i can't stop spending

Catslovelycats

In case someone hasn't already said it, have you considered selling some of your things on eBay.
That way you may not feel that your cupboards etc are chock full and it will help you get some control back on your posessions.
It might then also motivate you more to try the other challenges people have mentioned.

barneydee_2

Hi Lemmings
I have just read through your post and I think you are doing great:jI have been realy inspired by you, I to like you work in a supermarket and I find it realy hard to avoid temptation Whoop's and an other area I find Dangerous is the staff canteen,:eek:if I forget to take my cereals and milk for breckfast I end up having a fry up and then if I forget my pack up I end up bying dinner and befor i know it I have spent £5:mad: and as some weeks when I can get overtime i'm there 7 days a week which is £35.00 :mad: but I am going to follow you lead, I have done an inventry of my Cupboads/freezer/fridge have made a list of meals I can cook I have set myself a budget of £400.00 (grocery challenge) for this month, any money left at the end is going to one of my debts.

I have not got the hang of ebaying yet, but I do plane to do some carboots as I have a lot of stuff I need to get rid of .

I must go know have to go to work but I will follow your progress and hopefully we can pick many money saving tips and ideas

Barneydee

lemmings1986

hi barneydee thanks its a nightmare working for a supermarket you end up spending half your wages there,:eek:i have got to a stage were i take packup and only take little money with me if i know i need bread or something i just take enough for that i leave my bank card at home and have cut my credit cards up if i aint got it i cant spend it and it seems to be working,i love mse :jand all the threads i have had some really good ideas am totally addicted but it keeps me busy plus working lots of hours.good luck with the cutting back nsds (no spend days are good aswell) ive saved quite a bit of money this month budgeting and doing that:):)

lemmings1986

hi all well i think we are getting some where now we have applied for a loan to pay off all our debts hopefully should hear tommorow, hopefully will be better off it will mean we are paying less money every month , its one direct debit instead of many and the interest isnt as high and we will be debt free in 5 years :j:j:j instead of the the lifetime we would of spent trying to pay credit cards off with massive interest rates.it is such a relief to be getting somewhere im sure 5 years will soon pass
well have just found a thread that has loads of supermarket coupons :)on and i need some bits and bobs so am planning on printing a load as its stuff like bread,butter,catfood etc all what i need before i go shopping tommorow so should save some money.:D sorry not sure how to show link
also am coming to the end of the month and i still have money left i havnt had money at the end of the month for ages cant wait for payday this month as i have done loads of overtime so should get a good wage and am planning to start saving for emergencys and holiday to florida not long were going in september we was going next year for three weeks then my mother in law said she wanted to go this year aswell so we going in september cant wait just got to save some spending money and have some shares to cash so should have enough plus with all the budgeting and our debt been in one place we will have extra money every month :j am soooooo glad i joined mse thank you all for tips advice etc :D

Gigervamp

Well done Lemmings!

oldtractor

Have you watched Superscrimpers and Make do and Mend on channel 4OD? theres some very good ideas.

blueelephanttrunk

Hello Lemmings, just read through all this thread and you're doing super! I'm very much the same as you, same age and love spending! I've come to the realisation I need to reign it in a bit though.

Could someone explain the envelope theory to me? Think I'll give that a go, I sat down with my other half last night and made a budget so I know how much we've got for what. How many envelopes do you use?

You've also inspired me to check the cupboards... and whoever said freezing pineapple, what a super tip! I get mouthache after eating too much pineappple (does anyone else get this?...) lol so instead of just eating it will definatly freeze some next time!

oldtractor

the envelope or jamjar technique explained.
first of all get your bank statements a pen and paper. then make a cup of coffee ,sit down in a comfy chair and get to work. on the paper put headings,HOUSEHOLD,CAR,PET,CLOTHES,XMAS and so on. under household put elec water insurance council tax and so on. under car put petrol,insurance,tax,repairs.basically catagorise and subcatagorise. Now there are things you must pay for ,for example council tax and mortgage. these are vital. so write down every expenditure. you will see how much everything costs. then you get some envelopes or jam jars and write a heading on it,for example, HEATING OIL AND EACH MONTH PUT INTO IT WHAT IT COSTS OVER THEYEAR DIVIDED BY 12. that way you save up. there is a budget planner on this site which is most useful,you can use that instead of the pen and paper. what I do is have a savings account and put my monthly oil money and so on into it but place a slip of paper in the envelope with the anount written on it, and write the month on the envelope . this saves having real money in the house, but the virtual money is in the envelpe,and its counted as already spent. this way I always have money for each thing and when the car tax comes up i've spread the cost over 12 months. it means if you have any spare money left each month after the necessities you know how much and then you can decide to save it or spend it .

oldtractor

sorry my posts a bit of a waffle,maybe someone else can explain it easier,but I hope you get the idea.

blueelephanttrunk

No, that makes sense! Thank you

We have a seperate joint account where all our bills come out by direct debit - so I think I'll try the envelope technique for our weekly supermarket shopping and petrol.