How do people stay positive

magpies79

So as the title mentions when you seem to make all the right choices and seem to be getting a head then along comes something that puts you back!!

if nothing to drastic but wife’s car failed mot basically best part of £600 I’m annoyed because was doing stuff to mine to ensure when my mot was due in jan hopefully won’t need much doing forgot to really start sorting hers.

Now obviously going forward next year this is something I want to keep ontop of more ie putting money aside for mot as I don’t have this money and is going to have to go on a card and will set me back about 4 months in paying it Off!!!

just frustrating but suppose have myself to blame.

_Dolly_Rocker_

It can be hard especially when stuff like this happens. 

MOTs are always gonna fail, cookers are always gonna break but you know what - we will be in a much better place financially to deal with these kind of things when we are debt free and have an emergency fund so keep going!

magpies79

Appreciate that thanks like this is something I’ve moved away from worked hard to get things in place ie pretty much everything on 0% and getting it cleared it’s the savings side of it I’m struggling with what’s the best way to start an emergency fund just keep putting money aside each month no matter how little?

like o2 contract is done now on a sim only deal so that’s £58 better off a month should I start putting that into a pot  

CliveOfIndia

magpies79 said:

what’s the best way to start an emergency fund just keep putting money aside each month no matter how little?

like o2 contract is done now on a sim only deal so that’s £58 better off a month should I start putting that into a pot  

That's pretty much it, yes.  It can be disheartening when things like this happen, but unfortunately you've got to expect it.  Unless your car is pretty new then it's pretty much a given that you're going to have repair bills at some point (actually, even a brand new car doesn't guarantee you won't need repairs).

But that £58 a month would give you the £600 over the year, just by way of an example.  Obviously you can't really foresee how much you're going to need to fork out over the year, but it's a decent start.

Also, if you have the cash available, it means you're not forced to put it on a credit card, so you'll save yourself the interest - an extra little bonus.

If you've taken a look at any of the other threads on here, you'll see that an emergency fund is always cited as a really important part of the budget.  Obviously the more you can put away, the better.  Cars aren't the the only source of unforeseen expenses (although, it could be argued that it's not unforeseen, but that's a different discussion!).  What happens when the washing machine breaks down or the boiler needs looking at?  But anything is better than nothing, and starting to build an emergency fund does kind of begin to instil some prudent budgeting decisions.

_Dolly_Rocker_

I would put the extra £58 towards the debt but this is your plan so you do what is best for you. 

Like @CliveOfIndia said that could be £600 added to savings and you wouldn't even really notice it!

magpies79

Yeah no definitely not unforeseen like I’ve had plenty of time to at least change things like knew I’d need 2 tyres and kept saying right get one changed next month then sort one the month after so it’s not all in one go but yeah I’ve not put in credit cards for months so this does feel like a step back.

appreciate the advice head up carry on lol

CliveOfIndia

Another thing you might want to look into is filling out an SOA : https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php

If you want to let others on here take a look then select the "Format For MSE" option and copy&paste the results here.  It's sometimes surprising how a fresh, impartial pair of eyes can spot quick wins and easy savings that can be made, money which can then be used to either build up savings or pay off debts, whichever gives you the most value.

But even if you don't want to share it, it can be a really useful tool just for your own reference.  It forces you to take a proper look at all of your expenses, helps to make sure you don't overlook anything, and can help you to see where your money is going.

magpies79

Yeah definitely will do just about to get ready for a night shift lol

RAS

One thing you can do is to look at your statements, and that lemonfool SOA.

There will be things that are paid monthly. There are then the predictable annual expenses, as in they will happen but we don't always know what the MOT, dentists or vets are going to cost. At the very least work out how much each of those cost last year, add a bit and put 1/12th of that cost into a budgeting fund each month.

On top of that, you know that one or other car will need replacing sometime in the next few years, for example. Even if you can't put aside enough each month to pay in full when the time comes, if you can keep the 0% cards ticking over, you might be able to fund the new car without credit, even if it means not paying as much off the cards for a while.

It's about looking forward and planning over the year, and then looking at likely spends in the next few years.

fatbelly

Don't forget there is a motoring board on here. It's worth running any problems past them.

Brie

As for being positive - you know, some times I think it's just a personality thing.  Unless it's that horoscopes are true.  I'm a Sagittarius and supposedly we're optimistic.  So maybe it's in my stars that I am. 

Or more likely it's that I have a practical point of view.  If something happens my brain automatically goes to solution mode or at least reduce the bad impact mode.   When my employer announced a lot of us would be made redundant my biggest anxiety was how my financial anxious OH would take it.  So I thought about what would happen with the redundancy - I was of an age when I could retire, get my pension, plus have a decent payout of cash.  And also despite my age I knew I was still employable and willing to work.  So that's the things I could talk about when I told him about the redundancy.  Nowt to worry about because we'd be fine.  

As for you - you've done the right thing - asked here, got some good answers and pointed towards how to make things better for the future.  All very positive.  Yes there are some really carpy days but, as the Beatles sang, you can get by with a little help from your friends.