Single income, AuDHD, £29k debt, no savings...turning the ship as of 2025!

joedenise

I've been using YNAB for 10 years now and wouldn't be without it.  It's actually $99 not £99 so not quite so much.  I know it seems counter intuitative to pay for a budgeting tool but I think it's worth it.  I actually have a category to save for it over the year rather than having to find the lump sum!

fabatfifty

I have been using YNAB for about 3 years, revolutionised my spending/saving,  and I always thought I was quite good at budgeting.  I agree 99 seems a lot,  I paid monthly for the first year so could cancel if I wasn’t using it,  it was more expensive like that but seemed less risky.  I’ve been paying yearly since then. 

puffintail

@joedenise @fabatfifty thank you so much, it's a huge help to have your input. I'll see how well I do at keeping YNAB updated over the next month, and as long as I'm keeping up with it, I'll go ahead and make the investment I think.

EssexHebridean

Well just LOOK at your progress - brilliant! 

I'm going to urge one bit of caution on YNAB, and that is to ensure that you are fully in control of budgeting on paper before you start automating things in any way. The reason for this is that it is only by doing things manually that you learn to spot when things aren't quite right - YNAB can work SO well for some people, but generally speaking those folk have also done the groundwork by learning and using the methods themselves first too. It's incredibly easy to get caught out when you trust software to do something that you don't properly understand yourself.  I had a look at it a while ago and came to the conclusion that it wasn't going to do anything for me that I couldn't already do for myself, for free, so decided my money was better spent elsewhere! 

Loving your signature with the different funds in it - and especially aiming to build a separate EF for pet related stuff, that's such a good idea! 

puffintail

Thank you @EssexHebridean and I appreciate the caution - views from all perspectives are really very helpful. With both ADHD and Autistic wiring, I struggle significantly with my overall executive function (meaning significant challenges with memory, administrative tasks, task paralysis). Having a digital tool works better for me than something more manual/on paper, as it means I can update things in real time, don't need to remember to record things "later" nor remember where I've saved things. I can't tell you how many times I've built spreadsheets/trackers only to lose awareness of them and stop using them, then find myself too overwhelmed to re-engage with them.

I've been very thorough in setting up YNAB, inputting every tiny aspect of income/outgoings, with the relevant ones set up to repeat each month. Fortunately I have a good understanding of what I spend/when/where, in part because I've been using a reflective tool in my banking app for the last 3 months to give more visibility to my expenditure. I've also generally kept on top of various insurances and subscriptions to achieve the best price (using comparison and cashback sites like TCB and Quidco) and, of course, managed the debt to keep as much as I can on 0%.

A great many forum members, yourself included, are so well versed in good money management, and I really do encourage and appreciate any thoughts you have on where I have/may have made oversights. You don't know what you don't know, after all, and a big part of me being here is accountability, so thank you again.

EssexHebridean

I've long been a fan of the thinking that "nobody knows anything until someone tells them" - it's easy to forget that I think when it's something that you're quire familiar with yourself! 

puffintail

EssexHebridean said:

I've long been a fan of the thinking that "nobody knows anything until someone tells them" - it's easy to forget that I think when it's something that you're quire familiar with yourself! 

Exactly! I often say I'd much, much rather someone tell me something I already know, than hesitate and decide not to say something that could be critical for my learning/awareness.

puffintail

I woke up today with a very sore throat, signs of tonsillitis, and had lower back spasms through the night (it's now just sore, not so much of the spasms, thankfully). The Drs have written a fit note to advise that I'm off work until after the rheumatology appointment (the note runs to 3rd March) and I'm feeling...I don't know...weird about it. I've been so, so lucky to have pretty good health up until the last few months, always able to be active, don't smoke/drink, so this feels very alien. It's one ailment after another, quite literally, although the constant is exhaustion and dermatitis on my face. I'm not sure why I'm writing this all here, really, I think it's just some brain downloads...

At least it'll be less diesel needed for the car, I guess, with not driving about for work. Perhaps I'll also have more opportunity to list some things for sale. I feel fortunate to be employed so that I can still receive pay during this time, I can only imagine how tricky it'd be if I were self employed.

I have wanted to do an official coaching qualification for some time, now, with the idea that it could be a side job, but clearly that costs money up front, plus the additional learning on top of my current responsibilities, and then the financial management with tax etc. my background is in a related area, and it's often noted as a strength of mine, so I have fair insight into what it'd involve...I just keep pondering when would be the 'right' time, appreciating that the 'right' time probably doesn't exist, but maybe there are better/worse times. 

Oasis1

This is really inspiring stuff! Thank you for sharing.

Did you use any guides for selling on ebay/vinted that you could point me to? I'm looking to sell some used clothing and am struggling to know where to start. Even estimating postage costs and what packaging to use... fellow ADHD-er here probably overthinking/procrastinating...