Feels like im going under!

Makingabobor2

Great post @Singlespeeder. All so true

Singlespeeder

triple_choc_chip said:

Singlespeeder said:

The biggest thing that helped me was saving for Annuals ... all the things that you pay for once a year, car insurance, breakdown, house insurance, birthdays, Christmas, tv license... I think mine came to about £1500 a year and most of it went out in January, straight after Christmas, so inevitably it went on a credit card and didn't get paid off. However, I started to pay £150 a month into a Starling account (they are the best for this sort of thing imho), £150 a month is £1800 a year, more than enough to cover my Annuals, then, when a birthday or the TV license came round, I already had the funds to cover it. It was a flipping revelation!

OMG this! The one thing I couldn’t understand to begin with, was the difference between budgeting and savings.  So many times I read on here - “You don’t have savings, you’ve just budgeted for a known future expense”  Finally I got it; my monthly amount is £255 which includes water bills, but I put £255 aside religiously every month and Singlespeeder is so right - whenever in the year you need it, the funds are always there!  Genius.

We're up to £200 pcm as we cover more birthdays now and it's just an all round winning situation.... by being ABLE to pay in one go rather than monthly payments ( it's still credit isn't it) you can usually save a few £££ too certainly car tax & Insurance  cheaper paid in full. All these things help. Budgeting is the way.

EssexHebridean

If there was a "post of the thread" contest on here then @Singlespeeder might just have nabbed it. It's posts like that, on threads like this, that serves to remind those of us who've been here a while why we're here and the difference this place can make to people's lives. Brilliant summary of why budgeting works and again - the difference it makes - too. We do exactly the same - we don't pay monthly for anything like insurances, breakdown cover and that sort of thing where there is any sort of premium to pay monthly now - even Amazon Prime is now an annual payment as it saves money to do it that way. The first year that it came to be time to buy two car insurance policies and two breakdown policies, all within the same week, and the money was just sitting there waiting for it felt like some sort of miracle - but of course it wasn't, it was that we'd put the work in to ensure the money was there for paying those things.  Christmas is another one - allowing that we get a full 365 days notice of its arrival every SINGLE year there really is no reason or excuse for paying for it on a credit card is there - and the new year is so much more serene and less stressful without the anxiety of waiting for the statement to arrive, too! (Or at least, know that when it does, the money to clear it completely is sitting there just waiting...) 

One day at a time for sure. One that also used to get used a lot on here was "Baby Steps" - just doing one tiny thing per day to improve your financial health mounts up over time to over 300 positive steps per year - and think how far from your starting point that will take you. 

Ex_welsh_borrower

Singlespeeder said:

triple_choc_chip said:

Singlespeeder said:

The biggest thing that helped me was saving for Annuals ... all the things that you pay for once a year, car insurance, breakdown, house insurance, birthdays, Christmas, tv license... I think mine came to about £1500 a year and most of it went out in January, straight after Christmas, so inevitably it went on a credit card and didn't get paid off. However, I started to pay £150 a month into a Starling account (they are the best for this sort of thing imho), £150 a month is £1800 a year, more than enough to cover my Annuals, then, when a birthday or the TV license came round, I already had the funds to cover it. It was a flipping revelation!

OMG this! The one thing I couldn’t understand to begin with, was the difference between budgeting and savings.  So many times I read on here - “You don’t have savings, you’ve just budgeted for a known future expense”  Finally I got it; my monthly amount is £255 which includes water bills, but I put £255 aside religiously every month and Singlespeeder is so right - whenever in the year you need it, the funds are always there!  Genius.

We're up to £200 pcm as we cover more birthdays now and it's just an all round winning situation.... by being ABLE to pay in one go rather than monthly payments ( it's still credit isn't it) you can usually save a few £££ too certainly car tax & Insurance  cheaper paid in full. All these things help. Budgeting is the way.

I think this is my next progressive step, it's going to sound a stupid question but how do I go from monthly payments to annual ones while following my DMP? 

NiteEyez1980

DrEskimo said:

Just read through your thread and it’s really inspirational. I think a lot of people in a similar situation reading it will take a lot of encouragement from you. 

Wishing you the family all the best with the budgeting and putting the plan to action. 

Also just to say sorry for your loss. I lost my little furry friend suddenly last year after 10yrs, so understand what you’re going through. As above, take solace in knowing you made sure they had a very spoilt and enjoyable life.

TDrEskimo said:

Just read through your thread and it’s really inspirational. I think a lot of people in a similar situation reading it will take a lot of encouragement from you. 

Wishing you the family all the best with the budgeting and putting the plan to action. 

Also just to say sorry for your loss. I lost my little furry friend suddenly last year after 10yrs, so understand what you’re going through. As above, take solace in knowing you made sure they had a very spoilt and enjoyable life.

NiteEyez1980

Thank you everyone, so, so much.

I've literally been sitting down writing everything down. Looking at things like cheaper dry cleaners (suits will be from primark when their lifespan has gone) , searching for cheaper insurances, the TV package has been reduced down already, and when the last bit is up, that'll be gone.

