Better Start Living

mechanical_angel

Another person needing to get a head start on their New Year's Resolutions. I've never had much luck with them before but maybe if I sort of practice them a bit beforehand things will work better.

I tried starting a diary before and having to write down how I'm doing really did help me. I'm too good at telling myself plausible lies, actually having to write it down in black and white seems to make me pay attention.

Unfortunately my previous diary fell apart from a combination of apathy and my boiler breaking and having to move back to my parents for a month while workmen tromped through my flat. I dunno why it took a month, it was only supposed to be a week. I now have a snazzy new bolier and a wireless theromstat that have regular lover's spats and stop talking to each other leaving my flat either freezing or boiling (it got up to 30 degrees the other day while I was out at work, goodness knows what my gas bill is going to be like).

Anyway paying for my boiler and surviving a month at my parents without stabbing anyone over dinner (I love my parents, I cannot, however, live with them) has left me with a credit card bill of £2,543.82. This is fortunately at 0% until the end of July.

Unfortunately I don't really have any slack in my budget to pay it off with. So my most immediate challenge is try and raise the money before July. I have some expenses due from work and hopefully I can jigger my grocery budget a bit.

Thanks to MSE I have seperate savings accounts to help me budget and they work briliantly.

I am really, really bad at spending any money that appears to be spare. If my bank account is close to zero, I can be quite frugal. However while paying workmen I had a £1,000 just sitting on my bank account. The money was allocated but hadn't been spent. So, seeing as my bank account looked all shiney with £1,000 in it, I started to happily spend money, even though I knew the £1,000 wasn't really free money. Sometimes I wonder what my brain is doing.

Therefore I've decided I need another couple of savings accounts to divide my money up some more and stop my stupid brain thinking I have free money when I don't.

Techincally I could use the money in the pots to pay off some of my credit card, but I don't want to do that because it's taken me about three months to get them up and running and working (and not borrowing from pot to pot like a weird game of pass the parcel). Also if I use them to clear the credit card, the money wont be there when I need it and I'll never get things straight.

So the plan is to clear the credit card by July with 'found' money. Which means I need to start finding some. So tomorrow's mission is to try and set up the extra savings account and see if I actually have any spare money left over from Christmas.

My other two missions are to finish the ironing, and to get up at a decent hour. Today was a total write off on that account. So long as I go to bed as soon as I've posted this, tomorrow should go better.

By New Year the plan is to be ready to start moving forward instead of just keeping treading water. I want a life I want to live.

ZTD

Happy new diary!

mechanical_angel wrote: »

Unfortunately my previous diary fell apart from a combination of apathy and my boiler breaking and having to move back to my parents for a month while workmen tromped through my flat. I dunno why it took a month, it was only supposed to be a week.

No...something doesn't seem right there.

mechanical_angel wrote: »

I now have a snazzy new bolier and a wireless theromstat that have regular lover's spats and stop talking to each other leaving my flat either freezing or boiling (it got up to 30 degrees the other day while I was out at work, goodness knows what my gas bill is going to be like).

Well, it'll be under warranty. Get them back and tell them you want it sorting pronto.

mechanical_angel wrote: »

Anyway paying for my boiler and surviving a month at my parents without stabbing anyone over dinner (I love my parents, I cannot, however, live with them) has left me with a credit card bill of £2,543.82. This is fortunately at 0% until the end of July.

Unfortunately I don't really have any slack in my budget to pay it off with. So my most immediate challenge is try and raise the money before July. I have some expenses due from work and hopefully I can jigger my grocery budget a bit.

Why don't you do a full SOA, and have a look?

mechanical_angel wrote: »

Thanks to MSE I have seperate savings accounts to help me budget and they work briliantly.

I am really, really bad at spending any money that appears to be spare. If my bank account is close to zero, I can be quite frugal. However while paying workmen I had a £1,000 just sitting on my bank account. The money was allocated but hadn't been spent. So, seeing as my bank account looked all shiney with £1,000 in it, I started to happily spend money, even though I knew the £1,000 wasn't really free money. Sometimes I wonder what my brain is doing.

Therefore I've decided I need another couple of savings accounts to divide my money up some more and stop my stupid brain thinking I have free money when I don't.

Do whatever works. Some people have taken their budget, stuck money into four or five envelopes at the beginning of the month - and that was their weekly budget.

mechanical_angel wrote: »

Techincally I could use the money in the pots to pay off some of my credit card, but I don't want to do that because it's taken me about three months to get them up and running and working (and not borrowing from pot to pot like a weird game of pass the parcel). Also if I use them to clear the credit card, the money wont be there when I need it and I'll never get things straight.

Do it as a last resort - not a first.

mechanical_angel wrote: »

So the plan is to clear the credit card by July with 'found' money. Which means I need to start finding some. So tomorrow's mission is to try and set up the extra savings account and see if I actually have any spare money left over from Christmas.

My other two missions are to finish the ironing, and to get up at a decent hour. Today was a total write off on that account. So long as I go to bed as soon as I've posted this, tomorrow should go better.

Yes, 4am is a bit extreme. :eek:

mechanical_angel wrote: »

By New Year the plan is to be ready to start moving forward instead of just keeping treading water. I want a life I want to live.

Good! :T