Diary of a 30-something idiot

enthusiasticsaver

Book club sounds fun but battered Mars bar would probably make my stomach rebel although I have to admit I have never tried it.  We don't get them down here I think. 

I think there has to be a balance between living life (I consider friendship and love not to be geared to money) and saving for a rainy day or the future. It is sad for people to end up alone and an indication that money is not everything. Although I guess that may have been that ladys' choice.  I bet the Opera house were happy.  

I appreciate that people are concerned but can we please not push @foxandflowers on her husbands lack of contribution to the household budget.  I think her lack of comments on it indicates she would rather not  discuss and as it is her diary that is her prerogative. 

satchmo1

I mis-understood the "battered Mars Bar" to mean one that you had found squashed at the bottom of a handbag, lol... which I'd eat, no problem. I wouldn't eat a deep fried one.

On the shopping list - which is essential - I write mine in the order of the supermarket layout. So fruit & veg first, then bread items, then dairy, then meat, then frozen stuff and finally cleaning/household stuff.  It's written (mostly) after the weekly meal plan is made.  Hope that helps/makes sense.

foxandflowers

I continue with tracking every penny that has been spent this month. 

I have unfortunately ransacked my kitty head savings, as my daughter had a playdate on Sunday. We went to the local pancake cafe, and I discovered they do G.F. pancakes (!!!) so I treated myself to one, bought her a normal one, an apple juice and a latte for £12. We then got out a craft kit and made clay animals and watched movies on my laptop. It was nice to feel like a good parent. The rest of the spare change pot has gone on getting me to work today, as she is poorly this morning, so Mr Fox is at home watching her, and I am sat in the office questioning what I am doing with my life. 

My tracker reckons I am £90 over budget and I've missed about £450 worth of bills (although some of those are still waiting to come out when my paycheck lands) It's been 31 days since I was last paid, I have four to go and it is showing. I've spent about £330 on groceries this month, and I have one more weekly food shop to do. I've spent £90 on fuel, and my budget was £250, so I think I can probably lower that category too. I definitely need to make sure I am not skipping paying any bills for the rest of 2024. This will be my last "lower" paycheck. The extra £177 a month will be helpful, but I'm starting to panic about it not covering the Council Tax increase, along with anything else that is due to rise. 

I've been debating reducing my pension contribs by 50% for a year, just to get myself on track/ahead in terms of sorting myself and my emergency fund out. I know either in April or in July I will get a payrise of an extra £75 a month before deductions, which doesn't seem like much, but will also be added to the payrise I am getting by moving jobs. 50% of my pension contribs would mean I am still contributing 2.9% of my wage,  or roughly £64 instead of £128. That £64 I wasn't contributing would go into a locked savings account, which would give me £768 after 12 months. That would be a sizeable chunk towards the Emergency Fund. Hmm. If I add that to my Vinted sales, maybe I could be 1/4 of the way there by December 2024.

I picked up some plastic popper a4 wallets on lunch from B&M. I was going to get the pretty ones, that were £2 for 4, but then I got 8 clear plastic ones for £2.50. I also nipped into a charity shop, then remembered I was supposed to be being good, and promptly left again. I have cancelled Amazon Prime (8 wallets on there were £5). We have brought in 15 non-consumable things this month in total, including things for the house. I'm quite looking forward to doing a round up of ins/outs/categories spent in etc on pay day. And then trying to better myself before the end of February. 

The lady whose paperwork I have been going through today had spent so much money on collectable plates and figurines all with owls on. They're all sat in her house now, collecting dust and haven't appreciated in value. Things are just things. I think one of the things I will miss most about this job is the timely reminders about the true value of items, and the reminders to declutter so when I get older, I won't have to dig through mountains of things to find the right bit of paper. I also need to sort out a Will. I know I'm only in my 30s, but it needs doing. 

I've changed the bank details for my child benefit today, I finally remembered. Just child maintenance left to change over, but I'd rather leave that separately for emergencies.

I just need to be more stubborn than me. If I want to spend money, and be irresponsible and buy things rather than pay bills, then responsible me needs to take over. 

stymied

Will Aid runs every November so that’s a good time to get it done

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/free-cheap-wills/#cheap

Well done for leaving the charity shop!

Hang in there for the last 4 days x

CMD79

Hi F&F. That sounds like a lovely treat for you a DD. 

