Balancing the books

lucielle

I can so relate to the ODHDTH. Still owed money from over a year ago! Chased but nothing happened

L

Blackcats

yes indeed, it's not straightforward dealing with HMRC but on this occasion it was a smooth and quick process although I had to be proactive to claim the refund. Soffits, fascia's etc being done next week which is not exciting but is necessary.

We had a couple of days away at the seaside this week which was nice. We managed to meet up with some family (nice family) which turned a bit spendy with teas, coffees, drinks and dinners but we all shared the costs pretty fairly and we had some great catch ups. That prefaces me saying we went over budget, quite a bit over budget so I need to recoup some £'s from other places to rebalance the books.

Next week our regular incomes start landing into the account. Various amounts get paid between 18th and 29th which I used to find tricky to manage and sometimes next month's payments are tempting to use this month. Now as soon as it arrives I move the money into a savings account which is attached to my current account and then I just leave it there til the next month starts. It's a basic system but it works ok.

jeepers it's hot again today!

foxgloves

Well, @Blackcats - I know going over budget is mostly annoying, but sometimes we 'go over' on a meaningful thing, like in this case, you having had a good catch-up with family members. It still needs to be 'pulled back' afterwards, we all know that, but at least it wasn't going over budget to extend a plastic cacti collection or some of the ridiculous tat you & I used to buy in the Spendy Era 😱! Just do the sums next time you sit down with your budget, but enjoy that you had a lovely time.

F x

Catscoffeecake

Agreed enjoy the time with your family whilst you can. I am confident in your ability to recoup it.

Blackcats

thanks for your support @foxgloves and @Catscoffeecake.

Fingers crossed I seem to have finally grown out of buying plastic cacti and general tat. I still enjoy mooching in garden centre gift sections or nice shops but I now say to myself that it's nice to look at but I don't want the responsibility of dusting it 😉 back in the day I liked buying "things" even when I didn't need them and certainly couldn't afford them.

So I need to find £150 to completely cover our overspend from last week. I stopped myself from fudging the figures as I was tempted to try to re-allocate spends to other incorrect categories. Knowing the shortfall figure is motivating me to try to generate an underspend on the grocery budget and our personal spends budget will contribute too.

We've achieved 2 NSD's and a LSD and we have plenty of food so I'm aiming for a £30 max grocery spend to top up with milk, fresh fruit and veg to last until next Monday.

Actually, although I've declared a NSD this doesn't include the £££'for the soffits & fascias - work started on that today.

Sun_Addict

That's a great idea to try and recoup the overspend by underspending rather than skim off other pots. Like you say it's motivating as it's something to focus on.

foxgloves

Another thing that's turning me off unneccessary purchases atm is knowing that we intend to relocate when Mr F retires so it would mean EVEN MORE stuff to pack!

Blackcats

we've just got back from a fabulous family weekend away. It's an annual event and involves opportunities to catch up with close family and next layer out family. I had a bit of fiddly organising to do to arrange some activities for kids but it all worked according to the plan and participants enjoyed themselves. After that had worked so well I breathed a sigh of relief and had a glass of wine and really relaxed. I slept so well last night.

We've all been to the beach today and enjoyed ice creams. When everyone had set off for home, MrBC and I stayed on the beach and had a cup of tea and a sausage sandwich from the little cafe.

And you'll never guess what? Budgeting realistically for an annual event means that you have enough money to pay for an annual event 😁

There's £11 left in the kitty which I'm putting towards my less successfully budgeted for mini break a couple of weeks ago.

beanielou

Glad that you had a lovely weekend.

Sun_Addict

Sounds like a lovely weekend.