Diary of a 30-something idiot

foxandflowers

February Round Up (up to the start of the New Budget Period) ⚠️

Once again, I have been tracking every single penny I spent this month, and can now give an accurate breakdown of where exactly everything went wrong, and what I actually managed to get right... So I feel quite good about that, in that now I know what the mistakes I make ARE, I can hopefully avoid them in the future.

Technically this monthly round up is a bit of a cheat, as I am ending it on the 25th. I have decided for reasons that make sense in my own head, that it is better for me to run my budget based on my main payday which is the 26th so next month will run from 26th Feb - 25th March.

Biggest expense this period was Groceries, at 57%, followed by Fuel at 19.3% and in third place was Welsh Water at 13.4%.

The Good

I have managed 5 No Spend Days. And overall spending was sub £650 for the period.  I did not buy myself a single physical item all month. *halo* Have once again underspent on Fuel, which has come with £80 to spare, and Groceries also has £44 left. I took lunch with me to work every single day.

I set up recurring food delivery with Asda, and it's been brilliant for not overspending on random things, as well as ensuring there is healthy food at home. (for the most part, anyway).

The Bad

There have been a disgusting amount of bounced Direct Debits this month. That cannot be allowed to happen again. My savings are also empty, aside from the £26 hiding in PBs. I have ended the billing cycle with 0.81p to my name.

The UGLY

It has been a very close hand to mouth existence supplemented entirely by selling things on Vinted, and existing off jacket potatoes. It has been hard, depressing, and has caused me to question my sanity at times. I don't want to spend another month scraping by. I have had to borrow money from my friends twice at £65 and £75 respectively to correct overspending issues at the end of January that left me without any money for food in week 3 of February.

So what changes?

I categorically do not want to borrow money off anyone, ever again.

I still have a pile of stuff to get through and list on Vinted. Realistically, the only thing I need is an actually waterproof coat. Because none of the coats I have fulfil this brief. Despite purchasing two coats in the last six months. ARGH. I've got my eye on one that costs £30 but explicitly states waterproof on the label, so I need to make £90 - 1/3 to cover coat cost, 1/3 for EF, 1/3 for F&F savings pot. 

March looks to be a little spendy in terms of Mini Fox, as they are doing "Fun Filled Friday's" at school and we have St David's Day / World Book Day / Red Nose Day / Easter Bonnet Day all in succession. She also still needs some new bits for her wardrobe as she continues to grow at a rate of knots.

I need to swap the numberplates on the car, so I can get rid of it ASAP. Have managed to figure out a rough plan for how to divide up the profit, that largely entails stuffing the EF so that we can stop the cycle of getting into debt every time something goes wrong, and pay off some debts to put money back into the budget each month so I can amend my pots as required. 

I need to make money via side hustling, and ensure there is enough in the pot for Easter holidays, as it is unlikely Mini Fox's dad will have her, once again.

And lastly, at the end of March there will be the first of two retention payments and my quiet goal is twofold for March. 1) pay all of the bills. All of them. No excuses. And 2) fill the first £2000 of my EF.  I have made myself an excellent debt colouring workbook because I am a functioning adult, and it is motivating.

***EDIT TO ADD*** my goal is to be back under £40,000 by June. 3 months to pay off £2,500. 

Kim_13

Middle tier on Netflix would also save £6 a month - if being able to watch on more than one screen at a time is essential. 

I’m on the £4.99 and have yet to find any content it wouldn’t let me watch, even stuff that I thought wasn’t on the ads tier having had the middle tier for that purpose over Christmas. I don’t pay for Netflix every month and dip in and out, I just logged into my cancelled account and clicked add streaming plan when I wanted it again. Ads are far more intrusive and annoying on Now TV than Netflix.

If you have Netflix and a firestick, can you now get rid of the TV licence legally (no live TV, no BBC iPlayer?)

foxandflowers

Fox's rules for March. 

1. Get dressed into proper clothes 6/7 days of the week. Proper clothes does not mean trackies. You are a woman, not a goblin, and it would do zero harm to take some pride in your appearance. It may even help you feel better.
2. Let Mr Fox do the housework. You are in charge of laundry and finances, nothing else. Let it go for heaven's sake, because you cannot continue to do it all and control it all. You will make yourself ill. 
3. Check in on here every day, because weirdly it is helping you keep on top of things. Report everything, even if you slip up, because that way you can and will learn from your mistakes. You've come really far already, you just need to keep going. 
4. Likewise, update your spending tracker every day. You are less likely to fall off the wagon if you have to report it, even if it is reporting it to yourself. It is vital to stopping silly purchases and behaviours to be able to see where your money is going. You work hard for it, so spend it wisely. 
5. The best things in life are free! Keep making time for yourself, and go dipping more, as it is good for your health and sanity. Try and set an example to the kids and spend less time on your phone. Be present, when you can. 

