Young And Dumb

Mx_Emmin

I've had a therapist assigned to me, so that will start soon. I was already doing better just knowing help was on the way, so in a way I was kinda hoping it might take a couple weeks more, then I'd have more time to try get a month ahead. I need £54.24 to hit my minimum month ahead goal (£1000, as per the logic I was talking about above). So I miiiiiiight be able to swing it for 1st Dec? But therapy take priority, so we'll see. 

Also in side news, I think this month may the first month I don't dip under £10k net worth the day before payday. I get paid in about 7-10 days and my net worth is currently at £10,300 and change. It would be a cool milestone, although its a more of a side effect than something I was actually aiming for. 

Also the dog went to the vet today for his annual vaccinations and they gave him a health check before, which I was so nervous about after last time, and they said the plaque off was working for him and they even said his skin was better on the new food (which I hadn't noticed but is nice to hear)!

The Christmas shopping has started now, I've chipped in a bit for some baby books for my incoming nibling and I bought a gift pack of fancy tea to gift my family when I'm visiting them at Christmas. It includes a variety of blends and a £5 voucher. Totally not an attempt to convert them or anything 👀

Mx_Emmin

So I had a bit of a minor weird coincidence this morning

So I'm expecting to get paid either today or tomorrow, but I was hoping it was this morning as I need to go grocery shopping

So I was hitting refresh, refresh, refresh, on my banking app and eventually I hit the point where I was like "if I dont get paid in the next 30 minutes I'm going to have to start WAMing"

I still havent got my salary in - but you remember that switcher deal I did? That gets me £130? I wasnt expecting the money until late Dec/early Jan as they said it would be 90 days, but it turned up this morning

At least I can shopping now haha

Part of me is slightly wondering if it's a mistake and they'll take it back out of the account, but I'll cover that with my salary if needs be

That being said - looks like I'm hitting my goal of getting a month ahead this month! I put £40 of the £130 into groceries, and the remainder £90 into Next Months Income, so I'm over £1000 now. On 1st Dec I **should** be able to refill my categories and switch to budgeting on the 1st. If all goes to plan.

Watch me get paid 10 min after I get back from Aldi

Mx_Emmin

So, it took a bit longer for the money to come in than getting back from Aldi

I almost didn't budget it tonight, I was feeling really sleepy when it came in, but the new toothpaste I was trying turned out to be absolutely disgusting and woke me up so I ended up budgeting tonight after all whilst waiting for my mouth to calm down

~*~

The key category "Next Months Income" has exceeded its goal of £1000, I got it to £1085. Technically we need to wait until 1st Dec to confirm if I can get a month ahead but at this point I'm pretty confident. 

Thanks to the early £130 I've also put enough aside to get myself a special tea pot from my fancy tea shop, I just need to decide which one to get. There's a tea pot with a built in infuser, which seems the obvious choice, but there's also a thing called a Brewdini, which might be easier to clean... but also would lose heat quickly as its plastic, and hold less? This is a serious decision

I've even had a little leftover that I cant decide what to do with! About £20. It's probably going to go on clothes tbh, I need some new shoes for interviews and with the work Christmas do coming up a new shirt would be a good idea. I need Jeans too. Its quite rare that I buy myself clothes anyway, and a few things have cropped up at the same time.

Also, I mentioned this previously, but - this was indeed the first month I still had 10k left the day before payday. 

Edit: As for refilling my E-Fund, that currently sits at £2920 out of £3000 goal, the current goal date is set to March '22 but obviously I'm hoping to do that sooner if possible, now I'm theoretically no longer saving to get a month ahead. My current wish farm goals are the tea pot, a fancy whiskey glass, and those Dr Marten work shoes - but those have been sitting at £20 out of £200 for several months now, apparently those aren't as urgent as I originally thought, but I'm also not ready to take the £20 out of it yet. It's in category purgatory. 

Mx_Emmin

You know those moments when you're like "I'm budgeting, I know I'm budgeting, I planned to buy this, I can afford this - but how tf can I afford this?!" Like you know you've put all the work but it still doesnt make sense somehow?

Anyway I spent £58 at the tea shop buying a travel mug and a teapot   

Mx_Emmin

I'm a month ahead 🥳

I've switched all my goals to spending monthly (or spend by date in the case of some of my yearly goals)

I switched the Christmas goals to needed for spending, by date, repeat yearly, but because I'd already spent some on Christmas presents it got a bit confused and wanted me to contribute even more to make up the numbers

I don't mind that so much - it's not as if I wont be able to find reasons to spend it, this time of year!

I needed even less than I thought. I knew I wouldnt need the full £1000 as not all my categories were empty yet, but it was very challenging to work out how much I would need

In the end I had £316 left over after all my categories were refilled

I've decided to sprinkle £116 amoung various categories and overfill them for the Christmas season - I'm talking categories like Social, Take away, etc (...I may have already this morning put in a special Christmas tea order) 

£200 I'll put into wishlist items, I just havent decided which items yet. At least one wish list item is also on the Christmas list I gave family, so might need to wait and see

Its nice getting to the first of the month and seeing everything in green instead of orange, because the goals are set up properly now
 
Edit to add: I was also able to refill my E-Fund to £3000, which I originally thought would wait until March
 
Also, starting my tea advent calendar today! 

Mx_Emmin

I have had complete choice paralysis over which wishlist categories to put that £200 into (actually £230 because I ran out of regular categories to overfill) 

 

In the end I've tried to "break the seal" and just thrown bits of it into some smaller wishlist items - a travel dog water bottle, a filter for my laptop screen to make it easier on the eyes, and a tea cold brew bottle 

I've also taken the opportunity to buy a bulk bag of dog food, see if that works out more cost effective or just more hassle

Big spender, I know

I took a gamble on a £5 puzzle dog toy and he really took to it so I've ordered a £20 one to arrive along with the food

 

Why is it easier to spend money on the dog then myself?!?!

 

It just feels like theres nothing I really want, double especially theres nothing I want **now**, that I could get for £200

 

It's like, either I want a bag of tea and a sims expansion pack (which are both budgeted for)... or I want a house

 

So I've got about £87 left on that holding category that I cant decide on yet

If I cant think of what to do with it by January I'll put it in my house deposit fund

 

My other anxiety is that by leaving it unplanned I'll frittle it away on tat

 

This may be the most first world problem ever, and there is no one outside of budgeting forums I could talk to about this 

"Oh no, I cant decide what to do with my spare money!"

It's not exactly that its spare, it's that it's an amount large enough I feel I should do something special with it, but too small to do anything truly significant with it

Mx_Emmin

I'm alive! 
It's been a hectic time, but I have two whole days to breathe before rushing off somewhere else so I though I'd take 5 minutes to check in on my budget.

~*~

So the good news is nothing went into the red, the bad news is I kind of overspent on Christmas. That seems like a contradiction. But the mess with switching from budgeting on payday to budgeting a month - it was always going to be a messy month whether it was December or January - and then adjusting goals, and then fulfilling the goals, but I'd already bought some presents, essentially I paid extra into the Christmas categories but because the categories weren't empty I just saw I still had money to spend. Which I did, so thats ok, but I spent more than I intended. But it was money I actually had. 

I sort of suspected that was happening but I didnt actually confirm it until I checked the reports just now.

2021

Christmas Family Intended Spend: £150

Christmas Family Actual Spend: £206.47

Christmas Friends Intended Spend: £60

Christmas Friends Actual Spend: £0 (but they didnt spend anything on me either.... I think we all silently agreed not to do anything this year? Idk, I only noticed this 5 minutes ago)

Christmas Misc Intended Spend: £90

Christmas Misc Actual Spend: £118.70

None of the categories actually went red though, somehow, and I feel thats the important thing.

Anyway for 2022 I'm setting the goals to be £210, £60 and £120 respectively, though with inflation god knows what that'll look like in practice.

~*~

When switching back and forth between January and December I noticed that January has an extra £30 in "Ready To Assign" Compared to December. I'm not sure why that would be, but seeing as January is all of three days away I might just let it roll over and sort itself out. 

~*~

That tea advent calendar was really nice, but I don't think I'll be doing it again. In fact I actually went so far as to delete the category. Simply because - and I didn't think I would say this - there was too much tea! The calendar had 2 teabags in per day, so I was having one in the morning, one at lunch, and I wouldn't always feel like a third cup of tea in the evening before bed. My tea stash has been growing uncontrollably because I havent been able to drink any of my at-home stuff! 

I think if someone didnt know the brand or didnt have as much of  a stash at home it would be a really food buy, it just didnt suit me personally. 

~*~

So this is what my budget looks like for the New Year. As always, this does technically add up to more than my average salary is, but I dont often empty every category all the way to zero, so it usually works out 

If you don't want to read the whole thing, the highlights are

1. The Dog Food category has gotten more complicated because I want to switch to bulk orders to save money
2. I'm saving up for a fancy whiskey decanter next year
3. I bought myself some Sims Packs for Christmas
4. I'm increasing my House Deposit monthly contribution from £25 to £200! Also I put in £90 extra in December, from that money I couldn't decide what to do with 
5. I'm putting extra money into my Emergency Savings, £25 per month, to try get it to a true 3x monthly income instead of 3x expenditure. I'm also putting £25 per month aside for a big emotional goal I mentioned previously, and for general vacation savings, because I've heard those are nice occasionally. 

~*~

Weekly Spends

Groceries £160

Household £20

Hobbies £20

Takeout £25

Online Shopping  (no target set)

Stuff I forgot to budget for £20

Medical £10

Monthly Expenses and Bills

Birthday Of The Month £25

Work Misc £10

Human Groom £20

Public Transport £60

Rent £350

Mobile Phone £18

Fancy Tea £31.95 (subscription + a little extra)

Investing £25

Social Spends £50

Charity/Artists (no target set)

RPG Night £20 - I actually don't know why I still have this category, this group hasn't met since prepandemic... I guess I'm just not ready to let go yet haha. I should find an online group.

Clothes £25

Dog

Food & Treats £15 - This was actually really hard to set a target for as I want to start ordering bulk food online, but also want to get small treats along the way, but dont really know how long this current bag of dog food will last me. So this is a bit of a guesstimate

Dog Groom £40

Dog Vet Plan £14

Dog Insurance £44.76

Yearly Expenses and Savings Pots

Dr Marten (work shoes) £20 out of £180 - this has been sitting here a while, I guess I don't want it as much as I originally thought I did, but also I don't want to take it off or empty it. So here it stays.

Works Night Out £5 per month, let it build up

Whiskey Decanter £90 by Dec '22 - I really want something like this or this or this or this... I haven't picked the exact one yet, I can decide in December

Bird Blend Christmas In July £40 by July '22 

Prescription Prepayment Certificate £110 by Nov '22

Sims £10 per month, let it build up - Currently at £0 because I bought some packs over Christmas. I'd been letting the category build up for a while as I couldn't decide between packs, then they had a massive Christmas sale and I spent £60 all at once and with the sale prices I actually managed to get almost everything I wanted 

Tattoo £5 per month, let it build up (currently at £90, sometime in 2022 I can get something done!)(Also, haven't 100% decided what yet... though I've narrowed it down to top 5)

Name Update Documents £10 per month - Just my passport to go, I think

Microsoft Office £5.50 per month (I need to check into when that needs renewing)

Fitbit £130 by July '22

New Year Whiskey £100 by Dec '22 - I actually spent £110 in Dec '21, they're good salesmen, but I was able to WAM it as I'd only saved £90

Glasses £70 - achieved, just sits there waiting for its moment

FA Diploma £30 per month

Subscription £50 by Feb '22

Next Phone £31 per month - Currently sitting at £527, not feeling the need to replace my phone just yet, though its been maybe 4 years now

Next Laptop £30 per month - Currently sitting at £660, wanting to stretch this laptop out as long as possible in the hope of saving up enough for a desktop (and desk, and screen, and speakers) next time

Pride Savings £5 per month - Currently sitting at £93.96, Pride seems very much a thing of the Before Times

Dad's birthday £100 (no target set) - Still havent decided what to do with this

YNAB £90 by Nov '22 - To account for currency fluctuations, as of today that would be $120 USD but in 11 months who can say

Divorce £1000 (no target set)

Christmas Misc £120 by 25th Dec '22

Christmas Friends £60 by 25th Dec '22 (achieved)

Christmas Misc £210 by 25th Dec '22

Therapy Refill to £200 each month

House Deposit - BIG NEWS - I'm increasing this to £200 at last! The type of account I'm using for this in the UK you can only put a maximum of £200 per calendar month in, Until now I've been putting in £25 per month just to keep it ticking over and I've been frustrated that I'm not making more progress. So I've decided to listen to those frustrations and, now I'm a month ahead, prioritise this. I mean, £200 per month still wont get me very far in a hurry, but I am very excited about this change in pace and direction. Hopefully at some point in the future I can start putting £300 per month aside, then £400. I would need to keep the money stored in two separate places instead of one discrete unit but YNAB doesn't care about where your money is kept anyway.  Also, I said before I had some money I wasn't sure what to do with? I did, in the end, move £90 extra than my usual December contribution in my house deposit category & account. It needed to be done by Dec 31st because of the "£200 per calendar month" rule. As of tonight there's £1207.11 in that account & category. 

