YNAB...ing my way to freedom!

SuperFrank88

Morning everyone, I hope you are safe and well.

Well I had some surprising good news yesterday. The boss came in and gave me a letter and said "There might be some good news in there for you". It was a 10% pay rise! Wow! I was NOT expecting that! He thanked me for all my hard work this year as I have basically been running the place while he is now working from home. The last couple of months have been really busy and I been doing 2 different jobs at the same time while at the same time sorting all the little odds and ends that crop up throughout the day. I am quite stubborn so I will not normally ask for help, but try and plough on myself to get the job done. Even if that does mean sometimes drilling myself into the ground. But hey, my hard work has been recognised and I have been rewarded for it which has really given me a motivation boost. 

We have to get two projects done by the end of the month and then we are planning to have a shutdown week off the first week in November which will be most welcome. We are all starting to flag a bit now so it will be a nice reset.

In other news, I had my first assignment results back from Uni this week. I got 56% which I was pretty disappointed with initially. Though my tutor said that I should not be so hard on myself given that I had been out of education for more than 6 years and also the transition of everything moving online 6 weeks after the course started. Then I found out that most of the boys in my close circle scored less than me so I did not feel so bad after it. One of my feedback points was that I should use more research resources such as books & journals, instead of relying so much on online content....but all the libraries were closed when we were doing the assignment, so I thought that was a bit harsh. Hey-ho I will always take on feedback and try and do better next time. I have a Dynamics exam on the 30th which I am really worried about because it is hard enough to learn when you are in the classroom, yet when it is being taught on Teams on a Friday afternoon after a hard week, it is hard to concentrate when you have a tutor with the most monotonous voice talk for 3 hours straight. I have actually fallen asleep before now.

OH had some good news also with her Uni situation, they managed to find her a placement where she was able to social distance in a Covid Hub where she is booking key workers in for tests and logging their symptoms etc. It means she can continue her studies which is fantastic news for her.

So yes, all good news this week. Finances are ticking along nicely. I will now be saving my extra income either by upping my pension contribution or putting it into my ISA. We have agreed as a family that we are not going to go silly this Xmas because everyone is feeling the pinch in one way or another.

Speak soon.

Frank 

Drawingaline

56% is over half marks in a challenging time for learning. This is how we look at my son's test marks. We always ask him to try and get higher the next time, but if it's over half then we see this as good. (He is not academic at all and follows a year behind his very academic sister) so well done 🎉

SuperFrank88

Drawingaline said:

56% is over half marks in a challenging time for learning. This is how we look at my son's test marks. We always ask him to try and get higher the next time, but if it's over half then we see this as good. (He is not academic at all and follows a year behind his very academic sister) so well done 🎉

Thank you

SuperFrank88

Hi all.
So a quick update from me. We are back in lockdown here in Wales, even though nothing seems to have changed... the roads are still busy even though most the shops are closed. I am still travelling to/from work as I can not work from home. Been a super busy month getting projects finished by the end of this week. We have a well deserved week off next week so I can't wait for that!

I am going to use next week to go through all my finances with a fine tooth comb again. The progress I have made in 10 months has been phenomenal! Both mentally and with the amount I have managed to plough into my EF. It really does add up when you are not mindlessly wasting 00's every month! I need to set up DMP payments with a few other creditors that have defaulted.

I decided today to add ALL of my accounts into YNAB so that I can track them. Currently I have only been adding them in once the DMP payment was set up, but this was not giving me a true reflection on where I am. It was a shock to input all the balances and see the total! But now I know I have got everything accounted for and the only way is up! The last few months I have been sort of tricking myself by thinking I was more 'well off' than I actually am because I still have all this debt to shift. 

I am not the type to let the balances get on top of me though. I know many people struggle with the psychological burden of having debt linger over them but to me it is purely numbers on a screen. I do not lose any sleep at night worrying about the debt which may or may not be a good thing. To me I just want to pay them the amount that CAB suggested and then plough all the rest into my savings. Maybe this is the wrong attitude to have and I should be throwing all my spare cash at the debt, but I am all about balance! I respect people who do live like a monk for months/years in order to pay down their 'number on a screen' but that is not me, life is for living and all that. Don't get me wrong, I do not waste money anymore, if anything I have become very frugal.

I have an exam this Friday in Uni (Online) so will be glad to get that out of the way ready for my week off. 

That's it from me
  

Mx_Emmin

My city is going into Tier 3 later this week but its honestly not going to make a difference for me - I work in a bank so I'm essential, and the only other place I go anymore is the supermarket! 
 
Well, ok, and Pret, but my month of free coffees finishes today so I wont be doing that anymore 
  
Sounds like you're in a good place and on track    I love looking back at how far I'm come, I spend too much time being frustrated at not having enough, sometimes I need to force myself to have some perspective and compare myself to a year ago 

joedenise

I think you're right to concentrate on getting an emergency fund as with a DMP you can't get credit - or have I got that wrong?  So if you need a new machine machine, fridge/freezer or whatever you need to have some money put by to be able to buy it.  Time enough once you have a decent emergency fund to increase the debt payments.

Sarahwithlove

There's nothing stopping you saving it all up and then paying off a debt once you have enough saved if you decide to go down that route. But like others have said something were to go wrong or need replacing your need the cash available. 

SuperFrank88

Hi all,

Yes I agree with you all....cash is king for the next 6 years while my credit file repairs itself.

So I had my exam today. Wow it was stressful! The 2 hour time limit goes so fast! I think I’ve done OK but will have to wait and see. 

As a celebration we had a Chinese tonight, I went on to JustEat and put some dishes into my basket....over £30!!!! There was no way I was paying that much, so I jumped in the car, went down to Iceland and got all the same dishes for under £10 including a big bottle of Pepsi Max Super proud of myself for not going for the easy option. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t the same as having a Chinese takeaway but for a third of the price I was happy to compromise. 

I have got a week off next week so my plan is to make lovely soups etc while I’m lockdown. 

My goal for November is to have a No Spend Month. I don’t need anything so let’s see how much of my ‘Fun Money’ pot I’ll have left come 1st December.

Hope you all have a great weekend and stay safe. 

joedenise

Well done.  That's a definite mindset change and you've saved yourself £20!  I know it's not the same but I'm sure it tasted just as good.

Sarahwithlove

Love that mindset I need to think of that more often especially when it comes to pizza as I'm not even a huge fan of it.