Learning to walk before I run

edinburgher

Made ISA contributions for the girls for the rest of tax year, now £590 worse off.

LadyWithAPlan

edinburgher said:

I think I'd have had to do that by the end of the tax year, no? This is all new to me, I will be avoiding it next year!

yes by April 5th just dump it all in yr sipp Best use of money over hr threshold

edinburgher said:

@South_coast Like all overthinkers, I've considered that but nah, has been that way for at least 5 years. 

Much better day today. A whole 7.5 hours in bed, weight going in the right direction and got to meet DD2s nursery teacher. Have come to the realisation that I'm happier than I have been in years, all things considered. I think that's maybe why my down day felt so down 

Great you feeling happier

edinburgher

Thank goodness May is over, our spending has been ridiculous! I blame the two birthdays

I read diaries like those of @Greying_Pilgrim and am frankly in awe of what they accomplish with strict budgets. Now, while I know Greying would be one of the first to say we all have our own journey to make or something suitably kind and wise, I am sure we can do better next month. Will be doing my best to lower our spends in June, particularly when it comes to groceries.

Month end calculations are in and we are IRO of +£12,000 or +£15,000 depending on whether or not you include things like state pension in your sums. 40% of that was the generosity of those who went before us, 40% was market conditions improving and 20% was saving more, overpayments and staying the course.

No more finance news for the day, slew of payments to make tomorrow.

Happy weekend all, hope you have a good one   

QueenJess

edinburgher said:

Thank goodness May is over, our spending has been ridiculous! I blame the two birthdays

I read diaries like those of @Greying_Pilgrim and am frankly in awe of what they accomplish with strict budgets. Now, while I know Greying would be one of the first to say we all have our own journey to make or something suitably kind and wise, I am sure we can do better next month. Will be doing my best to lower our spends in June, particularly when it comes to groceries.

Month end calculations are in and we are IRO of +£12,000 or +£15,000 depending on whether or not you include things like state pension in your sums. 40% of that was the generosity of those who went before us, 40% was market conditions improving and 20% was saving more, overpayments and staying the course.

No more finance news for the day, slew of payments to make tomorrow.

Happy weekend all, hope you have a good one   

I’m with you - my spending this month has been horrible and I never seem to be able to stick to budgets more than 2 months in a row!

Plus every single day is a request for more money for something… birthday party invites, cubs term invoice, cubs extra activity 1, cubs extra activity 2 and so it goes on!

Greying_Pilgrim

Dearest ed - we are all on our own journey...... 😁😉  However, a) not everyone is as ludicrously stoopid as me to set extraordinarily miniscule grocery budgets, and b) try their darndest to stick to the challenge! 🤣  The thing that I learnt (apart from NOT to keep setting myself these stoopid challenges 🤣), is that even with all the advantages I have - time being one - I've let convenience or lack of planning, or repeat buying without thought, creep in, and it costs more.........

And birthdays can be very expensive - it broke my heart to read about your DD1's experience with her birthday party.  LG has attended parties where the behaviour of fellow guests has spoilt the occasion for all.  It's very difficult to strike a balance, I'm sure.  

Keep on keeping on - we all still need to enjoy this journey, it's not meant to be a self-flagellating slog.  

Greying X

edinburgher

@QueenJess - I have noticed that some of our budget lines have only been going up for what feels like actual years now. Yes, I know inflation is a thing, but our personal rate of inflation definitely feels higher than some. I suspect in terms of groceries that this is because we eat meat and fish. The downside of ever-increasing budget lines in YNAB (our budgeting app) is that the average only goes up over time (again, probably pretty obvious). The only way I can fix this is to find a way to spend less and reduce the trend...

@Greying_Pilgrim - I think that convenience is definitely one of our biggest problems. Next day delivery, 4-5 supermarkets within a 5-minute drive, takeaways. I think that I need to introduce a little friction to get us out of our comfort zone. I don't know what form that will take yet - maybe forcing ourselves to cook something from store cupboard gold even if we remain hungrier for a bit longer, maybe reducing the number of times we go to the shops? 

Thank you for your kind words re. DD1. I think she has a sense of perspective about it now and that she realises that mum and dad "have her back" (if she was somehow mental and hadn't already realised that) Growing up is hard, we were just talking about how she will respond to secondary school and exams the other day... Luckily got a couple of years to go yet

In finance adjacent news, I took an analogue trip to a couple of local supermarkets this morning, exercise and freebies. Lidl yielded up some pretty (if small) free red grapes, Morrisons contributed a really useful looking 2.6l Pyrex casserole with a vacuum-sealable lid (and pump for this), also free from their app. I very much doubt that anyone has ever paid the £40 that Morrisons claims, but it looks like an absolutely cracking dish for lasagne. As I'd considered spending £30 for an American lasagne dish at the start of the month (but refrained), this felt like the universe spinning into place. Spent about £6 on items that we are out of and resisted a cafe breakfast.

On the health front, my weight continues to fall at a reasonable clip. While I am back on me meds, it's not the meds that are washing 62kg of salad a day and sticking to a remarkably sensible diet, even if they help. I haven't had a drink in weeks and eggs, salads and protein feature pretty heavily. I don't feel any different yet and there is still a lot of willpower required as appetite suppression is far less pronounced this time round   

Finally, I actually got to have some fun today  Mrs E took the girls to the cinema to see the new Peppa Pig film and afterwards to the shops. We recently discovered that DD1 has managed to squirrel away £££ from gifts and pocket money and have told her in no uncertain terms that she needs to spend it occasionally and stop mooching off her loving parents  I have relaxed with month end finances and the second half of a gloriously cheesy Godzilla movie. Classic 60s dialogue and sets that were pretty much wrapped in tin foil! 

Must go, I hear children...

*Edit: and £2.52 into my SIPP (£3.13+ after tax relief), sin tax after I didn't win the lottery again, 85p cashback from TCB 

badmemory

I agree with you on the inflation rate.  There is no way our inflation rate is anything like the 2.8% we hear quoted.  Personally I would be grateful if mine was anywhere near 10%.

Viking_mfw

Apologies if this has been answered before, but I am tempted by the idea of the sin tax SIPP. Do you invest it at month's end/ when it adds up to the minimum/ leave it as cash? 

edinburgher

@Viking_mfw - I pay it in as soon as I spend on something inadvisable like a lottery ticket. Vanguard's minimum payment into a SIPP is £1.

Euromillions is £2.50, sin tax = £2.52 (has to be an amount that can be multiplied by 1.25 for tax relief round number obsession)

rtandon27

Haha - I love the concept of your Sin Tax! - I do something similar - the amount I spend on a lottery ticket gets put into savings - so far the savings yield far outweighs any wins on the lottery!