Road To Financial Recovery

alt80

Ha yeah I'm not that bad though I don't like driving either these days so I'd be !!!!!! if I didn't just push on regardless lol. 

I'm not sure moving on is failing or giving up mate; if it's not right for you and you've given it a good go, it's time to move on.

You'll have a great time on holiday regardless of the amount of photos or videos you capture but it's nice to look back on good times.

FootyFanDan

Evening All, what a glorious weekend that was. I hope everyone managed to have a good one and enjoyed the nice weather. I enjoyed a lovely weekend, we had a family night out on Saturday at cinema using some vouchers so that was a nice little win. There was some spend involved for drinks and snacks but nothing too drastic.

I am starting to feel a little but more in the groove with the new job and I am now starting to pick up projects that I will be involved from the start and my own clients to manage. There is still the odd message from my old place asking stuff but I am hoping to slowly phase that out. I am really starting to get myself into a place where I am now slowly feeling the benefits of a proper sleep and eating better (still gotta get the healthy eating bit sorted ha). I have started running again eventually, It is slow progress but finding time for this is something I am enjoying. 

The next week is going to be a bit spendy - we have free tickets for a gig at AO arena on the Saturday, but there's always the food / travel costs. I have also got football at Wembley next weekend (although this is covered by personal spends) I also will be driving as train prices are insane! 

Finance wise there isn't too much drama, the mid month always feels boring with it but I guess that's what we aim for.  I have spent this month adjusting my Direct Debit dates to align with my new salary payment date. I also had an email from gas stating I needed to increase Direct Debit, which I expected to be honest and should have done so earlier. The payment has always been low as they had based it on readings from old tenant who wasn't really in the property much, now we've been in a while it has adjusted out. It still isn't drastic as the house seems to hold heat quite well, and with the warmer months coming it should work out fine.

I have got most things for the holiday now sorted, just need to pack which will be a task for early next week. The little one is super excited and now is my daily countdown for how long before we are in Spain 😂

Hope everyone has a good week ahead.

Aimingforthegoodlife

Congrats on the new job and impending holiday! Sounds like a great move with the job, I am a bit of a job explorer- always within nursing but changed roles a few times! This sounds like a fab opportunity and I hope you will settle quickly!

Holidays are always wonderful, I love a good holiday! 

alt80

All sounds good mate have a good time

FootyFanDan

Aimingforthegoodlife said:

Congrats on the new job and impending holiday! Sounds like a great move with the job, I am a bit of a job explorer- always within nursing but changed roles a few times! This sounds like a fab opportunity and I hope you will settle quickly!

Holidays are always wonderful, I love a good holiday! 

Thank you . I think a few people I know do same in terms of jobs. It took a lot for me to take the jump, but can certainly see how bad it had got now from the outside and although I left on good terms in the event I regretted it I don't think that is a concern I have now. I realise I needed to make changes as tough as it was to walk away from a comfortable job (if somewhat chaotic)

I haven't been abroad for so long and I can't wait, one of the main reasons for exploring new job was to get more family time (kids grow so quickly! ha) and hoping to do more travel / stuff together. 

Lonelygambler

Enjoy the football at the weekend. 

FootyFanDan

@Lonelygambler the day out was good - the result and subsequent drive home not so much lol. Glad to see you are doing so well with things.

Hope everyone is doing good. Its time to start getting back into habit of posting now things are a little less hectic!. Its perfectly normal to miss the sun and heat when your back in rainy England after holiday right?...ha. We all had a fab time soaking up the sun and having some much needed family time together, admittedly I over indulged in both food and alcohol😂, although did manage to come in well under budget. I loved how Monzo allocated all the spends and then gave a summary of Spain spends when we got back to UK

I can't believe it is June already, time is flying by. Since we have now had the holiday, focus will shift elsewhere mainly getting this debt shifted as quickly as possible. The debt isn't anywhere close to/or causing as much financial strain as it was previously, but in my head I want it gone so that it frees this money up to put to better use. Also freeing up those funds means we aren't heavily reliant on a high salary to keep head above water so gives a little more freedom.

We have planned to sit down as a couple at the weekend to review where we are at and what we want our plans to be over the next 6 months. I don't want to focus to far in front, but I want to ensure we are aligned with what we aim for. My missus will be all xmas focused haha, we do have a few school trips coming up ( seem to be getting more and more lately). I think the main things we will be looking at will be decoration of house or at least starting to get more movement on this. We moved in a while ago but due to holiday alot of our money went there. We need to get some new bedroom furniture for both ours and the little ones room as currently not got much storage. Also need to get a cooker and new washing machine in the near future too.

