6 grand in 6 months - my personal challenge!

debtfreewannabe321

Oh bless, I think along the way I have had my fair share of LBM's of varying degrees. Obviously the biggest one we had was a few years back now. I cut every card into tiny pieces, chucked them and then spent hours crying :eek: I also tried to go back through the bin at one point thinking sh** i should have kept one for emergencies :eek: The phone call to the DMP people came shortly after when I had no cards to rely on :cool:

You will get there, you just have to brush yourself off, pick yourself up and carry on.

Do you have entertainment budgets in your DF plan? If not i'd put one in, if you're in this for the long haul you need some form of release and pleasure money! xx:A

cottage_retreatist

debtfreewannabe321 wrote: »

Oh bless, I think along the way I have had my fair share of LBM's of varying degrees. Obviously the biggest one we had was a few years back now. I cut every card into tiny pieces, chucked them and then spent hours crying :eek: I also tried to go back through the bin at one point thinking sh** i should have kept one for emergencies :eek: The phone call to the DMP people came shortly after when I had no cards to rely on :cool:

You will get there, you just have to brush yourself off, pick yourself up and carry on.

Do you have entertainment budgets in your DF plan? If not i'd put one in, if you're in this for the long haul you need some form of release and pleasure money! xx:A

Hey DFW! Thanks for dropping in!
He has his 300 fun money-he always seems to spend it in a day so god knows where it actually goes but I put everything I have towards a small food budget and debts so maybe I should give myself something to treat myself with!! Can't remember the last time I treated myself!!!

I think I should go ahead and cut up some more credit cards!!!! It it's not there we won't spend it! Age old story! And B*gger the consequences!!!!!!

I think I'm so depressed cause he's in Paris for work at the moment and if we hadn't been stupid with the money we could have got me a Eurostar ticket and I could have gone with him-amazing hotel on champs elysees all paid for by his work and a daily food budget!!!!!! But I can't and I'm just thinking-why do I not have 150 quid and then I could have gone?!!! And it all just makes everything seem so stupid!

I think I need a good cry! Maybe I should watch some weepies and get it out my system! At the moment it's Most Haunted which maybe isn't the right mood-setting for self-pity!!!! Although if OH was here he'd have knocked himself unconscious rather than watch it!!!!!!!!

Thank you again!!!!! :beer: xxx

debtfreewannabe321

cottage_retreatist wrote: »

Hey DFW! Thanks for dropping in!
He has his 300 fun money-he always seems to spend it in a day so god knows where it actually goes but I put everything I have towards a small food budget and debts so maybe I should give myself something to treat myself with!! Can't remember the last time I treated myself!!!

I think I should go ahead and cut up some more credit cards!!!! It it's not there we won't spend it! Age old story! And B*gger the consequences!!!!!!

I think I'm so depressed cause he's in Paris for work at the moment and if we hadn't been stupid with the money we could have got me a Eurostar ticket and I could have gone with him-amazing hotel on champs elysees all paid for by his work and a daily food budget!!!!!! But I can't and I'm just thinking-why do I not have 150 quid and then I could have gone?!!! And it all just makes everything seem so stupid!

I think I need a good cry! Maybe I should watch some weepies and get it out my system! At the moment it's Most Haunted which maybe isn't the right mood-setting for self-pity!!!! Although if OH was here he'd have knocked himself unconscious rather than watch it!!!!!!!!

Thank you again!!!!! :beer: xxx

:rotfl::rotfl:at the most haunted ...switch it to Titanic or something and that will be more appropriate for letting the tears fall! I can see exactly why you are upset and angry ...I would be too if i'd missed out on a trip like that Perhaps start saving a small contingency fund each month to cover any unexpected trips/emergencies etc. I currently put away £100-150 per month. I don't have any fun money though really I put all my allowance into savings. DH won't give his up and like your OH will spend it all within days!

cottage_retreatist

Haha! Can't beat a bit of MH and the old ones with Derec Acorah!!!!! Haha! I've got my own back on the OH and his fancy trip to France and cut up one of his credit cards too!!!!!!!:T

One more left (he is using one in France) and I'm contemplating getting it chopped as well but am thinking maybe in 1 month or is that the vicious cycle?!!!

I think I'll do the 100 backup like you say DFW-maybe put it somewhere I can't see it like a building society account so it's an effort to get to it!!! And better than using a cc all the time-I'm going to look into them and maybe open one at the end of the month-maybe I could use it to put money aside for MOT and Xmas as well!!!!! I like the sound of that! :j

Thank you! I'm feeling a bit less crazy now!!!! Haha! Although the scissors are still close by!!!!!!!!! :rotfl:

debtfreewannabe321

cottage_retreatist wrote: »

I've got my own back on the OH and his fancy trip to France and cut up one of his credit cards too!!!!!!!:T



I think I'll do the 100 backup like you say DFW-maybe put it somewhere I can't see it like a building society account so it's an effort to get to it!!! And better than using a cc all the time-I'm going to look into them and maybe open one at the end of the month-maybe I could use it to put money aside for MOT and Xmas as well!!!!! I like the sound of that! :j

Thank you! I'm feeling a bit less crazy now!!!! Haha! Although the scissors are still close by!!!!!!!!! :rotfl:

:rotfl::rotfl: good for you I cut my DH's up too :rotfl: he was abroad at the time also I save with Park for my christmas (first year this year) and put aside money each month into that budget....I can't touch it so at least I know xmas is paid for *phew* and I have a car fund (servicing, tax, insurance to allow me to pay for the year to save on apr), dog fund, emergency fund & rental house fund (i've one house i let out) When I first started on the funds I went a little crazy and opened 13 accounts :eek::eek::eek: all sorts of savings going on ...i've now compacted them to just 6 or 7 :rotfl::rotfl: still a lot but I have ocd about it now I think and couldn't do without them :rotfl:

cottage_retreatist

debtfreewannabe321 wrote: »

