New Life, My DFW Diary!

Lucy1982_2

I've been keeping a spending diary for about a month... I just seem to have lost my way a little bit.

But I am going to try and look at it positively and use the next 2 weeks to really get back into it and spend as little as possible. That way I'll be ok when my wages go in.

Another thing I am looking at is this. While I am going to go OD this month considering I was £50 OD when I was paid I would have managed to stay within my earnings. Which will have been a first.

Thanks for the advice. That's what I was thinking of doing.

Lucy1982_2

Ok feeling a little more organised at the moment.

I have just logged onto my internet banking and set up a standing order to be paid into my savings account each week. I am a slimming world member (as anyone who's read the thread knows) and I generally get my classes in advance as I get free ones. Normally I just find the £45 when it's due (this lasts 12 weeks) but I have decided to pay the money into a savings account so that when the next lot is due the money will be there waiting for me and I then don't have to go and make everything stretch that bit further.

It's simple, but I'm feeling much better about it.

I have also decided that once I have weighed in tonight I am going to sit down and go through everything I pay out and make sure there is nothing else I can cut back on. I'm also going to look through my spending diary and learn from it.

I am determind that I am not going to over spend next month and I am going to deal with what I have much better. I know that every cloud has a silver lining and this is my silver lining.

Actually I am going to attach my SOA for you wonderful people to look through. I don't think that there is anything else I can cut back on but we'll see.

SOA

Income Avg: £1,044.58

Outgoings:

Rent - £207.50
Contact Lens - £10.00
RAC - £9.90
Car Insurance - £32.38
Petrol - £80.00
Phone - £25.00
Debt - £467.34 (I add Amazon sales to this)
Living allowance - £60.00 (I need to stick to this)
Overdraft payment - £50.00

Total - £942.12

Debts:

Lloyds TBS loan 1 - £8,198.98 (APR 7.8%)
Lloyds TBS loan 2 - £669.63 (APR 16.9%)
Bed - £203.99 (APR 0%)
Style card - £325.00 (APR 24.9%)
A and L OD - £385.02 (APR 0%)

Now I know I need to find out where the spare cash is going.... but it just seems to disappear.

Does anyone have any tips of sticking to your budget??

Thanks

Lucy1982_2

Right I have manage to have a NSD!! :T :j

Not something I normal manage, but given the state of my bank account I thought I should try extra hard. I've been given some really good tips of sticking to my budget, so I am going to try then now and once I've been paid.

I have also transfered £25 from my A & L OD which will cover my phone bill which means I have £57 to last me until pay day on the 20th. Which should be ok, if I can manage loads of NSD's in between I'll be really happy. I am going to spend some time at the weekend looking through everything and working out what can go on Amazon and what can be car booted.

I'm off to slimming world tonight so hopefully will be in for a loss, I'll let you know tomorrow.

So feeling a bit more positive than I was this morning, I've also decided to make myself a credit card size thing with the mantra on it, so that everything I open my purse it will be there and will hopefully sink in.

I'll let you know how I get on.

x

nicola1982_2

Hi Lucy - keep strong, keep those NSDs coming.

Baby is due Jan 21st. Plan is to be debt free by the time he/she is 5 years old (figure that is when they will start noticing what other children have/do etc). Also want to be able to put money in the CTF and realised the before 5 can do this sort of thing for Xmas and birthdays but afterwards they'll start wanting toys etc (OH first child turns 5 this winter and really started to notice the difference!)

I think I can do it so long as I commit!

Lucy1982_2

nicola1982 wrote: »

Hi Lucy - keep strong, keep those NSDs coming.

Baby is due Jan 21st. Plan is to be debt free by the time he/she is 5 years old (figure that is when they will start noticing what other children have/do etc). Also want to be able to put money in the CTF and realised the before 5 can do this sort of thing for Xmas and birthdays but afterwards they'll start wanting toys etc (OH first child turns 5 this winter and really started to notice the difference!)

I think I can do it so long as I commit!

Sounds like a wonderful idea.

I'm going to be debt feel by the time I'm 27... even if it kills me. I'm not going to be in debt for more than 10 years, I was a student, so have a student loan, but I don't count that as I don't pay interest on it. I might look to over pay but my repayments are stupid.

Going to work really hard of the NSD I need a few to get my confidence going, but I'm sure I'll manage it. Will just keep coming here for support.

nicola1982_2

You gain more money in interest on high interest savers than you'd save by paying off student loans so if I were you I'd do that instead. I have my SL and don't really worry about it, I can save up the amount and pay it off when I've saved the total and I'd still be better off.

Lucy1982_2

That was my thinking... It sort of looks after it's self and I would rather enjoy my money than worry about it.

If I ever come into a lump sum and everything else has gone, I might pay it in one go, but I'm not going to work at it.

Nearly time to go home!!! It's really exciting

Lucy1982_2

Morning!

Well I lost another pounds at SW last night which means I have nearly lost 4.5 stone :T so going to try really hard to lose that 2 lbs next week to do it.

Money has been good I had a NSD yesterday and I'm going to try for another one today, I've brought loads of yummy food with me to work so I don't need to buy anything. OH is busy all weekend so I am going to stay in and sort out my carboot/Amazon stuff. So I am going to keep myself busy, do some exercise and have a good clear out.

Feeling much better about things (I can tell as I want to clean) Just need to keep positive and hang on until payday when I can start paying more things off and reducing my debt again. I was chatting to Mum about it last night (When I joined here in April she didn't know about my debt and I eventually managed to tell her) and she is so proud of the sacrifices I am making which is really helping me stick to it. She know's I am changing my attitude to money to. We have a memorial party for my aunt on the 21st and this time last year I would have gone out and bought something new to wear. This year, I'm not... I have some lovely outfits that my Aunt would have adored, so I am going to wear something I already own. That's a big breakthrough for me.

I had another good day at work yesterday and I'm hoping to make it 3 in a row today. So I'm going to go with the positive flow and will keep you posted with how I am getting on.

Have a good day x

nicola1982_2

Maybe you could do some sort of money weight match challenge. For every 1lb you lose you could repay £10 off your CC or something similar. That makes both an incentive!

Lucy1982_2

Very good idea, although when I'm really trying I can lose 7 lbs a month... I'm not sure I can afford an extra £70! But I could make it £5.

I might give it a go once I've been paid.