 in the Sims category and £25 in Birthday of the Month, but because the Sims is a digital download I can literally wait until next payday to get that if I don't have enough.
Huh. As I was writing this, I went to check what the standard price for it was (£35), and was going to say something like "but they have frequent sales so as long as I keep an eye on the price I can probably buy it before my birthday for cheaper" ....aaaaaaand Get Famous is literally on offer for £18 today... this is why we don't check prices ahead of time... hmm...I don't really want to buy myself a birthday present literally an entire month early but I also don't want to risk this price slipping away... 😬😬😬 Like if I bought it now, for cheaper, there's a chance I could afford a second pack on my actual birthday... Hgn... decisions, decisions... 

Edit: I bought it. I'm pretty confident I could buy a stuff pack (£10) minimum on my birthday too. Maybe even a Game Pack (£18). 

Mx_Emmin

So I've remembered that next month is company bonus month, by my calculations I should be due somewhere in the range of £300, maybe £400? I struggle to work it out post tax but that's what I got in 2018 and 2019. In 2020 I got more, about £900 bonus, but if I recall correctly there was something else going on with my salary then, a reimbursement for underpayment? So that might be skewing the figure.
Anyway I have specific plans for about £150 of it. There some bits online I've been wanting to buy, I can put a bit more towards the sims games than I thought I could and buy a luxury Easter egg A friend of mine is trialling one of those investment apps, in the style of Robin Hood but can be used in the UK, and if she gets on with it for the next month then I'll sign up for it as well next pay check.
Day trading is basically gambling but I've been wanting to dip my toe in investment waters for a while (even before the whole Robin Hood/GameStop/Wall Street Bets saga). I plan to set aside £50 (well, £51 because apparently you have to do an initial transfer to set it up) from the bonus to get started. As long as I have all my other bills covered I don't see this as being any different than buying a lottery ticket. Well, I guess I don't usually spend £50 on lottery tickets. But I wouldn't put in £50 every month, most normal months I would expect to put in £5 to £10 like the amount I spend on lottery tickets. 
So with all of that, the investment app, the vegan Easter egg, the sims game, other miscellaneous shopping, that should be £150 total. 
As I said, I'm expecting somewhere in the range of £300, maybe £400. 
I'm debating what to do with the rest. My initial instinct is to dump it all into various savings categories, hurry along the savings goals. That seems the sensible thing to do. But I also want to donate a bit to charity? I read a lot on the YNAB forums about people having "giving" categories and I do have a "charity/artists" category but I'm not able to fund it consistently. I very strongly believe in the "you cannot pour from a cup that's empty" philosophy... but I don't know if my cup is truly "empty" anymore... but it's not exactly "full" either... but from what I read I don't think you ever get done funding E-Funds and other true expenses so I can't exactly wait until I am "full". 
  
 
Anyway I have a month to think on it. And it likely depends on how much the bonus is, the more I get the easier it is to find some to set aside.

Mx_Emmin

Oh! The other thing I forgot to say. My birthday came up in conversation with my family so I took the opportunity to plug my Amazon Wishlist. That sounds bad, but I want to make as easy for them to remember as possible after they all forgot last year. Now they have a literal list of things I want, and I intend to mention it in a few weeks as well to give them another prompt. 

Mx_Emmin

I've been thinking about it, and starting with my March paycheck I think I should sign up to this product my work does called the Investment Hub... It would £25pm less to put towards my savings goals, but if I'm studying to be an Financial Planner at work and if I'm (joint) "investment champion" (I keep track of and keep people updated on internal investment announcements), then I should probably use our companies investment products... if only to get some experience in case people ask...

vampirotoothus

Hi, investing in the work product sounds like a good idea, does it have good reviews (after all you want your money to work for you). It won't be that the money isn't going to your savings goals, you still have it, it is just in a different account, so will still count. Good luck

Mx_Emmin

vampirotoothus said:

Hi, investing in the work product sounds like a good idea, does it have good reviews (after all you want your money to work for you). It won't be that the money isn't going to your savings goals, you still have it, it is just in a different account, so will still count. Good luck

It does have good reviews... but then I would say that, wouldnt I? but yeah I've been wanting to do it for a while, I just reached the point where I had enough savings behind me that I felt comfortable doing so.
In the long run this money will benefit me, but I'm not going to count it as part of my day to day budget. To make it seriously work for me, I basically have to throw it in and leave it alone for 5+ years. I'm not even going to enter it into YNAB for net worth reasons. 
But I've set it up now! It'll start next payday. As of 25th March, I'll be an Investor 📈 🥂

Mx_Emmin

Well, it looks like Microsoft office have taken the choice out of my hands and abruptly reduced my OneDrive storage. Time to upgrade. 😠 Apparently they started rolling out these storage reductions in 2016, so I don't know how it took so long to reach me, but it's here now

Mx_Emmin

I've decided to cancel my HP Instant Ink subscription. It's meant to send me Ink cartridges when I run out - which it does. I just dont print very much since leaving uni. According to my account history, I was last sent colour ink in 2017 and black ink in March 2020. Plus my printer disconnects every time we unplug it, which is often, as none of us use it much. I was paying £1.99 a month. I've cancelled the service and just buy the cartridges when I next need them - they're cheap enough to WAM but I might put aside that £1.99 pm and save up for them. I think I've got more bill to pay at the end of March by the looks of it then I'm done with them. 
 
Every other month theyd be like "Your printer is turned off! We don't know how much Ink you have left!" But I'm there like "Well if you know how much Ink I had before I turned it off... and if I can't print whilst it's turned off...?" But no. They cry.

Mx_Emmin

So I've found out the pre tax amounts for my bonus and for my new salary. Because I'm relatively new to this role (though it doesn't  feel like it) I was on the lower end of the pay range, now I've been raised to the mid point.
My annual salary will increase by a little over £1100... pre tax. Divided by 12 and then deduct pensions, student loans, tax, it'll probably work out to an extra takeaway per month - but it's not nothing!
 
My annual bonus will be a little over £1200 - again, pre tax. I'm too lazy to figure out the deductions on that when I get paid later this week, so I've made plans for £600 of it and the rest we'll deal with it on the day. Broadly speaking, the plans are: £400 to savings, £200 to get myself a little something-something    Or more actually, about 3 somethings and 1 charity donation. 
 
Every payday I relax a little bit more. It's like I've had a tightened belt around my chest all this time and every payday it gets one hole looser.
 
There has to be a better of phrasing that.