Need to manage my money

agathadc

I work part-time, in a self-employed capacity. Last year I worked two jobs and was earning quite good money, until I got sick with clinical depression and missed two terms of work (I was a freelance French teacher in a primary school as well as a private tutor and a freelance writer). My income plummeted and I took out a loan. Then I went back to work and my cash was just, disappearing, I had to take out another loan, then another. My ill-health was caused by trying to do too much and so I gave up the teaching and now work as a freelance writer and home-educate my daughter. My husband earns enough to pay all the bills, the only bills I am responsible for are the grocery bills, but even then he gives me £200 towards the cost of this each month. I have no idea where my money has gone - I just seemed to have spent it all on thin air! Not clothes, not games, not stuff, I literally have no idea how I spent it all. I now owe £10,000 in a loan and £2000 on a credit card and have £400 in the bank. I earn between £200 and £400 a month. I need to control my spending. I've been lurking on the board for around a year. I've read the Thrifty Ways for Modern Days book and taken it to heart. I'm making a start on my grocery spending, £98 two weeks ago, £58 last week and this week. I also need to lose weight and don't want to have to pay to do that either. I also need to stop smoking, but find that hard as I'm still depressed. I'm very interested in old style ways and am trying to learn to knit and crochet so my daughter and I can make some gifts instead of buying them all. We've bought our presents early, got good deals and have wrapped them all in plain brown paper and string and made our own Christmas cards too using odds and ends.
I'm determined to get my spending under control as I cannot go on like this.

Mike_parsonnage

Your money is going on your smoking . Im in the same boat and cannot give it up , i have cut down on food spends , newspapers , walk if I can to save on petrol , only buy essential clothes, apart from a car loan I have no debt, I have changed utility suppliers, got better mobil phone contract , turn off the lights , do not use the dryer any more instead i air the clothes on a horse, i very rarley go out , so it has been cut cut cut. I am very lucky I do not have a mortgage to pay . However i now earn very little compared to what i did a few years ago . All the cuts I have made get wiped out by buying cigarretts at nearly £7.50 a packet . But that is where the money is going.

jennyo

I gave up smoking just over a year ago using hypnotherapy, and although the initial session is costly, I have found it so much easier to give up than when I've tried before. It really is a waste of money, I could cry when I think of all the money I burnt in 31 years of smoking.

agathadc

Thank you, both. I know that is where my money is going. Now I just need to stop smoking so I can start saving and build up my cash. Am desperate to learn how to manage my money better and I know this is one way I could start to save money quickly.

elaine12022

Perhaps look at why you are smoking, is it something you have always done or is it something you use for stress relief or to help block out emotions/issues lurking under the surface?

You need to be kind to yourself too. It sounds like you are doing really well, finding positive things to do, things like that may help you without trying at least cut down on the smoking.

You do not need to pay someone to help you lose weight - I would focus on thinking of health rather than weight, eating the right kinds of food for you should help(your body & mind will tell you), also feeling good about yourself.

I am a firm believer in taking things slowly, as making any changes in our habits takes a while to become automatic. It sounds like you are doing really well in the food shopping at the minute!:beer:

dark^knight

Hi.

Sorry to hear about your situation. I really feel for you. All I will say is try to be positive and keep going.

^dk^

freebyfifty

Hi,

I just wanted to say that just trying to cut down on your smoking will help.
I smoke and I know I would really struggle to give up completely. I just cut back a couple a day at first and then another one after two or three weeks and so on and now I only smoke 5 or 6 a day.
I could propably cut those out with a bit of will power but right now, I just don't want to.
I am making enough big changes in my life at the moment that I need the crutch that is my cigarette.

Don't be too hard on yourself. If you make to many big changes in too small a time you will become demoralised when you are miserable. Just take little steps in the right direction and you WILL get there.

foxgloves

Just wanted to say that you don't have to pay anything at all to lose weight. I've lost 50lbs so far this year & husband has lost 46lbs. We've just followed a healthy eating plan, which consists of everyday foods which we have cooked from scratch (so no expensive low cal ready meals to buy). We are not interested in joining gyms, so have walked more (which can be as simple as popping on a pedometer & walking around the streets where you live) and done more physical work in the garden. I did buy a set of Rosemary Conley's portion pots at the start of the year to help with portion size, & a calorie counting booklet, but both were a very small outlay.

BitterAndTwisted

For the price of a packet of cigs you could buy a 50 gramme pack of Bayside rolling tobacco from Asda. That should last you a week. If you smoke a pack a day, suddenly, you've magiced up nearly £40 a week. By the way, you should be able to feed yourselves on that £200 a month your husband gives you. For guidance check out the cheap-family-recipes.org website. Therefore your £200 to £400 a month income could be used to hammer away at those nasty debts.