Time to quit stealing from my future self!

no1disneymum

Thanks @Squirrelz92

I have heard of Prolific but haven't signed up yet. I will do soon though because I've heard it is the best paying out of all the other survey sites that people use.

I use You Need a Budget for budgeting. So when my wages go in, I add them in to the app & budget that money where it is needed, then I do the same when my husband pays his in. I used to use it many years ago & still had the app on my laptop, so logged back in & started afresh when I had my lightbulb moment. I know they have changed it slightly now & have a monthly subscription, but I have the original software which was a one off payment, so for now I will stick to that rather than paying a monthly fee. 

Husband's weekly standing order has gone in to the joint account. He gets paid weekly & has a standing order set up to transfer his portion of the bills in to the joint account. We both keep our own personal bank accounts for wages & our own spends and just use the joint account for bills etc. It works for us & because we have both cut up the debit card for the joint account, there is no risk of us spending any of the bills money.

I had to put diesel in today. I budgeted £20 because that's all I will need to get me to the end of the month, but I found £10 in my car that wasn't in my budget pot so I was able to put £30 in & still be within budget

That's all from me for now. Not a lot to update really. Another week to go & then I will be able to update my balances & do a fresh month's budget.

shell16

Hi @no1disneymum

Have subscribed to your diary and will be cheering you on.  Well done on resisting those temptations, they are there to derail progress but it sounds like you are focussed with what you want to achieve!

I second Prolific, started my journey last August and have cleared over £515, which is averaging at £40 a month. I do think there is a waiting list though, maybe wrong?

I found it useful when I started my diary to keep a note of progress and used to summarise my payments on a weekly basis as the signature only gives a snapshot of now and not the progress.  Its good visually to see progress especially if you are hitting a bump in the road.

Good Luck!
Shell x

LittleMissDetermined

Also a fan of Prolific here (thanks to @shell16) and have had quite a haul from it. Hopefully you can sign up and start earning too.  I also use a lot of receipt snapping apps to get vouchers and cash too. 
LMD x

Squirrelz92

Aah yes I have heard of the YNAB budgeting tool! The joint account solely used for bills is great idea, so is the idea of cutting both cards up so you both can't access the funds if tempted  I am so incredibly envious of your diesel spends! What I would give to not spend £50 a week, soon to be a lot more with the new job! Looks like we will both be posting our monthly figures on the same day next week if you are paid on the Friday? Do you plan on posting your monthly totals on payday eve?

cybertortoise

Hi @no1disneymum sounds like things are going well. Even with little hiccups along the way you're not letting it push you off course. Great work!

You've reminded me, I have the new YNAB as I got a year free for being a student. But I have an activation code for the old one and have found it in my purchase history. That'll save me money if it runs ok as I'm due to pay the annual subscription for new YNAB in October.

joedenise

I’m still,using the old YNAB4 and it’s still working OK.  Definitely worth trying with your activation code.  Will certainly save some money!

cybertortoise

@joedenise it's working fine so far. Budget up and running and my subscription to the new one is cancelled.

Abbafan1972

Hi There. Is YNAB you need a budget?. I had a search for it and the one I found was very Americanised - is there a UK one or is it the same please? 

Thanks. 

no1disneymum

Hello @shell16, thanks for stopping by. You may have reminded me that I think I did try signing up for Prolific & it was full. But I will try again anyway & join the waiting list if there is one. Thanks for the tip about summarising payments weekly, I might try that next month so I can see balances going up & down (hopefully debts going down obviously & bank balances eventually going up).

@LittleMissDetermined I use Zipzero & Amazon Shopper Panel for receipts. Do you recommend any others?

@Squirrelz92 I love YNAB. It's so useful. My diesel spends used to be a lot higher, but I work from home now so I drive a lot less than I used to.  Yes I get paid on Friday, so I think I'll tot everything up on Thursday evening.

@cybertortoise I did try the newer YNAB version when it first launched, but I didn't like it as much as the old version, plus I didn't want to pay a monthly fee.

@Abbafan1972 The old app isn't available anymore to newbies. They launched their new subscription version a good few years ago now & eventually withdrew technical support for the old version. It is an american app, but you can change the settings to GBP.

no1disneymum

Thanks to everyone for your words of encouragement & cheering on. It's lovely to come on & see people rooting for me, even if I don't know any of you in real life. It's very motivating to hear the support & also great to have any tips people can offer.

So updates. Not much at the moment.

A few DD's have gone out today, but as it's payday on Friday I'm going to just wait until Thursday to check all balances & do any transfers I need to do.

I have been having a bit of a clear out in the house & on the weekend I found a gift bag that I had been given for my birthday earlier this year with a gift in. I thought I had emptied the bag, but when I picked it up I noticed a birthday card still in there and the card had £30 in!! So exciting I haven't decided what I'll put it towards yet. I know it was a birthday gift & probably a month ago I would have treated myself to something, but I think I have been treating myself more than enough so that £30 can be put in my budget & used to pay a bill. I don't need anything anyway & surely the biggest treat to myself would be to clear all my debts.

I sold a few more things on ebay this weekend. After postage & fees I will have just over £70 from these sales, which is amazing. 2 items haven't been paid for yet, but the listings only ended last night so I'm hoping they will be paid later today. I've got more items to sell, which I will list this evening.