Road To Financial Recovery

FootyFanDan

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81859432#Comment_81859432

Happy to report it did, not as much as the calculator suggested, but we can’t have it all I guess 🤣

FootyFanDan

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81859485#Comment_81859485

Hey, it’s good to be back actively posting and whilst some of it is just waffle it’s helping keep me focused and that’s the aim right. If it gives one person the motivation to take action as well that’s a bonus

How are you doing? How are you finding the finances now it’s combined into one figure - as that eased up some worries.

MillQueen

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81857464#Comment_81857464

I was just reading back through your diary and I saw this. I agree that it might be a long-lasting thing once you get into the habit. But maybe there's nothing wrong with becoming a life-long cheap skate 😂. I am hoping I get to a point where I am genuinely not bothered about the things I used to spend money on. I will probably live a life with greater freedom. Hopefully more habit and less anxiety about it though. The money saving life.

BlueJ94

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81860020#Comment_81860020

Ah good!

Well my first payment goes out this month and Ive closed all my CCs so I have no back up besides an emergency fun that has £90 in it so far.. but I've not needed credit so far so ill take that as bonus! I will do a SOA each month I think so I can budget my money better!

FootyFanDan

@MillQueen I think for me I have gone past the stage of nice new shiny things being the driving force, I used to love buying stuff and most times just for sake of it. However it is now more about providing nice experiences for the family. I have resisted several big purchases lately that whilst would be nice I just can't justify that expense right now whilst saving for the holiday we have coming up. I am at a point now where I do see the value in building up savings over the year, where before that just would never happen.

@BlueJ94 Getting rid of the cards is a great step, I found that I would pay off the cards, but then keep them open so when I needed something and my personal spends were gone I would just borrow it from next months personal spends and end up using the CC. It was just an endless cycle, I still have the CC open but they are used sparingly. I will be moving to close all but one down over the course of next few months. It is a scary thing as currently have that thing of well if I have an emergency I can't fund then it's there but it also gives maybe false security and is stopping me fully committing to that emergency fund

Ah, I won't pretend today went the best. I ended up at home early from work ill or exhausted or burnout not sure. It was maybe just the office was full of people all on meetings and that didn't do my brain good, either way I decided that home was where I needed to be at. I then had a total switch off for an hour or so went and had a coffee date with my little one and then powered back on the laptop and got more work done then I would have in the office. Do you ever have those days where you know what you need to do but never start it and that motivation just never kicks in. To be fair I did have three pretty busy meetings so maybe that did. Anyhow, I haven't really done anything budget wise today and not much to report but I did wanna check in

I am not sure I will do the office tomorrow and I think working from home might be good, although office is pretty quiet on Fridays. That is a morning choice I guess, haha.

Grateful today -

Got to pick up my little human from school which put smile on her face and I very much needed that.

I did manage to sit and revisit some work tonight and actually got rid of 4 major hiccup things.

Dakota_Rose

I hope today has been easier for you @FootyFanDan. Try not to push yourself too hard - rest is really important if you’re going to stick at things (work!) long term.

FootyFanDan

Thank you @Dakota_Rose today started off a bit meh as work had issues with wages so I woke to no wage, i mean only waited 6 weeks whats another day haha. In fairness it was rectified within an hour of it been flagged and was a business wide issue. We then had breakfast bought for the office, so was a nice morning. I am just trying to be kind to myself with things but I am also very much my own worst critic. The rest yesterday did me well, also cancelled all my planned weekly meetings for today and just reset stuff a bit. I need to work on some system that is going to reinforce some sort of structure. I have cleared all my downloads and sorted out all my desktop files of rubbish today. I love the tech we have but I just much prefer pen and paper - is that weird 😂

Finally payday, I have successfully managed to have a little bit spare so this has just been chucked in the car maintenance pot which is where everything will come out of this month. After this month we will be at £0.00 for savings but I am seeing this as an opportunity to start fresh and begin a new approach to it. I am going to work on some new pots. I have now got a very good idea of my budget moving forward, I have downloaded my last 3 months statements from personal acc and joint acc but have yet to terrify myself by going through them.

This evening my partner has had an early night as feeling under weather and the little one is ready for bed, so I am going to have a brew and sort out all the funds to where they need to go. I want to do zero based but worry that it leaves us short so I am building in a small buffer

Hope everyone had a great day

FootyFanDan

Today I reduced my allowed overdraft on my monzo account, it was £300 but i found it too easy to just use and then justify that it can be replaced when I get paid. I do still like to have a buffer just in case of an unexpected bill leave, but it is now £100 which is even that it can cover anything, like today was a prime example my breakdown cvr comes out today and normally my pay would cover it except this morning it didn't. I have been considering dropping it for a while but never did. I will take that as my win today.

LzzyIsGod

"Do you ever have those days where you know what you need to do but never start it and that motivation just never kicks in."

Task Paralysis!! Sometimes I write a list and then do a "task snowball" type approach, small ones first to get some ticks as motivation.

Dakota_Rose

That all sounds really positive FFD. Reducing the overdrafts in stages was the best thing we did in hindsight. We had, in all honesty, become dependent on ours and used it as our money. It’s been a long time since we’ve used one now, but like you I have a small one on each current account just in case a stray payment comes out.

We also have a zero-based budget now. It wouldn’t work for us without our trusty spreadsheet showing every direct debit payment and keeping on top of it each day/week. It’s quite a high-maintenance approach but has massively helped us take control of our money. Saying that, no matter how much you earn, you always feel broke with every £ accounted for 🙈.

Also love pen & paper even though we have very little need for them at work now!