Need fresh eyes on my budget!

Spendless

I'm doing my first month of giving every £1 a job with my pots and some I've got plenty left and 1 I've overspent in (am aware why) and contemplating whether I rectify this or just leave it running till payday.

Re clothes- I went thru my wardrobe a few weeks ago, after a spell of some sunny days (hahaha!) I tossed out what didn't fit, was torn etc and then had a good look at what was left. I discovered I could easily find an outfit for a day at the beach/work/a wedding what I really lacked was smart casual stuff, the sort of outfit you'd wear to an outing to a pub lunch. I bought 2 outfits to rectify this, 1 that coordinated with items I already owned, 1 to 'build on' (if that makes sense). A few days later I also struck lucky with a never worn dress on a 50p charity rail. Do you know the clothing categories where you lack items?

joedenise

I use YNAB which is a give every £1 a job budget and it tells you when you have overspent in a category and to rectify it so that is what I do. I know others actually have a pot called buffer with a little spare money in it in order to use that to put overspent pots back to where it should be. Personally I just move money from pots which are building for longer term things like new TV/phone/laptop etc so nothing that's needed at the moment.

honeybee1234

Sooo here we are in the new month! I've reviewed April, and here are the conclusions...

1. Grocery budget, I slightly overspent on this, I need to add up my receipts to get an exact figure, will do this in a bit.
2. I've done really well in improving food waste. Just really need to freeze ingredients or leftovers right away if I'm not definitively planning on using them by the following day.
3. I've not touched the pots I've contributed to that are not for immediate needs, eg car, birthdays, Christmas, annual expenses. I have used up the 'kids' pot (Ubers for DS1 to his club and a couple of bits for DS2) and went over by roughly £10. I also used up the 'clothing' pot (£30) to buy a handful of things, but I need to return some so will get some of this back.

I'm quite happy with April on the whole. Would I have liked progress to be 100% perfect? Absolutely. BUT I'm taking all these notes as a learning curve for May and beyond.

Today, I'm sat with a cuppa and am just playing around with my money for my pots at the moment. I had planned a day out in the May half term, but I can't see a way to do what I want to do within budget. This is hard because I'd wanted to take DSs over to see DD1 for the day but after travel, the activity I'd had planned and food, it's impossible to afford. I'm playing about to see if I can add more funds for this and/or adjust the plans. We shall see!

Spendless

You are doing really well. I had a similar experience in April with starting my pots (to see where the money was going!) emptied some, overspent some and had surplus in others.

Can you rejig May half term? DD1 come to you (even if you pay most/all travel costs)? Railcard for train for you and DS (can you still get offers on buying these?), cheaper activity? Cheaper eating out or eat at DDs?

honeybee1234

I've not come to a conclusion yet @Spendless on this. I shall update when I've decided!

May is going okay so far, although I have still not settled on how to divide up the rest of my surplus into pots - and it's getting eaten up by me buying things for the garden.

I haven't allocated anything for the 'kids' pot (DS's Ubers for his club and any other bits), or the 'dentist/optician' pot. I have allocated for the 'annual payments' pot (annual insurances), 'Christmas' pot, 'car' pot and 'birthday' pot, so I need to have a real talk with myself on what's going on with the procrastination that I keep doing with not fully allocating in this way.

I believe it's to do partly with knowing that once I've allocated how I'd prefer, I don't have much left for my personal spends. Now, I don't spend a lot in this, it's mainly for toiletries, eg hair dye, face wash etc, then maybe parking if I do go anywhere, and a coffee occasionally. It just never seems to go far enough.

The other (hear me out on this!) is I get dejected at the really slow progress on what I deem quite important pots for everyday life, eg 'home and garden', not filling up as quickly as I'd like, so I just don't fill them, then still spend on them but from my disposable, as-yet-unallocated funds, and use it all up!

I know how amusing that sounds, it's totally backward, and I need to get a handle on dealing with the fact that I am on a budget and yes, it will be slow progress in some areas simply because I have a limited amount to divide up.

I'm off to think this over because I need to break this pattern, I keep doing it and it's hindering progress.

foxgloves

@honeybee1234 - I absolutely know what you mean on this, as when I was first getting to grips with budgeting, I also found it disheartening just how long it would take to increase the big essential pots to the sort of sums which wouldn't be depleted after 2 or 3 spends. Eventually, this improved through having more 'disposable income' (I really dislike that phrase) but in the years in between, I did as much 'shopping from home' as possible. Every time we needed something for the house or garden, I'd ask myself if there is anything we already own which would 'do the job' as well or tolerably well & use that instead. It doesn't have to be forever, but to save spending out on something now, when I'd rather have the money in the House & Garden Pot to make sure we're covered for a more essential thing. I still do it.

