If You Gotta Spend Money....

LookingAhead

I haven't been around much lately for varying reasons. One of them being I feel like a fraud as I seem to have been sucked back into the spending vortex.

I am hoping this will pass soon as I have so many ideas and goals for 2007 and none of them will happen if I don't sort myself out.

However, little steps, little steps, to pull myself out of this rut.

I was wondering, if you have to spend money...what are the cheaper alternatives? To say "stop spending all money!" is sometimes very much easier said than done.

Clothes is obvious: root around the second hand shops. I did that at lunchtime today!

I did do something on Saturday which was a start. A friend of mine suggested going out for a curry & beer in the evening but I said I wasn't available and suggested lunch instead. This meant I could get convenient buses in and out of town (saving hugely on taxis) and I spent £4.95 on a pub lunch as opposed to £15 I guess, on a full blown curry. We had a lovely afternoon lounging about and had just as good a catch up as we would have done in the evening and we both saved money/no hangover!

So, has anyone else got any tales to tell?

yung

Money is there to spend as long as you spend it wisely. my motto is save a bit, spend a bit

ZTD

LookingAhead wrote:

I haven't been around much lately for varying reasons. One of them being I feel like a fraud as I seem to have been sucked back into the spending vortex.

You're hardly a fraud are you? The W stands for "Wannabe", and despite your spending, I'm sure you wannabe. Don't you?

LookingAhead

Mostly I am such an "all or nothing person" so you can imagine how that translates in financial terms :eek:

LookingAhead

ZTD wrote:

You're hardly a fraud are you? The W stands for "Wannabe", and despite your spending, I'm sure you wannabe. Don't you?

I definitely "wannabe" hon!

ZTD

LookingAhead wrote:

I definitely "wannabe" hon!

Then you're not a fraud. So we'll be seeing your face a little more often then...

victory

my mum always said if you've got it you can have it! True, I have no credit cards, don't buy from catalogues and try very hard to pay cash for everything.
Your lunch idea was great, never would have thought of that.
BOGOF I do all the time, never pay full price for anything. Shop in the sales, late at night for stores like Asda for food hugely reduced. Car boot sales, charity shops, have a toy swap party if you have kids, use the library for books, borrow films off people.
Never pay for 'the packaging' looks lovely but you can buy it a whole cheaper if you buy the product then 'dress it up yourself'.

cattie1

well mine is kinda bad but I spent £1 on saturday to get £11 back (work sweep-I won!:j )
Then i put £2 of that in2 my william hill acount and put 50p each way on a horse that came in 3rd and won £2.50 so i'm spending to receive kinda thing, let's see if I can make that £1=£100 that would be amazing! lol:eek: :rolleyes:

lynzpower

hi LA - I did wonder where youd gone too, I havent seen you about.

As i recall youve been on the debt-busting treadmill for a while longer than m, and I too am an All or nothing person.

But lets face it, its really not sustainable for many of us THAT long term. Ive gone out for meals, Ive bought the odd lunch too, not one of us are saints, surely? Even now, If I go for a nice meal I dont think "oooh I could have paid that off my debt, I enjoy it its a treat, I deserve the odd treat now and again". However, if I go for a meal and its crap, then I DEFINATELY resent paying for it, adn wish Id paid if off my debt instead :rotfl:

Have you got into more debt? Or just not paid some off as quickly as you might like?

this is the long haul, its not that great really is it? If it wasnt for me getting my bank charges back last week, I think Id be pretty damn miserable now.

climbgirl

Swapping stuff amongst your friends is a great idea - we have what we call Black Bag Nights when people gather at someone's house and bring everything they don't want anymore. We started with clothes but now include everything - shoes, accessories, bags, books, music, dvds, household items, whatever you don't need or use and can't sell! Then people just trade items or give them away. Bring wine and food and turn it into a social event!

If you're going out, be smart about it - hunt for vouchers, go on 2-for-1 nights, hunt out special deals. My BF and I had dinner at our favourite restaurant the other night. A very pricey place, but they have a very cheap deal on if you order before 7pm. Same food for about a third of the price.

LookingAhead

Thanks for the replies guys.

Lynz - hi love. Yes I have been on here a smidgen longer than you. I think when I first joined my debt was about 17k. So I have made progress however recently I added to it again by going on a spending spree and simply spending money on going out and splurging on silly things at lunchtimes....all the things I thought I had learned to control ages ago.

You're right though it is a long haul & it ain't great. Hey well done though on getting your bank charges back!

climbgirl, I absolutely love the black bag evening idea...that's exactly the kind of thing I am looking for. Wicked!

PS The debt figure below is not my total debt unfortunately! I need to sit & work that out again...my overdraft has whooshed back up again over the last few months as well :rolleyes: