Being on the straight and narrow... and STAYING there!

jwil

Hi Guisantes, sounds like you are doing really well! I don't think you need to justify your spends at all, only you know whether they are frivolous or not, and it doesn't sound like they have been. I am the same in that I think I should not be spending anything when I have debts to pay off, but I regularly ignore that feeling . You've still got to be able to have a life, and as long as you are in control of what you are buying there's not an issue. It's a bit different if you are out there 'needing' 50 different outfits, the latest ipad, expensive meals in restaurants and lots of other stuff, but a pair of boots and a hairguard, and a cheap night out is not something to beat yourself up about.

guisantes

Hi Jwil :-)

thanks for your message, hope you are ok? Your feedback is really positive, you're right, I haven't been buying anything frivolous, only absolute musts, and yes, I feel guilty spending any money at the minute if it's not absolutely necessary!

But, I suppose we're in this for the long haul, and if we don't allow ourselves luxuries occasionally, the day will come when eventually we'll rebel against such a rigid mindset.

Well, I didn't manage to have a NSD yesterday like I'd hoped, as saw my childminder and had to pay her, plus pay £10 for my niece's birthday present. In anticipation of wanting to buy yoghurt from the sandwich lady, I decided to buy a multipack yesterday (£3 for 8) but left them in my dad's fridge so will have to pick them up tomorrow.

Today is going to be a NSD though, haven't spent a penny, and not intending to either.

Had a bad phone call earlier though, my car which is supposed to be costing £200, also needs the catalytic convertor to be replaced apparently,:eek: and I'm waiting for a call back as to how much it's going to cost me

Feeling really really gutted, as had tried to budget for the car, and it all seems to have gone wrong

I won't have to pay for it today, so at least won't blot my NSD, but feeling very down now.

guisantes

OK, now I've had 45 minutes to sulk, and 15 to give myself a good talking to, I've decided that do you know what? It's not the end of the world if the car is going to cost a bit more money. I will have had to put £260 less on the credit card than if I had not squirrelled money away.

The garage still hasn't called me back, but even if it costs an additional £200, I will still have paid £175 more than that off the CC this month. (Please just keep your fingers crossed for me that it's not that much though!)

OK, I'm off to count my blessings, because I know that there are lots of other people worse off than us.

jwil

I'm ok thanks, just recalculated my debts which is really rather depressing, but it's all downwards from here!

Sorry to hear about the car, but as you say, if you hadn't saved some you would be adding the whole lot to your card! So that's great!

guisantes

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear you're feeling a bit depressed after your re-calculation. Just think how much worse it would be had you not had your LBM. It's easy to beat yourself up though isn't it, I keep thinking to myself 'If only we hadn't... we'd be able to....' which only serves to make us feel worse!

Well... potentially disastrous news about the car... they couldn't get it to go through the emissions. DH thinks it might be because there was next to no petrol in it, but I'm loathed to fill it up and then it end up still not working, almost like chucking good money after bad.

My boss has a friend who may be able to sort it for me and a lot cheaper, but he's not sure.

Sooo... if he can fix it, the £200 left in savings will be wiped out and might potentially have to put a bit on the credit card to get it fixed but that should (hopefully) be it until tax is due in 7 months or...

Ditch the car, put £200 on the credit card, scrap it (got £100 last time I scrapped a car) plus claim back 6 months car tax.

Need to see what the insurance implications would be, pay £20 at the minute (til July) but that includes my MIL and my brother and hubby on the insurance too. If the car is going to be scrapped, will it be best to keep the insurance with just me on til July to keep my no claims? Or will it be best to pay the penalty and get shot of it altogether?

I will still need to get to work and back on a Monday (car pool with hubby other days) but we can divert extra petrol money into the budget for hubby's car, and can get lift in and back with him before work, and at lunch time. Then can get bus to Spanish and back. That will hopefully give us some time in the new year to save some money and sort out a new car maybe next year.

Either way, my current MOT is valid until the 23rd October so have a couple of weeks to think about things.

Nearly got there for a NSD yesterday, but DH and I decided to use some of our contingency to get a chinese. I don't feel bad about this, as we had budgeted for it, and everything else is still on track.

guisantes

Right, have decided to assume worst case scenario (RIP little Fiesta!) and have transferred £210 this morning onto the credit card.

I've also done a couple of other productive things today:

* Signed up through Bounty to be paid to do some surveys
* Written a few reviews for Ciao
* Listed a CD rack we no longer need on Cheapcycle
and
* I have just reduced my credit card limit from £8,100 to £2,500, Yay!!!

