Off the boil

unoriginal_uk

Hi Sunflower

I know that feeling well - I spent far too many years withdrawing cash from cash machines at every given opportunity, just to avoid the panic few seconds everytime I had to pay for something on my card in case it was declined.

My debt is due to be fully paid in a weeks time, so I always knew that this Christmas just gone would be hard - I sacrificed forward budgeting for Christmas in order to get the debts paid off sooner so I had not saved anything for Christmas at all. During November, I therefore decided to try and set myself a challenge to make as much extra money as possible during December (ebay, selling competition prizes etc) and this effectively paid for (albeit still a very cheap) Christmas for me.

I was, though, very realistic about Christmas - because of being in debt etc, there was no partying for me. After my LBM, that all stopped - It sounds harsh but the approach worked for me of no fun times until my debt is paid off, unless the fun times are paid for by earning extra money. This truly gave me the motivation to get it all paid off ASAP and it worked.

From now onwards though, as part of my new strict money management plan, I am going to put a little bit of money into a pot every month and this is going to pay for Christmas/Birthdays etc, so when December comes I've got approx £300 to pay for everything.

Good luck and don't worry about falling off the wagon, it happens to everyone Definitely re-do a budget and stick to it and take advantage of everyone's experiences on here!

unimaginative_user_name

I'm definitely with unoriginal uk on the Christmas/birthday savings pot. £30 a month is manageable for most people and takes the sting out of extra Christmas spending. It also means there are funds available to take advantage of summer sale bargains without needing to hit the credit cards. In January I always review the previous Christmas spending and start a draft budget for the following year. I work out how many Christmas cards I'm likely to need and get them half price from charity shops, and I do the same with wrapping paper. When I'm feeling particularly organised I buy my postage stamps in March as prices often go up in April and I stRt looking for presents in summer sales, ticking names off my budget list as ans when I buy things. Building up a pot each month means there's usually money there to spend as I go along.

I have similar pots for annual car expenses - insurance, road tax, MOT, servicing and emergency repairs, as well as holiday expenses.

Sunflower27

Thank you for all your advice.

I have started to put all this in place.

It can be quite fun having to think instead of spend spend spend

Sunflower27

Hello,

Thought I would check in and see how peoples weekends went etc?