Motivation......

rainbowrisin

Hi LMS, I don't know if i'll be much help, as I'm a saver rather than a spender so don't have much experience of debt, but I do have lots of experience of being a frugal dougal, if that would help.
A couple of things which occur to me - are you setting yourself too strict a budget? Managing money and living more cheaply involve lifestyle changes (a bit like stopping smoking or going on a diet or starting uni or similar), and the best way with all these things is to try and do it gradually (unless the baliffs are beating down the door and you're hiding on under the duvet grateful the phone's been cut off so you can't get any more "you owe us money" calls:D).
People who crash diet tend to binge after a few days of lettuce and grapefruit, and I wonder if that's what's happening to you with the money.
If it were me I would try and set manageable targets, and try and tackle one aspect of your lifestyle at a time - so if you are a cab junkie then try and think through what triggers you into mad cab calling mode, and what strategies you could adopt instead - maybe arrange to set out half an hour earlier for everything than usual, so you know you've got time to catch the bus? or if you can walk rather than take a cab then reward yourself with a little treat.
The other thing that works for me is to "think negative" about stuff I don't want to spend money on - one of my hates is paying for car parking, but ocassionally when it's cold and wet and the littlies are all miserable then I do think "oh why not, it's only a couple of quid" - but then I think why should I give the council money when for the sake of a 10 minute walk I can park for nowt. I pay them enough in Council Tax and I'm dXXned if I'm encouraging them even more with parking revenue - then I get all indignant and don't mind the walk. It gets easier with practice. The same with buying anything new - no way is some global corporation making a muppet out of me by taking my money for some over priced tat when I can get it for nowt (tis a wonderous thing freecycle), next to nowt (jumble sales are the best), or make it myself. Same with telly - 5 channels is quite sufficient to rot the brain without having even more channels of mindless drivel to choose from and paying for the privilege.
Do things gradually, try and adopt the frugal dougal attitude and hopefully things will get easier.
Hope that helps, good luck.
Edit - apologies for the spelling and the gramma - absolutely awful, but I'm in a rush and wanted to help. Sorry.

1_step_closer

Hi

I too, have hit that demoralised stage. I think I can speak for a few when I say the stages are:

Panic
Throw up
Panic a bit more
Work out total amount
Feel like the dregs of society
Post here
Feel better!
Make a start
Feel smug

However what has annoyed me is that I have been good but now that Christmas is coming up and my careful budget is looking dangerously close to the end and I still have 3 more things to get, the £8 I had in my purse yesterday went on a breakfast at work (various reasons why that happened) flu tablets and the ruddy papergirl!!!!!

So a little part of me is thinking "oh darn it" but no, I won't succumb to the evil plastic but will remember that a combination of flu AND pmt are enough to drive anyone to the pits of despair.

So keep your chin up - lots of significant others don't understand and it does feel you are battling on your own but if I hadn't found this site I would be deeper in debt, fatter, smoking even more, sleeping even less, but it will get better.

Take care

xxxxxxxxxxx

System

Welcome onboard. Post your SOA and remember everything in life is relative. I find that there are plenty of people with the same and worse debt than me and whilst that doesnt make me happy to see other people worse off than me its a comfort to know that I'm not alone and more importantly I'm not alone!

roxy7699

Hi,
Well done for getting this far, Im a newbie too and I agree post your SOA, bite the bullet, (we dont really know who you are) and then im sure people can offer advice, support and all the rest to get your debt down.
hugs