Young And Dumb

DebtFreeMonkey

I hope you feel better soon

Mx_Emmin

Thanks for the well wishes

Stuck in bed w my laptop

I was filling in my debt and savings thermometers

My debt thermometer used my debt figure as of 12/08/19 (£1650.00) as it's 0% - I've had two paychecks since then and paid off 28% of the debt

My savings thermometer I only started colouring in on 12/08/19 but I obviously counted the savings I'd accumulated until then so it started at 25% with an end goal of £3000. That's moved a bit slower but its reached 31%

Mx_Emmin

1st October

This is how things are in my accounts right now:

Money in Accounts
Main account: £324.25
Monthly Social Spends: £58.72
Emergency Savings: £950.61
H2B ISA: £424.81
Christmas Savings: £110
Pride Savings: £20
Total: £1888.39

Debts
Red Card: £259.01
Black Card: £909.47
Argos Card: £14.98
Total: £1183.46

So moving in the right direction! :T :beer:

My main account is low enough to make me a little uncomfortable but I paid my rent and bus pass today so there's actually no bills to take care of until the 20th, after payday. The money that's left in my account is for groceries, a dog groom at some point, the beginnings of savings for a divorce (about £50), the beginnings of savings for my next laptop (about £10), and the majority of the YNAB subscription due in December (about £67).

On the flip side of that, last month I had no charges on my account AT ALL - in fact I even earned a little interest! 68p but interest nonetheless :j

My YNAB totals don't match my bank totals: they disagree by about £8 and I can't find where that happened. I did buy something on Amazon, change my mind, cancel it, and buy something else, so I'm giving my account a couple of days to sort itself out and hopefully it'll turn up. If not, I'll do a fresh start when I next get paid.

The new Direct Debit amounts didn't go out correctly for my credit cards but I sorted it. I've resubmitted the direct debit instruction a couple of days after this month's payment went so hopefully it should work next cycle. Otherwise, I moved money from other categories over to the credit cards. Apparently it's called "whack-a-mole" and is very common amoung new YNAB users, moving money from one category to another as you try to get a handle on your spending.

I am aware of the fun fair game called whack-a-mole, I've seen them in cartoons but never in real life, I just meant that's what this practice is called

I've stopped using the "weekly spends" account but I haven't closed the account and I won't for a bit. Part of me is thinking, if I lose and have to cancel my main card, at least I would have a backup card I could transfer money to until my new card arrived. The rest of me is thinking I don't know if YNAB is going to stick yet.

Although I must admit YNAB has made a pretty seamless transition into my life. I've just changed which app I check before I buy things, and I like the clarity of seeing what money is being spent where.

I've told work I'll go back Thursday. Feeling more or less better.

Mx_Emmin

So my brother sent me a link to a scheme that (if I got through) would vastly improve my salary and career

But it's one of those "probably involves relocating (especially if you cant drive)" things... in fact they literally say most people relocate at least once

Its supposedly UK-wide but it's a series of placements and the chances of them all being in Nottingham are slim I think

I dont want to relocate

But it's really good for my career and frankly there'll never be a better time for me to relocate than right now

And it's all a bit academic anyway because I havent actually applied yet, let alone be accepted

Mx_Emmin

So I'm feeling good about my budget right now

I mean, my YNAB still doesnt match my bank balance, but it's by £5.86 - I'm torn between doing a fresh start or just putting in a corrector transaction

I just need to not spend for a couple of days so I can be sure my bank has caught up - it did catch up for a moment, but then I spent before I fixed YNAB

I'll get paid in about 10 to 14 days (my offical payday is a weekend this month) and in my grocery category I have £82 - and the fridge is full right now - and in my social category I have £38

Actually I think my social category might be a little on the low side but I can probably steal from groceries a little

I havent quite got the hang of budgeting food on a monthly rather than weekly basis yet

Edit: by the way, I'm including "groceries" as anything I can reasonably buy in a large supermarket bar clothes. For example, today I bought a laundry basket and some of those small £1 dehumidifier thingys and put those under "groceries" so "groceries" isn't purely food and bog roll.

