Reformed shopaholic? please can you give me the benefit of your advice

Mags30

verynewmoneysaver wrote: »

I got a free gift with purchase bag, a big over the body one. It was free with all perfumes over £20. Do they sell on ebay do you know? Hoping for a NSD today.

I haven't seen the bag you are talking about but almost everything sells on ebay so definitely worth a try. Do a search and see if other people are selling the same one and see how much for.

Since the perfume purchase last week I haven't been near the shops but I have been eating out a bit more than is MSE.

tyzer2001

Well I have had a mixed spend day really. From the 'Necessities' purse, I have spent £2 for my daughter to go swimming, £3 on new bras for her (I had a £7 voucher), £5.25 on groceries and £20 on a bill.
From the 'Unnecessities' (I don't think that's a real word lol) purse I spent £1 on a scratchcard (normally I would spend £5-£10 a day on these) and £1 on a caramel pudding, because I was feeling deprived!

NGlady

Good evening one and all

Completelylost - I so echo what you are saying about wanting everything that you see now we're not allowed to buy IT :O I saw a beautiful summer skirt and top today in Oasis works out at £51 in principle because of my refunds today, I could afford it but i said... NO I WILL NOT BUY THAT BEAUTIFUL SKIRT AND TOP... I've promised it myself end of the month if I behave well

Don't dye your hair too quick though - it will make it quite unhealthy, wait until you really can't stand it anymore just to allow your hair to breath

Tyzer is your lottery tickets your biggest downer? A lot of people on here have got reasons for their problems, often if its a clothes addiction not having much money to be fashionable when kids etc. Can you think back in your life and wonder why you are into lottery tickets so much? Well done on getting it down to only one though

Ok so onto my daily review

Total refunds £50 - £21 of this in cash, £29 in debenhams voucher.

Had quite an entertaining time in Debenhams. Returned a gorgeous silk dress which cost me £29 the other week, returned as although I love it, its coming summer now and its too hot to wear silk like that and to be honest come next winter I hope to Have lost weight also I think it was slightly on the "grown up" side even fo me Got to debenhams and they tried refusing my the return saying as I brought it from coast I could only swap for a coast item (Gee thanks I can buy a dress which is twice as expensive as my refund lol) So I kicked off a little, "WHY always in the past I had a gift voucher" etc etc so it wasnt going anywhere so demanded to see manager queue some nail tapping on the desk, girlie disappeared returned 10 minutes later an elusive manager was going to give me the refund as a gesture of goodwill, hmmm. lol. *And breath!*

Nearly did buy a bag for £6 out of part of the voucher, but I put it back

Ok so total expenditure today a wopping... £18.42 :O :O (I know, i REALLLLY did go to the city and only spend £18.42!!!) something did occure to me though, how conciously I had to do this it didnt just come natural to me, hopefully I will be able to report in a month or so how natural its coming to me now

Also only brought things that we're essentials

So... £4.60 buses.. £4.49 dinner (Remaining food budget: £18.31 :O really need to start cutting this back slightly, its got to last until end of the month :O)

2x cotton t-shirts from Primark total charge £3

Joggy bottoms - returned the primark ones yesterday. Debenhams, £6 (Tried a gorgeous gray dress on in Debenhams but I said NO - it was my challange today to only spend what was in my purse at the time of getting to the shopping centre, by buying the dress it would break my challange)

So yes... I would class that as doing good I know to a lot of people its still a naughty day but its improving Got to improve I want my gorgeous blue and yellow skirt and top from Oasis lol roll on the 1st May

Im off to perve at the Holby Doctors now

tyzer2001

NGLady - I have a gambling addiction, which is currently just about under control. I have self-excluded myself from every bingo site, online casino, and whatever that I can think of although you'd be surprised how many new ones pop up every day.
It stems back to my childhood when one of my earliest memories is my gran, feeding money into the fruit machine at the Catholic Club, and letting me press the button. Set me up for life, she did.
So, I stay away from the sites, from the casino, from the bingo hall - I've never been into betting shops so that's not an issue - and scratchcards are my only gambling vice now. So yes, only buying a £1 one is a great victory for me!

morocha

tyzer... you have done well then !!
nglady... go on !! you can get your lovely things from Oasis.. just 3 weeks more :T
CL... i agree with the girls... wait a bit before dying your hair again...

Today OH took us for dinner and bought another project car.... so today my spents £0 although i think i should pay for going out more as my oh is so generous i think i am taking advantage of him... I will organize going to the pictures this week ( got free tickets) and will pay for our dinner out so will feel better with myself...

I honestly can say that living in a small town really limit my choices in buying things BUT i love shopping online... which i havent done for a while now.

