Midnight's DFW Diary

Midnight_Sky_2

Hi everybody, :hello:

I’m apologising in advance because I know that we seem to be inundated with debt diaries, but I really think that starting a diary will help to keep me on the straight and narrow.

I’ve tried keeping a diary at home but to be honest it’s a complete waste of time because only I read it and days later (normally when it’s too late anyway) I say, “Oh, I wish I’d done this,” or “I should have done that”, which is just depressing.

I think keeping a diary on the DFW forum is almost like sharing your thoughts, fears and triumphs with a whole load of friends who don’t judge or criticise, but instead encourage and guide, and somehow manage to have a laugh along the way. To be honest that’s probably what I need at the moment.

I’ve been inspired by so many people on this site - Immoral Angel, Hypno, Sea78, SS - to name but a few - that I’ve decided to keep my own diary. There are so many inspirational people on this site that I hope I can follow in their footsteps and start on the path to being debt free……:j

Midnight

Snaggles

Hi Midnight, don't apologise for starting your own diary, it's a really good way of keeping track and getting advice and support when you need it.

I'll look forward to reading it, and watching your progress - good luck!

silkglade

Welcome HUN

Congratulations on starting your own DIARY, wish I had sstarted one now too, but it is far too late for me

*zippy*

Hi midnight :hello:

Congratulations and good luck on your debt free journey.

Midnight_Sky_2

Thanks Snaggles and Zippy for your lovely comments! And Silkglade - you are an inspiration, you really are! You’ve achieved so much in such a short space of time - you must be really proud of yourself! :T If I can do half as well as you I’ll be delighted!

Well, I’ve had a very productive day so far. Thanks to MSE I’ve started reclaiming all my bank and credit card charges. I got a load of statements sent to me over the weekend and I spent most of the morning with a coffee in one hand and a highlighter in the other, happily marking off all the charges that I hope to claim back.

To be honest, I actually found it quite a humbling experience to look back over six years of spending. The amount of money I’ve squandered on junk that I probably never even needed in the first place! The funny thing is, if I was to put my past spending habits onto a graph, I’m pretty certain I could pinpoint exactly when I was suffering from PMT and had a shopping spree to cheer myself up! I can also see where I was suffering from depression and shopped, not because I particularly needed anything, but because it made me feel “normal” - I know I spent fortunes buying clothes and shoes without even trying them on. Then of course, when I got them home I realised that they either didn’t fit me or didn’t suit me and that would depress me even more! I mean, how stupid is that?

But the really stupid thing is, I never ever took the clothes back - so now I’m about to blitz my wardrobe and put everything on ebay!!! Got to get the money back somehow! :rotfl:

I must admit, I felt quite positive this afternoon after all this mental determination to get my debts sorted out, and I walked home from work instead of getting a lift - my poor old legs were killing me when I got in, but I certainly felt better for it!

Tomorrow I’ll have to go into town to pay my Council Tax and my arrears. I might even walk (that is if my legs don’t seize up overnight!) :rotfl:

Snaggles

Midnight, you really suit your name - you really do suddenly appear around midnight!

Good luck with the eBaying, hope you make a nice amount of money from it. Why do we always buy clothes when we've got PMT? I always find that anything I buy at 'that tinme of the month' never looks right/suits me anyway, and I just bought it because I wanted to recklessly spend money to cheer myself up.

Well done on getting started reclaiming the bank charges - have you got much to reclaim?

Midnight_Sky_2

Hi Snaggles,

Yes, Midnight seems to about sum it up - I've got to fight a teenage daughter for a turn on the computer!! Mind you, I do get peace and quite at this time of night:rolleyes:

I've got £250 to claim from Sainsburys Bank, £300ish from MBNA and £300 from Barclaycard. Clydesdale Bank haven't even sent my statements yet - they've written to me saying that they are snowed under with the demand and it will take another 2-3 weeks (a grand total of 98 days to send out a bundle of statements):mad:

If (or should I say when) I do get the money back it will just go straight back to them anyway, but every little helps.

*zippy*

I can only come on here late and there is usually no one about so its been fab the last couple of days to have a bit of company.

Your post is so true midnight, realising where the money went is a bit of an eye opener isn't it. Good luck with getting some money back from it all. Hope the knees are ok tomorrow

Midnight_Sky_2

Thanks Zippy,

You're right, it is a bit of an eye opener! When I see how much I've spent using credit cards (and lets be honest, that's just fools money, isn't it, because I never actually had that money to spend in the first place) and some of the things I've bought - £69.99 spent at Waynes Shoes:eek: I mean to say, who the hell is Wayne - and more to the point, why is his shoes so expensive:rotfl:

*zippy*

Wayne :rotfl: what a name for a shop.

Mine was ebay, my credit card statements had pages of paypal payments for things I didn't realise I really, really needed until I saw them on ebay I was embarrassed to see our postman as he would have piles of stuff everyday. My friend got so bad they used to do a special delivery for her and deliver it in a sack :eek:

See you have a teenager, thats my reason for coming on here late too.

Midnight_Sky_2

Oh, that's brilliant!! I love ebay too, that's another thing that appears quite regularly on the credit card statements! I used to buy tons of stuff off ebay -never got as far as having my own special delivery tho:rotfl:

DD spends most of the evening on the computer chatting to people - so I find it easier to come on late at night. As you say, it's normally quite at this time, so it's nice to have another night owl to chat to.