I also got a cheque through the post this morning from my mother of £100 for Christmas presents for DH, DS and me :-) (Now... do I put my share on the credit card? Ok, maybe not lol :-) )

Ooh, and the library have e-mailed me because a cook book that had been recommended on the OS board has arrived for me to borrow. I had wanted to buy it as soon as I heard about it a few weeks ago, but decided to be patient :-)

So as long as DH doesn't try to tempt me to spend any money with his cunning wiles (hence why yesterday was not a NSD!) I am on track for today being number 2 for this month :-)

jwil

Well done on reducing the limit on your credit card! That's annoying about the car, hope you manage to get something sorted. I think you keep your no claims for 18 months if you don't drive, so getting rid of the car will not affect it if you don't get another one until next year. (check that out before you do anything, but I know you can have a gap).

I don't feel so bad today about my debt, it's almost a relief to actually have that figure now. I do think 'what if' though, and the biggest problem is, I'm not 100% sure where it has all come from. I know some of it is due to vehicles and my degree, but a good proportion is just general overspending! I don't really even have anything to show for it!

guisantes

Hiya and sorry it's been so long since I've posted, it's been a hectic week and we've had some news... the baby is due 4 weeks (:eek:) before we thought!!

So... last Wednesday was an NSD, I was hoping for one last Thursday too but things didn't go according to plan.

Started having some pains at work and thought something wasn't right, but my midwife basically wouldn't refer me for an early scan. I nearly had a meltdown, so DH and I decided to pay for one privately. We found that the hospital did one for £50 so decided to do that, figuring the money was well worth spending to put our mind at ease.

Thursday I had to leave work early and be on bedrest to try and keep baby safe, so DH and I ended up caving and having pizza for dinner (oops!) so that was £18 out of the contingency fund. Not ideal, but the day did pan out a lot differently to how we had imagined before.

On the Friday, I tried to get us booked in for a scan, only to find our hospital have stopped private scans due to staff shortages, and the next option was £95 in the next town. Not ideal, but my best friend and SIL have both had missed miscarriages in the last few months, so in our opinion money well worth spending.

Friday was a NSD, spent all day like a little worry wart lol. We saw a friend in the afternoon and her new baby, but my friend brought the present (I gave her the money this week, on a day when I was spending anyway) and I baked muffins.

Saturday we went for our scan and saw that... I am actually 13-14 weeks pregnant, not 9-10, and that our little one is very, very active! We came out with 12 pics (a few of which are 4D) and as you can imagine I was a sobbing wreck with the relief of it all! Saturday I also did the weekly shop (£34) so not a cheap day, but money well spent!

Sunday we went to visit DH's grandparents to show them the pics, then home for a lazy afternoon and dinner. Picked up my free Bounty pack and Emma's Diary mum-to-be pack, so got freebies and didn't spend a penny!

I was on a roll Monday, and managed another NSD, had work in the morning and Spanish in the afternoon, and managed to avoid the dreaded sandwich lady lol

Tuesday started off well, managed to avoid the sandwich lady, but DH had really bad toothache, so ended up spending 45p on a pack of paracetamol/aspirin. It was out my wallet though, and not any budget, and was necessary for him poor lamb. I also transferred some money to my friend (#5) for the birthday present the week before.

Yesterday was going to be a NSD, but then DH had to go to the dentist so spent #54 (which can claim back through cash plan) whilst we were in town, popped into poundland (disastrous lol!) and picked up some strawberry chewitts (I've had a craving for sweety sweets the last week!) and a new shower head for the bath. We had been looking at ones which were a tenner, so this worked out to be cheaper. Needed to top up milk too, so picked some up, 8 pints for #2 in Asda. Also paid #2.70 for parking, and #2.99 for some gel for my doppler my friend sent me so we can hear bubs to make sure s/he is ok between scans after our scare. More expensive than planned, but today will hopefully be a NSD too.

I can't believe how resentful I've become about paying for stuff like parking. We couldn't have got parked anywhere else (round here it's all residents parking and you get a fine if you even try to park otherwise!) I hate the thought now of my money going on something that isn't tangible!!

