Road To Financial Recovery

FootyFanDan

Well that weekend didn't exactly pan out as expected. We had a lovely family meal out and then unfortunately partner ended up having a knee dislocation and we spent the rest of Saturday afternoon in A & E. Thankfully she is recovering but this has meant a bit of adjustment to my work schedule to be able to do school pick ups and look after partner which she is loving haha. 

Thankfully work have been really good, so I am work from home for two weeks and then I have a week off, we will then reassess from there. Whilst I have had certain frustrations with work, its at time like this where the flexibility of them really shows through.

Finance wise not really much to report, although the lack of having to travel to and from work will be kind to my petrol budget. Monday was productive, today not so much but slow progress is still progress. I am so enjoying no commute. 

The weekend was a little spendy as I got some overdue new clothes and treated little one, we had this treat and food budgeted already so not too bad.

Decluttering continues, but the tip closes earlier now, I took more clothes this morning to local charity and I have got a few bits ready for tip so might try squeeze that in tomorrow. Hope everyone is doing okay

FootyFanDan

A successful, if not a bit busy on all fronts week. I have actually really enjoyed the freedom to work from home, the lack of a commute has been great and I have probably been far more productive for it. I tend to work that little bit longer when I am working from home, but granted I tend to have a few more breaks. Those breaks were well used this week and happy that after putting it off for so long all the clothes that we were donating have now been sorted. It has taken so time to get to that point but we can now get on to sorting out a the old toys. I am sure we could have sold a lot of the clothes on v1nted but at this. moment neither of us have the energy (or time to do that).

Finance wise we have spent far too much on food the last few weeks and this is an area that needs looking at, I do think some of this is just purely down to stuff rising in price, but also know that the odd shops that we are going for 'a few things' ends up been £40 quid more. 

We haven't really done much this weekend due to partner still relaxing, although now moving a little bit more. We had a movie night last night which end up been a late night and relaxed today. Now on the wind down and will watch F1 and ready to start a new week. There is a few hours I am going to have to be in the office to be in face to face meetings that I can't really avoid, also expect it to be busy as I am on leave the following week.

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

FootyFanDan

Ah payday, and overtime and expenses have come through so a little more than usual.
It seems a while since I have done any updates (although still reading along with others). The days have just ran away with themselves, with not very much to update financially. I have been on annual leave this week and unlike previous leave I have totally tuned out from work - whether that was a wise choice or not will be Mondays' problem 😂. I have really needed that down time, my last break was so long ago so a recharge of the batteries was needed. Last few months have been very full on at work, I have 6 weeks to left before my next leave I have managed to book over xmas off and with the way the bank holidays are its landed pretty well.

I need to have a proper review of the spending over the last month and probably a little bit further, I really need to get serious about money again to be honest. Food spends have just been silly, entertainment spends increased, eating out the same. I have cancelled the tv subscription, the deal being offered just wasn't worth it so that will save some funds. Our gas surprisingly is also going down by £20 per month, for an old house this seems to retain heat very well (reminder to myself I need to find a new tariff this month).

Savings are increasing monthly and we are now been very consistent with those and not dipping into it unless it is for the desired purpose, the car maintenance is the main focus right now as service/MOT due in Feb and before that I deffo need tyres, and bulbs which are on my to buy list this weekend. We did use some of the theatre fund this month though to book two shows for next year, we were gutted we missed out on Six earlier this year so once that came up in emails we decided to book it. I also put a little bit away separately into investment account, nothing drastic or anything but a little aside.

I have seen a lot of the tip during my leave, and we have made some great progress in getting the daughter's room decluttered. It is insane the amount of random stuff and little figures she has somehow managed to amass, and her bedroom could easily pass as a branch of build a bear 😂 but we are getting there, she sat patiently and went through her toys and books to donate. I also did a declutter of our food cupboard and freezer as we seemed to keep duplicating and buying what we already had. There is still so much to do but there is progress been made, all clothes are sorted, and managed to also put tv on wall and it hasn't fallen down yet so that is a success.

YNAB is all updated with figures, I just need to do some manual moving of money to various pots and then wait for the direct debits to come out. 

November to do - will keep adding to it to remind me as this is probably only place I check daily.

- change my mobile plan to sim only (last payment is due 1st November and contract ends 28th November - cannot wait to see back of this!) I am unsure if there will be another month to pay after this one. I have no plans to update my phone, although it is bit scratched it works perfectly fine.

- Review new gas tariff options and sort that out - tariff expires November 22nd

- Setup auto payments in Monzo to various savings pots and investments (doing it manually doesn't make sense).

