How did you break your spending habit??

ExNicotineQueen

Pretty much agree with what everyone else has said. I started to keep a spending diary and was shocked at how much I was spending on ‘treats’.

Here’s what I did;

Smoking – I quit

Daily coffee at Starbucks before going to work – gave up caffeine alongside nicotine

Takeaways – these are now a fortnightly treat (as opposed to almost every night) and already accounted for in the monthly budget so once it’s gone, it’s gone

Buying lunch at work – working in London it is easy to spend £5-£7 on lunch everyday. This is what I was doing until I realised it is stupid paying £4 for a jacket potato with cheese when I could buy a big bag from the supermarket which would cost about £1.40 and the cheese £2, averaging that out over a week meant that my lunch would cost about roughly 60p per day. I also do batch cooking so Sundays I am in the kitchen making vast portions of food to freeze/take to work on the weekdays.

In some ways you also need to ask yourself why you do certain things. I would smoke because I thought it reduced stress, the coffee I associated with work (I didn’t drink tea or coffee at home), I would comfort eat if I was bored/lonely/stressed so I had to address each behaviour and change my habits.

In general I realised I was frittering my money away mainly on (junk) food and cigarettes. It has been no mean feat re-hauling myself from the pit I placed myself in but the trick is to be organised, plan, plan and plan some more and if you fall back on your old ways, don’t beat yourself up too hard. Tomorrow is a new day. I have been smoke free for almost a year now and currently eat the most fruit/veg in my diet than I have ever done at any point in my adult life.

lilian1977

An alternative to the book swapping site flugella mentioned is Bookmooch.com - you don't swap, you just send and receive using points.

Catzpaws

Since the start of the year, I have been setting a budget. To keep track of where I'm up to, I use a spending diary. This has made for scary reading ... and that's with me and OH being more careful with cash. God knows what it was like before.

Neither OH or myself spent a lot on work lunches anyway, and so there was little to trim out from there - bit frustratingly.

But, we have cut down vastly on wine, weeknight pub visits, magazines, and meals out and other ad-hoc nights out, and other treats. Also, trimmed down on big presents that we buy for friends and family and for each other. So far, not too bad.

With the magazines, I now use the internet instead and read library books.

The budget/spending diary has been the biggest tool so far. Now that I have this, I now longer wish to waste tons of cash. Don't get me wrong, I do still spend money, but I do ask myself whether I really want/need something before I buy.. It's really helped changed my mindset.

Also, I'm now batch cooking and freezing meals.. and baking treats so that we have nice stuff in the house means that we don't feel like we need meals out/take aways/trip to Starbucks - because it's all at home anyway :T :A

Finally, I have found that since I did a major declutter and organised all my books/CDS/cosmetics, etc. life seems to have got a lot easier. I can now access my 'treat's a lot easier. This includes LOADS of back issues of glossy magazines. Anally, I've organised them into categories and I can just pick one out when I want to read it. I have so many, it's pretty much like reading new material :rotfl:

I'm by no means perfect, but I like to think that bit-by-bit, we're re-educating ourselves and moving towards a healthier financial situation and better future.

Good luck - it's not just the giant leaps, but also the baby steps!

xxx

MyLastFiver

How did you break your spending habit??

They stopped lending me money!

:D:D:D

Cookie_monster_7

Thanks for the fab replies - really inspiring. The thing that seems so great about breaking the spending habit is the other positives it creates...

not spending stops clutter building up in our homes, it stops us buying junk food so we become healthier and for those that smoked, stopping that habit improves health too :j

I sold my car just before Christmas so I now try to walk everywhere or get the bus if it is too far or raining I have a long way to go though... but I am trying