How do you stop yourself from giving up?

LookingAhead

Keep in mind that the beginning of a long journey always feels daunting. But you have to keep going.

Before you know it you will look back and see you have made some seriously impressive progress and you will feel good about *not giving up*. That will spur you on alone!

Keep coming back to this site...definitely helps.

Everytime you save even 1p, think about it as a penny less you owe.

I truly think that about my overdraft every time I find a penny or 2p on the street to put into my coppers jar (I bank them every so often).

It doesn't matter if some weeks or months you can only manage a little rather than a lot. The point is you are still going.

Everytime you feel like throwing in the towel......come on here and tell *us* about it and I know you will feel better!

LavenderLily_2

Thank you everybody, you are all so lovely and the ideas you have given me are excellent - I will be putting them into practice posthaste!;)

I am really pleased with myself actually because I haven't spent any money at all today, despite being tempted by the 'sales'. Instead, I went to the freebies board and now I have some free perfume and face cream winging its way to me so that's some nice little treats to look forward to!

I am going to stick around this board in particular and look forward to getting to know you all better and hopefully I can help a bit too! :j

LookingAhead

Well done! :T

Going to the sales and not spending any money is a great acheivement! I'm not sure I would make it :rolleyes:

Yes getting freebies is *lovely*, I agree.

We look forward to getting to know you too and watching your progress.

Phoenix79_2

How do i keep motivated? Simple....i want my own apartment and thats not going to happen while i owe money. So i'm paying off debts like mad! Everything that i don't desperately need is being sold etc. 2007 will be my last year in debt.

moozie_2

Hello there

Fantastic advice has been posted already. Thanks to everyone as I learnt a thing or two too

The only thing I'd like to add is try to look at the debt free journey one day at a time. I know it may seem hard to see things this way but it helps me to focus on my spending for a day or week at a time as a maximum. I think my brain copes better with that rather than the 3 years I was faced with when I first started the debt busting!

Nuclear_Tom

Some sound advice on here, in this very thread too!

I used to be so care-free about debt, with a debt free date of 2011, but realistically I was looking at a life in debt, as if I wanted something, it went on a card, or finance etc.

Just getting all my paperwork sorted, doing a wee spreadsheet and working out a budget and the like, and I have a dead cert dfd of Dec08.

One thing thats really motivated me is my spreadsheet. As I make overpayments it tells me my debt free date... every month it comes down really is a victory!!

All the best! Think about it, in a few days time you will be able to say "next year I'll be debt free" *hoorah*

JAMIEDODGER

hi there:)

when i feel like having a spend up or giving up, i always try to think about the satisfaction i will feel when i am DF and i will be GETTING money from the banks instead of GIVING it to them.

not only have i worked out my budget up to when i will be DF, i have worked past this and can see how quickly those savings will GROW!!!!

pyrorus

Try getting the satisfaction from actually being a moneysaver.

Sad as it may seem I actually get a small amount of pleasure when I make a saving from just shopping around, Or a utility bill comes in and is cheaper because of remembering to switch things off.

I stick to my budget and my debts are being paid througha DMP so any of these little savings i put together and then splash out on a non essential. OK it may be something small like taking teh kids to mcdonalds etc but its all helps.

If the savings start to become a reguler item (ie bill permanently low) i phone the DMP people and have the amount I pay increased. Again only if its a couple of quicd a month it makes me feel the neverending tunnel as slowly ending.

Ali-OK

Pyrorus - you've hit the nail on the head! This is the way to turn day-to-day living from old financial habits into new ones for life and become a moneysaver.

LavenderLily - Babysteps are often the way - each time you do something that ultimately costs money (whether it be using water and you're metered, or food shopping) think "How would a DFW do this?"

I remember doing this when I first found this god-send of a site..from grocery shopping (meal planning, BOGOFs, price checking) to using water (thanks to JamieDodger's thread on environmental/all things green) - I got a water butt and connector off eBay for £12 total, now I use that for watering the garden and it will have paid for itself by next summer, then I really will be saving money going forward.

See them as new, exciting challenges - can I better my grocery shop cost this week? Can I walk somewhere, rather than drive it? Can I read the newspaper online, instead of buying a paper?

It is about fundamental change...alot of small changes may be pennies on their own, but add them up and they comes to £s..especially over 12 months.

It's no secret, but it is a revelation when you've not looked at it like this before! And it doesn't mean you can't enjoy yourself - just find a no-spend or cheapest way to do something.

It motivates me that things I need, I spend alot less on now, either because I've cut it out, or because I spend quite a bit of time shopping around for the best price for something.

If you can't find a cheaper alternative for something, post on the boards and I'm sure people will come up with ideas to help you. Fingers crossed, you will find you leave old habits behind and have new moneysaving ones, thus spending less, paying more to your debt and bringing your DFD forward slowly, but surely.

If you can get excited about saving pennies, saving pounds will get easier.

immoral_angeluk

We have a 'debt board' in the kitchen on which all our debts are written down in a table like this

Debt | Balance | Min payment | Target date | Paid?

and underneath are all of the details and we cross them off as we pay them off, setting realistic target dates for the next one. So far we've cleared 4 out of 10 debts and it really helps when we can pay one off and then gather in the kitchen for the 'crossing off!'. lol!

It keeps us motivated to achieve the next one.. plus the feeling of paying something off more than helps!