Treats etc

clarab_3

mh1923 wrote:

The important thing with treating yourself is that it be planned. It's the impulse treats that get us in trouble. If you budget a small amount for 'fun money', whether £5 or £50 a week, it will keep you from feeling deprived. But if you scrimp for weeks, you might suddenly find yourself buying something on impulse that you can't afford because 'I deserve it.'

Er, not that I've done anything like that myself.... :whistle:

I totally agree with that - its torture just now with the sales and things, but I live well and get such a kick out of watching the numbers fall... I get boots vouchers through pigsback and survey sites and buy myself nice bath treats and things...

When my Credit cards are all clear (June here's hoping) I'e promised myself a month OFF the overpaying, I'll make the min payments to my loans and Im taking myself off for a well deserved splodge with the £250 I would normally be paying to credit cards. The month after? that £250 is going straight into clearing the ret of my debts faster.

Bellie_2

Thanks for all the replys. When I have tried before to pay off debts I would go for months and months just paying for food and bills and trying to put the rest to debts but then I would get say a little bit of a bigger pay oacket than normal and think well I have not been shopping in ages and a little reward wouldnt hurt. In about two hours all of my wages would be gone and then and I would do the same thing the next week as I had been skint the week before. Round and round in a circle. I am trying to break that and have been managing to make all my agreed payments every week. But I want to be able to overpay them to get to my DF date sooner. So I think maybe a little bit of money that I can spent on what I want might stop that deprived feeling = splurge. Thank you again for your replys. x

sarahlouise210

I always feel that the satisfaction I get from paying off debts, getting a good deal (or even better something for free!) is the best treat I could get!

Crown

The idea of the budget is to tell your money what to do each month not deprive you of treats or life style.

I have never understood the mentality that a budget should be a hardship.
It should be looked at as a plan of action!

As long as your honest and include "treats" into your budget then there is no problem.

The problem arises when you do not include it on the budget and you do not know what happened to that £30 thats missing at the end of the month.

sheraz2

Defo treat youself every now and again. half way through clearing our debts, I treated myself to a £600 weekend.

It's a waste in the bigger scheme of things, but I had a fantastic time and it re-inforced and gave me more incentive to clear the debts as I would have felt really guilty if I fell off the wagon after that treat

Bellie_2

Thank you, I still feel like sometimes I should not be spending anything at all as I want to pay off my debts as soon as possible but I know myself that I have a problem with feeling deprived if all my money goes to paying off other things, And it is going to be a little while till i can pay off it all so to make sure I can stay on the wagon till it is all cleared I have to have a little bit in my budget that is totally mine and no one elses. And if I dont spend it by the end of the week it can go in my money pot where I am saving bits and pieces for overpayments. Plan sorted. Away to adjust my budget now. Thank you

lazy&indebt

Well, when I had my (first) LBM last year I completely deprived myself, even didn't let myself have nice food or anything, ALL my spare cash went into an ISA (with a view to paying of my credit card that was on 0%)

Then, you guessed it, I fell off the wagon and blew the lot! So yes, from my point of view it is best to treat yourself. I think different things work for different people...some people might actually benefit from not treating themselves at all so it all depends. You need to find the right route though as now I've decided to be DFW, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to get back into it!

rog2

It's the odd treat that keeps us sane, Bellie, also gives you a foretaste of what to expect when you are debt-free. :beer: