Now for a healthier, wealthier me

LittleMissDetermined

I don't mind looking forward to the breaks Keedie, it's having to pay for them haha!  I hope you enjoy Manchester, it's not a place we visit often, I don't really like big cities but I suppose it will be small to a Londoner. 

So, today is payday. I've sent quite a bit to savings this morning from dice challenges, the 1p challenge, I had a prolific cash out and I've added £250 to the saver and £5 to sabbatical.  The other challenges go to the sealed pot so that's had a real boost this morning. 

It's not a NSD for me today, I'm off to meet colleagues for lunch at a local coffee shop. It will be nice to catch up as it can get lonely working from home. I talk to the dog a lot but as much as I like to think he understands me when he cocks his head to one side and starts wagging his tail, he does't chat back. 

I'm continuing with the cash budgeting for this month, this morning I have re-sed the cash from my sinking funds for this month's cash allocation and created pots for the sinking funds. It just saves going to the bank to put cash in and then take it out again. 

I think that's it from me. I'm hoping the weather brightens up for lunch so we don't get too wet when we meet up. 
Hope you're all OK
LMD x

Keedie

Yeah, paying for the trips is definitely the issue for me too! I actually do find Manchester to be quite slow paced and not that busy or large compared to London, as the central shopping and socialising seems to be more compressed to specific areas. But that's definitely part of the charm for me, and I do love hearing the Mancunian and Scouse accents.

Cash budgeting has been my savings grace in terms of reigning in my spending and understanding where I am with savings goals etc. And if I spend on my card, I just put the cash in one of the binder envelopes so that I set it aside and use it the following month. Took a bit of self discipline not to spend it at first though 😂.

LittleMissDetermined

Good morning! For the moment, the sun is shining in South Yorkshire and I am feeling optimistic. I've got the windows open and I can hear all the birds - I do love spring! 

Today is a NSD for me, as is the rest of the week so I have put most of my spending money into savings challenges. I didn't spend much yesterday at lunch so that was positive and we had a good catch up. With the money I put into savings, my PAD was boosted this morning, and included £5 to the sabbatical fund. 

The plans for the next few days include sorting out stuff in the garden and getting ready for family staying from Sunday. Not sure if I will be updating over the bank holiday, it depends how busy I get.

I hope the sun is shining where you are and that you have gret Easter weekends
LMD x

LittleMissDetermined

Hi all, it feels like ages since I have posted, although there's not much to update on, we spent the first half of the weekend cleaning up and doing some work in the garden and now we have family staying for the rest of the week.

I've not spend much at all though and today will be of the same ilk and will be a NSD for me. I've still been adding my PADs and that sabbatical is still creeping up. Today is the sealed envelope challenge (should have been yesterday but I kept thinking it was Sunday) and I've filled number 50. I'm aiming to fill the bigger ones after being paid each month and then smaller ones when things look tight

Not much else to update on really, I'm focusing on family time this week rather than the finances.
Have lovely days
LMD x

Keedie

The sabbatical fund is definitely creeping up. Is your general saver your sealed pot?

I need to get on top of my 50 envelope challenge as I'm quite far behind the target I set for myself 😬.

[Deleted User]

Forgive my confusion, but where exactly is the sealed pot money? is it physically stored somewhere? I take assume it is in addition to your general saver? Thanks.

LittleMissDetermined

Keedie said:

The sabbatical fund is definitely creeping up. Is your general saver your sealed pot?

I need to get on top of my 50 envelope challenge as I'm quite far behind the target I set for myself 😬.

Hi @Keedie, 

No, my sealed pot is separate and that gets added to with any challenges and surveys. It's accruing interest too so that was added on Monday at £5 and some pence. It stays 'sealed' virtually until we open it in October. 

My General Saver is for things I need/want so it will be for our holiday payments, I used some for my hair cut and colour last week and if I need to buy gifts etc and my monthly budget can't stretch to it.  I would also use it for car MOT, service and any repairs needed. 

So at the moment my pots stand like this:
Emergency fund - fully funded at £1000
Sabbatical - £895/£3000
General saver - £2562.77
Sealed pot - £2251.57

Not too bad really
LMD x

[Deleted User]

Thank you for your response. Detailed and interesting! Best wishes.

Keedie

Thanks LMD, I can't believe you've got such a great sealed pot and we're only in March, you'll add so much by October. That's very impressive. 

I've been playing around with my budget and trying to save for things like gifts, car maintenance, clothes, dentists, opticians etc, and it is a lot to manage and I feel like I don't have much of anything in any given pot. It can get a bit demotivating. That's part of the reason why I have been trying to build up a buffer of £500 for things that exceed my daily budget.

But I think to help me achieve that sooner rather than later, I should reduce what I put in multiple pots and just build one larger pot for everything that isn't the things I spend on monthly. I'd build up the buffer really quickly that way. So I might do that, and then come back to individual pots when I've got my buffer in place. You've given me a lot to think about, thank you.

LittleMissDetermined

Keedie said:

Thanks LMD, I can't believe you've got such a great sealed pot and we're only in March, you'll add so much by October. That's very impressive. 

I've been playing around with my budget and trying to save for things like gifts, car maintenance, clothes, dentists, opticians etc, and it is a lot to manage and I feel like I don't have much of anything in any given pot. It can get a bit demotivating. That's part of the reason why I have been trying to build up a buffer of £500 for things that exceed my daily budget.

But I think to help me achieve that sooner rather than later, I should reduce what I put in multiple pots and just build one larger pot for everything that isn't the things I spend on monthly. I'd build up the buffer really quickly that way. So I might do that, and then come back to individual pots when I've got my buffer in place. You've given me a lot to think about, thank you.

Yes, I agree that having many pots with a little bit in is demotivating, hopefully once our big holiday is out of the way I can split my funds into separate fully funded sinking funds and forget about them until they are needed. That's the plan anyway but as we all know, life does get in the way!
LMD x