- Review current subscription from personal funds, there is stuff I need to check all my bank statements and see whether they are still needed - I cloud, gaming subscriptions.

- Check last 3 months statements and see where money is leaking out - I suspect eating out too often, treating ourselves to many take out coffees.

I am unsure how work stuff will work out as partner is still very much in recovery on knee situation so school pickups are a concern and the after school club prices are insane, so need to see how that works out.

Hope everyone is doing well.

FootyFanDan

As expected October statements shows an overspend in Food, Petrol & Eating Out. It was a bit...interesting actually seeing the figures to be honest, shows just how easy it is to lose track of these spends. 

Food over by £65. The number of tiny amounts ( screams top up shops) is staggering. This is an area we have to improve.

Petrol over by £50 but to be fair first few weeks of October did involve a lot of work travel so that has balanced out with expenses

Eating Out - we hardly set a budget for this but takeaways, eating out, coffees and breakfasts account for an overspend here even if we were being generous for one restaurant family meal out we would still be overspending here for sure.

I don't even know if I dare do a three months check, but early evidence certainly shows we are leaking money where we shouldn't be, not totally catastrophic given we are in a good place financially but a trend I would rather get a grip on.

FootyFanDan

Merry Monday, today was a bit of a mixed day. It was first day back in office following a weeks annual leave, oh that email inbox was a delight 🤣, I have managed to get a list of my urgent stuff and slowly making my way through it, one of my jobs that was due completion has now been pushed back six months so that's not ideal and probably partly an error on my part so that certainly was an harsh lesson.

I didn't manage to sleep great last night but did still manage to get up early and get to the gym, so thats a positive.

I also managed to do some xmas shopping online over the weekend and saved some money plus got a bit of Cashback. I had seen the gifts in the store whilst mooching round town and put them on my list to buy at a later date, a quick look online and all items were available at nearly half the price so snapped them up. 

Weekly shop done and a bit mote than expected but did top up extra gluten free stuff as last week Mr T had none so figured id make most of them having lots this would have inly been spent further in month anyways. Petrol also filled up and no additional site visits this few weeks so should be enough to last til mid month 

Another money win is in progress, my mobile contract is finally up so can now switch to sim only which is going to save me loads, just need to decide and shop around. Unfortunately we are going to have allocate some additional funds to cover some extra after school hours so need to fund those and get them booked, hopefully a short term thing but until partner is fully ready to be out and about its a outgoing we can’t avoid really. 

CC has been overpaid for last few months and all been well December will be last payment on it. Savings are at £750 so still progress needing to be made on this front

Hope everyone had good weekends. 

FootyFanDan

Well very much back into the hustle bustle of been back at work, that week off seems a lifetime ago 😆. I’m still doing a mix of working at home and finishing early, work are being very flexible which is one less worry. 

I’ve learnt this week me and technology aren’t friends, I’ve somehow deleted lots of documents from my laptop that were t backed up, luckily not anything critical mainly budget spreadsheets and random stuff, but a very useful reminder to be more focused on what I’m doing. 

Nothing major financial to report but we’ve picked up an extra weekly expense for the little one to go to a local youth club on one night per week and it’s 50p so no complaints. In other financial news I’ve spent £45 from my car maintenance fund for new bulbs, car oil and screen wash. We’ve got an healthy amount still in there ready for February and March expenses for the car. 

Gas renewal as come through so need to complete that. Also my phone contract is now ready for done. EE Are offering a new deal but need to search around, I’ve seen a lot of reasonable priced contracts from smaller providers who back of the main networks but really unsure if they are reliable 

As expected my food bill was considerably lower this week and petrol already covered. In less favourable news fridge freezer is no longer working as it should and food is spoiling pretty quicker. We do need an upgrade anyways as this was a cheap one to put us on but was hoping wouldn’t be needed before new year.

Rhyddid2026

50p ? I can't remember the last time you could have an evening of fun for 50p, bargain!

FootyFanDan

@Rhyddid2026  - An absolute bargain haha, she really enjoys it too and breaks up the week so a win all round really.


The technology glitch has kind of forced me into a bit of a reset and a chance to go over budget and cut out some stuff

YNAB has been cancelled, I really am not using it and despite keep saying I will I just aren't so that has gone.
Gas tariff renewed and they have used credit towards some of the annual cost which as knocked direct debit right down to £48 per month (this is absolutely going to shoot back up at some point I suspect)

At the weekend I will sit down and go through finances and start putting together a new copy of budget, most things are pretty automatic anyways but its still a chance to look with fresh eyes