Return from The Road to Ruin

SilverCo

I guess, like many people at this time of year, thoughts turn to New Year resolutions. I tend to make several, only to have broken them by the middle of January This time is going to be different! Although I have a fair amount of debt, it's not worryingly so, not yet anyway. To me, this seems like the ideal time to take action to ensure that my debt doesn't become a worry. I've been there, done that and bought several t-shirts along the way, it's not nice...

2013 needs to be the year I get my house in order and stop buying 'stuff' just for the sake of it, or to keep up with other people. Most of the time I don't need it and much of the time I've forgotten what I have bought after a couple of days. I reached a milestone age this year and its about time I grew up!

I would also like to move away from our throwaway culture more. We buy stuff, then after a short time, discard it for something new just because we fancy a change. OK if you can afford it, but I can't and I don't want to add to the waste in this world. Maybe I am starting to grow up after all... :T

The other big mountain to scale is to lose some excess pounds from my person! I've been saying I should do this for at least two years now, but the scales never lie. I'm hoping that shovelling less in my mouth might help with the pennies too :rotfl:

Here's to my journey back from The Road to Ruin :beer:

SilverCo

OK, first sensible thing done - cancelled my hair appointment for next week at a cost of approx £50. I have long, straight hair that needs just a trim every few months, not the full works every six weeks. Baby steps... :T

brummiebabe

Good luck with your plans Silver.....*subscribes*;)

SilverCo

Today, my attention is being directed towards groceries and just how the heck I'm going to cut down... There's only the two of us, plus kitty, but we seem to always spend upwards of £400 each month on food, absolutely ridiculous!

On a more positive note, I have managed to stay away from the sales this year, with the exception of buying much-needed trousers for DH. Even that was a success as I not only bought three pairs of trousers for less than half price, but I also managed to find a working discount code for an extra 15% off :T

Onwards!

SilverCo

Been a quiet couple of days, but that means NSDs too

Trying to get to grips with the whole food thing and actually made my own spicy parsnip soup with some left over parsnips and cream I had knocking about. I was really quite impressed and certainly will think twice before spending out in organic, fresh soups again! I did do the monthly O*ado order, but only bought the things we actually need, rather than all the offers "because they were there".

I've also squirrelled away some extra from the money DH gives me each month; I'm hoping for a "out of sight, out of mind" moment!

Lots of New Year resolutions buzzing around in my head, of course, saving money is the top of the tree! I do this every single year, but never manage to achieve. 2013 WILL be my year

Happy New Year everyone, may 2013 bring all that you hope and wish for :beer:

SilverCo

Today marks the first NSD of 2013 :T I'm kind of hoping there may be a few more before the month's out too!

I've been trying to find some money-saving / money-generating ideas and decided to see what my old mobile was worth. To my amazement, I got £40 for it and the cheque should be winging its way to me as we speak Am going to put this away in my pot, rather than spend it on the most useless thing I can, as usually happens when I get a bit of spare cash!

Decided to join a gym as part of my New Year resolutions, yes a cliche I know, but I did it anyway. DH and I took on a joint membership, so it worked out a little cheaper. I'm hoping that the monthly membership will be balanced out with the cheaper food bill each month, that's the theory anyway.

I still have the money I received at Christmas, which is an absolute first for me, it usually burns such a hole in my pocket that it's been spent by Boxing Day. I'm really proud that I've managed to hang on to it for this long and, together with the money from DH and the mobile money, I can begin to see the amount growing in a small way. I'm actually starting to think twice before spending money and asking myself if I really need the item rather than just splashing the cash (or credit card)

SilverCo

Well, things haven't been too bad over the last couple of weeks, although I had another lightbulb moment over my CC

In terms of grocery shopping I am, at least, going to come in at my budget for January :T I usually spend the last couple of weeks of any month robbing Peter to pay Paul for my groceries, but not this month! I'm well aware that spending nearly £400 a month for just two people and one cat is absolutely ridiculous and that does need to be tackled. I decided to go veggie at the start of the year, so I hope that meatless 'shops' will work out cheaper.

I also want to have a bit of a clear out with clothes, bags, shoes etc. I guess ebay is the way, but I'm always nervous that I'm going to buy more than I sell!

Have had a rotten cold over the last week too, so my enthusiasm has waned slightly, but reading all the great endeavours on here will hopefully haul me up off my a$$ and get me going again

NewLeaf_2

small consistant steps is all you have to manage.

It is a free listing weekend on ebay this weekend

Doris65_2

Hi Silverco
I know what you mean re new year new start, I to decided that this year its going to be different,

I don't really have debts, but I really want to know were my money goes!!!, had some large unexpected car repair bills over the new year, and it was a focus point for me, made me really look at what I'm spending and on what,

NSD are a real challenge for me and i've been busy looking at my grocery spends for last year-its frightening how many times Mr T is on my bank statements,
January was better than I thought it would be but not as good as I would Like, so lessons learned, and I'm going to be better in Feb!

good luck with the ebay stuff,

Dx

SilverCo

...and not very much further, I've had, what I hope to be, my final LBM. Lots has happened over the last few months, including a major lifestyle change, but the debt just keeps hanging round my neck like a hulking great albatross!

Need to pay the CC (only have one now, so that's a positive move), loan from parents and personal loan and I want to achieve this quickly, cleanly and as painlessly as possible

Food shopping is still coming in grossly over budget and the CC got racked up putting in a garden, literally! That's all done now though, so I can begin to reduce CC down.

I'm trying to do this as, although my home lifestyle has changed dramatically, the stressful job is still with me. I need to be able to get out of debt in order to address this in one way or another. Have go really into alternative therapies recently, especially Reiki and would like to think about pursuing this.

Anyway, enough ramblings. Onwards!

chevalier

Hi Silverco
Well done on coming back. That can be quite hard. Did you ever do a Statement of Affairs (link in the first time users thread above this one)? Even if just for yourself and your OH?

If you have had a lifestyle change then now would be a good time to reassess anyway.

Did you manage to get your food bill down? I would agree that 400 for food for two people and a cat is a lot. I am assuming that you don't have a medical special diet that makes it very expensive?

You do realise that changing supermarkets would almost certain bring your grocery spending down with relatively little pain. Also down shifting a brand will also help with this. There are very few things that taste better for being in a branded tin or packet! That goes for the cat too.

Good luck at sticking to it this time
chev