So, elephant Number one has been satisfied (for now). There's still a fair amount of information to gather to guide my steps in improving my financial situation, but now's the time to take some action following what I've discovered so far.
This month I'm going to assess everything I've researched so far and see where there are immediate actions I can take. So say 'hello' to Elephant Number 2 - the start of the action month.
Month 2 - Bite 1
Right back at the beginning of the month I started recording everything I spent. I found a really simple, free app and downloaded it. It was super simple to keep my spending recorded and as a result I have, hand on heart, kept a record every day.
The app also gives me a breakdown of where the money has gone so I can't disguise any terrible truths. Today's task is to have a good look at those figures and see if there are any surprises in the spend totals.
To be honest I was expecting the car and food/groceries spends to be higher - some of that will be, of course, because there was still Christmas food to polish off!. The craft total though was more than I had intended. I've taken a good look at what was bought and have to say I CAN justify (most) of it. The sales during January meant I was able to stock up some fabric in particular ready for a new project - well having a go with an online shop really. In addition I did buy some shiny new tools - a dinky little iron, an ironing mat (I want to do some quilting) and a special tool for putting in popper closures.
Also I'll add, as part of my defence, I paid for the tools with the vouchers I got for Christmas so I think I can be forgiven...
The fabric I've got should cover Valentine's, St. David's Day, Mothering Sunday and Easter for a variety of cards and presents so that's okay in my book too...
Actually I've already done a Valentine's Card and was pretty pleased with the result. (It's okay the recipient doesn't read this!)
It's also a bit of an experiment as some of the cards I make will be going into my shop should I ever get that organised.
Month 2 - Bite 2
This task follows on from the first in that now I have a proper picture of my spending it's time to draft out a budget. This is early days as no two months spending are going to be exactly alike - the presents bill for July/August will be insane as so many of my family have celebrations then!
I'm also keeping up recording the spending as a way of checking where I am. I'm also finding that for the odd impulse urge, the fact that I'm going to the bother of noting it is making me not spend... Using laziness/prevarication as a financial tool may be novel, but it seems to be working for me.
I'm also adding into the recording incidents of saving, so if I get a discount or money off I'm recording those with a view to putting the same amount into another account for a bigger purchase later on or maybe even a treat... who knows?
Month 2 - Bite 3
Revisit my box.
This has grown rather as I think I was over-hopeful that the first box I chose would be big enough. Today I'm going to tackle the box. I know it'll take a little longer than some of the initial tasks as it means looking through all the paperwork in it, but it does give me the chance to prune out anything I no longer need (proof of posting receipts for things delivered successfully three weeks ago anyone?)
I've also got a plastic folder/book/file. It's the sort with see through sleeves and I found it when doing the loft task!. While I'm going through the box I'm going to like sheets of paper together, all the bank statements in one sleeve, credit card ones in another and so on to get it all neat and tidy.
I wish I could bin some of these month by month, but as I'm still not six years away from retiring from self employment I need to hold onto some details for the taxman. There will be some pieces of information and documents that I'll need to hang onto (err passport anyone?) so they can stay in the box.
Right - better get on with it, bring on the shredder and rubbish bin....
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