**Insert witty diary title here**

Naomim

I didn't bother dying my hair when I started going grey, my 15yo despairs and keeps telling me to do it.  I just can't be bothered and can't afford to in the hairdressers.  I would love a facial though.  I find with eyebrows, if you must pluck, do them after a shower or bath as the heat opens the pores and makes it far less painful.  I'd be too scared to dye my eyebrows though. I hate it when you see pictures of young(er) girls - and I include those in their mid twenties with shocking thick black eyebrows. 🤪

Well done with doing the budget. It's payday tomorrow for me so shall be doing exactly the same.

Naomim

moving_forward

Naomim said:

I didn't bother dying my hair when I started going grey, my 15yo despairs and keeps telling me to do it.  I just can't be bothered and can't afford to in the hairdressers.  I would love a facial though.  I find with eyebrows, if you must pluck, do them after a shower or bath as the heat opens the pores and makes it far less painful.  I'd be too scared to dye my eyebrows though. I hate it when you see pictures of young(er) girls - and I include those in their mid twenties with shocking thick black eyebrows. 🤪

Well done with doing the budget. It's payday tomorrow for me so shall be doing exactly the same.

Naomim

No black eyebrows for me don't you worry- They used to be dark brown to match my hair but I do them whatever hair colour I have unless its purple or something.  Grey hair I don't mind but mine is going grey or white rather in a big clump rather than even.  As I'm naturally dark it sticks out like a sore thumb hence me starting to dye it lighter slightly so it blends in more in between dying.

moving_forward

You may need to change your picture then @Naomim as it seems your falsely declaring yourself as no grey hairs!!!

redofromstart

I have drunken caterpillars for eyebrows, but it'll be staying that way or I will have  a major fit of 'White Lines!' every time I look in the mirror and who needs that as a mind worm?  Hair is booked in, hurrah.

Naomim

moving_forward said:

You may need to change your picture then @Naomim as it seems your falsely declaring yourself as no grey hairs!!!

I'm reliving my youth 🤭  I'm lucky I have curly hair so the greys blend in the curls. Can get away with all sorts with curly hair👍

moving_forward

I have bitten the bullet and done a cashflow forecast for the next year on XL.  Oh my it's not looking good!
We (thats I to you dear readers as Mr M_F wants nothing to do with the money side of things -hes the domestic goddess in the relationship unless you want to include ironing and the bathroom that I do) use YNAB which is great for monitoring spends and budgeting what you have now but its a bit fiddly when it comes to working out what you need when.  
I love XL and thought I'd follow @Naomim idea of doing a forecast in a spreadsheet rather than trying to figure it out on YNAB.
Ideally we wouldn't have used the OD last month but hindsight is a wonderful thing and we just need to crack on and knuckle down with sticking to the budget.
The balance transfer I did is great that it saves interest, but the minimum payment is a lot more than we were paying and will eat into the monthly cash a lot.  It does however mean the debt will get a kicking, so we are going to do our best to underspend where we can to help stay out the OD for the next couple of months.
A couple of months will see enough payments to the new BT card to make the minimum payments (and overpayments where applicable) fit easier into the normal budget so big girls pants on (steady now with the siggers you lot) and crack on.

Plan of action:
Assess - What works and What doesn't
Not forecasting hasn't helped us as we are still "caught out" by bigger than usual spends as YNAB doesn't work that way as they concentrate on only looking at what you have and where it can go.
YNAB is great at monitoring spends and keeping a track on whats been spent and the budget with money you have at the moment.  Spreadsheets are easy enough to set up for tracking spending but the YNAB is much quicker and much more convenient.
Plan- What needs doing to meet goals
We need to make sure the budget accounts for upcoming expenses hence the Spreadsheet and accept that our disposable income isn't as much as we think it is, as its used to fund expenditure over the year not just the next couple of months.
Action - How you are going to implement plan
Spreadsheet done with estimated annual expenditure, we need to make sure we stick to the budget on the variables and accept we can't do it all.  Grocery budget is one big area of expenditure so we need to concentrate on getting this down first.
Evaluate - Usefulness of any action.
The spreadsheet will help us see the bigger picture while YNAB tracks everything easily.  YNAB is paid for until Jan 2021 so plenty enough time to see if its worth continuing with the subscription.
The budget will only work if its adhered to.  This needs careful consideration with each and every purchase using MSE mantras of: Do I need it?  Can I afford it? Is it worth it? Can I get it cheaper elsewhere? ,and @Foxgloves: Can I shop from home?

Sun_Addict

Sounds like you’ve got a great plan worked out. Budgets only work if you stick to them as we all know only too well. I do love my XL spreadsheets 😁

moving_forward

Sun_Addict said:

Sounds like you’ve got a great plan worked out. Budgets only work if you stick to them as we all know only too well. I do love my XL spreadsheets 😁

If only I could marry XL I'd be soooooo happy.  I have a bit of an obsession with it

Lookafterthepennies2020

hi, 
Just dropping in you seem to have a good plan going forward, I think everyone is overspending on the food front atm.
Im new to YNAB but becoming a little obsessed I think with it  only thing I don’t like is it doesn’t tell me how much I still need in my account to make sure everything is covered (unless I’m being a bit thick, which is quite possible) so I’m still using my trusty SS for that.  Also a bit late but the Linda McA mozerella burgers are amazing and I’m still a meat eater xx 

moving_forward

Lookafterthepennies2020 said:

hi, 
Just dropping in you seem to have a good plan going forward, I think everyone is overspending on the food front atm.
Im new to YNAB but becoming a little obsessed I think with it  only thing I don’t like is it doesn’t tell me how much I still need in my account to make sure everything is covered (unless I’m being a bit thick, which is quite possible) so I’m still using my trusty SS for that.  Also a bit late but the Linda McA mozerella burgers are amazing and I’m still a meat eater xx 

Welcome @Lookafterthepennies2020 pull up a chair and settle in cos we're in for a bumpy ride. 
I do the forecasting method for my day job so find it hard to embrace ynabs method. I think a mix up could work for me. There some excellent tuition videos on ynab on youtube which explain it all.