Please please please let this not just be a faze...

mf0u1098

Sunday 13th November

Pretty good day today in terms of money saving. I went to Tesco to buy food for my lunches for the next week so I can try and up my NSD's as I've been a bit rubbish lately with unexpected spends. I bought a couple of bits and saw a car boot in the car park so had a mooch around as they were packing up and spotted a stepper. My grandma has been after one and was looking in Argos at them (£50!) but when we picked one up it was far too heavy for her to move. Anyway, I asked the lady if I could see how heavy it was and it wasn't as heavy as my handbag!!! I asked her how much she wanted for it and she said £1... Well, I couldn't miss that so bought it and took it straight up to my grandma and she loves it. She is so happy with it and is putting the £49 that she's effectively saved against her Make £10 a day challenge (although she should really have put £50 as I obviously didn't charge her the £1...):D

I went to see my best friend and her family today and on my way back got a craving for chocolate biscuits so stopped at spa and spent £8 without blinking!!! Soooooooooo disappointed in myself... That was definitely back to my old self spending almost unconsciously, money flowing through my fingers without thought. It was a bit of a wake up call when I realised after 1 biscuit cured my craving and I've bought a few different packs. I'm now left with biscuits I don't want because I'm losing weight and £8 less in my budget for the month. :mad: I need to have a good word with myself!!!!! It's lapses like this that will threaten my success at paying of over £16k in a year and it needs to stop. Now.

I went out for my usual lovely Sunday evening meal with a friend and then came back and listed some items on Ebay. I've sold an item from last week for £10.50 and 2 items on Amazon totalling £25 for both so not doing too badly. It all adds up!

One fly in the ointment is that my best friend has told me that her dad has left her quite a large sum in order for her to use it as a deposit on a house. We talked about moving in together sometime at the end of last year before finally deciding to move in with my folks (when she found out her dad had become terminally ill). Now she has asked me if I want to move in with her when she buys her house. She's been looking at a 2 bed bungalow with gardens, large drive, decking area overlooking gorgeous hills and fully refurbed inside with a beautiful kitchen. It's thrown a bit of a curve ball to be honest as I'd fixed on my goal of paying off my debts in 2012 so fully understood that I would need to continue living with my parents to do this. Now she is offering me an alternative at not very much extra cost per month and living with a friend rather than parents at 30yrs old is far more attractive! It wouldn't be for a few months yet anyway as she needs to look around other properties and go jump through all the hoops to buying a property but it's made me think.

I have a few concerns however:

1) what if it costs more than she's telling me it will be (although we would be able to work all this out nearer the time before I had to make the decision as she can afford to live there by herself if need be although money would be tight)

2) I've never lived with her although we've been best friends for nearly 20yrs. I guess we all have our bad days and our parents are close by if we need a couple of days breathing room now and again.

3) That the second bedroom may be too small and that it would be uncomfortable sometimes when it comes to decisions as it would be HER house and so we wouldn't equals.

4) My parents are going through a pretty tough time at the moment and there is a real possibility that they will part ways in which case what will happen to the house and where would they then live?

I guess it may be a little early to be thinking these things but that's the kind of person I am. I like to have all the facts and plan plan plan! We are going out for dinner this week but I will let her guide the conversation as it's her dads funeral this Friday and I know her head is not in the right place. Besides there is no rush on this at all.

Work tomorrow and to be honest I'm not looking forward to going in. I like the people I work with and it's a good job but I'm feeling very fed up with it all at the moment. They pay me a good salary and I get to work on projects which are quite interesting but there must be more to life than this. I often think about what my 16yr old self would say if I could time travel back and explain how my life has turned out. I would probably get hysterical in disbelief!!! I'm heavily in debt, live with my parents, have no boyfriend, haven't been on holiday in years and hardly drink anymore...:eek: I don't even recognise who I am.

The one thing I am very proud of is my 2:1 BA Hons in Pure Maths. Noone can ever take that away from me and noone can say that it is a stupid mickey mouse degree like david beckham studies. Yet how on earth was I so stupid to get into so much debt???!!!! I know I became an adult in the middle of the boom when they gave credit out like sweeties but still! Idiot!!!

Well, I'm hoping for more sales this week and quite a few NSD's as I'm running out of budgeted money for the month and we're not even half way. To be fair, whenever I get a £2, £1 or 20p coin then I put them in my savings tubs and this month I've saved over £150 which has inadvertantly come out of my budgeted money... The more NSD's I have then the less change I get and the less goes from my budget. Another good thing was that my sister bought a dvd from me and paid in £1 coins so that's been added too. It all adds up!

