Getting shot of the mortgage sooner than 2049!

themadvix

I'd second BB's suggestion. I have a nebulous 'presents' pot and I hate it - never know where I am with birthday versus Christmas present money. I may try to separate these out in the NY.

joedenise

I have separate birthday and Christmas pots.  It just makes life easier.

We don't buy for many people, just our DDs and partners, DGD and DGS.  In fact we don't even buy presents now DGD and DGS are grown up, we just transfer some money into their bank accounts and then they can put it towards something bigger - they always seem to want things bigger than we are prepared to spend!

Bluegreen143

I’m pretty sure that on here I said last year I’d split the birthdays and Christmas pot but never did it 🤦‍♀️ I need to, it’s a problem every year. Both children’s birthdays are early/mid December so presents/party costs come off before Christmas with no way to replenish as just one more pay left before Christmas. 

I think the way my brain works I like to have a simple budget with broad categories but clearly I’ve simplified too much! 

We won’t need to go into debt or anything; I mean at the worst I could nick some from the emergency fund. I REALLY don’t want to do this though as that’s not why I saved it. We have £2,300ish in the easy access savings pot and £2,400 in help to save (which I wouldn’t touch). We do have £1,200 bonus coming in Dec but I think really wanted to earmark this for a wood burning stove so fingers crossed I don’t need much of it for Christmas! 

Hopefully I can juggle the budget about and be frugal in other areas and make it all work. The amount we have overspent on the house pot is about £100 but Red is returning a £60 radiator we don’t need so that will be £40 to juggle. Then more juggling to fill the Christmas pot a bit! 

Will report back today once I’ve done YNAB! 

Annoyingly my dad can’t get tickets for the panto for the day he’s visiting (he was getting them from a friend who works for the theatre), the children will be disappointed 😭 I think all the weekend matinee performances are sold out and evening is too late for the age of my children, they go to bed at 7.30pm still 😆 however I’ve discovered that Monkey has a school trip to a local panto (not the big one we were going to see) so hoping that makes up for it for him (it’s a bit over Bambi’s head anyway). It would have been £80+ for tickets for all us so quite expensive so I’m relieved it was sold out! Next year I won’t rely on my dad and will just book it early I think. 

I’m going to see Snow Queen ballet the other night that weekend with my mum and sister (booked two years ago and continually rescheduled due to covid!) so that will cheer me up! Didn’t cost me anything as it was my sister’s Christmas present to me that year. We are going to go for dinner first though. I showed the children a little video about it and they are both keen to go to the ballet, they’ve never been before, so I’ll have a look for the next children-friendly performance (Scottish ballet do a lot of modern, edgy adaptions of things which are really good but sometimes quite adult in nature). If I didn’t already have these tickets to go with my mum and sister I’d have taken them to Snow Queen. 

Bluegreen143

Well I’ve squared up YNAB and things are definitely not as I’d like them to be 😆 we do have the help to save bonus coming in Dec and over £2k in the easy access bit of the emergency fund but I really don’t want to use this. Still, at least I know we won’t go into debt over Christmas.

I’ve realised that while I like to keep the budget super simple, with big broad categories, this actually isn’t working very well. It’s much easier to steal from a pot labelled “home and garden” than one labelled “conservatory furniture needed Dec 22”. And I should know by now that a category called “Gifts & celebrations” will never have anything left in it come Christmas, as it’s easy to categorise lots of things as being a celebration expense…

So I’ve totally revamped the section of my budget dedicated to shared wants. It’s now got lots of categories, arranged in date order of when it’ll be needed. And everything has a goal with target date set up on YNAB. This means it calculates what I need to put in each month, and if I don’t fund it one month it will recalculate again what the new monthly amount needs to be. 

So my dated categories are:

Nov/Dec: Conservatory/garden - amount TBC, think it’s just garden stones now as we have the furniture, flooring etc

Dec: Kids’ parties & presents - goal £120 (as I’ve bought their presents already) £60 in pot

Dec: Christmas 2022 - goal £750, £65 in pot

Feb: Red’s birthday - goal £200 (presents but also a meal out for us)

Apr: Easter & school hol - goal £120

May: Five day domestic holiday - goal £900 (only £100 deposit paid) 

Jul: Seven day domestic holiday - goal £650 (accommodation paid)

Jul/Aug: Summer holidays spending - goal £250

Jul/Aug: Red unpaid leave - goal £750

Aug: My birthday, my mum’s & sister’s - goal £300 (mum/sister & I will go on a weekend away instead of gifts and Red will also buy me something!)

