Willpower pleasssssssssssssssssssse !!!!!!

trixiepix

Hi there

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MargB

Hello

you've done the right thing by wanting to get out of the debt cycle. Little debt amounts can so easily become larger and larger, before you realise it.

Many of us on here have had (and still contonue to have) willpower issues, so you are not alone.

Try making out a statement of affairs to see where tyou may be able to make further savings.

keep a spending diary and itemise every single penny you spend...I was shocked how much I spent on work lunches. I allow myself two bought work lunches a week (£10 in total) and I bring from home the rest of the time. Its a compromise I'm happy with.

Take it a day at a time.

I've ended up becoming as avid about saving as I was about spending.... I loathe having to break inoit my savings for anything now :rotfl:

Dealingwithdebts

Hi trixiepix

You sound just like I was, this post could of been me about a year ago (although with a bit more debts but still not huge compared to a lot of people on here!). I was concerned about how much we owed but as we were making the monthly payments, I wasn't worried enough to stop spending and do something about them! I think if you're anything like me, you will just wake up one day and think 'right, that's enough!' My 'lightbulb' moment was in August when I realised that although our debts were managable and we were paying the min payments each month, they weren't going down, and I just got fed up of paying soooo much in interest and owing money!

Since then I've been working so hard to pay back my debts and estimate that I should be debt free by end October. However I'm going to continue doing 2 jobs until Christmas so I can build up a bit of money for savings and for a few treats for me and my husband! When I first started my second job, I was tempted every week to buy stuff for me with some of the money each week but managed to keep my self control and put it all towards debts. Now I think my mindset has changed as I actually look forward to paying money off the debts each Monday morning and don't even want to buy anything for myself! I really think that when you hit your moment when you decide enough is enough, your outlook on money will change and that's when you will want to do something about it and be able to resist the temptation to spend. That's what happened to me anyway!!

trixiepix

Thanx so much for your advice, i've always owed money since i can remember, and although it's only ever been a couple of thousand pounds at any one time, when i think about the amount of money i have wasted on basically nothing i could cry!!

I'm living in hope i can change into an avid saver instead of a reckless spender, i need to get a rush from having money in the bank rather than frittering it away on stuff that quickly become useless buys.

I'm gonna be 40 next year and have had a bit of a reality check (big birthdays gotta habit of doing that!!)
We really need to be changing our car next year and i would love to think at some point we could buy our own house, (long story but DH had cancer when he was in his 20's and we put off buying a property and then couldn't afford it when the kids came along) - if only i could turn back time!!!!

I'm gonna get myself a notepad and start being honest with myself about what i'm spending rather than having the 'i'm gonna spend it now and worry later attitude' and i think it's time to start ebaying all of the useless 'must have's' i've gathered!!!:)

Dealingwithdebts

Hi again!

With me it was just realising that although we could afford the minimum payments, when you added them all up we could be so much better off each month if we weren't paying them!! Also because we want to try for a baby we need to get our monthly outgoings down as much as possible so we can survive on just my husbands wages if necessary, and I was ringing round utility companies to cut things down and suddenly realised that if we paid off our debts, we could cut our monthly outgoings down so much!

Then when I looked into it more I realised how much interest we had actually paid on things and it made me feel sick! We had a £600 Argos card and a £600 Homebase card that we were paying approx £25 each month to each one. We had been paying these for over 2 years and the balances hadn't gone down - when I looked through the statements properly I realised that our monthly payments were equal to the interest added! So in effect we had paid over the total amount owed to each card but the balances hadn't reduced! I got so much satisfaction when I went in and paid them off!

I am confident now that I won't get myself into a mess again and I am looking forward to having a weekend away with my husband where everything is paid upfront and not on the credit card - I feel we will really deserve it once the debts are gone and will apreciate it even more knowing that we are not borrowing money to pay for it like we always have in the past!

If you concentrate on paying your debts back now, you culd continue to save for a house and car once they are gone and it will feel sooooo good! Good luck with it, there are plenty of people on here going through the same thing and who will give you support and ideas!

trixiepix

Hi there,

Thank you for sharing your experiences, when i think about it, with the loan repayment + 2 x credit card payments, plus next account (only £35 on that fortunately) plus 1 x other catalogue (plus have a couple of hundred pounds on buy now pay next year) we are at least £200 a month down, plus the overspending that i do per month, probably in total amounts to at least £400 - £500, i can barely believe we could be (at least) £100 per week better off.

I know i'm a bit of a compulsive personality and that has manifested itself in many aspects of my life, compulsive spending being one of them and the feeling of entitlement to have things whether the money was there or not ( who do i think i am????).

Anyway, you have done so well with repaying your debts, you are i'm sure very proud of yourself, i hope i can take on a little of what you have done and set myself on the debtfree road.

dorisday

H i just want to say that spending becomes a habit and we all know how difficult it can be to breack a habit.
Give yourself some time at not spending at all may take a few weeks or more but it does work. When you have to start spending again you will find the short time you didnt spend has become a habit too and one you dont want to stop.
Anyhow give it a shot - it works for me. and I say im the worlds best spender.:cool:

trixiepix

Hey Dorisday,

My OH tells me a should have a degree in spending ( i tell him it takes years of training to get this good!!!)

Thank you for your advice and you are so right that spending is just another habit that you need to try to kick, i suppose it's getting the balance right as you can't totally abstain from spending as there are things you have to buy but i guess it's knowing when to stop!!!

I think i'm gonna, for now at least, stop visiting shops, online stores etc until i've broken the back of my habit!!!! (i'm gonna have to completely change my social life as my day's off are usually filled with going to the shops or out to lunch (not expensive shopping or lunches but it all mounts up) which as i've already lost 2 stone this year will be an added incentive to keep on track with my diet to lose the other 2 stone!!

Thanks again!:)