Need fresh eyes on my budget!

honeybee1234

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82113862#Comment_82113862

Yes, it was an easy bank switch and a nice amount of cashback coming in, which is always nice! I'm going to put it into my emergency fund as it's desperately needed tbh, so I'm prioritising that, then checking the 0% end date on Vanquis and arranging the balance transfer for Nationwide.

I also think noting what I've put on the credit card is a GREAT idea, so I'll be doing that moving forward, and looking how I can incorporate these things in the budget.

honeybee1234

Morning!

Yesterday, I spent some time with my apps, and now have a list of my cards, balances, and 0% end dates. I started to go through what I've been spending on them in the last couple of months; I've found:

• stuff for the living room
• a couple of ASOS purchases which I think were a couple of items of clothing for the boys (need to specifically check this)
• a train ticket for DS1 to go to a uni open day
• new fridge freezer

Whilst this is not ideal, I do have pots starting to build up for all of these things, and I am rebuilding my emergency fund as priority now, so I feel some of these these spends were generally an 'interim' solution if that makes sense? Ie some were needed but I didn't have the funds for them at that point. The clothing could have waited, as could the living room things, the train ticket was absolutely unplanned and DS1 hit me with it two weeks before it happened, he'd been selected to attend an open afternoon in London and we are definitely NOT in London, so a pretty short notice ticket cost a fair bit! All this has been noted - it's all useful to be able to future-proof the budget.

Today I'm taking the boys into town for a wander round the museum and library, both free! Both enjoy these, as do I, and for me it's a bit lower on the stress scale for going out, they're familiar places, in a quieter part of town, so although I'm pushing myself here, hopefully it shouldn't suck too much mental energy out of me 🤞🏻

honeybee1234

Good morning!

So, yesterday first! I took the boys into town as planned. Had a fun time wandering the museums, both enjoyed it, and it was a flat 5.00 for parking with no other spends. I had to stop by Asda on the way back, which was 14.85. This covered a handful of pet things I'd run out of, plus a couple of bits for DS2 and a couple of fresh things.

And it was very fortunate we did that yesterday as this morning it is raining heavily, along with the thunder and lightning, so we're safely indoors! I have a bit of life admin to do today, otherwise it's a quiet day today at home. I need to balance the books as I've gone over on groceries, and I want to work out where the overspend has come from before the start of September.

Have a good, if quite rainy day today!

honeybee1234

Morning!

September has been wrestling with my bank account - DD2 is now back at uni, and DS1 has been going to plenty of open days for prospective unis. Luckily his 16-17 railcard gives 50% off which is amazing! We've had some reimbursement from some unis actually which has helped a fair bit. It's all very exciting!

Despite needing to use the cc for this at points, and moving some money around, September has been pretty good with the budget. A lot of thought has been put into spending/not spending, and as a result the grocery pot is looking quite healthy for this point in the month.

I'm on dogsitting duties at the moment for OH who is away, so I currently have a dog sat in the hallway waiting for me to get myself in gear! It's a nice walk, going early means it's quiet and we hardly see anyone. Then back home when in a bit I have the nurse coming round. I've been having support with my agoraphobia so we're working on it slowly but surely. It's not something I relish but hopefully it's going to help.

Have a good day all!

honeybee1234

Good morning!

Had the regularly scheduled early wake up call from the animals, so I've been lounging with a huge cuppa. Friday is usually grocery shopping day, however I did it yesterday so have the morning free. Me and OH are off into town as I need to return a slightly-too-small blazer for DS2 which give me 30.00 back, he has asked for another PE top so I'll offset this against the blazer refund to still come out in credit.

We're planning to stop somewhere for a hot chocolate so I'm checking my apps to see if I have any freebies or money off coupons awaiting use - not sure as I haven't been to a coffee shop recently, hopefully there's something hiding somewhere!

The grocery budget has finished the month roughly even stevens! I've just been surveying and I think I may actually have some left over so I shall calculate this and post back! I can't remember the last time I ended up with a positive balance in my grocery budget at the end of the month so This Is Progress 😊

ellenvan

Well done on the grocery budget.

honeybee1234

Thankyou @ellenvan , I'm super pleased with this! I'm sticking with the £400 per month for October and aim to come in right on target again; then I'll shave £20 off and work with that as I do believe there are savings to be made without living miserably!

This weekend the house is full as both the DSs and OH are here. OH has adopted Saturdays for baking, so we have oat and raisin cookies which are delicious! Our Saturday was spent at home, DSs tend to decompress after their week on Saturdays. Sundays I will sometimes take the boys out for a hot choc or a mini brunch at a local countryside café depending on how I'm feeling. The jury's out on today just yet. I have a real history with planning things then having to cancel because I can't face leaving the house, so I've stopped doing this, and am focusing on doing small, manageable things such as picking up and dropping of the boys at their house, and going grocery shopping, and anything else is a bonus. I feel constantly guilty that I can't do more, luckily their dad has now got a car and has been taking them out on their weekends at home which is great!

honeybee1234

The other day after tallying up exactly where I was in terms of remaining cc debt, emergency fund and pots, I felt quite despondent about my finances for the first time in a long time. It feels like such a long, hard slog and I'm regularly having expenses I hadn't foreseen which impact the budget.

The emergency fund is such slow going. The pots are filling, but not as quickly as I'd like. I've had to put some expenses on a credit card and so the total debt has gone up. Some of this will be reimbursed as expenses for DS1 work experience, some is for things I should have foreseen but didn't plan for (school uniform), and the rest is for things I did foresee but just didn't have enough for. I've put off my dental check up and also had my sight test but have had to wait to get new glasses as I haven't had enough saved.

Last month I got a refund from Ovo as I switched my gas and electricity. Nearly the entire refund has been taken up with other things (*more* uniform, council waste collection for my old fridge freezer, petrol which I usually put on a credit card and pay off in full each month but the card wouldn't work so had to use my current account, and a couple of miscellaneous bits.) I'd earmarked it for the emergency fund but it got taken up before I was able to transfer anything from it.

It's really got me down, despite the tangible progress I've made in other areas:

• started extra pots for sinking funds, dental and optical, and vets
• hit my grocery target for the first time after adjusting the total and making it a pot covering food, household stuff and pet supplies
• 'kids' pot has been a godsend

It's like I'm chasing a target that's never getting closer.

ellenvan

Rome wasn't built in a day.

Keep reminding yourself you now have a workable budget.

Try and focus on the positives.

Spendless

Even for me who is debt and mortgage free, I can still get good months and bad months, expensive ones, curveballs Id not anticipated, things Id not taken into account. You just have to keep going. 15 months after starting my diary,I hadnt paid back a penny of the debt over and above what we already paid. I was still paying for kids Uni accommodation out of our savings. I nearly gave up on my diary - Im glad I didnt.

You are still at a very early stage and not giving yourself nearly enough credit for what you have acheived.

Btw - Does your son's other parent also contribute to uniform.costs?