Oct/Nov: October break/Hallowe’en/fireworks - goal £150

Spring 2024: Weekend away abroad without kids for our 10 year wedding anniversary (not booked but we really want to do this)

I will update this list as I go so if we decide to redecorate or anything or book any future holidays I’ll add it in with a target date to save for. And once December is past I’ll restart the Christmas & kids’ birthdays pots again for next year. 

Other family birthdays we will spend small amounts on so will cash flow this each month when we do the monthly budget. 

Doing it this way where it’s more broken down with target dates will really help I think.

I’ve also added a few pots for things I want to save up for but have no target date for - things like bikes for Red & I, a new hoover and the wood burning stove we want to put in the conservatory. Once we are past Christmas and back on track we can begin to look at those.

Note on Christmas

Obviously I have totally messed this up in my budgeting and am not pleased we only have £65 in the pot. All I’ve bought so far is stocking fillers for the kids. Be kind please 😅 

My main plan is to redirect any/all spare cash in Red’s pay to this and to slash some of our other categories a bit. I may even take a one month break from contributing to the emergency fund 😭 but I think if I do this it’ll work out ok without needing to actually raid the existing fund. If needed we will use some of the help to save bonus too. 

KajiKita

Hi @Bluegreen143 😊

I’ve read YNAB recently (thanks to you mentioning it actually 😊) and I thought one of the principles is that a budget is meant to be a dynamic, interactive, evolving thing as we learn more about our spending patterns, key priorities and as our lives evolve / change? Looked at like that, what’s just happened is you, observing, learning, adapting and refining *your* budget so it works better for you! 👏❤️

Actually, I am totally going to ‘rob’ what you have outlined above - more detailed categories, with ‘due dates’ and self adjusting calculations for how much needs to be added each month. Simple but brilliant I think 👍😊

KK

Bluegreen143

Thanks @KajiKita! I’m quietly excited about this new method. I think I need the better visibility/accountability to make sure I’m not robbing savings pots and leaving myself short. And the visibility of what’s the biggest priority based on the due dates - I think that’ll be so helpful.

Went through the budget with Red and as much as he is fairly uninterested in budgeting, he seemed on board with the new approach which is good 😅

Had a bit of a cold this week (I basically get a cold every second week since the school year started!) so I’ve only been to the gym once but I’m feeling better so setting my alarm for 5.30 to go tomorrow. Must get to bed very soon 😂 I really do feel better if I go at least twice a week. This week it will just be twice but I made it three times the week before. It’s just a balancing act as I definitely get a bit less sleep so sometimes I need to prioritise that and other weeks I have more energy and can prioritise the gym!

Monkey was off school today due to strike action and he was so good, he spent most of the day watching the builders out of the back door while listening to an audiobook 😂, alternated with colouring & drawing and building a castle out of blocks. I had lunch with him and took a break in the afternoon to snuggle up and read some stories but otherwise he entertained himself with just one hour of TV thrown in too. We did go to the park when I picked up Bambi so he got some fresh air then. 

Made a gorgeous dinner - chicken shawarma but served with brown sourdough part baked baguettes, and bowls of green salad, HM hummus, HM coleslaw and veggie sticks. Plus some hot sauce for the adults. So good and no complaints from anyone! Even Bambi enjoyed it - she didn’t make it into sandwiches but made separate piles on her plate for her chicken, tomatoes/carrot, hummus and bread 😅 the shawarma is a new recipe for me but we’ve all agreed for it to become a regular. Would be great on the barbecue too.

Also forgot to share my extreme happiness that my children ate salmon last night! In the form of homemade breaded goujons as I wanted it to be appealing. I gave Monkey the choice of salmon or white fish and the salmon was his choice. They’ve not eaten fish (except tuna) for possibly years so it was a major breakthrough, Monkey ate it all with no complaints (liberally dipped in HM tartare sauce). Bambi did complain but ate two goujons dipped in ketchup after it was made clear that sweets would not follow otherwise 😆

Bluegreen143

Just got 5 mins before I need to leave on the school run so thought I’d check in. I definitely slide off the rails if I don’t post regularly!

Already been to the gym today and managed to put on a nice dress and blow dry my hair so feeling good 🙂 I don’t work on Fridays so looking forward to my day off! 

