Road To Financial Recovery

FootyFanDan

Another Monday chalked off. Today hasn't been too bad, still very busy but I made a conscious decision this morning on my way to work that I was going to clean my work desk and declutter the desk and the drawers. Did that bring me further in my projects, or could I have spent that hour or so doing emails..absolutely but I felt loads better knowing it was cleaned and my desk drawers are emptied of any rubbish I don't need. I am trying to do things a bit differently, I have always combined all my same tasks together irrespective of what project they are linked to but I have to complete timesheets with each project and its been a nightmare to track. So now I look at my next actions list and work on the project and just work through each action until I can't do anymore. I then log that time and move on to the next one and doing the same. Whilst I am having to switch between doing a quote or raising an order or do an email its been so much easier to track and making sure I have that one less stress to try calculate the hours. I also ended up cancelling going to a site meeting, it was one I was tagged into but then on review was a 30 minute meeting which I would have brought no value to and a 3.5 hours all round drive felt silly.

This evening I have had steak pie, chips and gravy for dinner and now chilled with a brew watching the football. I am slowly working my way through putting together my 'Normal Monthly Budget'. 

Hope every's Monday has been okay.

FootyFanDan

Today's Spending

• £20 petrol, this was used to cover me until payday, and should be plenty.

It has felt a bit of a blur as today tbh, feels like other people's poor lack of planning or their urgent stuff seems to be pushed my way irrespective of my current stuff, which then I fall behind with work. I need to really work on my boundaries, but also not been so tough on my self. The one positive today is that I finally managed to sort my workspace properly, the screens have needed adjusting for a while and I set out that is the one task I needed to do. The morning felt pretty good but then drifted this afternoon.

Chilli and rice were on the menu tonight, i didn't particularly feel hungry but still ate what I could. I am hoping maybe for an early night tonight but I am keen to flesh out this budget. I have looked into the past year or and I am trying to make budget far too flexible with no definitive targets and amounts for the misc. stuff. I need a more structured approach to this. 3 days until payday and still go funds within the budget if required.

Things I am grateful for today

• That I wasn't based on site today ☔️
• Desk is now a workable space that doesn't feel cluttered.

Tomorrow is a new challenge. Hope everyone had a nice Tuesday

Dakota_Rose

You seem really focused on the new budget at the moment - good on you. I may also have a little bit of desk envy. Mine is organised chaos; as soon as I’ve cleared one thing, another has arrived. I try to keep my tiny one at home super clear though. Tidy desk, tidy mind and all that 😊

FootyFanDan

The budget is something I need to nail down properly. The harsh reality is that we've enough to live a more comfortable life than we ever thought possible and right now I don't feel our money is working the best way for us. The plan is to have a set amount we save for future expenses and then once we have serviced that and our bills we can have some guilt free spending. I have always been hyer-focused to the point I hated spending anything, surely that isn't the way to live.

haha the work desk has been slow progress - if its any consolation my home desk is a absolute wreck right now 🤣.

FootyFanDan

just adding for my own head really but…I guess the question for the ones that have been on a longer journey than me - after so long been careful and cutting back to to pay off the debt, is there genuine fear of spending again or do you eventually find that balance

Rhyddid2026

I have not been on the journey longer (and still in masses of debt) but I do like to hear from those who might have wisdom for the future version of me. There are a few people who's YouTube videos I watch that make sense to me. They tend to suggest percentages from wages of fixed/living costs to aim for, a percentage to save/invest, and then a percentage for 'guilt free spending'. I like the simplicity of that suggestion, and it seems like a good way to find balance.

FootyFanDan

I love watching YouTube videos and have some many finance guru's in my feed. I like the idea of having the set percentages and have toyed with that idea before. I am very keen to try automate stuff, at the moment everything is just manually transferred which whilst isn't a major task there just has to be a smoother way. I think I am still in the mindset of not wanting to allocate every penny somewhere and then need it, even though for the last 6 months there hasn't ever been that situation. It is just a mindset thing for me I think I just over complicate things. So once I have a realistic overview of my finances (currently reviewing my last year expenses) I can then have a realistic chance.

Savings

£100 per month would be more than sufficient for my car needs, with the exception of car tax which for now I will leave running monthly as this has just renewed. I might pay off in one go next year, but its about £12 quid extra for paying by Direct debit so nothing major

House wise the first goal is to replace our fridge freezer, then dining table then we need a new mattress and bed. So we are currently researching. In the interim the goal will be £50 p/m just until I settle the budget.

Xmas is still to be decided, although we have decided it will be maybe a small token gift.

I will then have a general savings / Emergency fund. I don't really have a goal for this and right now I need to be a bit flexible. I would like to get to £1000 in here but tbh other than car or house appliance I am not really sure what would constitute an emergency. I suppose maybe splitting this across an income loss category and slowly building up a 3 months expenses.

FootyFanDan

Midway point of the week! :D. Nothing really much to report today, tbh the less said the better. I never got the early night needed and today was a total write off. How do you get rid of 350 unread emails whilst doing 3 people's job….asking for..erm me! 😂. My phone reminder of how long it is until I am on holiday is proving a very good motivator right now. Tomorrow is early pay day (thank you Monzo). I actually don't really feel January as been as previous January's to be honest so that must be a good sign. Be interesting to see if my pay increase is on this month.

Dakota_Rose

Here’s hoping for that pay rise to go in for you 🤞

BlueJ94

Morning FFD!

Lovely to see you're updating so much more frequently! You're giving me the motivation to actually get my butt back into gear and start taking more accountability.