:rotfl::rotfl: good for you I cut my DH's up too :rotfl: he was abroad at the time also I save with Park for my christmas (first year this year) and put aside money each month into that budget....I can't touch it so at least I know xmas is paid for *phew* and I have a car fund (servicing, tax, insurance to allow me to pay for the year to save on apr), dog fund, emergency fund & rental house fund (i've one house i let out) When I first started on the funds I went a little crazy and opened 13 accounts :eek::eek::eek: all sorts of savings going on ...i've now compacted them to just 6 or 7 :rotfl::rotfl: still a lot but I have ocd about it now I think and couldn't do without them :rotfl:

Hmmm, you've got me thinking now!!!! I could just do it and chop it up right now and if I didn't actively tell him he wouldn't know-if he asked I could do a Flippant 'oh it's at it's max anyway-I haven't paid it off'!!!! Ooooh-those scissors are calling to me! :rotfl:

I have some savings accounts-once, before my OH came back into my life (he went travelling for a year after 5 months of us being together when I was 19) and I managed to save up 10 grand in close to 2 years from my student loan and working v v hard as well during my studies!!!! But for the last 5 years they've been depressingly empty!!!!!! Time to start them back up! I've put 2 pound in one!!!! Every little helps! May open a building society one or two with different ones and maybe open one in his name-that could be a nice surprise to give him an account with a wedge of money and say spend it on yourself!!! Can be his 40th bday present in 5 years time!!!!! :rotfl::eek:

You know what?! I'm going to cut up that card right now! And I think MH has finished so I'm going to put another one on!!!!!! :cool:

Addition: I did it!!!!!!! Eeekkkk!!!!!!

debtfreewannabe321

:T :T :T :T yay go you!! And those savings will soon start building up! Mine started with pennies too I round down every night to the nearest £ or 50p so take pennies from the current account and over the month that soon builds up to a tidy sum (I think others on here call them tilly tidies?) x

cottage_retreatist

debtfreewannabe321 wrote: »

:T :T :T :T yay go you!! And those savings will soon start building up! Mine started with pennies too I round down every night to the nearest £ or 50p so take pennies from the current account and over the month that soon builds up to a tidy sum (I think others on here call them tilly tidies?) x

I've set myself and him up with Yorkshire building society online ones!!! Instant access in case of emergencies and I'm going to also put some into my hsbc ISA!!

It probably will be pennies going into these savings accounts but if its gone from the current account I won't really miss it cause it all disappears one way or another so its win win win!!!! Tilly tidies-MSE is great for these tips that all just gel together and make great sense when you think about it!!!! :T

X

andrar

Hey CR - We all get multiple lightbulb moments along the journey, and all the minor slip ups and overspends are all part of being in debt and trying to get out of it.

I remember feeling totally ashamed of myself after totting up debt first time round, paying it all off with a loan with affordable monthly repayments, then surprise surprise getting into more debt which I just couldn't afford. Now i'm with PayPlan and on a basic bank account with a basic ISA and its great!

I budget strictly every month which includes a social fund - something I still sometimes struggle with but i'm gradually getting there - and save money every month to put towards car, rent funds, holidays and other fun stuff. I'm going away over Xmas and new year this year (something I like to do every other year) and feel really chuffed that I'm only doing it becasue i've been so good at sticking to my plan this year.

I fully expect to have more slip ups but at the end of the day its all part of trying to be debt free and I won't beat myself up about it and neither should you. Best thing to do is when you get the urge to splurge remember how you felt about Paris and think if theres anything you'd rather do with that money. Tends to work for me most of the time!

Keep paying off those debts, you're doing a great job. And as soon as thos CC's are cleared get them cancelled, you DON'T NEED them!

cottage_retreatist

Hey Andrar!
Thank you so much for stopping by and writing!:beer: I have to admit - I do feel much better today like a cloud has lifted (metaphorically as it's very overcast here!! )

What you describe is something I'm so scared of myself doing because I could see it happening before my eyes - clearing off debt to only create more! :eek: So cutting up the cards was a great sense of relief and now if i pay them off - I can't take them to a restaurant! There is no temptation!

I was wondering about getting rid of them - or at least lowering the level of credit on them but I read somewhere that this can adversely affect a credit score? Is this true? So many conflicting arguments!!

I want to save up once we've paid off all debts and the dream is to get a mortgage within the next 3 years so even though the score is shot to s*it I don't want to put myself even more on a blacklist so to speak with lenders (already there!!! :rotfl:)

On a positive note - I am cleaning the flat form top to bottom today -two rooms done - bedroom and bathroom just living room (i.e. teenage boy's mess pad) and kitchen to go and this is good -clearing out cobwebs - I have OCD so hate anything being where it shouldn't - it drives me crazy - bottles not positioned at the right angle, the bedding not folded a certain way etc so getting it all back to zero is soothing me! Also our e-cigs came today! I got vanilla cartridges and OMG - its better than smoking a real cig!!!!! and makes the room smell amazing! :cool: and hopefully 200 quid cheaper by calculations to smoke than buying tobacco - i could put the tobacco equivalent towards a bill and savings each month!!!!

thanks to everyone for popping by - since chatting on here I really do feel like getting back into the debt-busting 100%!!! :beer: I suppose like everyone it takes time and determination and that's what I need to get through - keep thinking of the endgame!!!

xx