Plans are:

🔲 tidy the house, do a washing, clean the bathrooms and floors

🔲 Tesco delivery coming so need to unpack & put away 

🔲 take several bags of books I’m decluttering into the Oxfam books shop. This will be a total pain as I’ll not be able to park right outside and will have Bambi plus 3-4 big heavy boxes/bags, so will need to do several trips from the car, but needs done. A lot are classics and academic books from my uni days so the Oxfam book shop is the best place for them, it’s near the uni plus they sell some of their stock online too. If I donate to my local charity shop it’ll never go.

🔲 my friend is coming over after lunch for a cup of tea with her toddler too

🔲 some of Monkey’s friends are coming for an after school playdate

🔲 I’d like to bake a traybake for all the guests! We’ll see 😆 plus make pizza dough & sauce for dinner

🔲 I only have one side of Monkey’s jumper to sew up which I’ve been knitting for ages so hope to finish tonight!

Bluegreen143

Bluegreen143 said:

✔️ tidy the house, do a washing, clean the bathrooms and floors

✔️ Tesco delivery coming so need to unpack & put away 

🔲 take several bags of books I’m decluttering into the Oxfam books shop. This will be a total pain as I’ll not be able to park right outside and will have Bambi plus 3-4 big heavy boxes/bags, so will need to do several trips from the car, but needs done. A lot are classics and academic books from my uni days so the Oxfam book shop is the best place for them, it’s near the uni plus they sell some of their stock online too. If I donate to my local charity shop it’ll never go. - errr, I did load the car, but instead of taking the books I made a plan with Red for us both to go tomorrow 

✔️ my friend is coming over after lunch for a cup of tea with her toddler too

✔️ some of Monkey’s friends are coming for an after school playdate

✔️ I’d like to bake a traybake for all the guests! We’ll see 😆 plus make pizza dough & sauce for dinner - made cookies instead, and did do the HM pizza for dinner 

✔️ I only have one side of Monkey’s jumper to sew up which I’ve been knitting for ages so hope to finish tonight! - it’s done! Lovely on, but a bit neat so I’ll need to make sure he wears it a lot before he outgrows it 😅 it’s gender neutral so can go to Bambi later. So proud as I’d never done cabling before! 

Had a lovely day today! Calm and pleasant morning spent cleaning, tidying and playing with/reading to Bambi. Had an enjoyable catch up with my friend and her toddler. Monkey enjoyed his play date and the five kids enjoyed tearing about the house all afternoon (two of mine, two of Monkey’s friends and a small sister who is friends with Bambi). The mum of the siblings stayed and it was lovely to catch up with her as she’s a good friend too.

Bluegreen143

Spends today

£42.69 - weekend Tesco delivery - mainly food for the weekend (milk, fruit, bread, yoghurt, salad veg, a chicken, square sausage, crisps etc), a few tins of chickpeas and tomatoes, plus drain unblocker and mould cleaner (we’ve got some mould building on a couple of upstairs windowsills, I think cos we’ve not had the windows open much to air it out as it’s cold).

£8.35 - won a set of the three Lord of the Rings books on eBay (paid from my personal budget). I’ve read it before, but want to read it again and wanted my own copy as I consider it a classic to keep rereading and would like the children to read one day 🙂

Weekend mealplan

Today - HM pizzas

Tomorrow - roast chicken

Sunday - goats cheese, asparagus & breadcrumb pasta

Bluegreen143

Today’s plan

✔️ Clean upstairs windows and windowsills with mould cleaner 

✔️ Take Monkey to football

✔️ While he’s at football, take all the bags of books to the Oxfam bookshop 

🔲 Drop kids at MIL’s for lunch 

🔲 Go to a children’s toy/game/book charity shop we know of, to bulk out their Christmas presents 

🔲 Take Monkey to a birthday party (Red will take Bambi home; my friend (also Monkey’s best friend’s mum) is taking Monkey and I home after the party 

🔲 Get all the Christmas decorations out of the loft (I know it’s early to decorate, but we want it done before Monkey’s birthday party next weekend)

🔲 Finish up hoovering etc so it’s really tidy for decorating 

🔲 Phone my papa 

🔲 My sister and her husband are coming over for a drink tonight which is nice  🙂

No spends yet, will report back after our charity shopping! Had already bought the birthday present for Monkey’s friend ages ago, but managed to forget it when we left today 🤦‍♀️ I’m holding firm on not buying something when out today to replace it and will send the birthday present to school on Monday.