6 grand in 6 months - my personal challenge!

cottage_retreatist

HOK3Y wrote: »

Good for you - turning envy into motivation. Bloomin well done! You have so much positive energy in your diary. It's inspiring to read and you've beaten your monthly targets consistently. That has to feel great!

Hey Hok3y! welcome, welcome!!! :beer:

Yes - it does feel really good! Thank you!! Although at the back of my head there's a voice saying 'but there's still (blah blah) amount left!!!! :mad: It's those little things I see and do every day and I think 'if i was debt free . . .'

- it's weird though how OH really doesn't feel the same way - he makes all the right noises about being debt free and looks forward to house buying and all that stuff but then in the same breath says 'lets spend money on this, lets do that' . . i don't know - should I give up and start chasing my fantasy - ryan gosling :rotfl: instead? Hahahaha!!!! :rotfl::rotfl:

Really thinking there could be a business is partner money management field courses here . . .

thank you for dropping in!
xx

HOK3Y

Lol! If you get Ryan Gosling, I guarantee I won't be turning my envy to anything positive......I'll just turn a deep shade of green and stew! I am lucky in that Mr HOK3Y feels the same way and hardly spends anything. I'm also rather grateful that he is bald after reading about your OH's costs at T&G......nearly died! I'll stop complaining about the £24 spend on razor blades now! My hair is down my back but I haven't been to the hairdresser since January. I take good care of it and would rather not spend the money if I don't absolutely have to.

I am telling you, the school system here needs to add a basic money/finance class to the curriculum. Would save some young adults making a right mess with debt.

cottage_retreatist

hahahahaha! well if i did get ryan gosling I'd send you a PM!!!! :rotfl: Maybe arrange something!!! Haha - now i sound like ryan gosling's pimp!!!!!!!!!! :rotfl:

Yeah - my OH and his blooming hair!! Give me a break!!! It always looks the same wherever he gets it cut but lord forbid if i actually told him that!!! 8 quid at mr choppy or 45 quid at T&G - same difference as far as his hair is concerned with me!!!!

Maybe when he's sleeping i'll get the kitchen scissors out and give it a go myself! :rotfl:

My next scheduled hair visit is January!!! I only go once a year/twice max (I have dyed hair which was bleached but i'm now doing highlights so it grows out) - ah misspent youth forcing me to go to the hairdressers!!!!!

I agree about spending education - i knew nothing about money when i went to university and that's where it all started (that and not realising how expensive London is) - my regret is not getting a job when i was younger (or not being forced into it by my parents) - i think that would have been a really valuable learning step for me about real life money management which passed me by! When/if my little ones come along I'm going to force them into a Saturday job whether they like it or not!!!!

debtfreewannabe321

Wow lucky you with all those [STRIKE]jams[/STRIKE] Jellys (what's the difference??) I wish we had some family with orchards out the back :rotfl: I'd happily carry it all home on a train :T

Good luck with the NSD challenge :T I have to say envy is one of the worst traits to have, I should know i'm the worst for it. I get it, then feel guilty for having it and next time I will turn it to motivation like you have A lot of my friends seem to be moving at the moment to big houses, buying new cars (like new from the showroom and not off the side of the road as mine was :rotfl:) and expensive holidays that I could only hope to go on.....I stopped using FB for about a month after the last bout of pictures went on :rotfl: But it was my fault, I didn't save, I spent, spent, spent on things that were worthless. We can learn though and i'm just hoping 34 and a half is not too late to start working towards some of those things at the end of the day though they don't bring real happiness and so I must keep reminding myself of that, just in case I don't make it to getting all those dreams

:j:jkeep going though you are doing fab! :j:j (that's me cheerleeding for you, virtually, like! :cool:)

icontinuetodream

How many lbm's?? If you are anything like me, around about 365 per year!!!:eek::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Just wanted to pop in and say that you are doing brilliantly:T look forward to following your journey

cottage_retreatist

Hey DFW321 and icontinuetodream!

Thanks for popping by - and the cheerleading - yay!!!! :j

DFW321 - Jellies are basically jams but they're strained so they have no bits in them!!! So same-same but different!
We've got so many i'm tempted to go down the local pretentious farmers market and flog em at 4 quid a pot (reckon i could get away with it in N1 as well!!!!!!)

