10 years later yikes

debtfreewannabe321

Oh fair enough! ☺️ I did think you might have it covered elsewhere. It is the car and clothes for me that always trip up my budget with growing kids and cars that like to throw a strop every now and then 😩.

1stTimer

@debtfreewannabe321 I didn’t see your post as I was typing the explanation 😂

clothing I haven’t been taking a note of under a category for some reason. It’s probably because I hate clothes shopping and very rarely buy new things and just wait for my birthday/xmas to receive them lol
I do buy a few bits from Temu every couple of months but Temu is covered by my Amazon pot ( Edited to add - I’ve just noticed I have missed that pot out - I have a £100 Amazon/Temu pot I pay into monthly too)

debtfreewannabe321

1stTimer said:

@debtfreewannabe321 I didn’t see your post as I was typing the explanation 😂

clothing I haven’t been taking a note of under a category for some reason. It’s probably because I hate clothes shopping and very rarely buy new things and just wait for my birthday/xmas to receive them lol
I do buy a few bits from Temu every couple of months but Temu is covered by my Amazon pot ( Edited to add - I’ve just noticed I have missed that pot out - I have a £100 Amazon/Temu pot I pay into monthly too)

Oh lol 😂 I thought you'd answered me haha 

1stTimer

Comparing my SOA’s and going through my sheets yesterday really set my brain off. I was scribbling and writing little notes down all evening whenever a new idea popped into my head 😆
I’m not going to change anything right now as this does seem to be working but I am going to start on a 2026 spreadsheet whilst I have some time off and try to fine tune a few bits. 

The pots assigned have been the real game changer for me, it’s such a simple thing to do and just makes keeping track so much easier. The only downside is the transferring back and forth whenever I need something and without noting it all down daily elsewhere it would get very confusing.
I do have a note to create some extra pots for next year i.e house fund/clothing etc but really not 100% sure at the moment if this will make it too complicated to track.

I also think I need a separate sheet for savings, when I started tracking in April I just added it as an after thought to my current spreadsheet but with the regular savers growing and maturing at different times and money I track from surveys etc that page has got really busy.

Anyway today I have a list of cleaning tasks to do first so off I pop..

Cara_

The pots assigned have been the real game changer for me, it’s such a simple thing to do and just makes keeping track so much easier. The only downside is the transferring back and forth whenever I need something and without noting it all down daily elsewhere it would get very confusing.

I know how much I spend each month so I keep that amount in my spending account and then allocate the spend to the specific line on my budget. I then top up my account when needed. I do have a buffer in my spending account so that I won't go overdrawn if anything unexpected happens. I don't know if you do something similar but I've found it helps keep things simple.

1stTimer

Yes this is exactly what i do too, once i got my head around it its really made a difference. I have a £50 buffer too, it’s good to have it there in case i don't have time to transfer etc or just want to do it when i get home.

2026 spreadsheet all created and ready to go so another thing i don't have to think about when the time comes.

I’ve just opened a simple saver with Cahoot via topcashback. TCB give you £25 and i only had to deposit £1 so it was worth the 2mins to apply even if i will not use it.

1stTimer

The clock changes have been hard on both me and dog this week, my body clock was waking me up at 4-5am prior to Sunday but now I can’t seem to sleep in beyond 3:30am🤦‍♀️ and poor pup paces and whines for breakfast at 4am currently as he doesn’t understand either lol. I really need to try and find a way to reset.
As I’ve been off the house has had a mother of all cleans, everything and I mean everything has been washed, dried, dusted, bleached you name it! 

Final job this week is taking the car to a different garage tomorrow and I really am hoping they finally get to fix this noise, the car drives well has a clean MOT and fresh service but since it’s has this rattle I have found myself casually browsing auto trader weekly and I just know if this noise goes then I will be happy again and will not even think about buying another car!

1stTimer

Last weekend before back to work so just chilling and binge watching tv. Now the nights are darker quicker I’m finding it really hard not to nap in the afternoons lol it always feels much later than it is.

I haven’t spent anything in the last 2 days so that’s good, however car is still not back so there is that pending doom just waiting so I funded my regular savers today and all spreadsheets have been updated, but other than that it’s all been very quiet financially.

1stTimer

Urgh I’ve woke up this morning and my throat is all tight and sore! My nose is running too so looks like my time has come to catch the germs that have been going around. I think I’m going to see if I can work from home today as I really don’t want to spread it.
The dog seems to be limping too, not hugely but enough for me to think he probably should also not go out today and rest up.

And the car isn’t back so I am feeling really hampered without it. Think I may call them today and see what’s going on, if they haven’t done or started anything then I will tell them to forget it and get the car back. 

1stTimer

Soooo

My car is going to cost more to repair than it is worth due to the parts needed which isn’t ideal but if I’m honest this has been going on for so long I am past caring.

Yesterday I applied for a loan and I know it probably sounds silly due to having savings available but 1 - I am so proud I’m finally getting a house deposit together I really don’t want to derail that or eat into it. 2- my credit really does need rebuilding (the loan rates I was approved for are not great and I didn’t have many options)
My reasoning by getting this loan is that I can still continue with my savings and see my deposit amount go up not down and I’m going to teach myself all about overpaying to clear it early. This will come in handy if/when I do ever have a mortgage. And also it will help show I am responsible lender again and I will have a record on file of paying something monthly.

I am working two 12 hours days this weekend so no chance of doing anything about this now but I have the money in my account and can at least browse and see what my options are. If there’s one thing I hate doing it is buying a car!