 Even things like policing the entire house for anything plugged in when not needing to be on religiously, batch cooking (my freezer is now full of pre-cooked soups, chilli's, curries. And stews etc). 

 No more 'costa' at work or that cheeky "bacon roll".

Hell. I'm leaving for work earlier in morning (admittedly 6am-5.30 am) just to save on that little bit extra of traffic so I'm not changing gear all the time. 

A few difficult decisions that I didn't want to have to face have also been made. Xmas is agreed to be a far more muted affair, we have told the kids that only 1 activity is allowed (football and as we have 3 at it, we get a discount), any non committed events have been cancelled (no wife coffee mornings at "we charge"£5 for a cream tea cafes"l, they can be at home or someone's house). 

With that done I am now doing the 'block unknown number' bit and just waiting for the letters to come in. 

Of course fuel prices and my energy bill going up have countered some of the savings however. 

The wife is also proactively looking for work closer also👍

I would like to ask a few further question if I may:

1) I think in January hopefully everything will be defaulted. At that point when I will submit a dmp (I'm doing it myself. When I do that do companies allow for emergency funds, Xmas etc being included in savings?

Thanks again everyone for having my/our back on this. All the feedback, kind words and support is appreciated. 

kimwp

Ex_welsh_borrower said:

Singlespeeder said:

triple_choc_chip said:

Singlespeeder said:

The biggest thing that helped me was saving for Annuals ... all the things that you pay for once a year, car insurance, breakdown, house insurance, birthdays, Christmas, tv license... I think mine came to about £1500 a year and most of it went out in January, straight after Christmas, so inevitably it went on a credit card and didn't get paid off. However, I started to pay £150 a month into a Starling account (they are the best for this sort of thing imho), £150 a month is £1800 a year, more than enough to cover my Annuals, then, when a birthday or the TV license came round, I already had the funds to cover it. It was a flipping revelation!

OMG this! The one thing I couldn’t understand to begin with, was the difference between budgeting and savings.  So many times I read on here - “You don’t have savings, you’ve just budgeted for a known future expense”  Finally I got it; my monthly amount is £255 which includes water bills, but I put £255 aside religiously every month and Singlespeeder is so right - whenever in the year you need it, the funds are always there!  Genius.

We're up to £200 pcm as we cover more birthdays now and it's just an all round winning situation.... by being ABLE to pay in one go rather than monthly payments ( it's still credit isn't it) you can usually save a few £££ too certainly car tax & Insurance  cheaper paid in full. All these things help. Budgeting is the way.

I think this is my next progressive step, it's going to sound a stupid question but how do I go from monthly payments to annual ones while following my DMP? 

Hiya! Best if you start your own thread if you want to ask a question. 

stymied

@NiteEyez1980 you set the rules / create your statement of income & expenditure not the companies so yes, presents and emergency fund should definitely be added but I would put them as separate categories not just ‘savings’.

kimwp

NiteEyez1980 said:

Thank you everyone, so, so much.

I've literally been sitting down writing everything down. Looking at things like cheaper dry cleaners (suits will be from primark when their lifespan has gone) , searching for cheaper insurances, the TV package has been reduced down already, and when the last bit is up, that'll be gone.

 Even things like policing the entire house for anything plugged in when not needing to be on religiously, batch cooking (my freezer is now full of pre-cooked soups, chilli's, curries. And stews etc). 

 No more 'costa' at work or that cheeky "bacon roll".

Hell. I'm leaving for work earlier in morning (admittedly 6am-5.30 am) just to save on that little bit extra of traffic so I'm not changing gear all the time. 

A few difficult decisions that I didn't want to have to face have also been made. Xmas is agreed to be a far more muted affair, we have told the kids that only 1 activity is allowed (football and as we have 3 at it, we get a discount), any non committed events have been cancelled (no wife coffee mornings at "we charge"£5 for a cream tea cafes"l, they can be at home or someone's house). 

With that done I am now doing the 'block unknown number' bit and just waiting for the letters to come in. 

Of course fuel prices and my energy bill going up have countered some of the savings however. 

The wife is also proactively looking for work closer also👍

I would like to ask a few further question if I may:

1) I think in January hopefully everything will be defaulted. At that point when I will submit a dmp (I'm doing it myself. When I do that do companies allow for emergency funds, Xmas etc being included in savings?

Thanks again everyone for having my/our back on this. All the feedback, kind words and support is appreciated. 

That's really impressive NiteEyes! 

For the dmp, I believe that certain things are seen as reasonable expenses and others are not, but what you'll need to do is put the reasonable expenses to the top end of the amounts that are deemed reasonable (or justified, for example, if fuel costs are high due to a long commute) and then spend within those amounts to save money for other things, prioritising emergency funds etc. I believe there are guides online as to what is deemed reasonable, hopefully someone will signpost them.

Edit - also include allowable expenditure in categories that you don't actually spend in but could. 

ladyholly

You are doing so well but I hope you are allowing the ocasional treat as you still have to have a life and buying very cheap clothes for adults is not always a saving as they will possibly need replacing faster as they dont wear as well. If you wear suits every day and need to be smart for your job it may be more economical to go for a mid range (washable if possible to save on dry cleaning).