The Ultimate Incentive to get debt free… again. Dinah & NIM go head to head!

Birdie85

I'm quite proud of myself because I haven't bought anything in the sales! OH bought me a purse from Debenhams as I'd asked for one for Christmas but hadn't seen one I liked in time, that seems to have satisfied my need for *stuff*! We even went to a big Boots to have a look at the sale stuff and I kept picking things up and putting them back because I didn't actually need any of it. I'm hoping I've turned a corner! Thinking about the S&G stuff, I don't think I'll be buying it as I don't actually need it. The only things I plan on buying in the next couple of weeks are a Barbie necklace (£5 on ebay, can't find link right now as work have blocked it!) to complete my Princess costume and a pink swimsuit for the spa and the holiday (£29.50 from M&S or £30 from ASOS, can't decide).

Good luck with the Shred! Go easy on your first couple of days, the last time I did it I got carried away with my squats and walked like John Wayne for 3 days! I'm taking my measurements tonight so I can see how much I lose (if anything!) I don't go to Zumba any more, the teacher wasn't that great and it got a bit samey by the end of the course because she never changed the playlist from one week to the next, I'd have stuck with it had it been different each week, I got a bit lazy because I knew what was coming!

Nym_Mcfroglet

Dinah93 wrote: »

Nice to meet you Nym Mc, looking forward to getting to knowing you more when you reach the end. Although we natter more once we're "working" so it might be like trying to find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (which would be nice!)

Have given up sleeping it seems. Last night was 3.30am. I think my body is trying to stretch out my holiday time as much as possible before its back to misery, drudgery and toil.

Likewise Dinah

I didn't sleep well either, so much thinking about work tomorrow and getting organised for everything today. I have so much to plan this year and it all seems to be glaring at me now as if to say well come on, why are you still sleeping? Get on with it!

Grrness.

ruby_eskimo

Since a few lurkers have de-lurked, I think I shall do the same! I've been reading these threads since the very first one and it's so nice to see the journey you've been on Dinah! I think people get a bit bored reading my diary because there isn't any massive challenge like paying off debt or a mortgage or anything like that. I just mosey along, trying to save as much as possible!

Dinah93

Yey the new year spring clean has dusted another lurker out of the corner! Hi Ruby! Did you post a few years ago? I recognise the name. I think its very possible I follow your diary actually.

Like the asos swimsuit a lot Birdie, the M & S one is nice enough but I think the asos one is a bit different and would be very flattering.

In fairness, I don't think I make much progress! There's just good chatter to help me pretend I'm on the way.

Last night was a new low, it was after 4.30am. I woke up at a loud thunk noise at about 1.30am just as I was falling asleep, and when I woke up the fire alarm was pipping. So I was terrified the loud noise was somthing falling over and causing a fire, or that my fire alarm also had a carbon monoxide detector in it and thats the smaller noise it made than the full alarm. So I lay awake reading the news on my phone waiting to work out why it pipped and why there was a thunk. Eventually I heard the thunk again and I realised it was the ice machine and it was just spitting it out in huge chunks not the small cubes it usually does! The pipping, haven't worked that out. The fire alarm only got new batteries last week, surely they can't be dead already?

Knackered today so I'm on about my 3rd diet coke for energy. I'm trying to do 15min bursts of tidying then 10mins on my emails, facebook, here etc. Not my usual way of doing things but it'll have to do and I'll certainly get the dining room done and hopefully i'll manage to move on to the study later. Have some friends staying this weekend so want to get the house as spotless as a semi decorated building site can be!

Cinny91

Hello to Nym and Nat! And hi to Ruby again, wondered where you'd gone!

I'm a total scatter brain atm, so even though I've caught up on posts none of its really filtered properly

The declutter sounds like a really good idea though Dinah, me and OH have spent most of today cleaning and shuffling things around. When we moved in we just kind of plonked things where ever they landed out of the van so it's nice to have them better placed and it feels more like us now. Bet you'll feel the same getting your house sorted!

Sounds like you've all been really good in the sales! I spent about £40 on new clothes from my Christmas pennies like planned and put the rest into our house pot. But we kind of justified getting iPhones to ourselves so that's a bit of a dent But in all fairness, my Parents are buying us the phones for our birthdays and with cash back from the contracts and selling our old phones we've got more than double what we need to pay the little remaining months on our old contracts.

Hoping our 2011 will be a year of saving! We were having a talk NYE and decided we want to pay off OHs car and buy something that handles better in the snow and will be more of a family car, at some point save up enough to buy this house and we wrote a big list of things we want to do to the place which obviously costs more money! We've got plans and ideas though so we'll get there.

wendz86

Well done on resisting the sales Birdie. I have been very good apart from a couple of baby things but that doesn't count does it?