Anyway night night everyone xxx

loubie_lou

All I can say is maybe take a risk and do whats right for you! Have a good long hard chat with your friend first though!

And I think 12k in 2012 sounds better that 13k! I forgot my sis is getting married next year and I need to save for a new car! :eek:

mf0u1098

Monday 14th November

Got my 8th NSD today, my target of 15 days is still doable but I had hoped to beat the target. I'm still proud of my achievements though as I still have saved £1100 this month alone and am still completely driven to pay the debt off. They say that it takes 3 weeks (I think) for something to become a habit and I've now been on MSE properly for about 6 weeks so I doubt this is just a faze anymore. I am still as motivated today as I was on my LBM, in fact I am probably even more committed as I have now proved to myself and others that I can do this.

I am loving my totals in my £2, £1 and 20p challenges but it's really putting a strain on my monthly budget for spence. So far it's taken a 1/3 of my overall spending budget but I don't want to have to dip into it, instead I want to have as many NSDs as possible so I cannot get change back which will then go straight into my pots!

I put some items o Ebay last night and already have bids on 2 of them. I also sold 4 items on Amazon so that's an extra £50+ to put towards my unbudgeted Christmas pressies. Although I have been a bit MSE savvy with two of the pressies... My sister and her boyfried ALWAYS use the Tesco Rewards for meals out etc but I'm not fussed about them to be honest, I'd prefer money off my shopping or fuel. So, I've agreed to give her my £18.50 in vouchers as their xmas pressie which is worth £72 to them! She's really chuffed and I've sorted out 2 pressies for £18 instead of £40 and since it hasn't come out of budget then it's like it's free. I think this has been a fantastic idea!

I have seen that there is a christmas saver club with Tesco and I plan to save up and top up throughout 2012 so that next year in November I can use the vouchers to buy my RAC breakdown cover which is due then. Any other vouchers will go as either pressies again or against the christmas shopping bill. I feel so organised!!! Can't believe I'm thinking of next christmas already when I've hardly got any presents for this year yet.

I'm waiting (im)patiently for the 2012 challenges to start!!! I also can't wait for the Pay off a debt in 100 days to start on 24th November as it will take me to about 3rd of March 2012 which is just a few days after my last payment should be made on my car loan of about £4.5k so it'll help keep me on track.

I'm a little worried about over spending over christmas especially as I finish work on 16th until the New Year but I'm going to plan what I'm getting each person before I go out so that I don't go over their per person budget or impulse buy things for myself! I don't need anymore DVDs. Books, CDs or anything like that for a long time. If I want to watch a film, my sister can get free rentals at Blockbusters, if I want to read a book then first I need to finish all the unread books I already have and then go to the library where it is free, if I want to buy a track then I will just download that one song from iTunes as it'll cost about 70p which is FAR less than buying a CD...

When I think back to what my spending habits were just a few weeks ago, it is amazing the changes that I've made and stuck to in such a short period of time. It has helped by remembering how it will feel to make that last payment but it's also about thinking carefully about every penny I spend and trying to work out if I actually need it or if it's just an impulse buy. I have a monthly budget which I can spend on what I want but it includes food and fuel plus any treats. By cutting down on my food bill then it leaves me more money to use guilt free on treats such a craft stuff or a meal out with friends. By seeing it in this way it has changed my mindset from thinking spending gives me a high and saving is pain, to spending is bad and saving is a high. I've also tried to make the saving into a game almost. I love going to update my status every day counting down the days till my DFD or to add to my challenge totals. It gives me a real buzz doing this. I do worry that if I have a hiccup or cannot add to my totals for a few days or even have to dip into my savings over christmas then I'll then give up but it is a much smaller fear now than it was 6 weeks ago. Now I know that things crop up and I also know that out of my £500 spence budget that I've saved £150+ in coins so my budget has been greatly reduced. With this in mind then it isn't the end of the world if I have to dip into it as it was a bonus amount saved in the first place.

Think it's bed time now but if anyone has any tips/ideas/thoughts or comments then please feel free to comment as I am greatful for any input (well nice input anyway!)

Night night xxx

kerri_dfw

Just popped by to say that I'm exactly the same as you when it comes to having impulsive phases. I go all out and really throw myself into something, only to give up and move onto something new quite quickly.
I'm about to move in with my friend next month, she's rented her flat for a year with her boyfriend but is kicking him out so it's going to feel like it's her place. So I know how you might be feeling. I'll update you on how it goes, her and I have similar interests so hoping it should be fine.

