Road To Financial Recovery

FootyFanDan

Wow it has been a while, I am trying my best to keep my digital consumption down, although I think updating here needs to stay. I am becoming more and more aware of how much I am on devices whether that be for work or personally, and I am keen to try cut this back. Everything seems to be connected to a device - emails constant, phones, notifications, smart watches, even task managers. wow that came across as very anti tech 😂 but it is causing a lot of distractions lately, I am currently trying to keep writing my to-do list down, something in my brain feels good when I am crossing through the task rather than clicking a button on a task manager.

I cannot believe we are approaching the last month of the year. It is often an hard time for many as attempts are made to try and keep up with the many festivities and also the pressure of buying ppl that gift and wondering if it is enough. Luckily, we have very few close family members to buy for and they are pretty thankful for the little things. The me of old would go all out and want to be the one to get them great gifts but as I get a bit wiser (older 😂) that just isn't what is important. I must admit I haven't had the best month mentally but we battle on. Hope everyone is keeping well

Suppose we had better do some finance stuff

Savings are now creeping slowly towards that £1k mark, there is some spends to come out still in December but I would never have thought that savings would be possible, although there is the seemingly inevitable purchase of new Fridge Freezer, but we are sticking with it for now.

I finished November budget with £45 left so this went straight onto the CC payment and now this is at £250. A lot of the spare we get through the month is being split with little extras on the card and also paying towards holiday. This month has seen a huge difference in spare funds, as we are currently paying for 5 days after school clubs to work around my shifts and when I can pick up the little one

I am not really missing YNAB, I have managed to resist the temptation to purchase a new phone and now have a decent sim only deal that includes one of my sports packages too. I need to look at the other $ky sports as this is deffo a miss, but not one worthy of paying rest of the package for, maybe a now tv pack might suffice.

The budget has been fleshed out a little bit and we have now added in the extra cost for the remaining three weeks of year for breakfast clubs, trips. I have also paused my gym membership for three months as it currently isn't getting used due to the current time restraints but will likely pick up again in new year.

Work-Wise pretty much feeling much of the sameness tbh, it getting increasingly difficult to keep up with and I am really ready for my xmas break. Normally I don't have one but I have booked two weeks leave and I fully intend to switch off completely. There has been a lot of change in the last few weeks, so just trying to keep head down and get on with it but the three week countdown to leave is well and truly on.

Due to partner knee injury it's not feeling as festive as it normally would be, as she really is the driving force behind the xmas activity we do and she's feeling very much not festive right now. We ae going to hopefully go to a local late evening xmas thing next week which might help .

I need to write down all my current projects and to-do lists and work through those so that can be tomorrow's task. 

This weekend as been pretty chill and we have finally got up our tree, also done a tip run and food shopping. Hope everyone had a good weekend, and a good week ahead. 

Sarahwithlove

Think even with a now tv its similar price monthly you just aren't locked into a contract. How much do you need to start the new year with 1k in the savings? I know December is traditionally a busy and expensive month but didn't know if you'd be able to do it 

FootyFanDan

Sarahwithlove said:

Think even with a now tv its similar price monthly you just aren't locked into a contract. How much do you need to start the new year with 1k in the savings? I know December is traditionally a busy and expensive month but didn't know if you'd be able to do it 

It currently sits at £890 so by new year im hopeful of having 1k, i am slowly increasing the amount this gets funded by each month. I have one pay left to fund savings but i get paid early in December so I really need to be savvy with it if can.

I dont so much mind the sports price, as i feel i do get total benefit of it, but i rarely watch anything else so we will see. 

FootyFanDan

Happy 1st December 🎄 We had one happy little girl this morning when she saw her naughty friend from the north pole was back haha, I know it can be a little silly thing but god i wish thst kind of magic stayed with them forever

I find it crazy just how fast the year has gone. Today most of my direct debits have gone through, council tax and internet are a bit further into the month. This week is a pretty busy week, i have planned a bit of late night shopping tomorrow after work and then football Wednesday night. We are hoping to then go out as a family Friday and a planned party on Sunday, plus family are visiting from Scotland so a lot of socialising..yay🤣 but it does save us driving up this, which we do most years. 

FootyFanDan

Hope everyone is well and all ready for the xmas activity ramping up. This last few weeks have literally just disappeared, tomorrow I finally get to put on my out office and log out until the new year and I am so looking forward to the break and trying to switch off and re-energise. This last few weeks at work have been a mixed bag really, there are an awful lots of changes happening and annual leave for others has meant my workload as been a bit if a juggling act but in a decent place. Unfortunately we lost a colleague last week and its kinda hit home just how fragile life can be and refocused me a little on trying to prioritise some family time too. 

My salary as hit my account and that has been tucked away for now, although I will likely make payments on the things that aren't on a direct debit or a specific time of month to pay (Disney / Universal tickets I am staring right at ya!) It is really strange as previous years we would be scrambling round to use that wage to fund xmas stuff and then really struggling on what always feels like January 55th for the next salary 😂 but this year we are all prepared.

We have had a pretty hectic month family wise - and expecting same this week as my birthday is at weekend, not doing anything special as we always go out for a family meal xmas eve, plus I went to see Amy McDonald and had a meal as a birthday present plus home alone in concert, which was suprisingly way better than I thought haha.

Finance wise, I am going to set up separate pots for the stuff we are saving for rather than a lump sum. Early next year I know we have some purchases to make for the house and hoping to go into sales for this stuff. Grocery shop for the next week has been ordered and ready to collect on Saturday. 

I need to sit and review what has been achieved this year, there as deffo been some ups and downs but there have also been some real great stuff done too. I really want to focus on the next few weeks just enjoying some downtime and then setting some goals for next year. 

Rhyddid2026

It definitely feels like a good time for a review. 
Happy birthday for the weekend!

FootyFanDan

Thank you @Rhyddid2026

I am pretty much done for the working year, I do need to do a few hours from home tonight to make up for some lost time but will be more relaxing at home for sure.

Weekend plans are football tomorrow and then tip runs on Sunday, I am determined to start sorting our house out. I was looking online at houses and came across one that is similar setup to ours and it. looked stunning. Our kitchen is really small and we knew that was a sacrifice needed to move into council housing but we deffo need to find a way to make more space in there.

FootyFanDan

I put my early wage into another account for now, I have paid off any bills that I can manually pay early to ensure these are covered. All our other monthly income will cover the weekly spends until we 'get paid' my wage. All our Christmas spending is done, we have a grocery shop to pick up tomorrow morning. This is later than usual but didn't want to risk the food spoiling in the dodgy fridge. The next few days will be spent doing our traditional stuff, we will go for a nice cake and coffee in our local coffee shop tomorrow, where we will collect little one's xmas eve box. We will then go for a meal out on xmas eve and cinema which is something we have done last few years and we will then be relaxing over xmas.