Just an observation, I know you’d mentioned you were diagnosed with Autism already, were you getting an ADHD assessment as well? Something that I use to do, is treat my bills like they were optional almost. I have just been diagnosed having been on an NHS waiting list for over 5 years, and I couldn’t remember if you’d said that previously. Anyway, I have mastered my minimum payments now, finally (just turned 45!!) and Part of that came from the realisation that my income and outgoings were grossly incompatible!! But keeping separate pots of money was how I really overcame it. 

Money goes into account 1
All money required for direct debits / standing orders for minimum payments stays in account 1 - paying bills I no longer treat as optional, but it took me most of my adult life to figure that one.
Grocery and fuel money goes onto Cashback card 
10% of income goes into a savings account which I call my “Gone t!ts up” account
I permit myself £5 per day as a slush fund which goes into a separate account with a debit card. For every NSD, I transfer £5 to my extra repayments pot
The rest I pay into my “Stop Being A Pr&t” account - From this account I pay my 52 Weekly Saving Challenge, which a good savings account called “Don’t Balls Up Xmas” that I am restricted to 3 annual withdrawals, and anything else spending wise. 
Towards the end of the month, when something arises or I’m running out of money, I bring back my 10% as needed or roll it over. All my money from making extra money gets paid into here to, and when I have enough to pay 1/100th of my debt, I make an overpayment.

I’m just mentioning this as I wonder if little pots might work for you as having the money serrated accordingly to purpose might help you to stop spending because you can see quicker when you’re running out in the pots that are for spending, but the money you definitely need for household survival it secure.

You’re doing brilliantly! Keep your head up and enjoy the new job and the pay rise!

PS - If you do decide to reduce your pension, don’t be a me and just let it go through the general spending - Put it aside for your emergency fund, or use it to pay of debt. Don’t let it get swallowed up. You so deserve a decent retirement!! 

Xx

dawnybabes

The pension wouldn’t be £768 a year, you would pay more tax / NI so probably about £55 a month. 

Bluegreen143

It’s a good point. If your employer pays in, you will also lose their match. So for example, if you pay £100, your employer may be matching that and then you lose the tax relief too - so failing to put that £100 into your pension actually makes your pension worse off by about £225. (Dodgy quick maths here but the principle holds!). Most of us wouldn’t borrow money with such a high rate of interest so consider whether it’s worth borrowing from your future self at such a cost. 

Purplelady65

I've been debating reducing my pension contribs by 50% for a year, just to get myself on track/ahead in terms of sorting myself and my emergency fund out. I know either in April or in July I will get a payrise of an extra £75 a month before deductions, which doesn't seem like much, but will also be added to the payrise I am getting by moving jobs. 50% of my pension contribs would mean I am still contributing 2.9% of my wage,  or roughly £64 instead of £128. That £64 I wasn't contributing would go into a locked savings account, which would give me £768 after 12 months. That would be a sizeable chunk towards the Emergency Fund

I think you previously said you work for the council in which case you will be in the LGPS pension scheme. This is a really good pension scheme and your employer will be contributing on average 19% of your salary towards it. Although retirement probably seems a long way off you are giving up free money if you drop your contribution to 50% as your employer’s contribution will also drop to 50%. The life assurance cover will also be reduced. As a OP has already pointed out you wouldn’t be £68 better off each month as you would be paying tax and NI on that amount. I think your future self will thank you if you continue to pay the full pension contribution. 

CMD79

It's definitely worth thinking very hard about this. You have to change your relationship with money to know this isn't going to get frittered away. You definitely need the money now to get you back into a good place where the ins and outs are more harmonious, but chances are, it will get swallowed into everyday spending and will just mean you've got a poor retirement later on. I'd personally you try to get the balance in place and get a money routine first, and then ask yourself if that extra £50/£60 per month can drive the debt down

I'd also check on your employer contributions. For modern LGPS, it's likely to be somewhere in the region of 6/7%

foxgloves

I think your pension contributions should be left untouched because I think, given your precarious relationship with money & only one income coming in, your current good intentions to re-instate them would very likely not happen. I have a local gov't pension too & the employer contribution is a valuable asset. Considering reducing your pension (which is your future security), when you could free-up the necessary additional funds by cancelling a big unaffordable TV package would be a poor decision in my opinion.
Ultimately, if you are still having to sell your possessions so as not to run out of food by the end of the month, then there is still something fundamentally wrong with your budget. Like all your other diary followers, I enjoy your writing & would love to see the money side of things coming together for you.
F x