Next Move £1000 (no target set)

Emergency Savings £25 per month - Currently at £3000

Big Emotional Goal £25 per month - To try get it to a true 3x monthly income instead of 3x expenditure

Vacation

Canal Boat Training £500 (no target set) - I still need to do this at some point

Vacation Misc £25 per month -No concrete plans just yet, not even a whisper of a plan, just a vague intention to set some money aside to do something fun at some point

~*~

I do have a wishlist category as well but I'm not actively funding those and this post is already long enough

Mx_Emmin

I was just setting some goals/resolutions for 2022. I've set two goals regarding my house deposit, the first goal being £3600 total. This should happen automatically as long as I put in the £200 per month I have planned. The second goal is more of a stretch goal, to put in an additional £400 on top of that. So in order to reach that stretch £400 by the end of December, I need to put in £33.34 a month.

jusferbrowsing

All the decanters are really nice, so unusual though the globe one, that I absolutely love. 

What a great year you've had financially, full of wins.

Mx_Emmin

So February started with an email that the YNAB forums (where I was double-posting this journal) are closing, so now I'm in the process of digging up my wordpress account and moving this somewhere a bit more accessible

~*~

In the meantime, some updates from the most hectic fortnight I've had in while

- I'm officially dating someone! As in, Facebook-official and everything  😎  They're non-binary like I am and they're wonderful

- My ex has agreed to go ahead with the divorce - as long as I pay for it, which I can afford if it doesn't get messy. I expected him to say as much. At this point in time I've sent in my documents and paid the big fee, so now I'm just waiting to see if he keeps to his word. Even if he does, it's still a 6 month process.

- Made some progress towards a diagnosis on some joint issues. This is also a long term process, about 18  months before I see the person I really need to see. In the meantime I bought some knee braces, which arrived today. Its a weird mix of emotions. On the hand, excited at the prospect of some relief on my knees. On the other hand... I guess I'm just wearing these forever now? They're a very visible symbol of disability, and I'm kind of uncomfortable with that, although I think some of my trousers are loose enough to cover them.

~*~

But this is a finance blog, not a health blog

It's been a rough few months - my net worth has dropped two months in a row. First Christmas, then Divorce, both saved up for and budgeted for, but it pains me a little to see my new worth drop by that much. It's dipped below 10k again. 

But that's also insane, by the way, that I'm irritated my Net Worth has dipped below 10k? That I even have a Net Worth to care about?

~*~

I've decided not to pursue the financial advisor diploma anymore. It doesnt seem to be working for me, and honestly I felt so relieved when I made that decision, and that in itself told me it was the right thing to do.

I haven't decided exactly what I'm going to do instead. I'm pondering a mortgage qualification instead - I have transferable credits - but I've also got some non-financial job interviews lined up, Well, one interview, and one application I feel really good about. 

I finally decided to break down that leftover money from Dad's Holiday Birthday Present and redistributed the money for myself. Some of it went into buying a black suit jacket for interviews. Some of it went into buying an electric blanket and a weighted blanket. One for temperature cozies and one for emotional cozies.

Part of me also wants to join a gym, more specifically one with a swimming pool. It's meant to be easier on the joints than running. But its figuring out what to cut to fund that subscription... I'm going to have a yearly bonus in March, and hopefully I'll have some leftover money from the Divorce category later in the year. Maybe one of those could be used to buy a  years subscription? But then I have to save up for next year... 

~*~

I'm going to be resurrecting my wordpress account and moving this over to there. I'll post the link when it's ready. Partly I'm going to ask a friend to draw a lil logo for me, I'm guessing once it leaves official YNAB forums its probably a bad idea to use a recolour of the logo, legally speaking. 

I'll probably be publishing old posts from previous months/years first of all so that it all makes sense. I haven't decided exactly how I'll copy across comments, but I'll paraphrase as much as I can, because I dont want to spend time tracking down anyone who ever commented on here and ask them for permission to copy their words across to a new site. 

Hopefully I'll put another update here soon! About Wordpress, or about budgeting