Despite being a v keen gardener, I don't spend that much on it, proportionately. There's so much that can be recycled from the house to use as seed trays, pots, cut up for seed labels, etc. I save seeds, make compost, swap plants, divide up the plants I already have, etc. You probably already shop from home but I'm just throwing it in as my main strategy back when those pots just would not fill quickly enough. I also split 'white goods/appliances' away from the House & Garden Pot as felt better knowing I could cover a new freezer or washing machine if necessary. That somehow made me feel more secure at the time.

I think it is really good that you are still pondering budget methods & how you might continue to tweak them to work better for you.

F x

Spendless

I have pots that are labelled 'travel' (petrol, train fares and parking). Beauty (self care stuff) and entertainment (which includes me eating out tho I probs wouldn't put a snack sausage roll or a take away coffee on it - but I would if I found that's what I was doing more often than a pub lunch).

You're still finding your feet with it, so don't be too harsh on yourself.

I've only got 2 months worth in some of my pots fr insurances and DH's yearly subscription for his hobby, but I've got till the end of the year/next year till they are needed to be used.

My birthdays/occassions pot emptied to under £5 recently but that's because I have a lot of 'cluster' bdays etc, most of these are now over for the year so will build up again.

Some you just have to accept that the pot gets emptied and ideally you'll rejig it next month. I put £20 a month into 'dog' (grooming and any vets trips not covered by insurance) but his groom was £ 35, so I took that into account when payday rolled round and he only has £5 in there (DH did ask me if I expected the dog to get a job when I said he owed £15 - lol)

Dakota_Rose

Building the pots up is so difficult and I’ve shared your frustration. I found shifting my mindset took quite a long time to do and more recently stopped thinking of them as savings pots but rather sinking funds. Funds will come in and out and I feel less precious about them now and certainly less stressed when they fluctuate up and down.

Just don’t give up. It’s the sum of all the small efforts we make that add up. Would setting mini targets help your motivation? Some people use colouring charts or such like. Once a pot reaches a certain amount, then you can spend on a wanted purchase from that fund perhaps.

honeybee1234

@Dakota_Rose I do have a chart with targets for each pot which is useful and I do view pots differently depending on what they're for, eg like you said @Spendless my birthday pot fluctuates and I'm fine with that as I plan to have a baseline amount at times of the year when there are important birthdays, so that doesn't bother me so much. My annual pot for insurances is relatively low as I paid for my car insurance a couple of months ago but that's fine as I know it'll be furnished enough when my contents insurance is due later in the year.

Thinking about it, it's the things that are maybe lower priority but am planning for later down the line. So for example, activities pot for school/college holidays, so I can take the boys out, home and garden specific items, eg I need a couple of new internal doors which will also need fitting. I often find I allocate money to things which I deem more pressing, thus I never get anywhere near the finish line with these.

I won't give up, and thankyou for the tips and motivation both of you! It's good to know others have wrestled with similar and how they've worked with it. I often feel it's a character flaw that I find certain financial things difficult but it isn't - it's a combination of the side effects of being on a constantly low income, getting divorced and having to start again, being a non-resident parent, and mental health. The important thing is knowing how to implement methods that account for these things, and that's what I'm in the midst of. It's positive momentum, and I'm doing okay.

honeybee1234

Today is a money admin day. In a bit, I'm going to sit down with my notebook and banking app, and check my pots and their balances against my targets, for those which cover things which require saving over a few months. I'm going to allocate the rest of my disposable income to pots, then review the grocery budget to see what I have left for each remaining week of the month. I still have my 10% off Lidl voucher to use which runs out this week so want to get the best out of using that!

After that, I'm going to set up some more standing orders directly to pots after I get paid at the end of each month. I do have one straight to my annual pot covering insurances, and I'm going to do some more, ones for Christmas, birthdays, car and something else which escapes me as I'm still a bit bleary eyed!

I am currently looking after DP's dog as he's visiting family so I'm going to take her for a little walk shortly (she's side eyeing me as I type!) which will be nice and manageable. Then back for breakfast and a list of life admin to get on with!