Goals and budgeting - my diary

Philliggi

I too am adhd, and also suspected autistic, but unmedicated as so far- although early in my treatment, the drugs dont seem to have any impact. 

I find that i flit from obsession to obsession easily - paying this debt off is my current obsession. Next month it may be fitness or diy. I get obsessed then drop it quickly. 

However one thing i will not budge on is wasting money on lavish buys. Ive always gone for the cheapest. Mainly because ive never been well off. My 1 item of debt is a car loan i got when i doubled my wage in the drivers shortage a counple of years back. A purchase ive regretted ever since

MissG80

I relate to that, I burn out. One adhd strategy I learned was to only focus in short bursts as I am prone to overdoing it... like 10, 25 mins here and there, build up to 75 mins, notice when you need a break etc. 

What do you regret about the car?

enthusiasticsaver

I am not sure that using a spreadsheet is the best way for you to manage money.  Have you considered Monzo or Starling where they have separate pots? So you put all your bill money in one pot when you get paid and allocate all the bills to that so you never need to worry that you do not have enough to cover monthly bills.  Have a separate pot for things like car expenses and a separate emergency savings account.  What is left is for you to spend and you see it going down each time you spend money so you keep track of it there.  They often have spending trackers so tell you what you have spent so far in the month on groceries or entertainment or whatever. 

Philliggi

MissG80 said:

I relate to that, I burn out. One adhd strategy I learned was to only focus in short bursts as I am prone to overdoing it... like 10, 25 mins here and there, build up to 75 mins, notice when you need a break etc. 

What do you regret about the car?

We had car trouble with the old car. Ive always bought a car thats 5-6 years old outright, but because i was on a much higher wage i commited to a bank loan of £298 over 4 years. I dont regret the car, nowt wrong with it, more so the debt and the monthly payments. Its ruled my life since and left things tight in the current economic climate. Thats my regret

enthusiasticsaver

MissG80 said:

At the moment, I'm not saving for a holiday. 

I'm also not putting any money aside for the car insurance or the car service/MOT. Which is foolish actually as that is due in September. Eep. I was meant to put aside £62.50 a month for this and car wash.

Just realise there are a couple of other things, will add and repost.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet[/b][b]

Household Information[/b]

Number of adults in household........... 1

Number of children in household......... 0

Number of cars owned.................... 1[b]

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 2849

Partners monthly income after tax....... 0

Benefits................................ 0

Other income............................ 0[b]

Total monthly income.................... 2849[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 418

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 139

Rent.................................... 220

Management charge (leasehold property).. 140

Council tax............................. 150

Electricity............................. 85

Gas..................................... 0

Oil..................................... 0

Water rates............................. 16.72

Telephone (land line)................... 0

Mobile phone............................ 9.88

TV Licence.............................. 13.25

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0

Internet Services....................... 22

Groceries etc. ......................... 125

Clothing................................ 0

Petrol/diesel........................... 30

Road tax................................ 3.06

Car Insurance........................... 30

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 32.5

Car parking............................. 0

Other travel............................ 164

Childcare/nursery....................... 0

Other child related expenses............ 0

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 11.16

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0

Buildings insurance..................... 0

Contents insurance...................... 5.34

Life assurance ......................... 0

Other insurance......................... 0

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30

Haircuts................................ 15

Entertainment........................... 60

Holiday................................. 140

Emergency fund.......................... 0

(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0

Greenpeace charity...................... 5

Spotify................................. 10.99

National Trust.......................... 7

Gym..................................... 35

Massage................................. 26

Dentist................................. 25

Makeup.................................. 10[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 1978.9[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 0

House value (Gross)..................... 200000

Shares and bonds........................ 1300

Car(s).................................. 5000

Other assets............................ 0[b]

Total Assets............................ 206300[/b]

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Mortgage...................... 92647....(418)......2.09<

Overdraft......................1050.....(20).......0<

Car Loan.......................6500.....(119)......5.9[b]

Total secured & HP debts...... 100197....-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Lloyds.........................1480......63........0

Barclays.......................6300......0.........0[b]

Total unsecured debts..........7780......63........-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 2,849

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,978.9

Available for debt repayments........... 870.1

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 63[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 807.1[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 206,300

Total HP & Secured debt................. -100,197

Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,780[b]

Net Assets.............................. 98,323[/b]

OK so firstly you have omitted the Barclays repayment which is £262 so the amount left is £545 although as you have seen by analysing your spending you have not accounted for much of those subscriptions and have underestimated groceries, entertainment and not allowed for the spending you did on your home office.  A budget needs to cover everything and ideally things for the house should be saved up for or covered in a line on your budget. £735.19 was spent according to your list of spends but beyond the groceries and entertainment very little of it is budgeted for so having a think about any of that is really necessary would be sensible. 

