Road To Financial Recovery

daisy_1571

absolutely ffdan, set and forget is the key, tinker every so often by all means and adjust as life changes and prices change but in the main once you have gone through, decided on figures and set it up then hopefully your subconscious will be happy its 'sorted' and will be at peace

Dxx

FootyFanDan

Morning, a little earlier wake up call this morning than I was expecting as I got a call from work, but all sorted 😴. I have now had breakfast and ready to face the day. We have the party this afternoon, but in the meantime I really need to do a run to the tip, but the weather is putting me off ha. Sunday's are generally when I do a weekly review , so I will sit with a brew at some point today and begin to process some of the stuff I need to. I have a day out of the office tomorrow which isn't ideal with my current work loads (admin mainly) so I might do a few hours later to keep on top of it.  At work we have been in the dark ages for ages with much stuff still done with pen and paper 😂, but due to me doing a lot of stuff digitally it's easy enough for me to work on my projects and do trackers - my work colleagues think I am a bit of a spreadsheet geek ha. However the thought of having 100 folders on my desk with loads of paper in them ...gives me anxiety even thinking about it.

Finance wise I am going to sit and go through my expected annual stuff and put some figures together and start working on putting some consistent money targets down. Car costs will pretty much be the first focus with the MOT and Service / tyres upcoming. I currently have £500 so I think if I can put another lump sum away when I get paid next week this should about cover it. Once that is out of the way I can look at spreading the savings equally across the board. Car tax is currently paid monthly so maybe I leave it that way for this time around and then start building towards paying it off in full next year, it looks like it is only a little bit extra for paying by direct debit monthly. This would mean car insurance is the next goal to save for, last year I paid in full for the first time ever and really should have been putting away stuff for it already but I think this is where I need to have proper pots/tracking of it. Luckily long gone are my days of it being thousands, so Feb & March wages and savings might cover this. 

I am also going to go through all my personal spending / subscriptions and get an handle on these. I need to put together a little budget on my personal spends - any gym, phone contracts and personal subscriptions come from these. We have a general clothing category that would cover our essentials and work wear and this is covered in joint expenses but any 'treat clothes' (if you can consider it a treat) are covered by our fun money. 

Have a good day

daisy_1571

we work the same for our 'pocket money'

FootyFanDan

Tip run completed, feel better that it is done but god the weather is miserable today. There will be some planned spends for eating out later. 

I think you are right @daisy_1571 at the moment I am just tinkering a lot and always thinking is that enough. In truth saving any amount would put me in a much better position than I normally would be. I don't remember ever been in a position where I have been comfortable that I can fund the MOT/Service/tyres and any minor repairs that might come up without reaching for credit. If I can take that as a sign that saving up in bits is working and implement that to other areas it is all good.

Dakota_Rose

Focusing on one pot first sounds really sensible, and it will bring a sense of security having the car pot ready to go. It’s the building them back up again once they’ve been used that drives me slightly mad 😂 

FootyFanDan

haha @Dakota_Rose I feel that 😂. I am trying to flip my thinking on it, but yes seeing that money you have spent all year protecting slowly fly away to a new home is never nice lol. I am deffo in the mindset that saving over time as a 'monthly expense' is better than the alternative though. 

daisy_1571

Yup, we don't count these as 'saving' as then its bad to reduce savings.   Thinking of it as money allocated or working money seems better when it inevitably fluctuates.  All just games to keep ourselves feeling better but it works 😆 

You're doing great ffdan.  This is the next step towards not being fazed when a bill or expense comes up at its correct time.  Irs a wonderful feeling indeed 

Dxx

Dakota_Rose

You are both absolutely right and far more positive than me 😂 

FootyFanDan

Dakota_Rose said:

You are both absolutely right and far more positive than me 😂 

me saying it and me actually following through on it are two totally different stories 🤣

FootyFanDan

Finally time to wind down for the day. It has ended up been a pretty busy day, I had intended to try do so work admin but by time we did the whole party thing and then had food ourselves it was too late. And in all honesty I just don't really wanna start now and be up until silly time. I actually feel bad coz I should have done some but now if I am being honest I just want to relax. I will get up a bit earlier tomorrow and work on my list of stuff I need to do. I am travelling out and about tomorrow so might end up in a coffee shop somewhere just doing the few bits I can.

I did manage to sit and figure some numbers for the sinking funds that I feel content with putting away, I am going to do a budget around our standard expected income, and then when we have months that we get extra then we can decide what we put that to. 

The girls had great fun at the party, they all had a McDonalds and then went to the party. Myself and one of the Dads took ourselves to have a drink and watch the footy whilst the mums all caught up. We are in the last week of our budget and there isn't much else to pay out, the only thing now will be petrol for this week. There should be no need to do any top up shops hopefully.

Hope everyone had a great weekend