Paying the car tax via EBay, and other shenanigans.

Mostly Brizzle, but I had a bit of a sulk yesterday. My surgery requires new clothing and it's not going well. The ranges are limited and out of necessity are a style that have never done much for me. But I will find the solution eventually and in time when I have the second surgery it will all be fine. Mutter mutter.

Meanwhile money has run away. Suddenly there has been a huge drain on the cash pot. Tax bill. Car insurance. House insurance. Cat was at the vet. Dental treatment. Aforementioned purchases. Hair appointment. The car recovery is almost due. And on and on. As I've been distracted I've not done much shopping around for the insurances either. So I do need to do a proper 2018 budget. For some of this year I will have regular income and I need to adjust my spending massively down the way. I think I need to re-instate the CCBF because most of the big payments came out of savings and I've not been topping them up for the last couple of months.

So spreadsheet, here I come....

brizzledfw wrote: »

Hi MFM :hello:

Hows the spreadsheet going??

The what now?

Err I am actually currently doing the 2017 one. So it's a bit behind. I actually think I've done parts of it before and then lost it. So saving multiple times just now!

Thought I'd do a status update/analysis of the current pots.

1. Lorry costs. £582. This is due the MOT this month so will leave as is for now.
2. Livery £400. This is a legacy from when I had to pay my field rent a year at a time. Currently paying livery out of monthly pay. Could re-badge this as the field maintenance fund for our new plot.
3. Horse Holiday. £280. This is to pay for pet sitters. Shouldn't really need this in the medium term so will re-allocate.
4. Holidays £300. Will I ever go away again?
5. Presents £140. Need to keep adding towards this all year.
6. Standard Vet £140. This is for the annual booster visit etc. I add to this each month.
7. Car repairs £220. Car is definitely needing some work for its MOT, and the service light just came on. Might not be enough.
8. Horse Yard items £120. Never enough :rotfl:
9. Clothes £65. Hmm I don't tend to use this one as described. I save up, but when I buy clothes I tend not to clear this pot. Will decide on best plan. I budget £15/month but don't buy clothes that way. I have loads of clothes and no plans to buy more for now.
10. Flat repairs £160. Just cleared some of this out to pay for some plumbing work.
11. Car insurance £120. I didn't actually use that this year (was a January expense) so will re-allocate to the general savings and start again for next year.
12. Emergency vet £1400. This is for the uninsured horse; but I've not been good about it recently. I should probably set a cap on what is a reasonable amount to have set aside.
13.Parties £105. Haven't really used this. But DS will be 3 next birthday and may start to have opinions.
14. Kids equipment £70. Like new car seat etc. Nothing on the horizon but will keep adding for now.
15. Haircut £75. I Save into this but don't really empty it at the time of my appointment. Might just budget as cash rather than "saving" for it.

Empty pots:
16. Flat Gas. This is for the annual boiler service and landlord certificate. Just had this done.
17. Dentist. Just had some work so cleared this out.
18. Car recovery. Just put this on my CC so will clear this out when the bill needs paid.

What is alarming is this equates to £4.5k. The big one is the emergency vet; which I have to hope to never need. What is confusing is that this is all in my savings account - so I think I have about £7k but I definitely do not. What is doubly alarming is I used to not save up for these things and had to keep funding them out of pay. This is where my original overdraft came from. It's scary to add it up.