I can't stop spending! Getting disheartened

kerri_gt

krustylouise wrote: »

Hi,

Thank you for your post. I'm part of April fools no more challenge this month, I'm in budget for grocery, petrol and entertainment but have spent money for things I haven't budgeted (namely the trampoline and my massage).

No, I'm not going to send the trampoline back, she's wanted one for about 3years. We do alot of crafty things, we bake, we visit farms, park, have play dates, soft play etc. DD doesn't demand or expect alot of things and I think this will be an amazing surprise for her.

I have a screen saver of blue lagoon in turkey at work as I'm determined to take DD away next year

Prob a silly question but I'm not familiar with the April Fools No More challenge, but if you've spent on the massage and trampoline, isn't it somewhat symantecs to say you're still within budget, unless you have used funds from those budgets to cover those spends?

krustylouise

kerri_gt wrote: »

Prob a silly question but I'm not familiar with the April Fools No More challenge, but if you've spent on the massage and trampoline, isn't it somewhat symantecs to say you're still within budget, unless you have used funds from those budgets to cover those spends?

Hi,

April folds no more challenge, you pledge how much you will spend on food, petrol, entertainment etc. I am within budget for these thing, if you check my sig you will see my amounts. So like I said unbudgeted re the trampoline and massage (but then I didn't have a misc./other/treats budget)

krustylouise

Mara_uk7 wrote: »

Im very competitive , especially with myself. I used to set myself small targets each month, and try to beat them. (I ALWAYS won )

Then saving becomes addictive, theres something lovely about seeing a balance go up, and youre really loathe to withdraw money & drop the balance down, Makes you think hard before commiting to an unnecessary spend.

Mine was in a PO savings account, in the olden days when you had a passbook and could see the balances growing. Dont know if you even get such a thing these days. Now I have the habit, even today when I am debt free, I struggle to justify a spend sometimes, and I just dont do it !

Good luck to you x

Hi,

Thank you for your post. Can I ask what sort of target would you set (I'm looking for inspiration!)

krustylouise

beth3735 wrote: »

I know how you feel. I am terrible for my random spending. Never on myself, but either on my kids or husband. And tbh they are so used to it, they don't appreciate these little bits. So i need to stop for my banks sake and spoilt kid/husband syndrome!

I keep trying to save a lump sum of around £700 but everytime i get to around £100 i end up spending it too. I had £100 in my ISA and took it out for holiday clothes for my kids (just an excuse to buy them stuff!) I have put £50 away last Thursday, and hoping to put another away tomorrow, at least i have lasted 1 weeks without touching that £50 lol Thats good going for me

I need to be firmer with my spending too. Your dream is owning you own home, Mine is taking my kids to Florida before they all grow up and move out We will reach these goals if we just keep focused!

Good luck with your savings x

Well done on saving £50, that's really good! I get to about £100 and then get a sudden sense of "DD could do with this" my mum always used to say money burns a hole in your pocket, and she was right!

Congrats on your sig too - you've come a long way!! X

Mara_uk7

krustylouise wrote: »

Hi,

Thank you for your post. Can I ask what sort of target would you set (I'm looking for inspiration!)

It varied from month to month depending what expenses I had, Was never less than £100 , but once I had freed up extra, I used to aim for £300-400 , Or whatever it took to "round up " that savings account. Just setting that target was enough to keep me going. I think I had over £3000 by the time I cleared everything... then the savings just grew as I had no more repayments to make. Eventually had enough for a deposit on my first home.

By the by, The Blue Lagoon is not as [STRIKE]unpolluted[/STRIKE] nice in real life as it is in the Pics, Ulu Deniz is vastly over rated and very commercialised. There are much nicer parts to Turkey ! x

Bobarella

How are you feeling today about everything Krustylouise?

lantanna

krustylouise wrote: »

Thank you both for being kind. I look at the short term, I'm very impatient. I always think if I save £100 for 1 year that is only £1200 that doesn't get me a car or a house. I know it's a decent amount but it seems sooooo far in relation to a house or even a car.

Sometimes I feel exactly the same as yourself, though like me I can see you have some debt so why dont you worry about getting rid of that first and then you can start to save seriously. I would put any extra money towards your debt - that way you will be achieving something in the short term. Im 34 and sometimes I think the only way for me to be able to save would be to give the money to someone else to look after......................

gettingbackontrack

I've found it's easier to save small amounts in a number of accounts rather than just one savings account. I'd out £100 in, then withdraw £30 for this, then £30 for that and the savings never built to anything substantial.

I'm now saving smaller sums into separate accounts, each with a purpose - "pay off one creditor early fund", "Christmas fund", "emergency fund" etc. It means (hopefully) that if I raid one pot the others will still, slowly but surely, grow.

One of my accounts is a regular saver too so I can only make one withdrawal a year without losing out. I know interest is rubbish these days and I'll never get rich on that :rotfl: but it does make me less likely to think about it because it's not accessible. It's online too, so no cash card for easy access anywhere and no debit card to use in a blink of an eye.

kerri_gt

krustylouise wrote: »

Hi,

April folds no more challenge, you pledge how much you will spend on food, petrol, entertainment etc. I am within budget for these thing, if you check my sig you will see my amounts. So like I said unbudgeted re the trampoline and massage (but then I didn't have a misc./other/treats budget)

Ahh, that makes sense - thanks for the clarification I'm not 'getting' at you about the spends, so long as they aren't (drastically) delaying our DF path, life is pretty miserable without them.

I'm sitting with one of my treats atm, a lovely Lush face scrub - OH says it looks like someone's been sick on my face - charming! :rotfl:

In prev years I used to allow myself £30 - £50 to spend at the beginning of the month on one or two things for me, I'd spend the prev month choosing them so I had something to look forward to buying, then order them / go to the shop on pay day.

I guess it's hard to determine what's a good treat amount as it all depends on individual circumstances - do you have any idea what you can afford and what you wouldn't feel guilty about spending on just you? Perhaps some months you don't need to spend it all, sometimes a nice top / jeans / massage is in order, sometimes just a bottle of bubble bath and a scented candle will do the trick.

krustylouise

Mara_uk7 wrote: »

It varied from month to month depending what expenses I had, Was never less than £100 , but once I had freed up extra, I used to aim for £300-400 , Or whatever it took to "round up " that savings account. Just setting that target was enough to keep me going. I think I had over £3000 by the time I cleared everything... then the savings just grew as I had no more repayments to make. Eventually had enough for a deposit on my first home.

By the by, The Blue Lagoon is not as [STRIKE]unpolluted[/STRIKE] nice in real life as it is in the Pics, Ulu Deniz is vastly over rated and very commercialised. There are much nicer parts to Turkey ! x

Thank you for the tip - I will try to challenge myself I had no idea blue lagoon wasn't as "perfect" as it looks! How naive can I be?!