CompletelyLost

Evening,

So I walked into town... was only there for about 10 mins and then bumped into my mum, who gave me a lift back. Posted parcels (£6.32), 51p to post BW swap & bought another box of dye (£4.49 at Savers)... but got home and read some reviews about it that don't look too good. Do you think they'll let me return it for a refund? :S

I was going to dye my hair tonight but you ladies are all probably right... although it doesn't feel any more dry than usual, tis probably best to leave it a week or so.

morocha - our town is quite small too, the only decent clothes shops we have are New Look & Dorothy Perkins, and they're only tiny branches. So I feel your pain re: online shopping.

tyzer - well done on buying the one scratchcard. I used to enjoy a little gamble (nothing excessive really... just the odd £1 here and there). Now I just stick to buying one lottery ticket per week and that's enough for me. I just think of other things I could buy with those £s and it stops me -- I know it's not always that easy though.

NGlady - I think it's a good idea to treat yourself at the end of the month if you stay on-budget.

Your Debenhams refund experience sounded quite daunting! If it was me I'd have probably walked out and sent my mum in to argue with them for me :S I'm not very good at dealing with that sort of situation... thankfully most of my refunds have been hassle-free (lol... and given how many things I take back per month, that's quite amazing). At least you got a gift voucher in the end

You all keep mentioning the two-purses thing and for some reason I must have missed that post! Gonna scroll through and see if I can find it.

NGlady

CL - Yes I do an amazing amount of refunds. There is a part in "saving karyn" where shes doing her refund charge thing on her card where she says people are starting to notice her when shes doing her refunds, that hit home as I am completely like that, always think people are recognising me lol.

It was something I suggested Having a normal purse for your day to day life, then X amount each week/month for your vice in another puse, so be it shopping/magazines/food etc and basically when you want a item thats your vice you have to get it out your other purse

I worryingly think shops are starting to be a bit more stricter with their refunding policies Oh dear oh dear!!

I will happily argue and demand a manager, my mum is far too scared in crowds to do it for me lol.

Morocha, my local town sounds similar. A new look and a dorothy perkins - have to travel for anything worth while lol. Your OH sounds a gem and remember he wouldn't be doing gestures like that if he didn't want to/ think you deserve them

Tyzer - least youve realized your problem and are actively dealing with it

I have a mini list compiled already of things im going to buy pmsl - hopefully A: some of these things will be in the sale B: some of them will sell out C: I won't like them anymore. Another thing has crossed my thought path ref this challange which I need to decide about, i've seen lots of things I want in Oasis, which I can afford next weekend going by my maths, and i've got a discount that needs to be used by the 17th April, so thinking I need to get them next weekend as its a £20 off voucher

Oh I dunnoooo

NSD for me tomorrow I hope

Oh on a funny note, I had my landline ring about an hour ago, I answered it "Hello" "I said Hello" thinking somebody had rang in the early hours... it was my phone who rang the house phone :$ I shouldnt be allowed near technology lol.

supersmith

Nglady, that made me laugh! Technology conspiring against you eh? Well done on your new restrained thinking

CL - not sure whether they'd let you take the dye back? Might be worth a try if you won't use it. I need to dye mine as well, mine's naturally brown but I put red bits in the front... when I don't keep dying it it turns pink :eek:

tyzer - well done on the one scratch card. It makes a massive difference if you can cut right down like that!

morocha, what are you going to see in the cinema with your free tickets?

flickering ember, where do you want to go with your passport when you get it?

I need to stop popping to the shops and buying food. My OH is worse than me at this and always suggests 'let's go and get so and so for tea', really need to just eat stuff that's in the house instead!
Monday spent £2.40 on food for dinner and £2 on drinks = £4.40
Tuesday 60p on crisps and £6 on a dress from a charity shop (from my clothes purse, so £9 left, eek!)

I need to decide what to do with this dress. It's cotton with a nice texture, simple shift dress shape but quite short lol. It's pale grey at the min, which 1. doesn't suit me and 2. makes it look like a tennis dress So, I will spend some clothes money on dye - but what colour?? I wanted to get some black dye anyway for a faded pair of jeans... but the dress is quite summery as sleeveless... maybe red instead or turquoise??? Can't decide.

NGlady

SS - Yep Im glad you understand the serverity of the problem, all technology poducts seem to work AGAINST me :O Such as my Laptop battery and it's constantly decreasing battery life . . . Need new laptop, this one is 2 years old, and all the letters on the keys have worked off. . . me, type to much, never

Gray is very "in" at the moment, but I think a nice Turquoise colour would be nice

Can you OH afford to keep buying bits and bobs, or do you need to educate him/fall out with him if he doesnt stop it? lol.
CL - I think they would probably take it back if its obvious it hasnt been opened, like clingfilm on it, otherwise I don't think they would.

On a completely off topic note, my mobile bill has just arrived, and its a good £20/£25 less than most months :O shows its worth giving the company a call to lower package price when out of contract. Also being careful with the 0870 etc numbers, I was a !!!!!! for them in the past, at one point i was dealing 0800 rip off from my mobile instead of 0800 free from the landline just to avoid walking downstairs. . . A vey reasonable £20.25, im very happy

verynewmoneysaver

Well done NGlady. With the 2 purses do you put in so much to last the week to spend on non-essentials? Thought I might start off with £10. Didn't have NSD yesterday as bought a lamp from Grabbit thread. That thread is fatal! Going to try to have one today!