Now or never

joedenise

@Its_time - it will take a bit of time to get your pots where they need to be but keep going and it will all sort itself out in time.  There may well be times where you need to "borrow" from another pot but the main thing is to make sure that gets paid back asap as well as continuing to add to it.

You might find it helpful to have a look at the You Need A Budget website which shows the 4 rules to help you understand the pots system better.  The link is here:  https://www.youneedabudget.com/the-four-rules/.  No need to sign up for it I just think it might help explain how the system works.

You are doing a great job in setting your pots up.  You may well find you need to set extra pots up over time - I know that I quite regularly add a new pot to my list!  For example we've recently decided we want to get new double glazed patio doors and front door so have now started a new pot for that.  

The bedroom needs decorating and a new carpet so that's another new pot added in the last few months.  On top of that we were advised by the plumber last year when he serviced the boiler that we would likely need a new boiler in 2-3 years so I sent up another pot for that and have been adding to that monthly for the last year.

Its_time

@gollygosh that's one of the reasons we made the leap to a smallholding 20 years ago, a cheap DIY livery was costing me £100 a week, we had to relocate though to afford it, we have 4 so I don't suppose £300 is that bad 🙈 what horses do you have?

gollygosh

A proper traditional very hairy lady and a showing gentleman 😀 how about you? Worth their weight in gold aren’t they.

Its_time

Oooo that sounds like lots of grooming.  We have 3 warmbloods and an Arab cross, they're out all day and in at night and are all well retired, but absolutely they are worth their weight in gold, proper fully fledged members of the family 😊

vampirotoothus

Hi Its_time well done on your progress so far. Sorry if I've missed it, but you don't seem to be saving to pay for any income tax for your business. I just thought I should mention it. Good luck with the rest of your journey x

Its_time

@joedenise that's good to know, I've been wondering whether I was doing overkill with the number of pots I keep adding, but I have to says it's been such a relief a few times already to have money sat waiting and we've only been going a short time.  I will have a read of that link, thank you.
@vampirotoothus good point, another pot to add, from now on will take 25% of my sales and send it to the taxman

Its_time

I went shopping but not before I meal planned using as much from the freezer and cupboards as possible and I was unbelievably strict with myself.  Not only did I have to stick to the list but I could not go over my £23.50 left until Friday, the meal plan had to change if I was going to go over.  Grand total of £22.81 with the money already in the shopping account.  Bliss.
And......you are all going to be sooooo proud of me!!! I discussed Christmas with my DS and DD and everyone else and we have all agreed that we are only putting money in the shops pockets and have cut it right back.  We are going to spend between £20 and £30 for each person. We are also discussing whether  to choose our own presents which eliminates having gifts we don't want and the stress of trying to find something to give.  We will still buy, wrap and give the presents but we are not sure whether we would prefer a surprise so it's out for discussion.  Huge saving either way for me and DH.

CRANKY40

You could each make a little wish list for presents. You'd know that you were getting something that you wanted then but not exactly what. Make your list, put it in an envelope and hand it to someone else. If someone wants to see your list they have to ask the person that has it (so you still don't know if any of it is crossed off). Just a thought....I've long been of the opinion that if we stopped buying unneccessary and unwanted junk and just spent the money on one good present each it would make much more sense. 

joedenise

We've given up of gifts completely in our family we just give a token £20 to each of the grandchildren (grown up now) and £30 per couple for our DDs.  We've also told them they mustn't spend more than £5-10 and buy something secondhand or from charity shop.  We've been doing this for about 5 years now and they girls have been really clever with the stuff they've found in CSs and never spending more than £10 which is brilliant.  A couple of years ago DD1 found me a really lovely tea light holder which holds 2 tea lights but is between 2 pieces of glass so the light really multiplies and it looks really lovely.

I like @CRANKY40's idea as that way it would still be a surprise but also something you want.

astrocytic_kitten

My family do the wish list thing @CRANKY40 suggested too - I come up with a few things (for me this is normally books or nice candles, stuff that I want but don’t really need), send the list to a family member, and they give ideas to the other couple of people in the family who also buy me presents. It’s a great way of getting what I want while also getting surprised, and most of the family does something similar.