What do I spend it all on?

[curlytots]

Oh man, hope you manage it. xx

[Trinity-Belle]

One of my fave quotes TB

"Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
William Morris

xx

Ahhhh.... that'd make sense then... she was a sculptress and lectured on History of Art at Trinity College, so he is exactly the kind of person she would have been fond of quoting!

I wonder whether she substituted "houses" for "life" or whether I've morphed it myself?

[xKatieBabyx]

His main goal was to show beauty in all of life and many of his poems/ quotes about him mention life as beautiful so that's probably where you got it from, or she did. He was one of the founding fathers of he arts and craft movement, lived and associated with many pre-raphelite artists, so it's no wonder she would have been inspired or know about him x

[Trinity-Belle]

Okay... here is what I do each month.

At the beginning of the month, I have enough in my current account to cover my bills for the following month, plus £500 for unexpected expenses. Anything more than that gets transferred to my main savings account on day one, or any shortfall gets transferred back from savings if need be.

I keep back spending money for the month in cash. It is a fixed amount that I allow myself and generally, when it's gone it's gone... although I can get a bit extra from savings if I have to, but in reality I tend to find that I can't get through it all in a month, so actually I end up putting what ever is left over in to savings. If I want something big, I can, if I like, buy it from the savings account... but if the money ain't there, I can't have it. I never, ever, ever take credit for anything, nor use credit cards.

So... I am always a month ahead before I even begin.


I always start counting my month from zero pounds, irrespective of whether or not there is anything left in the bank from last month.

First off, I know how much money I need to cover all of my bills for the following month, including things like car insurance and road tax and servicing which I actually pay annually, but I account for monthly.

I earn that money plus an extra £100 for contingency and put it to one side.

Then I know I want "x" amount (it's the same amount each month) to add to my "investment" pot.

I earn that money and put it to one side.

And then, and only then, do I start saving for next months spending money.

Once I have earnt my spending money, then any extra (if I earn any) goes into to my savings account.

When (if) my savings account goes over a certain amount, I move half of it into my "investment" pot.


And here is the thing I do to keep the tax man from my door at the end of January and July each year....

I know that I am going to have to pay the tax man about 20% of my turnover (experience tells me that this is approximately what it works out at after allowances and deductions have been taken into consideration). So every single time I earn some money, I take 20% of it and put it to one side and pretend that I never earnt it. I don't wait until it is all in the bank or try to work it out at the end of the month or anything... I sort of deduct it at source! A guy puts £150 in my hand for a one hour incall, and I put £30 in one place and the other £120 in another... then I forget that the £30 ever existed. At the end of the month, all those £30's I've saved up get put into a separate savings account ready for the tax man.

At the end of the month the money goes into my various accounts and I fine tune it so that I am back to where I started ready for the next month.


.... it's not the most prudent way to manage your money and I could make a lot more use of high interest accounts and ISAs and Regular Saver accounts, not mention utilising credit cards to delay payment, but in the past I have found that it is too easy to spend on credit cards without really knowing how much you are spending and high interest savings accounts aren't worth much really - an 8% "regular saver" account will only earn you about £60 a year extra (if you save the maximum of £300 per month) than if you just left the money in an ordinary savings account. I can't be arsed to fiddle about with it for that... I do enough fiddling about as it is!

[Trinity-Belle]

His main goal was to show beauty in all of life and many of his poems/ quotes about him mention life as beautiful so that's probably where you got it from, or she did. He was one of the founding fathers of he arts and craft movement, lived and associated with many pre-raphelite artists, so it's no wonder she would have been inspired or know about him x

I wish I knew more about art. I so love art... in all it's forms. Literature to architecture and renaissance to installation. I love to visit galleries, especially small, local ones, and I love the feeling of exhilaration you get when you see something which truly inspires you and the way an image or object can make you feel... transport you to another world.

But as much as I like to look, I don't really "know" much about history or development or movements or even artists, contemporary or otherwise.

I think maybe I prefer to enjoy that transient moment when I am in the presence of the work rather than wanting to have knowledge of it... if that makes sense?

Although, having said that, a lot of work is really hard to view out of context and you have to understand what was going on for the artist at that time in order to appreciate what he was trying to do. Most of Picasso's work means nothing unless you have some understanding of modern Spanish history and realise the significance of his use of particular colours... if you don't then a lot of his later work is just people drawn sideways with eyes on their foreheads and cartoon hands! lol.

[xKatieBabyx]

Hehe I can't help it. Literature/ Art/ Philosophy buff x

[dlg79]

Am I the only one that looks at their bank statement at the in/out column and these figures are roughly equal?

I was talking about it with my driving instructor and we both agreed, if we've got money in our savings accounts, then we think, oh well... cheeky few weeks off?

I make a good wage on AW, but it seems my lifestyle always seems to be too costly whatever job I'm in, and I just spend whatever I earn.

Is anyone else the same or am I just a total financial spaz?

You may or may not take the last line as a rhetorical question, lol...

Getting back to the OP,
I think its a case of the more we earn the more we spend. Well certainly is for me anyway..lol

[Charlotte-Rose]

Hi peeps,

I agree with equal income to expenditure
It does my head though when friends think that I make a fortune and try and sponge off me!
Does anyone else get that?
C x

[xKatieBabyx]

Hey Charlotte. How about a link to your aw profile? It's nice to know we're chatting to a real girl

Hi peeps,

I agree with equal income to expenditure
It does my head though when friends think that I make a fortune and try and sponge off me!
Does anyone else get that?
C x

[Mistress_Babalon]

just realised that this is in the public forum. Edited.