Hope the tidying is going OK Dinah.

Cinny - all the plans sound good, hope you manage to save lots this year.

Our car started making funny noises on way back here from Southampton. Think OH is going to take it to garage tomorrow, not an expense we need!

poddle911

Well done to everyone who resisted the sales! I picked up a couple of bits (three ) in the sale yesterday, but they were all things I'd seen before Christmas so not *too* bad. They also tie in with my resolution - a bit like yours Dinah - to sort myself out a bit and wear less scruffy things to work and dress for the job I want etc. In fact, all my resolutions fall under the umbrella heading "be less lazy" which includes everything from taking more photos and going to the gym to keeping in touch with friends and actively improving my CV.

Birdie, can't believe it's only 40 days til you go away! And Wendz is right, you'll look amazing with or without weight loss - happiness and health goes a long way!

I love reading everyone's plans for 2011 - January is a good time for getting into new habits, but am not looking forward to being back at work tomorrow either!

This evening I'm going to paint my nails, iron a few outfits for the week and catch up with some Christmas tv! Also, I need to buy an external hard drive - part of the declutter :cool:

Any ideas or recommendations? I don't know which brands are any good and how much space I'll need - I don't think I need a huge amount, just for photos, music and stuff...

Hope you manage to get some sleep tonight Dinah, have you tried all the conventional methods to help you sleep?

ruby_eskimo

Thanks everyone for the warm welcomes!

Dinah - you're not the only one having problems sleeping, I had 3 hours the other night then had to do a full 13.5 hour shift the next day. Lets just say, it wasn't at all fun. I'm on nights for the next 2 weeks so my sleep pattern is going to be even more !!!!!!ed!

Cinny - Wishing you the best of luck with all the plans for the year. Me and Le fianc! did the same on NYE, but our plans can't really start till we find out some big things in March. Fingers crossed all goes to plan and then maybe we can start living the rest of our lives!

Birdie - Can't believe your wedding has come around so quickly! I'm sure you'll look fantastic no matter what!

Managed to resist the sales completely this year! Although I am tempted to buy a few home ware things for my "bottom drawer"? Anyone else heard of this? My mum bought me some towels and coasters for when me and Le fianc! get our own place with a tag saying for your bottom drawer. I think it's a really good tradition and makes me want to start getting things, perhaps one thing a month. I have my eye on some le crueset pans that are in tk maxx at the moment...MUST RESIST!

Birdie85

I had a stash of 'bottom drawer' stuff... but it was more 'box in the garage'! :rotfl:

Wishing lots of luck with your plans Cinny! Lots to save for but you're a super saver so I'm sure you'll find it easy!

LOL at your 'be less lazy' list of resolutions Poddle! Mine is 'be a good wifey' which really does mean 'be less lazy' as I'm terrible at keeping house and want to make our flat a nice place to live all the time and keep on top of the mess rather than let it build up until OH gets cross and tidies it all away and tells me off! Oh and recommendation for a hard drive, I have a WD Passport and I like it. It's small enough to carry around in your bag, big enough to not get lost in a drawer! I've got a 320GB one and it holds soooooooo much stuff, you probably won't need one that big, half that will be plenty.

Thanks for being nice about me and my weightloss! I'm not actually worried about The Day, the dress will fit no matter what as it's adjustable but it's the thought of 2 weeks worth of photos of me in a bikini that is spurring me on! :eek:

zigmeister

Welcome to all the delurkers And congratulations on your engagement Ruby :beer: And thanks girls for the kind wishes for my sister. I think she'll be ok, as long as she gets the help she needs.

Cinny91 wrote: »

I'm a total scatter brain atm, so even though I've caught up on posts none of its really filtered properly

Same here I'm so tired though, been going to bed at like 3am last few nights, trying to do my stupid uni work. And we've just started watching Dexter season 2 and I just wanna cuddle on the sofa and watch it.

But we kind of justified getting iPhones to ourselves so that's a bit of a dent

You won't regret it; they're fab phones! Wouldn't be without mine now.

Hoping our 2011 will be a year of saving! We were having a talk NYE and decided we want to pay off OHs car and buy something that handles better in the snow and will be more of a family car, at some point save up enough to buy this house and we wrote a big list of things we want to do to the place which obviously costs more money! We've got plans and ideas though so we'll get there.

Exciting!!

Dunno where the rest of my little quotes have gone! I bet you've lost loads of inches Birdie, I can't believe your wedding is nearly here either! I'm planning on doing the Shred too (God help me..) and I'd love to do Zumba but I have no one to go with and I'm not brave enough to go on my own!

As for the 'bottom drawer' I have boxes spread around 4 houses with house stuff in. I just can't help myself! But at least when we move in together we'll only need big things.