Hands up! Who is obsessed with.........

devils_nose

I'm completely obsessed too - after having a complete finacial nightmare last year, I have to be really anal about my budget or I just won't stick to it!! I've managed to stay in the black for nearly a year now but I've started to slack in places now and I have to get back under control!!

I check my bank balance every day and have an excel workbook that schedules everything going through my banks account, my budget, my credit card, my loan and my savings.. I'm a total loser..

But I will be debt-free in 18 months :T

**purpleprincess**

Hello!! I am a newbie!!! :j

I must admit that I have become obsessed too!!! I have just recently started taking control of my finances (New Year resolution and all that! :rolleyes: ) and the wonderful world of t'internet led me to the door of MSE!!!!

I love this site now!! And have started saving 2 pound coins and have managed to make a start on clearing the debts and have now got lots of new ideas to go forth with thanks to the lovely people on this site!!

My boyfriend thinks it's so funny as when we met 18 months ago I was the complete opposite, spend spend spend, that was me!! :rotfl: And look at me now!! He is very pleased!! As are my friends and family, although a little sick of hearing about MSE!

AND I've given up smoking!!! :j

I so look forward to chatting to other members!!!

Have a good day!! :A

loubie_lou

Well done PurplePrincess that is excellent news!

TurnaroundSue

Hi All

I have been a subscriber to MSE for a while now, but it was only last week that I took a peek at the boards, and since then I have fallen in love!!! No seriously, I feel like I am in love all over again. There is now a spring in my step.

I gave up a well paid job 5 months ago to go self employed and since that time have only been able to draw £1150 (where as was nearly taking that home each month), so have had to cut back on my spending. The ironic thing is we are now better off since going self employed, as I now I cannot spend on the cc and catalogues and pay off each month as we don't have the money to do it. When the business picks up (and hopefully it will) it will be like we are millionaires.

But logging on the boards this last week and seeing all the support/knowledge and inspiration by some of your stories, has made me even more determined to succeed.

To help my situation I have:

1) Thrown a snowball and found my debt free date of 11/2010
2) Started cutting my dishwasher tablets in half
3) Adding water to milk to make it last longer
4) Started the £2 club
5) Will be starting the shopping challenge this month
6) Most of all, feel that I have made friends - just by viewing the boards and seeing how lovely everybody is.

I know now that when I need help/support/advice I just need to log on.

Will stop rambling - thanks MSE and everybody - I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Chortle_2

My name is Chortle, and I am addicted to MSE...

I lurked on here for *ages* before recently deciding to take the plunge and post. I'm not entirely sure what stopped me before, but I have a nasty feeling that it was something to do with the fact that although I was fully aware of my debt, and working towards clearing it, I hadn't quite got to the point where I could admit it 'out loud' as it were.

Something inside my brain switched on in January, and I suddenly realised that although I'd come a hell of a long way with clearing it, I was becoming complacent, and was never going to be able to clear the rest at the rate I'd slowed to. I went back to checking my accounts online every day (sometimes more lol) - something I'd done previously, but got out of the habit of doing. I started completing my spreadsheets every day again too, in more detail than ever. (I'd started not bothering until the end of the month, by which time I had invariably overspent :doh: )

My mindset now seems to be firmly back in the right place after my little slip (and to be fair, it was only really 2/3 months - I'd cleared over £32k at that point, and probably needed a break lol) and I am more determined than ever to get this done, and to stay aware of the pitfalls of spending once I am debt free - no more little slips... ever. Which is probably why I seem to spend all day on MSE and playing with numbers on increasingly complicated spreadsheets :rotfl:

jaxxy00

Im obsessed about checking this site daily and especially just before going shopping to Tesco in case of any misprices (only had 2lupms of cheese to date) and also keeping up to date on the Boots bargains. Everyone takes the mick about how i may as well live in Boots becuase of the time i spend in there.

Im always aware of the prices and checking if something is cheaper elsewhere. Made me laugh when i read on one of the threads about someone breaking off the mushroom stalks before buying as ive done this myself too!! Havent gone as far as the old lady who takes her knife in the supermarket and cuts the brocolli stalks off though. On occasions if i have seen people buying something which i know is cheaper somewhere else i tell them and usually they are very grateful and put it back.

I would like to say welcome to devils_nose, **purpleprincess**, turnaroundsue, chortle, zippy, lucylu23, snowpixie, lynzpower, Queen.bess who are all newbies this month. Im sure you already know this if youve been looking around the site but its a great place to ask anything you want to know and you get to feel like MSE is part of the family. I genuinely do not know what i would do without it, like many others on here. Im hooked!!!

Well done Martin on a brill site. :T

dare_bee

Personally i am not in debt (well techincially i am, parents are funding a slight mishap (or several) that i may have had on my credit card, 8 1/2 months left of paying £150 to them, small fries compared to others here!) but for what its worth i have actually become obsessed with this area of the site and love reading when everyone is debt free, what they're now putting money towards and the elation thats felt when its all off their chests. Still living at home and with littl eto pay out i haven't managed to get myself in debt, but in some strange way reading everyones plights has warned me totally off of it. Before i had the attitude of 'well if i can't spend money on nothing now when can i?!' but since reading the numerous threads on here i've started ferreting money away (i think this has almost started to become unhealthy!) to warn me off of coming into a debt free position. So I guess all in all i've become an anti-debt-free-wannabe (if that makes sense!)

lynzpower

Just to add that last night we went to a brilliant pub and it only cost £2 a pint ( Samuel Smiths brewery, keep an eye out for those Londoners!) and in a glorious pub on the river to boot. We got thoroughly drunk, and had a kebab on the way home and spent less than £20 between us!! I was so chuffed with that!!