As I said I would tackle the overdraft first.  Once you have a working budget I would start by reducing the limit by £200 every month for the next 5 months until it is gone.  Most charge 40% interest so they are very expensive and can be withdrawn at any time. When does the 0% on the cards finish? You have a decent salary so this is fixable but requires discipline.  

I don't think your DM did you any favours by paying off the student loan if it then meant you owed her instead.  

MissG80

enthusiasticsaver said:

There is lots of ADHD and autism in my family so totally get the not liking busy places and not finding change easy so just changing one or two things initially might be a good idea.  Another thing is the impulsivity and my son in law who is ADHD and medicated will not spend money and just leaves all shopping to my daughter as he struggles with impulse control and would just buy everything immediately he thought of it regardless of whether he needs it or can afford it. As presumably it is just you can you set yourself a rule that you do not go on Amazon except certain times or days and do not click the Buy Now button? Shopping early in Tesco sounds sensible. 

Thanks it's nice to talk to people who understand, I am late diagnosed and my family don't understand. A lot of the support forums are understandably receiving lots of enquiries from people about diagnosis, delays in diagnosis, delays in medication, shortages etc

I think I need to do some Amazon housekeeping as I have 245 items on my Saved Later list! 

The most effective method I had was a Pay Day List on my phone where I write down things I think I need then review on payday when I am doing the finances for the month. Clearly not that effective ha. I need to remove my card payment details from the site.

Thanks for reading 😅

MissG80

enthusiasticsaver said:

I am not sure that using a spreadsheet is the best way for you to manage money.  Have you considered Monzo or Starling where they have separate pots? So you put all your bill money in one pot when you get paid and allocate all the bills to that so you never need to worry that you do not have enough to cover monthly bills.  Have a separate pot for things like car expenses and a separate emergency savings account.  What is left is for you to spend and you see it going down each time you spend money so you keep track of it there.  They often have spending trackers so tell you what you have spent so far in the month on groceries or entertainment or whatever. 

I do have a separate account for bills so just bills goes into that.

I also got a Hyperjar card where you put the money in pots. I don't know what the issue is, as technically it should work fine. I think a couple of times it's had glitches  like a standing order actually can take a day to show on the card, but manual transfer is fine- happy to do that when I get paid. Also sometimes I have needed to be on WiFi to refresh the card balance. Meaning that I've gone and used another card.

I also have an innate fear of being out and running out of money, so just having one card with only a set amount is scary. Don't know why. I used to go out with £3 in my pocket. I think it's the travel distance. Being 45 mins by train from home, not knowing anyone in the city. So I take my first direct card with me which means temptation to spend. I think I need maybe £100 in an account in case the worst happened and I needed to get home.  Then stop carrying all the cards.

The other thing I have is several Tesco Savings Accounts. These are quite good as you can name the accounts if you log on through a browser. It's where I send (in theory) the smaller amounts to like the car insurance money and haircut. 

It might be easier like you say to use Starling, I will take a look.

MissG80

Philliggi said:

MissG80 said:

I relate to that, I burn out. One adhd strategy I learned was to only focus in short bursts as I am prone to overdoing it... like 10, 25 mins here and there, build up to 75 mins, notice when you need a break etc. 

What do you regret about the car?

We had car trouble with the old car. Ive always bought a car thats 5-6 years old outright, but because i was on a much higher wage i commited to a bank loan of £298 over 4 years. I dont regret the car, nowt wrong with it, more so the debt and the monthly payments. Its ruled my life since and left things tight in the current economic climate. Thats my regret

My car is also quite old, I think it was 2014 and I bought it in 2022 but the mileage was crazy low and it was owned by a vicar previously. I didn't get the best rate at the time, 5.9% as my credit rating was starting to flounder and I committed to 7 years because inflation was taking hold so didn't want more than 100-110 a month. It was with a promise to myself that I would pay it off sooner though.

Can loans be switched like cards? I guess it may be catch 22 if the interest rates are higher now.

MissG80

enthusiasticsaver said:

MissG80 said:

At the moment, I'm not saving for a holiday. 

I'm also not putting any money aside for the car insurance or the car service/MOT. Which is foolish actually as that is due in September. Eep. I was meant to put aside £62.50 a month for this and car wash.

Just realise there are a couple of other things, will add and repost.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet[/b][b]

Household Information[/b]

Number of adults in household........... 1

Number of children in household......... 0

Number of cars owned.................... 1[b]

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 2849

Partners monthly income after tax....... 0

Benefits................................ 0

Other income............................ 0[b]

Total monthly income.................... 2849[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 418

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 139

Rent.................................... 220

Management charge (leasehold property).. 140

Council tax............................. 150

Electricity............................. 85

Gas..................................... 0

Oil..................................... 0

Water rates............................. 16.72

Telephone (land line)................... 0

Mobile phone............................ 9.88

TV Licence.............................. 13.25

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0

Internet Services....................... 22

Groceries etc. ......................... 125

Clothing................................ 0

Petrol/diesel........................... 30

Road tax................................ 3.06

Car Insurance........................... 30

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 32.5

Car parking............................. 0

Other travel............................ 164

Childcare/nursery....................... 0

Other child related expenses............ 0

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 11.16

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0

Buildings insurance..................... 0

Contents insurance...................... 5.34

Life assurance ......................... 0

Other insurance......................... 0

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30

Haircuts................................ 15

Entertainment........................... 60

Holiday................................. 140

Emergency fund.......................... 0

(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0

Greenpeace charity...................... 5

Spotify................................. 10.99

National Trust.......................... 7

Gym..................................... 35

Massage................................. 26

Dentist................................. 25

Makeup.................................. 10[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 1978.9[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 0

House value (Gross)..................... 200000

Shares and bonds........................ 1300

Car(s).................................. 5000

Other assets............................ 0[b]

Total Assets............................ 206300[/b]

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Mortgage...................... 92647....(418)......2.09<

Overdraft......................1050.....(20).......0<

Car Loan.......................6500.....(119)......5.9[b]

Total secured & HP debts...... 100197....-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Lloyds.........................1480......63........0

Barclays.......................6300......0.........0[b]

Total unsecured debts..........7780......63........-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 2,849

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,978.9

Available for debt repayments........... 870.1

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 63[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 807.1[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 206,300

Total HP & Secured debt................. -100,197

Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,780[b]

Net Assets.............................. 98,323[/b]

OK so firstly you have omitted the Barclays repayment which is £262 so the amount left is £545 although as you have seen by analysing your spending you have not accounted for much of those subscriptions and have underestimated groceries, entertainment and not allowed for the spending you did on your home office.  A budget needs to cover everything and ideally things for the house should be saved up for or covered in a line on your budget. £735.19 was spent according to your list of spends but beyond the groceries and entertainment very little of it is budgeted for so having a think about any of that is really necessary would be sensible. 

As I said I would tackle the overdraft first.  Once you have a working budget I would start by reducing the limit by £200 every month for the next 5 months until it is gone.  Most charge 40% interest so they are very expensive and can be withdrawn at any time. When does the 0% on the cards finish? You have a decent salary so this is fixable but requires discipline.  

I don't think your DM did you any favours by paying off the student loan if it then meant you owed her instead.  

There's some really good points here. I've started a line on my spreadsheet before for the one off type items. I'll review that and try and get more specific- electrical appliances, repair jobs to flat. I won't go into what I do for a job but I look at budgets a lot, the irony.  In regards to home office spends it's a long story but basically my ADHD got very unmanageable and I got into a mess, then I learned about decluttering and organised my space better, these were additions, fit ball is for sensory regulation etc. Taking walks during day doesn't work as I get visually over stimulated. But there are things I didn't need, I didn't need a labelling machine right now, a friend had one which made me want one. Although labelling plugs has been quite satisfying. 

I will tidy up my budget.  0% are for 26 months (£6.3k) I think and maybe 12 months for the Lloyds (£1.5k). 

I think you've hit the nail on the head with the word discipline. I'm not so good at emotional control, that's something I'm working on.   Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it.

MissG80

ADHD tax win today.

I bought an SAD lamp that broke on first use. The time passed for a refund and I hadn't sent it back, so when I was decluttering I just wrote a negative review and left it at that.

They emailed me to offer me a refund !? Not sure how that benefits them as I can't change the review as far as  I know on Amazon but happy to get £28.99 back. 

I'm not really sure what to do with small amounts like this, as I can only reduce the overdraft by £100 a time and both credit cards are at 0%, don't trust myself not to spend it at the moment so I think it might just go towards the Lloyds card. 

Just need to work it out as it's gone back on the Tesco credit card that had a zero balance so will now show as a credit. Maybe I will leave it there for a while as I may have some interest charged to the Tesco credit card next month.

Win win.