the daily nudge

caeler

Enjoy your good busy week!  Talking of posting Christmas Cards, I had some for Europe so sent them at the weekend, I got charged for World Zone 1 instead of Europe which has really annoyed me as at the time I didn't spot it and trusted the post office!  

SandyShores

Hi Couth, I thought I had just left a reply, but it seemed to disappear, so apologies if it turns up and this is reply no. 2 (although I may just not have pressed 'post comment' properly).

I think its a really good idea to calculate net worth.  I get a bit overwhelmed with the size of our mortgage, but when I think of it in terms of owning part of the building outright it makes it all worth it.  I'm not sure which bit we own yet - probably the downstairs cloakroom - but with that, our patio, bbq, plants and our 8 year old car we do actually have a net worth - its been a long time  

ps I tried YNAB a few years ago before we got out of debt and I just couldn't get on with it.  I think I'm too much of a control freak, so I use excel and have a new worksheet for every month where I set out my planned outgoings against my actual/expected outgoings split over my various accounts.  It just works well for me, but I know that lots of people swear by YNAB, I guess you have to work out what's right for you.  I might give YNAB another go if I can get the free trial again.  

savingholmes

I find XL better too

couth

Thank you @SandyShores your "not sure which bit we own yet" made me laugh hard. 

YNAB is not that easy to navigate especially at the beginning, but I do really like the philosophy behind it and I'm willing to give it a try. At the moment I am trying to understand how credit cards work. I only have one credit card with a balance on it (which I plan to clear by end of this year), however I do use credit cards every month for certain purchases and I normally pay them in full. 

MFdreamer

couth said:

YNAB is not that easy to navigate especially at the beginning, but I do really like the philosophy behind it and I'm willing to give it a try. 

☝️This! I could have written this as am nearly at the end of my free YNAB trial. It was hard to navigate/click with at first but now I’m getting on really well with it. For me, it works because it keeps me accountable on my spending and I can see how much I have left in each category e.g. can I afford another takeaway this month?!

Don’t get me wrong.....I love a good excel spreadsheet (that’s how I track my mortgage) but I love YNAB for keeping my spending in check!

Also I’ve just made a decent amount of money selling mine and DD old clothes on eBay so might be worth checking yours before donating. You can add a charity to your listing to donate a % of sales too so I’ve been doing that to earn money for us both. It’s been v easy with the app!

couth

Thanks @MFdreamer. I set my mortgage, pension, child savings, and investments as Tracking accounts in YNAB so I hope to avoid Excel altogether. Even my renovation budget and my emergency fund/rainy day are in the Tracking section, as I don't want to touch these unless I lose job or become ill, or decide I have enough money to renovate my kitchen and bathroom.

My on-budget accounts are: 2 current accounts, 1 saving account, and 2 credit cards. My budget has an "unplanned" category which I plan to grow so that I can use that if something unexpected happens (or something I forgot about). Monthly bills are already in, and I have also added some annual ones e.g. YNAB, Amazon Prime, and set some goals associated with those. Not sure if that is the right approach but I'm learning as I go along. 

I find eBay-ing stressful and time consuming and I'm also not a fan of surveys. I know many on here use them to make money. I prefer to donate the clothes and toys, or give them to friends with younger children. I rarely use eBay - only if I want to sell something bigger e.g. furniture or old bike locally. 

Grogged

I must be one of the few who didn't get on with it (but it was a long time ago).
I also don't count our house as an asset.
Purely because it's not something you can easily live without.
My net worth calculation is savings and pensions less debt (mortgage, loans, etc.).

couth

Thanks @Grogged for me Excel feels insufficient and I tried the likes of Money dashboard, Yolt, etc. and the only one I like is YNAB. I am deciding end of this month if I will go ahead with the the subscription, after I play with it for a full month. I could probably use YNAB4 but there is no support offered with it so not sure for how long that will work. 
It's interesting that you don't count the house as an asset - the mortgage is against it, right? 
The reason I thought to include it - apart from the fact that it gives me a positive net worth as my LTV is <50% - is because I do plan to sell it and move somewhere mortgage free in hopefully 5-10 years from now. Also to track value over time... 

savingholmes

I would count the house as an asset - although some argue it is only an asset if you receive income from it - and otherwise it is a liability (costs money to keep). 

couth

Thanks, I added the flat as an asset (taking zoopla midrange value) and the mortgage as a liability, I believe I saw this idea reddit/ynab. I don't think it matters that much, as they're both off budget. The mortgage I definitely want there as I can easily see all OPs.