My MF diary

SOandSO

Well today wasn't a no spend day!

Petrol £24.60 (for getting to and from work for several days so not much I can do about this and I won't include it in future)
parking £2 (again for work so won't be included again)
Polo's x2 90p (for car )
Crisps 60p (I had home made sandwiches but hit the machine)
Mars 50p (ditto)
Coffee 4 x 35p (from machine - it was very cold)
Cigarettes £6.08 (target date for giving up is 19th December 2009)

Total excl work = £9.48 :eek:

As it's a day where not much happened that's awful (£3.40 without cigarettes - hopefully the public humiliation of wasting this money will making quitting easier)

RosieTiger

Good luck to you and welcome aboard.

SOandSO

Thank you ajmoney and rosietiger

Today's spend:

coffee x3 from machine £1.05 (still cold at work)

and it felt as tho things were going well non-spending wise but work itself was a bit awful so on the way home

2 bottles of wine £10
1 cigarettes £5.80

but then I got in and checked my e-mail and tickets for the cricket one day internationals next year were released today and I bought 4 (2x2 days) so spent £260.00 (although I should get half of that back)

notice how I hid the big spend figure

gallygirl

SOandSO wrote: »

Thank you ajmoney and rosietiger

Today's spend:

coffee x3 from machine £1.05 (still cold at work)

and it felt as tho things were going well non-spending wise but work itself was a bit awful so on the way home

2 bottles of wine £10
1 cigarettes £5.80

but then I got in and checked my e-mail and tickets for the cricket one day internationals next year were released today and I bought 4 (2x2 days) so spent £260.00 (although I should get half of that back)

notice how I hid the big spend figure

What big spend figure

Do not try to hide, we know where your credit card is :rotfl:

cazmanian_minx

*waves to the fellow self-employed person*

Good luck with it, will be reading along!

Caz

cha97michelle

Hello

Good idea to keep a spending diary. I really need to get back into it myself as i was great for the first half of this year but then really went wrong in June.

It sounds a great idea to stop smoking. I did it many years ago when i was a student and i realised i basically only had a part time job as it was paying for my smoking habit. I wanted more time to study and see friends so i stopped smoking and packed in the job. I make it sound probably simpler than it was. It took a few attempts as i decided to go cold turkey, but i managed it and haven't looked back.

Currently we are trying not to drink too much but it is hard to cut back completely on everything as we all deserve some treats in life. A bottle of wine here and there won't make too much difference in the challenge, but it would make a big difference to our happiness as we don't otherwise have nights out so it is our only real treat. I think you can only manage it if it doesn't feel too hard.

Have you thought of buying a flask or taking a travel kettle into work? I know it is only £1-2 a day, but you soon recoup the cost if you spend like that every work day.

ajmoney

cha97michelle wrote: »

Have you thought of buying a flask or taking a travel kettle into work? I know it is only £1-2 a day, but you soon recoup the cost if you spend like that every work day.

We have a boiler as part of our tea/coffee facility at work. It costs 15p a cup of tea which I know doesn't sound like much but the teabags I buy are cheaper still. I take my own teabags in and it not only saves me money but I can also drink the brand that I like. If we didn't have the boiler I would take a kettle in.

SOandSO

And I thought no-one was reading this !!!!!!!

Hi gallygirl :T– how did you know the credit card was in a big block of ice in the back of the freezer:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Hi cazmanian-minx – it will be great to have a self-employed person who understands some of the more joyful aspects (invoices not being paid in good time:rolleyes:)

Hi cha97michelle and ajmoney. I’ve thought about a flask but as I work in several different places, I don’t have a desk and I was worried the flask would leak in my bag. Your comments have made me think tho’ and I’ll try a flask in the car. I’ve chosen 19th December as my quit day because it’s my first day of Christmas holidays and I don’t go back to work until after New Year. Well done for going old turkey cha97michelle I’m not going to do that as it will be so close to Christmas (and on the two previous attempts I have got just a little bit irritable 3 or 4 days in :rolleyes:). I’m going to use the inhalers and lozenges (that I have left from last time)

Today’s spend:
1 packet of cigarettes £6.08

And that’s it !!! so if I didn’t smoke I’d have doubled my NSD total :mad:

SOandSO

Hi all

Today's spend:

Lunch £4.50 (a few of us went out for sandwiches so it was social and not just a food thing)

cigarettes £5.98

I have to work tomorrow and am really cheesed off about it :mad: :mad: :mad:

cha97michelle

Glad you have a plan, and not just from the money side of it. Your health will improve too.i don't know how i did cold turkey myself. At the time i was on between 20 and 40 a day. Mainly because i was in a new relationship with DH and knew he hated it, and also i knew someone who was having cancer treatment. I was only 21 at the time so it probably helped that i was really busy socially so no time to think about it.

The flasks - we have a brill stainless steel one that we put the actual tea in. DH bought me a cheap one as part of a gift set ages ago, and it is poor at saving heat so we take a bit of milk in that and mix the 2 when required. It is absolutely brilliant when we are about with the kids as we take some juice for them and we have the flask. None of ours have leaked. Even if you got a thermal travel cup it might reduce your spends slightly. I always think it is the smallest of savings that are really painless and make the biggest difference.