Handbags & Gladrags – Confessions of a Recovering Spendaholic

Swinstie73

Evening all,

Can't believe it is Monday tomorrow already! Was up at OH's last night, he was starting work early today so we stayed in, had a Chinese, watched X-Factor (which I forgot was on tonight so have missed it - who won?!?!), and even watched a bit of Strictly, for the first time ever. We must've been bored.

Anyway, went up the town after he went to work and wandered around the shops - can I just say, I DID NOT BUY ANY CLOTHES.... I did, however buy two bottles of shower gel at 99p each from Bodycare, and some Aspirin to make my Aspirin facemask tonight. Word of warning, do not put on then go in a bath, the honey was dripping everywhere. Skin feels all lovely now.

I'm bored and when bored want to eat, so I am gonna have a slice of toast and tea, make my tuna mayo for work tomorrow then look out some clothes for work and maybe even iron them. Have decided I must start ironing my clothes, then I can maybe find stuff to wear instead of just buying new pieces. I am learning, slowly. Have a great nite all xx

P.S. Really need to update my siggy, but still slightly scared!!!

savingholmes

Hi Swinstie - definitely leave the card at home - that is a great start - and do banking online so you can see how you are doing... I need to go back to just taking cash out with me at the weekend - a strict number - I think that alone would save me at least £100 a month!

mooomin

Hi Swinstie *waves*

Only just found your thread, but it was very nice to meet you the other week at the DFW Meet and hopefully we'll catch up again properly as I didn't really see that much of you!

I'm subscribing now, but might not read the full thread - it's huge!

Take care

f_f

Swinstie73

Hi F_F!

Was very nice to meet you too, keep meaning to get onto the daily chat but finding it hard to keep up with all the diaries I read (yours included). Wasn't easy to chat with the pub so full, felt like I was sitting miles away.

Well I can declare today a NSD, first one in a while. Have also done my new budget spreadsheet for next year, going to give myself some new challenges too, might not be to make money (did I say I hate ebay), but it certainly won't be spending it. De-cluttering is top of my list, as is paying off the debt of course, but de-cluttering of clothes will show me where I am wasting my money and hopefully un-earth some lost treasures I can wear. Go me, onwards and upwards!

Ok, dinner time now, be back later xx

Swinstie73

October Balances
£4,221.21 – Loan
£4,160.10 – Credit Cards (£370 – Virgin, £3,605 – Halifax (incl £105 transfer fee), £295.10 – Barclaycard)
£10 – Catalogue
£8,391.31 - TOTAL

November Balances
£4,075 - Loan
£5,010 - Credit Cards (£185 - Virgin, £3,500- Halifax, £1,325 - Barclaycard)
£0 - Catalogue :j
£9,085 - TOTAL

Ok, not so good, added £694 since last month, but bearing in mind £400 of that isn't mines, still leaves £294 that is right enough but will bother about that later.

Sister is paying me her Pink tickets this month and my niece and nephews over the next two months, she is getting theirs for Christmas and I don't mind the pennies of interest I will get, as she is a single mum and only works part-time. It's the least I can do

Have already allocated December's wage as get paid on Friday 18th, so another £677 to come off this total, so will essentially end the year at £8,408. Not the £7K I was aiming for but it's a start. Actually, will be getting £235 for the Pink tickets from OH and 2 off sisters, so if I pay another £208 to this (I like round numbers), this will bring it down to £8,200, sounds better methinks.

Given my DFD of March 2011 (15 months), this means I am on target to pay off £546 per month (£146 - Loan, £400 Credit Cards), BUT only if I do not add a single penny. I am toying with the idea of taking the loan out of the equation, not to write the debt off, but to concentrate on paying the CC's so at least I can see the total coming down quicker IYSWIM. The loan isn't due to be paid off until March 2012, but I am saving to pay it a year early, I might, I might not! I will have the money saved to pay it, but if my only debt is a loan at £145/month for another year, it's not very bad, is it?!

savingholmes

hi swinstie glad you are on target - the £145 a month doesn't sound too bad

Sun_Addict

Hi Swinstie

Taking the loan out of the equation is a good idea. This is what I was getting at when I posted ages ago about not counting in the loan with your debt total. I'm like you I really need to get myself sorted on the spending front next year. I know I spend way too much. I'm not adding to my debt but I need to spend a lot less than I do. It's thanks to my spending that I won't be DF by Christmas. But at least the debt will be gone by the end of the 0% in March so no more shuffling around with balance transfers. I just knew the last bit would be the hardest part!

EssexHebridean

I think Sun Addict is right - you need to take the debt out of the picture for now. By all means leave it in your sig so you can see it coming down at the planned rate each month, but at the moment it looks like having it in the overall tally is clouding things a bit. If it's your spending that concerns you the most, then the debt total you need to focus on at the moment is the total on the cards.

Something that stood out in your last post - "Ok, not so good, added £694 since last month" - except that you haven't, you've added £840 because the other £145 was the planned payment to the loan which was always going out. That's what I'm getting at by it fogging things. The loan is a structured debt with a planned repayment schedule - it's the other stuff that you are really looking to shift the focus onto isn't it? I reckon taking it out will sharpen up the goals in your own mind as you see the total drop.

Swinstie73

Hi all,

I am definitely taking the loan out of the equation (but still keep in sig), as it really is a monthly fixed payment to which I can't pay less or more. Think I will feel better seeing my credit cards coming down and it won't feel so daunting.

Well spotted on the extra spending EH, the only problem with that is, that those figures took into account payments I made to everything, so I probably spent more than even the £840! It's scary how buying a few things really adds up, it wasn't all clothes etc., but Christmas presents (even though have money saved up), food shopping, petrol, all things I should be able to pay cash for.

Think the stress is getting to me, was back to scratching like mad last night, awake and on the laptop at 3am trying to google cures! Stress was mentioned, along with other more serious stuff but I will not go there! Feeling itchy just now (all over) but not as bad as at bedtime!

I am so bored today, all the managers are at a jolly, hardly anyone in, system down for moving to a new one and all I have to do is filing! Eh no!

Sun_Addict

Good decision about the loan Swinstie - it should make things a lot less stressful for you. I think you and me both need to do some spending type challenges next year. I agree with you all the little spends add up to one big one! I don't think I could only spend £100 a year on clothes thought unless I really had to but I do need to set myself (and keep to) a strict clothing budget. I know exactly what I need to do it's just putting it into practice that's the hard bit.