foxgloves

Wow, @foxandflowers, some great goals there!
I agree about tying your monthly budget to payday. Our monthly budget cycle runs from 27th to 26th for the same reason.
F

enthusiasticsaver

Great goals there.  I particularly like the sound of you now leaving Mr Fox to do the housework. You cannot do it all. Check out those bounced direct debits to see if they are really needed.  Do you get charged by your bank for bounced DDs? Maybe only have essential DDs only and everything else has to be paid by yourself. One thing I do with my starling account is move the amount needed to cover all DDs and Standing orders over to a bills space after our pensions go in and assign all the DDs etc to that space.  Then I know whatever is left in the account is free to spend. 

MeandO

Although you're still struggling to make ends meet Fox, you seem in a better place with keeping track of the budget and seeing where the slip ups are happening. 
Without a doubt, I would use the extra funds from work to pay off the bounced DD's and get up to date on the bills. You have a fighting chance of making a monthly budget work then without starting in a deficit every month. 

As for the subscriptions, are there any good charity shops near you that you could buy a few books from every month instead? I love browsing them for books and am always happy when I save £'s from the online prices! xx

stymied

How much of a deficit are you starting Mar at? It sounds like you did brilliantly in Feb (no overspends on any categories, even other!?) and were just scuppered by starting at the deficit from Jan. How would groceries and fuel have looked if you started counting on 26th Jan instead of 1st Feb?

Our budget month is 24th Feb - 24th March so it’s March here already too 😊

foxandflowers

@Stymied - I have £270 of missed bills to catch up on in March, and I owe £165 to pay my friends back. So another long lean month ahead I think, or at least it will be until we sell the car and I can settle some things up, and fill up the emergency pots. The budget has been tweaked, so even if we don't manage to sell the car this month, there ought to be enough to cover everything, as long as I'm strict about groceries (my one weakness). 

I just had some Vinted money come in, so technically comparing budgeting periods, I ended up in January at the same point with £1.06 and I ended February with £2.81. I was almost twice as well behaved too haha. 
If I looked at the groceries/fuel over the full period I don't think I would have had as much left in the budget pot as I ended up with though. 

Regarding earlier discussion about splitting things up; have decided that I will also add that week's grocery/fuel spends to my weekly transport pot - that way the temptation to spend should be decreased, as my available money will not be the £630 of the combined pots, but instead I will put £80 for groceries, £45 for fuel if we don't have the kids (£80 if we do), plus the £20 for the bus into each weekly pot. Then when that week's money is spent, it's spent, until the next week rolls around. 

@enthusiasticsaver luckily Monzo don't charge me for bouncing DD's, they just keep trying all month. It's so embarrassing. I've got my bills pot set up to be loaded up at 4pm today, and I'm weirdly excited about it haha. 

@MeandO and whoever else RE: illumicrate - it's actually paused at the moment until we are in a better place - I just forgot to take it off! That £35 is going to have to go in Mini Fox's pot this month though to cover the school expenses. Netflix remains as it is until they clamp down on the kids sharing our account - all the kids use our account and they're in various locations. I also still use iPlayer - I'm rewatching all of Silent Witness at the moment, it's one of my comfort shows. 

slm6002

It looks like you have a plan.

For the school activities what is required for the 'fun filled Fridays' and St David's Day?  What kind of costume is required for book day - assuming its a classic dress up day.  I know the older mine got, the more likely they were to have a character to dress up in normal clothes, or I was able to make a costume fairly cheap.  The sooner the costume is decided on the sooner charity shops / car boots / freecycle and olio can be looked through and maybe a bargain can be found.

With DD's clothes do you have any car boots locally.  They should be starting up fairly soon if not already.  Maybe you can then have a go at haggling the price down if you find something you like for her.

Speak to the school and let them know that money is tight at the moment.  They probably have many families in the same position and would much rather know / help out than leave a family struggling. 

enthusiasticsaver

It is good that you realise that borrowing off friends (much like borrowing on credit cards) makes your situation much worse as you start each month on a deficit.  Your biggest issue as you know is lack of income but the borrowing off friends must be very stressful. If you do not have enough money for food can you consider using a food bank or some sort of community food shop rather than borrow.  Our town does one and anyone can use it.  All the food is really cheap but still good quality.  A lot of the local supermarkets donate stuff which is  going out of date. 

 Side hustles and Mr Fox getting a job would be the biggest gain to you in terms of increasing spending power. I personally would focus on balancing your budget and building an EF before focusing on the debt.  Are you now doing a self managed DMP?