Debt free the Fly lady way - anyone?

bobble_hat

So much for my first day. I totally overspent. I spent £26.08 in the pub last night, very, very bad. I owe some money for drunken food and the taxi so that figure will rise. But it's day two and I'm able to account for every penny, well I will once my housemate gets home and I know how much I owe him.

So this is me confessing, I've written it all down and I'm taking the extra amount off the rest of my January budget.

I'm not leaving the house today so won't be spending anything.

mizmir

Well day 2 and I am still keeping up the spending diary. Yesterday picked up some stuff for tea, milk, painkillers etc. at little Tesco and spent £11.05! :eek:
Today did full shop (to last till payday on 26th except for the odd pint of milk) - another £67.16 (but that includes £14.08 on dog food). Also treated ourselves to coffee and cakes while we were out - £6.90.
Have to replace some halogen lights but have voucher for £10 from Homebase so think that will cover it more or less.

Off to confess on the other thread. I try to do this when I remember but up to now I have only included "personal" spending. From now on I will include everything except the DDs! Far more scary!

malvena_2

Hallo all.

Got nothing to confess from today as I have spent nothing but I did fall in BK yesterday and spent 1.44 on a large fries.:o :eek: The thing is I have been trying to be more OS for a couple of months now and have been cooking all my meals from scratch. I can honestly say that the fries were VILE and I won't be doing that again. Perhaps my cooking is not as bad as I thought.:rotfl:

Keep up the good work everyone :beer:

Gemmzie

Okay well I've been doing day one and two for a while so starting today as Day Three, have found myself the notepad and have it safely.

Ready to go

millionaire_in_training

:mad: Not sure if it just seems that the more I try and save the worse I am or if it is me just being extremely aware of my spending and beating myself up about it. Is everyone else like this. Today I bought 4 rolls, some sausages, margarine ( to bake) a couple of sweets for movie time for the kids and soap powder as my son is having a major reaction to the cheap stuff I bought. I also put £5 on my daughters phone as she was going out with friends and I wanted her to be able to get in touch if needs be.

Total: £12.36 :eek:

kathfisch

millionaire_in_training wrote:

:mad: Not sure if it just seems that the more I try and save the worse I am or if it is me just being extremely aware of my spending and beating myself up about it. Is everyone else like this. Today I bought 4 rolls, some sausages, margarine ( to bake) a couple of sweets for movie time for the kids and soap powder as my son is having a major reaction to the cheap stuff I bought. I also put £5 on my daughters phone as she was going out with friends and I wanted her to be able to get in touch if needs be.

Total: £12.36 :eek:

Don't beat yourself up about the total - we all have to spend money to live!! Just think about each thing and ask yourself if it was needed and if you got good value/the best price you could. Looks to me like all of that stuff is quite understandable and necessary, and you have even included the justifications for the margarine, sweets, soap powder and phone top up!

And even if you don't always stick to the absolutely necessary things, don't beat yourself up - just try and learn for the future. I know when I spend more than I should at tesco its cos I've gone when I'm hungry, so I try to avoid that now. I know that sometimes I want to buy clothes to try and cheer myself up, not because I need them. But now that I'm aware of that it doesn't have such an influence on me, cos I just stop and think what's bothering me and try and sort that out instead!

Its good to be aware of how much you're spending, but you can't expect to live on nothing - don't be too hard on yourself!!

Kath x

bobble_hat

Well, I'm on Day three. I've got some expenses paper for my filofax, it's great because I like to have everything in one place, I spent last year with books for everything; Addresses, diary, notebook, spends book; and got in a terrible muddle.

With everything in one place I feel much more organised, I even have room for all my money off vouchers. :T

mizmir

I've set up a spreadsheet for organising my spending diary. Will keep writing everything down on paper each day then will transfer it to the spreadsheet to keep a record (when we get to that step of course!) Hope an "e"-spending diary is OK!

No spending so far today - except for cash up front for matched betting but that will come back in with profit later today so don't count it!

And have 'fessed up on Moozie's thread this morning.

flowerofscotland

Have only just found this thread. Have read the first 7 steps and already do most of those so don't feel I am behind.

I particularly like this thread because what I am trying to achieve it not just becoming debt free but adjusting my spending habits permanently. I would like to be able to save what I currently use for debt repayments so I think this kind of "programme" will be very helpful

mizmir

ang_babe wrote:

hi a newbie here, i think this is great too i am printing it all off and puting a day at a time on the fridge in the loo,etc (easy at hand to read any time) the only problem (sorry) for me is i am struggling with all the shortened words and phrases ie ..... DFW, MSE, MSE-er, fessing. it takes me 20mins to work it out. Any tips to keep me up to speed

welcome ang

DFW = Debt Free Wannabee
MSE = Money Saving Expert (this site and its ideas)
MSE-er = follower of MSE
fessing = confessing all!