If I can have a NSD today, that will make 6 so far, out of the 10 I have planned, so I will see how I can do. Tomorrow definitely won't be a NSD, as I'm out for dinner with my Spanish teacher and the girl I have a class with, but we're going to do an offer at Ask (2 for #10) then split the entire bill 3 ways. Should be a cheap night as I'm not drinking at the minute, and can't drink too much fizzy as it makes me feel ill. I'm definitely liking pregnancy for cheap nights out lol!

Ooh, had a go at making my own rolls yesterday to go with sausage casserole (I can cook a bit again, thank goodness!) and they were actually quite nice. Today I think if I threw one at the wall it might leave a dent, but when they were warm they tasted nice :rotfl::rotfl:

jwil, how you feeling this week? And thanks for that re: no claims. We may *possibly* have an option with the car, mentioned to my friend about the problem, turns out her OH used to be a mechanic and has lots of welding gear, he's going to have a look at it next weekend. I know it will be a lot cheaper than fixing it elsewhere. He has said that if he thinks it will cost too much to fix, he might buy it off me as a tinkering project for scrap value.

This time round, I know where all the money has gone for the C/C. When I had my credit card as a student I basically drank the money away or gave it to clothes shops/fast food establishments! So, when that debt was cleared off, I vowed that if I did have any credit, it wouldn't be for what I would class as living expenses. This time round, I know the credit card has paid for what our loan didn't pick up for the new kitchen (the extras you never account for!) plus having to buy a car this time last year when my last one failed its MOT (notice a pattern here? lol!) plus table and chairs, memory foam mattress, all tangible, tangible stuff, just stuff we were too impatient to wait for.

I think whatever the debt is for though, the annoying thing is how much disposable income we would have if we didn't have to pay the darn thing off!

OMG I have just realised that (once again!) my ramlings are very, very long! At least they're not drunken (and wont' be for a long while lol!)

guisantes

Well, last Thursday was supposed to be a NSD, but ended up having to buy a prescription for DH, so £7.20.

Friday gave DH £10 for Monday, he was supposed to be going out with his parents for the day, but he ended up with really bad toothache, and instead had to spend it on another prescription. In my mind, this is coming out of Friday's pot. I took £20 out the bank as well, for Friday night. Went out for a meal with my Spanish friends and spent £13.50, plus bought some chocolate and a fizzy drink from the sandwich lady (which I had intended to do, can't be good all the time!)

Saturday did the weekly shop and spent £36. A couple of weeks ago, I complained to Asda as when I did my big shop there were so many items not in stock. Got a £5 gift card through the post on Saturday (Yay! bee in bonnet pregnancy hormones obviously doing good lol!) though that ended up being spent on pants for DS who has decided he wants to potty train! Hopefully will be able to halve the nappy bill for a short period of time, though think the electric bill will be bigger with all the extra washing!!

Managed a NSD on Sunday, spent all day in potty training whilst DH was feeling sorry for himself on the sofa. Monday I worked and did Spanish in the afternoon, so another NSD, and yesterday managed to ignore the temptation of the sandwich lady, and made a nice chicken casserole for dinner. 3 NSD's in a row! Don't think I'll be able to manage the fourth though, as we need to top up on milk and squash, but have change in my wallet.

Checked the bank account yesterday, have an additional £15 which I had forgotten I had paid out a couple of months ago on my health plan and had that refunded, plus with the 'round ups to £1' from my debit card, and the money left over in the bills account after all bills were paid, there was a total of £18 left.

The £15 I have put into the savings account for the Christmas fund, and the £18 I have put on the credit card.

I should hopefully be paid on Friday, but I still have £4 left in my budget and about £3 in my wallet, though that may be gone after buying milk, squash and bread today! But, I stayed within budget, and paid a little bit extra off this month, so feeling quite chuffed with myself.

Up to this point, I've also managed to not buy anything for our new addition, but that may change if we find out the sex next week! Especially if it's a girl, then the pretty dresses will be calling. Oh dear!

jwil

Hi Guisantes! You've really been busy! I think the money for the scan is well spent, you can't put a price on peace of mind. So pleased that everything has turned out ok, and wow for the 4d pics, I bet they are amazing!

I hope you do manage to get a solution for your car, it will be another thing off your mind.

It's good that you know what your debt is, I know what part of mine is, but the rest is just spending. I can't wait til that money is mine again.

Good for your DS for wanting to potty train, if he is keen, hopefully it won't take too long.

How exciting about finding out the sex next week - I would sooo have to know if it was me! I'm too impatient! But, yes, I think I would struggle not to buy stuff too. At least you should be given loads, so won't *have* to buy loads.