Old Habits Die Hard!

ms_london

:wave: G'day everyone!!

How are you? Just thought I would pop in and have a read & see what youve all been up to. Quite missed the boards actually & it is almost a feeling of "home" when I read them.

I am back at work now, which will take me up until June (unless I get sponsored which will be longer), so I need to try and save some of my hard earned money for ongoing travels. To be honest though, old habits die hard, and although I had 5 months (most of it where I wasnt earning!) of not monitoring my spending, now I am back on a budget..! I could feel myself slipping back into my old ways, and becoming materialistic, spending money on rubbish, perhaps the reason I came back here...

I know what I need to do, and I have already sussed out what days are cheap days at the cinema/which bars have free drinks & happy hours and when, and sourced the cheapest internet cafes (free from work, tee hee!!), joined the library etc etc - oh and back at the gym..

I will still enjoy my time here, but think I am obsessed with saving money. Perhaps not a bad thing, but i CANT spend all of my wages, I just couldnt do it.

One thing that seems expensive here are groceries, but I have been eating a lot better and buying more fruit/veg - I just cant get my head around it, thought a lot of things would be cheaper here, but theyre not. Have shopped in Aldi a few times though if I'm passing :rolleyes:

There is a radio show here (Kyle & Jackie O) and at the moment they are getting callers to call in, and if you tell them your sob story they will give you some money to pay off some of your debt. Its quite entertaining, although most of them are irritating rather than actually needing help - one person even called in to say they'd been having an affair so run up expenses on hotels, lingerie, phone bills and could she have money for these costs (and no, she still hadnt told her husband!!). I want to throw things at the radio, but when they get a genuine person call in, I think its great that they are helping...

Jesus, I havent lost the ability to ramble have I?

So I am trying to save $1,000 a month (around 400 GBP) - which leaves me $150 a week to live off...... I am determined to do it, although the money I am saving will also go towards little trips within australia, weekends away etc - but I really want to come home with money, oh, and my little sis wants me to meet her in HK in June (like its just down the road....).

I am almost tempted to get my parents to record Spendaholics for me and save it for me, and I am gutted that I missed the "How to pay off your mortgage in 2 years" re-visit.

I think I need to get a life.......

I hope you are all doing well & life is ok in good old England - and not too cold for you!!

Will pop in soon, but have a good day/night.

xx

piglet6

Hi Ms London - lovely to hear from you!

Glad you're having a good time, and good on you for trying to live on $150 a week and save $1,000 a month :T - like you say, old habits die hard...I fear this website scars you for life once you get hooked (like thats a bad thing!!!?!!! :rolleyes:).

Keep up the good work savings-wise, and please keep popping back in to update us on your travels.

Piglet

P.S. You're not missing anything weather-wise in London...its truly manky at the moment!!! :mad: :rotfl:

Imelda

Hi ms_london,

I am glad things are going well for you at the moment, I guess being at work will make life more real than a holiday..... I'm still jealous though, especially when I was walking to work in drizzle at 6.30am!

I think you should enjoy yourself and not worry too much about coming home with money, it's a once in a lifetime trip, as long as you're not running up debt then there's no problem. Also, the way the AU$ rate is at the mo you will lose loads bringing it back here....

Have fun!

James240

hiya hun :hello: awwww i wanna be in Australia :mad: :rotfl: me and SS are doing well with our matched betting so i may try and persuade him to buy a airplane ticket :rotfl: i know ur having a brilliant time out there hun and hope u are still well all the best Jamesy x

Broken_hearted

Good to hear you are still enjoying yourself.

bank_of_slate

Hi Ms London, great to hear from you! You should write a book babe!
...Linda xx

LJD1_2

Lovely to hear things are good. Good luck with your budget and future travelling xx

LookingAhead

Hello Ms_London :hello:

Nice to hear from you! Sounds like you have simply got a sensible grip on saving some cash each pay packet to me. Nowt wrong with that!

Take care honey.

LA x

nearlyrich

Well g'day to you too Ms London, good to hear you are still enjoying Oz.

D&DD

Hey Miss L :j you're really NOT missing anything weatherwise as we are having a lovely bout of horizontal rain at the moment..don't you just miss that so much!! Lovely to hear from you and glad to see even though you're on a budget again you're still having FUN

Verbatim

Nice to hear from you again Ms London,

Whaddya mean, you should get a life!! And we're all envious here in cold rainy windy UK and you not having a life there! I don't think so. I'm green but hope you're having a brilliant time, you sure earned it.

No worries.