The Secret Dreamworld of a (Scottish) Shopaholic

scottishspendaholic

Ok so today's progress, I'm quite pleased!

- NSD!!!! I live across the road literally from a small supermarket and am in there all the time. I find not spending anything really hard. Rather than buying ice lollies today, my youngest child and I had a homemade ice cream cones instead. I went to see a friend's new flat this evening and took round some fizz I already had. I was so tempted to buy nibbles too, but resisted!

- I had a declutter for car boot/eBay, this will continue.

- I found another 37p roadkill under our outside washing line (from upside down pockets) and when I was decluttering old handbags. I alo found my wedding lip gloss, which I thought I'd lost and is like new!

- I have a full bag for life full of clothes not fit for eBay, for weighing. There's somewhere close to work that does this.

marmiterulesok

I'm glad to know that some comments/ideas have been useful.

You're sounding really positive with lots of ideas and motivation.I hope it continues.I think that one thing that helps a lot is to take things one day at a time.

Well done on the NSD by the way.Why not join us on the challenge?It runs for one month at a time.You can join midmonth if you fancy and pledge the number of NSDs you're aiming for.:)

Well done on cutting up the credit cards too!:j:j

You know,talking about window shopping,I really don't miss it AT ALL.You might find that you don't miss it either.;)

Take care and stay strong.

scottishspendaholic

Hello!

We've had a busy day & I feel absolutely done in with this heat, I've a crappy headache coming on so am going to bed soon - plenty I should be doing, but I can't think straight.

I've had another NSD, yahoo! Well - technically we did spend money (train tickets to city to get to museum), but I didn't spend any of my money, despite the kids badgering me for snacks/visits to the cafe/gift shop. I am counting this as a NSD for my own purposes, I'm not sure I should join the challenge though, as this might be seen as cheating/not following the rules? I also got 2 x £2 coins in our change for the train tickets!

Today was fun but knackering, and I'm going too bed too late at the moment (new MSE addiction!) so I'm tired. I am very proud of myself for not buying breakfast ( stupidly didn't have time for this) and I really wanted a yummy posh coffee so badly, but resisted, yahoo!!!

I have a mysterious £33 that I cannot remember spending unavailable to me in my normal current account (bank account 1 - not overdrawn). It is £33 exactly and I have racked my brains. It has decreased my available balance, but no details of the £33 spend are available yet, will keep you posted!

I got an email re. my overdraft (bank account 2) today re. changing account terms & conditions, at first I totally panicked, it sounded like they were going to introduce a daily charge for being in an agreed overdraft, however it appears that I misread it, and if I use the account as I use it now, then everything should stay as it is (I think!). I am considering contacting this bank to see if they will reduce my overdraft monthly then I'll HAVE to stick to the plan, will have a think about this.

I also got a letter requesting £37.50 by 25th July to close a bank account (bank account 3) I'd requested to be closed. It took a calendar month to close it, it was at £0 balance when I rang to close it, but took one month, in which time they added a monthly charge plus another monthly charge (apparently this charge was charged in arrears) and a charge for being in an unarranged overdraft due to monthly charges! I just want shot of them so will pay this ASAP in the next week.

You are so right about the window shopping marmite, and I think I might deactivate Groupon/LS/itison emails at the moment too, 'cos I just want what I can't afford.

Off to the local parks tomorrow to meet up with friends, fingers crossed for a NSD!

Nymphadora

Well done on the NSD today.

I can be a bit of a spendaholic but over the years I have learnt not to be.

I am also in Scotland and the kids are off on the school holidays and you do like to treat them. I am getting much better at being organised so I don't need to spend big on them (though sometimes I do)

Good luck with your debt busting.

please-let-me-be-lucky

Might be worth ringing the bank to see if they will reverse any of the charges for you rather than just paying it. If they agree, you could pay that amount off a debt instead Xx

Harri-bear

Hiya, Scottishspendaholic, just thought I'd pop by and say hello!

I know what you mean about striving for the life you want rather than the life you have - I do it all the time! I have to admit to being quite jealous of people with nice houses and big cars and, yes, I too know that it is a smokescreen in a lot of cases. It doesn't stop me wanting though....

Anyway, you are doing all the right things, so here's wishing you all the best!

ElphabaThropp

Well done on the NSD, it definitely counts and you can make up your own rules providing they're realistic .

I second PLMBL its worth trying to get the charge cancelled, its only the cost of a call if they say no.

