Learn to control money but do not allow it to control you

williamD1964

Applied for a Egg CC with 0% for 13 months - got accepted. Then found out that I had been accepted for a CC with no 0%. Rang egg and was told "not a problem" re-apply. Re-appled today and was turned down! Have to complain to there credit people in Derby!

Guess it was just a bad day all round!

Firewalker

It seems that we all are having a bit of a rough time – but apparently this is normal for this time of the year. We are approaching the most depressed day of the year (apparently it has something to do with the aftermath of Christmas, very high expectations of the new year and very low finances because of Christmas, bills etc.). Place this most depressed day in the context of the most depressed year (when was the last time you heard good news) and it all becomes really not so difficult to understand.

But I have to work very hard at the moment to keep my belief. It is so easy to revert to old bad habits. Little voices in the head telling you that ‘you will never do this’, ‘you cannot possibly be successful in that’ and generally ‘all you do is crap, really’. Without such belief little is possible – one gives up before even trying seriously. Like Atticus always said ‘The fact that we were licked hundred years ago does not mean that we should not be trying.’ This reminds me; Harper Lee wrote only one book but this book was a classic. How about the quality vs quantity debate than…

Today I am off to Florence and will be back on Friday evening (from London). Have quite a few trips this month. Will try to write tonight but posting depends on availability of e-mail.

Keep safe, keep well and remember – January will be over soon.

Firewalker

se999

Hope the trip to Florence goes well, and hope you manage to get time to at least have a walk and enjoy the scenery.

maz1964

have a fun time in florence, love to go there one day

take care maz

ps im enjoying your thread its really inspiring thank you:j

savingwannabe

As usual, your message is perfectly timed. It can only get better. Weather is distinctly drizzly here i hope you are having lovely coffee's watching the world go by.

williamD1964

Hope you get a chance to enjoy florence. The city is magnificent (won the holiday therer last year). Safe travels

thriftyscotslass

Hope your trip to Florence goes well FW and that you get a little time to yourself to enjoy the city.

Had to giggle at your post about your glasses and needing a magnifying glass - I can so relate - all I can add to this discussion is that my arms are just not long enough (and that's with my new glasses, sshhh:rotfl:)

Thriftyxxx

Firewalker

Hi gang,

I am back - the first complicated trip of the month is over and it was fine. So, yesterday was Florence, in the evening London and tonight back home. In Florence my hotel was in the very centre - had a 30 minutes walk about and do you know what? For the first time I was completely 'awake', my senses open and enloying the moment. We have been to Florence before but strangely did not remember the feeling that it fills one with. Wonderful...I even took a picture of the entrance to a particular art galery OH want to see - for him, so he can put it on his 'dream board'. And like the museums in Washington we will see it together when the Universe delivers.

Feeling tired but good - work was fine; the journey went well (despite a faulty plane in Zurich but it was mended and was late only about 1h and 30 min; so no spending the night in Zurich which with me is becoming an expected thing nowadays).

Little Boy has gone to a birthday party sleep over, Young Man is at his friend's and OH and I are probably going to go to the cinema.

Keep well
Firewalker

InaPickle

Sounds lovely, Firewalker.

Enjoy the cinema if you go.

Firewalker

Good morning,

I am awake again, on Sunday, at silly o’clock again but this time it is not because I can’t sleep. Today, I could have slept for the European Union and the World and would have won the Championship – this is how tired I feel. No. I am awake because I am going for my long(ish) run this morning and after that we are off to nearby small town where Little Boy has a rugby match. This should be fun – it is wet and muddy outside.
Yesterday, OH and I had a bit of an argument. You have guessed it, it was about money; but not about money as such but about our approach to money. If there is one thing that I learned last year is that people who achieve financial freedom, or even turn their financial situation around, know exactly, almost to the penny, what they earn, spend and what is left. Anything less is not good enough. OH, on the other hand, is notoriously imprecise with money – he still speaks (and I suspect thinks) in ‘exact’ terms like ‘couple of hundred quid’, ‘few thousands’ etc. This is driving me mad – emotionally I revert over a year ago when I first heard about the situation we are in. And yesterday I really started shouting again; worse – I don’t even know whether OH understands why I am so upset and why it is important to me to talk in proper numbers.

As to numbers, last week I had the feeling that I am spending far too much again. It is just a feeling, though, because I was on expenses. Then again, when traveling one needs to spend something – particularly when travelling for work. My spending was mostly on taxis and food, both needed and necessary. Interestingly, I have become quite aware; I think I am waking up to life. Did I mention that in one of the books I have been reading the author said the he always ended up having the chicken in restaurants because it was the cheapest thing on the menu? Well, I realise that if I don’t catch myself I do the same – and I have decided that I am not going to end up with the chicken (in any form or sense).

This week we have done the shopping for food and have spent £41 on this. Still not sure whether we will manage to live on £100pw for our baseline expenditure, but we are trying.

Firewalker