Best of luck with being debt free by next christmas, I'm hoping to be the same.

Kerri

loubie_lou

I need the 2012 challenges to start too!!! :mad:

mf0u1098

loubie_lou wrote: »

I need the 2012 challenges to start too!!! :mad:

So which challenges do you think you'd like to do in 2012? I'm looking at the 12k in 2012 challenge plus the NSDs, £2 savers and VSP. IS there any that you've seen or thought up that we could do together to keep each other motivated?!

mf0u1098

kerri_dfw wrote: »

Just popped by to say that I'm exactly the same as you when it comes to having impulsive phases. I go all out and really throw myself into something, only to give up and move onto something new quite quickly.
I'm about to move in with my friend next month, she's rented her flat for a year with her boyfriend but is kicking him out so it's going to feel like it's her place. So I know how you might be feeling. I'll update you on how it goes, her and I have similar interests so hoping it should be fine.

Best of luck with being debt free by next christmas, I'm hoping to be the same.

Kerri

It's amazing how many people have said that they are just like me when it comes to impulse buys. I thought it was just a wrong wiring in my brain and everyone else didn't have this problem. It's quite reassurring that I'm actually quite normal! Hoorah!

Please let me know how it goes with moving in with your friend, I'm really interested to find out how you deal with living in her house and what things you are going to do to make it work. I think it'll be exciting living with my friend. I've become a bit of a hermit and it'll be great to be in an environment where we will have friends around often!

Seen as how we are both aiming for next christmas then maybe we could all keep each other motivated.

I might start a challenge to Pay off ALL debt by Xmas 2012. What do you think? Would anyone like to join me??? I've never started a challenge before so I might ask some advice from some of the other people who run the other challenges.

Any thoughts on whether you'd join me in this challenge?

p.s. good luck at clearing your debt too and keep posting! xxx

kerri_dfw

mf0u1098 wrote: »

It's amazing how many people have said that they are just like me when it comes to impulse buys. I thought it was just a wrong wiring in my brain and everyone else didn't have this problem. It's quite reassurring that I'm actually quite normal! Hoorah!

Please let me know how it goes with moving in with your friend, I'm really interested to find out how you deal with living in her house and what things you are going to do to make it work. I think it'll be exciting living with my friend. I've become a bit of a hermit and it'll be great to be in an environment where we will have friends around often!

Seen as how we are both aiming for next christmas then maybe we could all keep each other motivated.

I might start a challenge to Pay off ALL debt by Xmas 2012. What do you think? Would anyone like to join me??? I've never started a challenge before so I might ask some advice from some of the other people who run the other challenges.

Any thoughts on whether you'd join me in this challenge?

p.s. good luck at clearing your debt too and keep posting! xxx

Definitely not wrong wiring, I think mine is because I am happiest when I have £20 left to last me however many days/weeks and can't cope with having money in my bank account. Sounds really odd though, I compare it to the way your body deals with drought... can last for ages on very little, but when it gets lots of water will horde it. Although I do the opposite, happy to live off a small amount, but have to get rid of all the pennies asap when I get paid because I'm more comfortable with a small amount. I've been trying to use this to my advantage and pay off bigger chunks of my debt, but I need to be more tailored now.

I've also become a hermit, but I quite like keeping myself to myself, so it's going to be odd living with someone. I do have housemates at the moment, but I don't socialise with them. My OH lives 150 miles away, so I only see him every other weekend. I'm really excited about moving in with my friend though, I'll keep you updated. Oh by the way, she definitely loves shoes she has over 150 pairs!

I'm definitely up for the 2012 xmas challenge, I hope to be debt-free before then but I do need a target date so let's do it We can be comrades.

mf0u1098

kerri_dfw wrote: »

I'm definitely up for the 2012 xmas challenge, I hope to be debt-free before then but I do need a target date so let's do it We can be comrades.

Sounds brilliant to me, I'll email now and see how to set it up and what I need to do to keep it running. Oh and check first to make sure that I'm not stepping on anyone elses toes i.e. there is the 12k in 2012 challenge but also the Pay off as much as you can challenge so I want to make sure that this won't clash...

I'll keep you updated!

loubie_lou

mf0u1098 wrote: »

So which challenges do you think you'd like to do in 2012? I'm looking at the 12k in 2012 challenge plus the NSDs, £2 savers and VSP. IS there any that you've seen or thought up that we could do together to keep each other motivated?!

12k in 2012. NSD. £2 savers, not sure what VSP is but all of the above!

:T