All bills have been paid including the Credit Cards & the other debts. The plan is to pay minimal amount I need to on other debts and get the CC paid off as soon as I can. I really need to get my head into shape with them though as I seem to clear some and then end up putting petrol on cards or a food spend so some better planning is needed.  I did on the plus side manage to put some money into investment only a small amount and I also have managed to clear overdraft which has been hanging over me - it was only £100 but I was literally paying it off the minute I got paid and then using it again through month. I am hopeful that now the holiday is gone that focus and budgeting might change a bit so lets see



Action Plan

--- FINANCE ----

- Don't touch overdraft!
- Review current balances and put in place a plan to clear these ASAP (Ideally by end of 2024). My drive for clearing these is so that I have a little bit of room in budget should my current (higher paying job) not work out. I feel i would then have freedom to choose a different role even if I drop a little wage.
- Discuss our plans / goals for remaining 2024 and then adjust where required in current YNAB

--- OTHER ----

- Declutter the house - this has to be a priority, our house isn't the biggest so trying to maximise space is key. We are currently living round boxes. No excuses just pure laziness!
- Decorate living room and the two bedrooms
- Donate any old toys - we have been meaning to do this for so long.

There is probably many more but these are the main areas so I want to keep them here so I can keep as a reminder and to keep focus.

FootyFanDan

Monday again already!.

This last week was a pretty low spends week. I am missing the sun, it's amazing just how much better things seem and I feel when the sun is around. A bit was spent yesterday but was all budgeted, we went to have food and cinema for father's day which was lovely. Overall budget is in a good place, my new job is a little nearer to home so petrol spends have dropped back to a good level, also there is a new office at some point down the line which is even closer so hopefully that will help. The food spends have increased a little but I put this down to the fact I am actually eating regularly now.

I reviewed the credit card statement for 2024 at the weekend, I had always convinced my self it was necessary spending, oh boy was I in for a shock. It was a real eye opener to be honest and gave me a bit of a reality check. It is really mental how so few minor spends over a period of time can soon mount up plus interest. My plan is to get this paid off ASAP, I am undecided whether to aggressively over pay every bit I can into it or just set my self a bit of a more realistic (but more likely to succeed) pay off date and work towards that

Also managed to get rid of a lot of cardboard and clear out the storage cupboard last week, although doesn't even seem to have scratched the surface .  I have set a few targets with YNAB to work towards getting some wardrobes and bedroom storage. The plan next weekend is to move some of the stuff into the loft space to clear some space, but not sure what it is like up there so that should be interesting!


I have created new pots within Monzo to save for the below

Emergency fund
Car Repairs
Xmas
House Stuff

Hoping to top these up regularly and start getting a bit of a safety net rather than needing to rely on credit cards

Hope everyone has a great week ahead.

FootyFanDan

Another Monday update - finally getting into a decent habit of weekly posts What a glorious day it was today I am certain my mood is directly affected by sunshine  

Hope everyone had a fab weekend, it was lovely to get some decent weather after all the rain!. A good weekend was had here, I managed to finally get the grass cut again (no doubt in 3 days it will look like I haven't touched it! 😆). It is a nice space for us when the weather is decent enough. We managed to sit out until a decent time just relaxing and the little one enjoying running of some energy.

Weekly shopping came in under budget, it was done as click and collect but half of it was missing so had to get those bits today. I think this is frustration with online shopping is I end up having to go anyways. I am not sure if it is just our local A$da or whether its the same everywhere. The countdown to pay day is on but still got £60 left over with no more spends now until payday on Thursday - what ever doesn't get spent will be paid towards CC. I have tonight made an overpayment on the Monzo flex, I am trying to get this cleared as this has the most positive impact on lowering monthly payments, although I understand the CC is the one that is creating more interest. I figured if I can get the monzo down to a lower payment monthly then that will help, whilst still making overpayments on CC is still helping.

Also managed to make a start on decluttering the house, we have a storage cupboard that was just full of junk and bags from when we moved in, these have now been emptied and cleaned out - this leaves space now to store lawn-mower which was creating a huge trip hazard in kitchen. It is slow progress but slowly getting there and can see potential with place.

Today was the first day I came out of work thinking "ah a bit of progress" and feeling like I made a difference, I have been feeling a little out of sorts with certain things and how some of the 'training' as been handled. I do feel like I am picking things up now but this is more through me been pro-active than trained and to be fair they have trusted me and let me crack on. I am trying not to get down with it, and to be fair there as been a lot of change within the place and more changes coming that I think will improve things. Overall though I do feel in a much better headspace and not as stressed so I will take that as a win!. I do still have connection to my old job as we maintain their building, so have contact with a few old work colleagues. I do need to get out of my own head though as I keep thinking whether I threw away 7 years worth of hard work - grrr my own worst critic!

Anyways, rant over. I have started to try document every week in my notes app how I am feeling (weird i know) but I am finding it is helping me look back on things and see how I am doing. I am finding running helping so much, although my sleep pattern is a bit skewed - me being to lazy to bloody get up early enough. I hope everyone has a great week ahead

Lonelygambler

Your updates are great. 

Keep going every single week.