Living within my means?

MissShoes

Butti wrote: »

Hi,
I would recommend never going out shopping without a list.
Although an £80 food budget is tight, really quite tight (remember there are over 4 weeks in most months) it will require meal planning and probably shopping at about 6.30/7pm and then freezing lots of stuff.

B

And never going out shopping whilst hungry- inevitably ends in disaster for me!

ms_london

cuttingbackisitfun? wrote: »

Hey Ms London I followed your story when you cleared all that debt and you did an amazing job!!!!

I suppose in one way I do have my own flat and it is furnished how I want it to be although there are always things I want to improve.

I am committed to a holiday next year and have the flights to pay for end of sept so am raking in the overtime in august to fund this and clear my credit card which I think can be done by end of Nov tbh then fund xmas then spending money then a new car and new bedroom carpet but that is a very large wish list there x

Hello.

How are you getting on? You should be proud of yourself having your own flat, not many single people can say that for themselves, well, not in this neck of the woods anyway!

It is good to have a wish list and goals to aim for, if I didn't have travelling as a goal, I would probably still be in debt - whatever the motivation, it works!

As a result of the debt I am not so materialistic so I spend on what is important to me, not particularly interested in fashion, so the money I don't spend on clothes gets spent on say, travel. But from this point forward, it will be going towards 'my house'.

Keep up the good work xx

ms_london

MissShoes wrote: »

Great post- giving me hope!

You are welcome.

Oh, there were a lot of down moments, and you'll probably find posts from me on here moaning about them , just have a goal and you will get there in the end.

The time will pass anyway, so you may as well spend the time being proactive and taking control, even if it is only a little bit to start with.

xx

climbgirl

As Ms_London says, tackling this will make you become far less materialistic. Material possessions are not the important things in your life, you don't need to spend money or have things to have a good time and have a good life. It's just about reprioritising and learning to focus on what's actually important to you.

By way of example, I have a regular dinner date with two friends. We'd meet up about once a month and have dinner - usually three courses, plus wine, costing around £50 a head, sometimes more. They were always lovely but were getting too pricey for me. So I broached the idea of doing something a bit cheaper, a bit afraid of how they'd both react as they both give the impression that they have lots of money and like to spend.

Turned out that all three of us wanted to do something cheaper but hadn't known how to ask the others! So what we do now is meet for coffee instead of dinner, or go for a walk / picnic in the park or to each other's houses. What's important is catching up and spending time with each other - not what we eat and how much it costs.

Another thing that works for me is thinking about long-term goals. I'm not in debt and am lucky to earn a good income. But I waste money and don't save nearly as much as I should / could be. What helps focus me is to have pictures of my long-term goals in my wallet. So when I reach for my cards to buy something I don't really need, it makes me think - do I actually want this or would I rather put the money towards my goal? Definitely works for me!

Good luck with it - it's not an easy change to make, but it's definitely rewarding.

climbgirl

Also wanted to second the idea of doing some volunteering. I started doing it early this year at a hospital based charity for sick kids. Not only does it take up time when you could be out wasting money, but it can be very rewarding. I had no idea I'd get so much out of it personally, it's an amazing thing to do.

Sunshine22_2

Hey I was just having a lurk and thought I'd pipe up! I've got about £5k in what I call real debt, plus an unknown amount on my student loan which comes out my wage before I see them (my hidden debt). I know thats a hideous way to look at it but I can't think about the student finance until I deal with everything else. I racked up my debt when i moved into my own house, went a bit, well a lot, overboard buying new sofa and bed and the whole works.

I found a good way to stop spending, other than the cash only attitude, is to sell a lot of your old stuff on something like ebay. The amount of effort that goes in to selling say a DVD for £1 profit is enough to put me off buying any more!

Living within my means is a bit rubbish, am dreading christmas, but it is nice to spend more on paying off my cc! It is a slow task but keep at it

Finally, just to be that ridiculous person, I saw your bit about online dating. I met my OH through a website, and after a few bad experiences I was ready to quit. Then this one popped in to my life and is the most amazing thing. Don't let one bad experience put you off!!

Good luck x

cuttingbackisitfun?

Hey all,

Thanks for the continued support.

Well yesterday and today are no spend days which is great but had to cancel my weekend and possibly my holiday as my car has conked out and may need replacing - god why is life so against me it was the boiler at the beginning of July!!!!!!!

All sent to challenge us I suppose.

K x

DrSqueeze

cuttingbackisitfun? wrote: »

Hey all,

Thanks for the continued support.

Well yesterday and today are no spend days which is great but had to cancel my weekend and possibly my holiday as my car has conked out and may need replacing - god why is life so against me it was the boiler at the beginning of July!!!!!!!

All sent to challenge us I suppose.

K x

Sorry to hear that!

What's the problem with the car - is it not starting like the other day?

Could be the battery going flat or the starter motor. If it's the starter you can perhaps get a reconditioned one. If it's the battery there are some reasonably priced ones available from Halfords.

cuttingbackisitfun?

Hey Dr squeeze,

Yeah same problem my brother and dad are mechanics so they are looking at it but it is so old now I am thinking to get rid before i start having to throw money at it. My brother could not believe it when it passed its last MOT!!!!!!

We will see hey, K x

DrSqueeze

Now that's a useful family connection Hope they can patch it up for a bit longer so you have time for a good look around. Nothing wrong with an old car mind you, look at some of the vehicles taking the royal family around

Depending how often you need the car, might be worth looking at occasional hire cars while it's off the road.