First one to clear 15k gets a paper hat

American_Dreamer_2

What I try to do is accept that so long as I stick to my plan my DFD will arrive and for me its all about trying to achieve other things in the meantime. I would like to have some savings for a deposit on a house in a couple of years and get fit and healthy, perhaps learn another langauge.

I have been teetotal for 5 weeks now and plan to stop smoking tomorrow. Being drunk and gambling online has been my downfall but I am only 23 at the moment and I guess so long as I remain disciplined, I can achieve anything that I desire though its so much easier writing it down just now than actually doing it.

Hopefully I can look back on this post in a couple of years time and be proud of what i've managed to do.

I am on the right path.....

CAFCGirl

You're definitely in the right place AD!
Well done on coming this far.
In terms of looking ahead, I cant think in years, as thats too depressing for me, instead I look for markers in my journey, so this challenge, getting under 15k, then under 10k and then under 5k, cancelling each credit card, clearing a loan etc, is what DH and I look forward to. 36 months, or 3 years for our DFD just feels like a lifetime, so this works better for us, as we feel like we're making inroads more regularly.

poorandindenial

Hi AD :wave:

I find it really hard to think of my DFD being so far in the future. I am the most ridiculously impatient person and have to shut it out or else it would make me go mad. I sort of forget it until I hit a milestone (sub £25k was a biggie for me - next one will be no credit cards) then I allow myself to look BACK at what I have done but I still have to mentally pretend that the long slog in the future doesn't exist.

Still no movement on my POA but no-one is going to fall over in shock at that

Happy Sunday everyone.

CAFCGirl

Morning (just about)

Hope everyone is having a top debt busting weekend and doing well with all their xmas presents, and getting some bargains.

Now cmon PAID, get a wriggle on with that POA, whats the least time consuming thing on your list that you can do today? Surely you can get one thing done....

My parents are visiting us today, and taking us out for lunch so that will b nice. No plans to spend anything, but we might take a look at some token xmas presents, even though we told people we wouldnt be buying, thought we might have a look and see if we can find anything for people for £10 for the family unit, so per couple, per family etc, rather than individual presents per person... we shall see

jenjade

working hard on qype to get the £50 voucher it is to easy but time consuming!!

poorandindenial

CHeers for the kick CAFCGirl - I need that as (you might have notices) I am inherently lazy

Hmmm, I think I had Play.com listing and matched betting as my things to do so I will try today to get my head around matched betting and see if I can understand all the acnronyms, jargon and get the general gist by the end of the day.

PinkTwirl

I'll join in the competition!!! I have £15K to clear asap (well, it's £21K but most of the extra £6K is made up of overdrafts and set payments to DFS, so I'm not going to worry about them, it's the credit cards which are the pain and are holding me back).

No more clothes shopping for me, boo-hoo! :rotfl:

CAFCGirl

Welcome aboard Pink Twirl.

Had v.nice day out with the husband and my parents, and we didnt spend a penny! Got lunch paid for us and my parents also bought us some brand new (rather decent) baking trays as ours have gone a bit cruddy and rusty!

Shall be having a very lazy evening tonight as im not feeling too chipper, might be popcorn and a dvd in bed for me

ShelleyC_2

CAFCGirl, sorry you're not feeling well - there's lots of nasty bugs around.

I agree with everyone if you try and think about the full amount of debt to clear and how long it might take it can be very scary. I used to look at it as small chunks and always aimed for rounded numbers (I hated having any pennies on my total not sure why!)

Have to confess since being debt free I've lost the MSE mojo. I find myself frittering money on daft things (shopping at Waitrose for food staples and clothes / make up / dvds I don't really need) So gave myself a talking to today. Going to try and get focused again. Plan meals, sort out paperwork and be more proactive about saving. Set up my HSBC advance current account, including a regular saver with £250 / month and an instant access saver to skim any spare into.

Going to hang around DFW & MFW boards as I find so much motivation. Also got to think the spare cash I've got now will soon disappear when I do buy a house so should make the most of it now

CAFCGirl

Well said Shelley.....

Feeling a bit better, but will defo need a good nights sleep tonight.
Thought perhaps i would make DH a stocking for christmas, limit of like £30, and just get him little treats, make up vouchers etc. We cant do much, but its still nice to get something... so gna be working on some ideas this week and see if I can get those on payday and then it'll be done.
Spent too much money this month without thinking about it enough so need to stop that rather sharpish!

Got letter to send tomorrow about the damp situation in our flat. So feeling pretty good about progress on my POA, although need to read back and see what else i put on there!
Done my dooyoo review for today so finally hit 25k!!!!! I'm really hoping I can get to 50k before xmas