Who do you bank with? I'm with HSBC and have rung before about charges that have been deducted from my balance but are not visible yet. They've always been able to tell me what they relate to and if they look like a ring fenced charge. If you've bought petrol from a pay at pump they normally just ring fence a pound but sometimes they've been larger amounts. xx

marmiterulesok

Hi scottishspendaholic,

Well done on the nsd.The great thing about the challenge is that you make your own rules.

For example,my rules don't include any bills or direct debits,any prescriptions and also going swimming as I have a membership card.For me it's all about reducting personal spends.For a while any budgeted spends didn't count,but as I have a budget for everything,it meant that I could spend everyday and still claim an nsd.So I changed the rules.

I usually try to have 4 nsds a week,which leaves me 3 days a week to get groceries,toiletries,cat food etc.It takes a bit of planning,but it works for me.;)

I hope you manage to get these charges sorted out.

How annoying not knowing what the £33 has gone.:mad:

It's a great idea to stop those tempting emails!:money:

Have a great time at the park today and hope the headache has gone.

MrsSmith2013

Hi Scottishspendaholic, didn't want to read and run so thought I would say hello. I've read through your thread, and just want to give you a big hug! It must be so stressful checking the post and shreading statements etc - I really feel for you.

I'm the same with the kids, want them to have a happy childhood with nice things, and not be the poor ones who never get anything or get to go anywhere. My daughter is about the same age as yours (mine is just over 6) and has also been an obnoxious little brat the last few weeks. Its added stress but I don't know what to do with her when she's like that.

Anyway, I shall go and subscribe to your diary, and keep an eye on your progress - good luck, and I'm sure you will get loads of support from the people on here.

Mrs S x

scottishspendaholic

Thank you all so much for your support, it means the world to me.

I found out that the £33 was for some tickets to a family fun day thing that I thought had come off ages ago, what an idiot. Just as well I didn't phone the bank...so I'm £33 down...

And no no spend day (boo) as I had previously promised a friend £10 - we have a mutual friend who is leaving a relationship & moving into an unfurnished flat with literally nothing so lots of us are all clubbing together for a box of essentials; tea towels, utensils, bedding, tea/coffee, glasses, washing powder etc. I know I can't afford to really do this anymore, but I was committed & the stuff already bought.

I did do a few DFW things though!
- Found out I have £7 in unused Tesco Clubcard vouchers and another 400 points built up already
- Made a list of MSE money making things to check out from reading threads on here (survey sites, look at old savings accounts & more)
- Researched Amazon trade-in, I am definitely going to do this!
- Checked my Waterstones points balance, only 29p!
- Snowballed!

I've never done a snowball before, loved playing with it! So my snowball says I can clear my debts in 23 months, this is a massive 13 months off my target of June 2016!!! But The now all wants me to clear them in a different order - MBNA first, then Next, then Tesco, then Smile... so this is what I'm going to do!! I should also point out here, that clearing them in 23 months (gosh how good would that feel to be 'my secret debt' free by end June 2015!!!) still means I'm paying a massive £1,339.00 interest!!!

In August, I need to pay £143 off MBNA, £130 off Next, £75 off Tesco c/c and £7 to my overdraft so off I go!

So my grand plan for August (thinking ahead and trying to get ahead of myself...). It's going to be really tight as I owe a friend some money and we've got summer holiday pre planned stuff. In know its going to be really hard at the start though as a lot of this was planned pre LBM...

Coming in = £410

-£170 petrol (this is a long month & I am changing jobs part of the way through the month to complicate things further!)
-£355 snowballing
-£37.50 to close stupid bank account (have already argued with them repeatedly about this, just going to pay it & get shot)
-£75 I owe a friend
-£25 friends' meal out (Groupon deal + drinks)
-£15 friend's birthday evening
-£30 school shoes (have borrowed from 'joint' CB so need to pay this back)
-£20 family fun day
-£50 max. summer hol day trips (already bought tickets for things, this is travel into city & ice cream money)
-£20 misc. (stamps, soda&lime in pub at meeting etc)

=£797.50

...this is going to be a particularly difficult month, but I need to make just under £390 to break even, so going to aim to make £10 per day until I've managed to raise (& smash!) it. I've got a bit of leeway as tomorrow is only 17th July and I need to make this by 31st August (any debt payment over min. payments can wait until 31st August if necessary) - so 46 days - but I'm going to aim for £10 per day. Unfortunately I am committed to quite a lot of the above already, otherwise I would try to trim the unnecessary.

I can't believe it's after 10pm and I've (again), not done my jobs for the night...

A special thank you for the hug...