Road To Financial Recovery

FootyFanDan

As expected, today was a very long day. I’ve spent majority of it driving in awful weather conditions extending my journey by about 2 hours. I’m hoping I can switch off at the weekend, as I’m expecting a rough/busy few weeks so need a bit of reset before Monday. Ever feel like what u do no matter what isn’t enough.., it seems no matter how much planning I do I’m always running out of time or just not managing that time better, something to learn from I guess. There was petrol spends but can claim back so I will upload expenses tomorrow, also food and coffee came out of personal spends

On a more positive note, I’ve added £36.14 to the emergency fund, not ground breaking but progress £100/£1000

LzzyIsGod

Ah but it's 36 quid more than the EF had on Thursday!

Dakota_Rose

Time to rest and reset now. Be kind to yourself this weekend. Great job on getting the EF to the first £100 😊

FootyFanDan

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81893437#Comment_81893437

This is very true, I’m trying to find it with little bits where I can and then a lump sum at end of month.

FootyFanDan

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81893451#Comment_81893451

😊 Definitely need to hit the reset button. I need to become a bit more resilient with work to be honest and set my boundaries but also manage my own expectations and become less reliant on others…but this is Mondays problem.

This evening we are at a free basketball game, I’m thinking we might go for food as a family first. Then tomorrow I will take some time to enjoy been a dad! And have some fun. We need to deffo look at options for the fridge freezer as it’s quickly getting worse.

Payday is fast approaching, I need to have a look at what March brings, my car insurance renews in March but I don’t wanna wait til March payday so that will come from Feb pay. I can then start the new pot to give me 12 months to save

honeybee1234

When I've been adding to my EF, I think of the smaller amounts as components of the whole. Eg, "36.14 would be part of the labour for an emergency car repair that I now don't have to worry about" type thing. Plus it's 36.14 that hasn't been frittered away on nothing in particular so reframe it!

FootyFanDan

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81893767#Comment_81893767

I think for me it is about trying to reframe things, such as seeing the pots as savings isn't the right way. I need to stop the guilt when they are used for their intention.

MillQueen

Yes, no reason at all to feel guilty about money being used for its intended purpose. Every £1 has a job to do…

daisy_1571

Yep, pots aren't savings, they are working money. Call them something that makes sense to you, there's no way you should feel guilty for planning spending in advance and having the money ready. Thats a waste of your energy and mental capacity 😀

Even 'savings' aren't fully unallocated as they too should and will be used eventually for their purpose, retirement, next house purchase etc. Long term savings without a purpose are well outside my understanding 😆 I've never been in that financial position so can't offer any advice there 😆

Dxx

Dakota_Rose

I’ve also had to change my thinking around savings pots. I renamed them ‘sinking funds’ on my spreadsheet earlier this month and instantly felt less stressed about them fluctuating up and down.

It also made me realise that I didn’t really have any savings pots which would continue to grow over time. Filling my EF to £1000 is the first step in changing this.

It’s going to be a challenge with so many competing priorities though. I want everything yesterday so a loan and mortgage to overpay with home improvements to make is hard for my brain to compute. Just need to keep stepping in the right direction!