Hello! Newbie!

determinedtodothis

:mad: Printed off a voucher for la tasca.....and they'd closed down...

but went to a pub just bought nibbles and stuck to coke and spent £10.00 anyways so not tooo bad

Today I had to pay for Parking (£4) bit annoying but i had to be in work early and will be here til late so don't want to walk home when its deserted and dark!

Planned my weekend already, might have some friends round on the saturday x-factor/strictly and i'm doing nothing on Sunday so 2 NSD hopefully! i'm getting god at those now, did find myself looking longingly in to the vending machine earlier trying to resist the "i've already spent today so it doesn't matter trap!" MUST RESIST MUST RESIST!

have a friends birthday party on friday but i have been good, i explained my situ and how well i had done and that i was trying to keep it up and i'm going to go to the party but not till a bit later when its in the swing and i have a budget for 2 large glasses of wine, i have a card from a load I bought in a sale ages and ages ago and i think i might have a spare xmas pressie i can wrap up and give (shhh...don't tell any one) :rolleyes:

I may try for another NSD tomorrow but i will see how i go with xmas and boxing day added to what i've already done that 6 our of my 10 if i manage NSD this weekend i will hit my target no trouble

hope you are all well x

determinedtodothis

Monday
£5.00 taxi home
£15.00 Xmas Party :mad:

Tuesday

£10.00 Dinner and Drinks for mates Birthday

Wednesday

£4 Parking

Thursday
Sun bed for xmas party - using lost voucher found and still valid :T
NSD ...So Far :T

Friday

£10 friends Birthday
£10.00 food shop
£70 Train
£105 Council Tax

Saturday
£000000

Sunday
£000000

So far a 40% of December has been spend free :T

iwanttobreakfree

Good god you've seriously paid off over £3k in 4 months? That is amazing how have you done it?!

determinedtodothis

Hey iwanttobreakfree

I have really really really cut back, i've being ebaying, i did some work for a friend for a couple of weekends that earnt me a couple of hundred, i've stopped storing money in the petrol tank, i worked out i needed about £7 and that see's me through the week & then i check the local petrol prices, what else erm..i:

• I walk to the station (saving £20 a week),
• I take pack lunch in to work (saving £20 a week),
• no more paper in the morning (saves £1.50 a week),
• no more tea at work at 70p a go (saves £7.00 a week)
• cut my shopping bill and challenge myself - this week £10 (saving £50 week!!),
• Weekly dinner menu (helps with above)
• bulk buy chocolate bars in the weekly shop (saves £4.98 a week - works vendor is really really expensive!)
• No Spend Days - brilliant really makes me resist
• and i plan a month ahead for bdays, days out etc.. and i stick to them or i try an arrange something thats within my budget, the girls might invite me out and i might offer to drive and limit myself to 2 cokes or something, or like parties i will go a little later and budget for a couple of drinks, that way i get there when the parties in full swing and i don't have to leave early coz i have had my two glasses of wine & run out of money, tomorrow for example i'm getting to my mates party at 9ish i have money for 2 large glasses of wine and i will probably leave at the respectable time of 11 when the pub shuts - its all about tricking my head into thinking i'm not suffering and stopping myself getting depressed because thats when the call of the shops and the urge to buy stuff and the craving for that silly contentment i use to feel walking out of a shop with a carrier bag starts creeping in - i'm an emotional spender unfortunatley

The above is a saving of about £413 a month - i didn't realise where it was all going! i was shocked and slightly embarrased! so thats why suddenly theres been dramatic payments made since i've started lurking and posting on here, i think it will slow down now but i'm trying my hardest to keep momentum up. I've joint the £20k by xmas 09 and although i have my doubts i will push myself to do it and if i do i will have money left over for a holiday next year and all my presents for xmas or worst case a huge amount of debt gone! i've managed £369 so far this month not sure where the other £1297 i have to pay this month to keep me on track to meet the challenge is going to appear from between now and the 31st december at the moment tho will have to get my thinking cap on....:rolleyes:

i've also:

• Started using Quidco and got about £60 back for just buying things like contents insurance...cashback all went on debt
• I've started the electricity challenge which has halved my consumption! so when the bill arrives any money i have left over from what i put aside will..you guessed it go on the debt!
• Started cooking from scratch which is sooooo much cheaper
• and i've stopped going out! *LOL*, well up until december (!) i was doing 1 big night out a month and even then on a budget which all helped and then my mates come over to me for a cuppa tea and a bit of cake (home made) i don't feel so bad then.

And basically just waking up and smelling the coffee now if i have money in my purse, where as i would think £2 is not going to go very far towards my debts and buy something or waste it, it now goes on my debts - that payment a day thing kinda gave me the idea my £2 coin is going to pay my broadband this week whereas i would have treated myself to a mag or a cup of tea at work (instead of making my own) back in the day.

I didn't realise how silly i was with money until i found this board, not with C/Cards and Loans i knew that but i mean with wasting what disposable i did have :embarasse

determinedtodothis

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
:j :j :j :j :j :j :j :j :j :j

Just had a quick chat with the mortgage company to check where i am and

my mortgage has gone down by £79.97 and i have another 1% drop possibly coming - being announced on the 18th apparently :T

So i will be paying £328.22 extra and have my arrears cleared in no time!

YAY FOR THE BANK OF ENGLAND

In honour of this great news i paid £17.51 off the mortgage that i had left over (get paid tomorrow)

iwanttobreakfree

Wow well done you! Its so impressive how much you have managed to cut back and save. I'm a bit gutted about losing that £35 from my classes but January and February are ALWAYS busy in the fitness world so I'm going to try make as much as I can in these months and get stuff paid off!

I hope you can continue your great momentum up and I hope to follow in your footsteps!

determinedtodothis

Thanks iwanttobreakfree! i'm trying although not made any payments out of the salary this week so i'm just going to have as much of a spend free week as possible

I've chased up Quidco because some of my transactions aren't being tracked...and typically its all the biggy's!

41.6 % of a No Spend December!

ElizabethJH

Hey you're blog has just really cheered me up!! Getting into the Friday mood now good luck with it!! xx

determinedtodothis

Ah Thanks ElizabethJH! actually writing on here cheers me up to it makes me think about what i have actually acheived sometimes i forget and i'm making little payments here and there that don't seem a lot till you ad them up!

Happy Friday to you! :beer:

LittleEmms

Hi Determined -

Only just found your diary - I'm a newbie too and I'm SO impressed by all you've done so far!! AMAZING!!!! :T :T

Congratulations on your new job too!! Everything sounds like its going in the right direction... I hope you don't mind but you have another reader now!

Emms