Road To Financial Recovery

alt80

@FootyFanDan sorry to say it mate but I think it is possibly in your own head re the settling in. My staff get a car allowance and mileage - it’s not unusual and expected in my industry unless they have a company car. The allowance is effectively to pay towards their car payment and maintenance and the mileage is for fuel and an element of wear and tear set by hmrc. 

Glad to hear that you are settling into your new home and thinking through how to fund the furniture and improvements too. We had a clear out of rubbish when we moved, it is really very nice living without years worth of stuff you’ve just accumulated. 100% worth doing it. 

FootyFanDan

@FootyFanDan sorry to say it mate but I think it is possibly in your own head re the settling in - I am very aware I set my self some very harsh targets haha. All the stuff I am hearing is positive and my review states as much. Whilst I don't think having the humility to admit I struggle in certain areas and want improve/learn and feel it when I make mistakes is a bad trait to have, it does probably put more pressure on myself than is normal. I am just going to focus on working through my own internal challenges

I have made it my mission to do three trips to the tip on Sunday which could possibly be the worst idea I have ever had   

FootyFanDan

30.09.2024 Balance Updates

Current Balance CC
£726 - I haven't managed to pay as much off this as I would have liked this month to be honest, but it is going down. There was a bit of spending on the card ie petrol but that has been cleared.

Savings - Emergency Fund 
£100 - My plan is to really focus on this until end of the year, with a bit of planning and discipline this will be £1k by end of the year.

Savings - Xmas
£60 - This fluctuates, we have been putting away £50 a month now for a while and spend from it as we find what we want. The next few months will see increased amount been put away to cover xmas food, decorations and family events

Savings - Car Repairs / Upkeep
£100 - I have used some of the funds that were in here for oil and some cleaning stuff, I also think I might have a slow puncture so need to keep and eye on that and possible get repaired. My service and MOT are due in Feb so a bit of time to prepare for this.

Overall, a pretty good month finance wise. We did end up having some spare rolling into this month and this has helped cover some of the additional spends in the petrol used for work travel. However moving forward I have planned the next three months and zero budgeted to cover dining out, food, petrol, entertainment as I needed to start adding something in here. Anything that is remaining on 31st October will be sent split to CC and Emergency Fund. I have worked out expenses on a standard months family income, but I will get overtime and expenses back at some point in October.  I have managed to stay out of overdraft which is another win, I do think I potentially need to increase the food budget though as we are running pretty close to it some weeks are higher than others.

01.10.2024 - 31.12.2024 - Plans

- Overpay CC and get this as low as possible, we could potentially remove a bit of our personal / fun category to cover extra payment for this to be honest. 

- Fund Xmas whilst not using any credit.

- Build up emergency funds.

- Increase funds that are currently been invested.

- Get Furniture for Our Bedroom and get this all organised.

- Start on the little one's room.

- Declutter house (should be easy win in theory).

- Donate any clothes / items that are still in usable condition.


Here's hoping for a good month for all. 

FootyFanDan

Evening All, 
I seem to have neglected my diary a bit this month so far, there isn't a huge amount to report but want to be active here. So far this month spends have been on track, a few additional spends that we missed like a school trip but there was funds in the Misc.Spends in YNAB so not thrown us off too much. We have finally managed to purchase wardrobes for our room, I spent all day Saturday clearing the room in readiness for them arriving next weekend ( already anticipating the fun that is going to be ). There isn't much work travel this week, been out and about last few weeks which has been fun learning, but then had a bit of catching up then to do on the admin side. There isn't much to report finance wise. I have had a re-jig of my budget, inspired by another post on here it made me re-evaluate my budget so that hopefully means there will be less money just disappearing without purpose. I do feel like I am getting a grip of budget and the fixed spending and even food is starting to become regular, I do need to increase food budget slightly though.

Hope everyone has a good week.

 

RisingPhoenix1

I've been reading through your diary and think you are doing really well and sound really organised (as much as we can be with day to day life )

I remember the horror fun of putting together wardrobes when I moved so I hope it all goes smoothly! 

