The ultimate incentive worked! Now onto phase two

samedwards27

Sorry, thanks Tete and Dinah for your responses too, by the time i finished typing there was loads more!!!

I think I will do a sig, and your right, I just need to stop the silly spending too. Its the odd £10 out here or there for lunch and magazines and stuff. Stupid i know. I would leave my card at home but I get scared there will be an emergency or something!

I dont fancy the SOA though, some of the people scare me! I happily admit to my debts and that I need to make changes but the thought of people ripping my life apart scares me very much!

poddle911

I know what you mean about the SOA, Sam! But I tend to think if you read other people's and look at the suggestions, then you know exactly what you need to do and where you can cut back. And like Dinah says, it's your choice then how much you throw yourself into the debt-busting.

Dinah93

Excuse the bluntness Sam, but if you're scared of people seeing it, you know you're overspending and don't want to justify why. I felt being open about my budget was an important part of it, even though I was spending about £100 a month on flights which should have gone towards my debt, I wouldn't have NIM here now if I hadn't, so it was worth it for me. However I couldn't justify the huge house just for me, so I moved out and cut my costs my moving back in with my folks, so that was my big sacrifice instead of the flights.

If you feel safe in here feel free to post an SOA here if you change your mind, I promise we'll be nice. It's not the aim of people to tear you apart, they're trying to help you see where you could save, and you might not even realise some costs are high until someone says 'wow, you pay £80 a month for electric, I pay £25, have you considered xyz'.

samedwards27

Dinah I appreciate your bluntness

I dont think I could properly narrow down how much i spend in things as I am such an impulse buyer-thats the problem!

I know myself, without putting an SOA I just need to stop spending on stupid things (snacks at work, magazines, drinks etc).

Its just me...thats the problem and I am slowly starting to see that. All our bills etc my debt free OH organises. (and always gets lowest etc) He is debt free and earns less than me, it just purely silly spending.

To be honest, even typing this has made me pretty ashamed.

Tete_en_l'Air

Don't be ashamed Sam, just embrace the big kick up the bum and do something about it!

Dinah93

Try spendingdiary.com Sam, I used to fritter away about £15 a week without realising, now I feel guilty if I buy a 45p bar of chocolate once a fortnight! The diary is only for you, but you enter all your spends and it is sobering seeing all this money going nowhere that could be going towards your debts/house deposit. A top/magazine/dvd/bottle of wine might feel like a small purchase at the time but added together suddenly it seems like such a waste.

samedwards27

hehe-well here is my sig

Dinah93

Wahey huge congrats Sam!!!!! I think you can officially stick this down as your LBM, as now you've got a signiture to be accountable to!

Dinah93

Oh and for anyone interested in the campervans, I found another company: www.scoobycampers.com, Scottish based one. Need to be 25 again though.

Is it wrong that I now want to buy and rent out these vans as a little side business?!

samedwards27

thank you very much-have added my LBM (under Dinahs advise!)

those campers are excellent-OHs family used to have one when he was younger and he said he loved it!

Quick ebay question-do you think a load of accessorize jewellery would sell well on ebay? I used to work there and have LOADS that i dont really use.