tara747's savings and weight loss challenge!!

tara747

OK, this is going to give me a kick up the backside with my savings and weight loss! I know that a lot of potential FTBs are saving for a house and there are already a couple of threads on this topic, but I need the motivation of a public confessional to keep me on the straight and narrow!!

I have the following aims:

1. To save as much as possible for an eventual house deposit
2. To stop wasting money on pretty sparkly things in Accessorize (I only buy sale items so convince myself that it's ok!!) - which will obviously help with #1
3. To lose a stone and a half by Christmas

Short term challenges for the next ten days

I am going to challenge myself to:

1. put another £100 in my websaver, I can do it!
2. have two more No Spend Days in July (have managed only two so far)
3. eat no more chocolate for the rest of the month (argh!!)

Savings so far: £14,600
Current a/c balances: £1200
Current weight: about 9st 9lbs (I am only 5'3" so this is bad and my body fat is about 30% - v. bad)

I need support! Anyone want to join?

Lokolo

I would quite happily join but I am udnerweight and a money saver.... 2 + 2 = 5 there

Good luck though!

savingpennies

You might want to look at the 'How much can you save?' sticky at the top. Lots of people there setting themselves the challenge to save.

tara747

Lokolo wrote: »

I would quite happily join but I am udnerweight and a money saver.... 2 + 2 = 5 there

Good luck though!

I am a saver but this is my attempt to save more by not wasting small bits of money on silly things. I already do all the MS stuff like bringing my own lunch to work, walking/cycling everywhere, seeking out bargains, buying reduced stuff for the freezer, shopping around and getting cashback for everything possible, only buying clothes etc in the sales - it's just that I could be doing a bit better and paring my spending down a bit!

I have quite a large disposable income so should be able to save more - am currently saving about £600-700 per month.

tara747

savingpennies wrote: »

You might want to look at the 'How much can you save?' sticky at the top. Lots of people there setting themselves the challenge to save.

Here is an interesting article, I could have written tip #21 myself!

http://www.savingadvice.com/blog/2008/03/27/102079_21-days-to-a-negative-money-habit.html

21. Hang out in the stores for fun. Going to stores when you don’t need anything is a bad habit that can cost you big money. Rare is the person who can just wander the mall without buying something. These little “somethings” add up and cut into your net worth. Better to only shop when you need something and find something else to do for fun. A corollary to this one is to rely on commercially prepared entertainment like movies, theater productions, arcades, premium cable packages, and theme parks for your fun. A little of this is fine, but when it becomes a habit to go to the movies or a theme park for fun, it gets expensive. Find cheaper ways to entertain yourself.