FootyFanDan

RisingPhoenix1 said:

I've been reading through your diary and think you are doing really well and sound really organised (as much as we can be with day to day life )

I remember the horror fun of putting together wardrobes when I moved so I hope it all goes smoothly! 

Thank you @RisingPhoenix1, I don't always feel organised 😂. I am feeling a lot more in control than I have done for a long time though, but it has been a crazy 6 months of change and adapting with things. I am not looking forward to the flat pack furniture experience, but will be glad to final have some sort of progress with the bedroom at last. 

FootyFanDan

Stuff I have remembered whilst doing a review of my life admin stuff

- Complete weekly expenses - I generally do this every Sunday when I know I have been travelling for work
- Clean / Vac Car
- Sort out breakdown cover 
- Review / Read up on life insurance. I really should have done this well before now to be honest. My work does pay 3 times my annual salary to my beneficiary, but really need to be doing something outside of this as well.
- Review Next Week Calendar and sort out travel - so far only got one site visit which happens to be on Tuesday when I am also at football, typical! Hopefully the motorway gods will be kind to me

FootyFanDan

Weekly Spends (14.10.24 - 20.10.24)

Fuel - £25 (cheaper week this week due to extra been put in last week).

Food - £104. - Spent a little more here ensuring I get food to take to work - Greggs and Costa been a two minute walk away from work isn't good for the wallet or the waistline so really need to sort that out. 

Misc. - £15, this is for an event for the little one's birthday. There is some sort of makeup / fashion thing that is apparently great (isn't everything as a kid! 😂 All her friends are going to the event they are doing at the local club, its some sort of disco and make up event. This has come out of the pot that we have saved for school trips/after school club/breakfast club.

FootyFanDan

Happy Monday All,
Well flat pack furniture was about as fun as I expected it to be... . Although pretty happy with the end result, it took way longer than I anticipated it might. The wardrobes are looking lovely and the room is somewhat coming together a bit, although plenty still to sort. I then spent Sunday going through and sorting out the little one's room and oh my gosh the amount of stuff she has is absolutely shocking! especially given the fact its probably sat doing nothing or played with a little. I think this is purely down to her been the first and only grandchild in the close family for a while and getting spoilt. We have started going through all the clothes, and whilst some will be kept for sentimental value we will be donating a lot. We will also been doing the same with toys and teddies * I mean how many teddies can a girl have!. There is a few that we got from special visits and days out and then also some that she goes everywhere with (including the week in spain!). But there is so much other just random ones. It also made me reflect about just how we spend our money too.Whilst I want us to enjoy things, we seriously need to get rid of some stuff haha. 

Whilst it was great to sort everything out, my body totally felt it this morning, the weekend turned out to be not so spendy though so a win. 

I have quite a busy week coming up at work with some pretty tight deadlines coming up and losing a day tomorrow out on site /travelling is going to mean at least one late night working at home for a few extra hours. 

Today's Spends

Fuel - £50, I have filled the car this week as I have a 160 mile journey to complete tomorrow and then also football after that. There is also a some school pickups that I don't normally do but they are late finishes this week. Will claim some back on expenses though.

Food - £106, food shop completed today, was a bit rushed and busy but got what was needed. I really need to put the effort into doing this online. We usually get pretty much the same things and we can rotate the meal plans we use. We don't really do it at weekends, as our weekends are just so busy. So i think we need to sort online shopping.

Misc - Nothing here yet, although I am sure something will pop up through the week.

Budget is holding up pretty well so far, 10 days until payday. 
I was hoping to do a few hours tonight extra work and get some of these deadlines out of the way, but really feeling under the weather so that isn't likely, unless of course I can't sleep (very likely). Although with the early drive tomorrow I think would be wise to not bother.

Hope everyone has a great week.

alt80

Good to read you’re doing well mate and survived flat pack hell. Get the kid stuff sold / donated if she doesn’t want it / no longer fits.