Need fresh eyes on my budget!

foxgloves

Having just 1 card left to pay off must feel like real progress & as you see that drop into 3 figures & downwards, it will feel even more motivating. The thing I most appreciated when we got rid of our debt was that our monthly income became solely OUR money. Of course there are always bills to pay, but it is a good feeling to get rid of debts from past spending. It feels like a re-set.

It really sounds like you are on top of the process now & I'm cheering you on from the sidelines x

honeybee1234

Thanks @foxgloves and I'm sure you understand when I say I'm starting to feel freer. It really does feel like the process of a reset doesn't it?

It's also getting easier to acknowledge that it isn't a 0-100 sprint, with perfection from the off. Every time now I make a mistake, overlook something or there's an unexpected expense, I put it on my learning curve. As in, OK, this happened, I now see how to work with this from next month, or that I have an emergency fund sat there just in case, and that emergency fund is enabling me to spend a bit of time building up these sinking funds.

Really engaging with the mindset of "I say what happens with my money" is helping alleviate that feeling I've had of being a bystander to my finances, like they've been happening to me in a passive way instead of setting goals and targets, moving money, and learning to say "no, actually, what can I do with the money I have" rather than "I want to do xyz and I'll deal with the aftermath later." There's always going to be unexpected things come up despite all this, but I feel in a better position to handle these, which is liberating, honestly.

Spendless

Glad you went on trip. The railcard is an investment.

You're doing really well. I agree with foxgloves, having your salary for yourself minus bills is a wonderful feeling.

foxgloves

Yes, I completely agree with what you say about the liberating feeling of finally getting in control of your money. I don't really think it is even about having lots of money (though of course that helps with bills), it is more about being in control of what you do have & making it work in your best interests. I spent too many years moaning that I didn't earn enough to save, when looking back, I could have both lived within my means & saved some money every month. It shouldn't have taken me so many years to discover the freedom of getting my finances under control, but at least that LBM did arrive eventually & I wouldn't go back to how I used to be around money, that's for sure!