I have money set aside for the one DD left to go this month, and for a dog groom and haircut (human groom?) but otherwise I'm kind of done for the month budget wise there's no real spending coming up until after payday

Mx_Emmin

This is my current budget

Weekly Spends
Groceries - £200pm - I know this is a lot but I mentioned in my previous post that this is almost anything you can buy in a large supermarket, including things like laundry baskets
Social Spends - £100pm
Clothes - £15 pm - This is a new category, but next paycheck I'll put £40 here as I need a new coat

Credit Cards
Argos Card - £14.98 - Next paycheck I pay this off
Red Card - £86.34 - This is what YNAB says to budget to pay off £259.01 by January
Black Card - £13 - Minimum

Immediate Obligations
Bus card - £55pm
Rent - £395pm - One room in a shared house
Insurance - £2.39pm - I have cancelled this, but I'm not sure if it'll go out one month more
Onedrive - £1.99pm
Amazon Prime - £7.99pm
02 - £47.47pm - I'm thinking of saving up to buy a phone outright next time, this figure makes me uncomfortable
HP Instant Ink - £1.99pm

Dog
Dog Groom/Human Groom - £35pm - I don't know why the dog's haircut and my haircut share a category but it works
Dog Vet Plan - £14pm
Dog Insurance - £30.13pm

True Expenses
TV Package - billed yearly, varies, so a rough estimate
YNAB - billed yearly, in dollars, so a rough estimate
Birthday of the month - £25pm - there's always someone
Stuff I forgot to budget for - £25pm

Long Term
H2B ISA - £25pm
Emergency Savings - £100pm
Divorce - £55.56pm - £1000 by Feb '21
Christmas - £15pm
New Laptop - as much as possible by next March(ish)
Pride - £10pm

I know there are aspects I could work on here. I am wrestling that grocery bill down and down each month. When I first started budgeting I allowed myself £80 per week!! :eek: The reason it was so high was I was putting stuff through my groceries fund that didn't belong there. I've been slowly pulling non-grocery items out of my grocery fund as I discover things that don't belong here - for example, haircuts, dog grooms and birthday of the month. Whenever I buy stuff on Amazon I take from groceries, I haven't figured out how much to allow for online shopping yet. I'm considering a category called something like "Household" for things like Laundry Baskets but I don't know if I buy enough Laundry Baskets :undecided I'm also considering a Take Out category but I've done really well at not buying Take Out and I don't want to encourage indulgence

Mx_Emmin

I feel the urge to defend my budget now... so when I broke up with my husband in Oct '18 I realised I needed a budget. I thought I immediately started learning how to budget but in retrospect at that point what I was actually doing was triage. I wasnt learning how to fix a broken leg, I was stopping myself from bleeding out.

In February '19 I moved city and finally started learning how to budget. I literally had two categories to start with - "weekly spends" and "bills". Over the past 6 months I've evolved it into what's in the previous post.

My grocery budget is what I'm trying to wrestle down. It's high because there is non-grocery stuff going through there, but I need to identify exactly what first.

Or maybe I just eat too much.

Baileys_Babe

We have a category labelled household, which I would use for things like laundry basket but I also use it for laundry detergent, cleaning materials, foil etc

We have a food and drink budget, self explanatory really. A category for alcohol, this is only alcohol to consume at home, drinks out come from socialising or eating out depending on reason.
An eating out/take away category, toiletries category, health which covers over the counter medicine as well as prescriptions and eye tests etc.

I would separate out pet related expenses and have sub categories, food, treats, grooming, vet plan, insurance, replacement lead & new toys. What is included in the vet plan?

You should keep your hair cut costs apart from the dogs, so you can track the different elements of your budget more effectively.

Baileys_Babe

We cross posted.

I'm not trying to criticize, just showing how I break down my budget so it is clearer to me where I'm spending too much money and in other areas bizarrely not spending enough.

Mx_Emmin

Baileys_Babe wrote: »

We have a category labelled household, which I would use for things like laundry basket but I also use it for laundry detergent, cleaning materials, foil etc

We have a food and drink budget, self explanatory really. A category for alcohol, this is only alcohol to consume at home, drinks out come from socialising or eating out depending on reason.
An eating out/take away category, toiletries category, health which covers over the counter medicine as well as prescriptions and eye tests etc.

I would separate out pet related expenses and have sub categories, food, treats, grooming, vet plan, insurance, replacement lead & new toys. What is included in the vet plan?

You should keep your hair cut costs apart from the dogs, so you can track the different elements of your budget more effectively.

See, the thing I'm worried about is over complicating it. I buy laundry detergent and pet food and human food all in the same shop, so I don't want to be sat there in the shop divving up the amounts.

The vet plan covers flea and worm and free annual check up for doggo and gets you discounts off any medicine you do need to buy

I didnt feel criticized, just self conscious lol