It's so not fair - everyone shoving their fancy holidays to the Maldives and nights out on the razz and buying houses on Facebook!!! I never post anymore so I don't seem mundane compared to the stellar lifestyles all my 'friends' seem to have!!!! :rotfl: So envy gets turned into motivation - somehow never seem to have motivation to exercise though - even though I envy all those toned ladies everywhere on Pinterest!!! :rotfl:

icontinuetodream - i deffo think you need an LBM every few days or so to keep you going in the right direction!!! When i don't have one is when my no-spending starts to drop!!!!! The more the better i say!!!!!!!! :rotfl:

Lovely to speak to those following my crazy journey!
hugs xx

HOK3Y

cottage_retreatist wrote: »

hahahahaha! well if i did get ryan gosling I'd send you a PM!!!! :rotfl: Maybe arrange something!!! Haha - now i sound like ryan gosling's pimp!!!!!!!!!! :rotfl:

OMG!!! Dying!! Guess you would get your debts paid off a lot quicker......do we have an idea where he lives?? LOL!

I have 2 children in whom I have tried to instil some money sense. Not easy when all around they are bombarded with messages that they can and should have everything their little hearts desire. It's tough - especially when they reach an age where they don't care about anything their parents have to say whatsoever!

cottage_retreatist

Maybe we should keep an eye out for next time he's in the UK and set something up? :rotfl::rotfl:

I'm affected by those messages as well - they're just so bl**dy good at trying to convince EVERYONE that they need EVERYTHING!! Ad agencies are obviously in league with the devil! :mad: Maybe you should get your kids to read a few of these diaries - they were certainly an eye opener for me!!!

I have spent this afternoon 'relaxing' in front of the computer- sorting out my SOA and my snowball calculator and also - i have written a full and final letter to send to a DCA with a PDL i defaulted on - last letter was received in 2012 so I'm going in with a low offer and hoping they accept -i know this DCA still has it cause i still get calls on my mobile from them (which I don't answer!!!!! :j)

OH still gets calls from 'Mike' at MMF 8 times a day but doesn't answer - listens to the voicemails!! Doing some online research it seems 'Mike' has been sending the same threatening voice messages to people for over a year!!!! He must be a very busy person :rotfl::rotfl:

Hope they actually send a written letter soon - i'm tempted to contact the original lender to try and settle that PDL so as not to have to deal with MMF.

If they do accept F&Fs that would really help with bringing our DFD closer as we can push on with paying off the CCards. Keep your fingers crossed for me people!

I'll keep you updated on progress - won't mention names or numbers before the offers are made, just in case!!!

andrar

Well done on getting involved in Ninja Saving Kat's September challenge, I did it for the first time last month and it really showed me where I was overspending when I didn't need to. I'm way more aware this month!

Once you've done your 10 days (which I know you will) add on the extra 8 for the rest of September - it'll seem easier as the hard bit you'll have already done!

cottage_retreatist

thank you Andrar! :beer:
Lovely to see you over on the other board!!! Good luck for your SSU battle too!!!

1 NSD down! Only 9 more to go til 13th Sept!!!!! :eek:

Posted the letter to the DCA as my first f&f offer on the PDL so fingers crossed everyone! fingers crossed!

Went in pretty low to tell the truth but gives scope for a more reasonable middle ground - like haggling in a Turkish souk!!!

I'm being super moneysaving - took the OH's trousers to the dry cleaners to be patched up as they were ripped and they did it for 7 quid! (I can't sew very well so couldn't have done as good a job myself) - means we're sorted for a suit for him for minimum another 6 months so thats a weight off my chest - no needing to find 200-500 quid for a suit. THANK GOD!!!!!

He's off to Paris for work again on Thursday - did ask him to request bed, breakfast and dinner at the hotel so he doesn't have to worry about feeding himself and then recouping so hope he bears that in mind when he books the hotel through work tomorrow!!!!

got mushrooms and salad in the fridge so mushroom risotto with big feta and avocado salad for supper!

this week will be my frugal fast challenge - eating only from the cupboards and freezers (i learnt that word from 'extreme cheapskates' :rotfl: - i watch it to make myself feel better!!!!) Can I manage 5 days with no spending i.e. no chocolate? :eek::eek::eek: