What have I been doing for the last 10 years???

hummingbird

Hi Domayne,
I'm enjoying reading your dairy - it makes me think it's easy to see where other people waste money but not so easy to see/deal with your own. At the end of the day I have different things to deal with than you but I know I spend far too much on coffee! Costa etc.:o

Huge congrats on the progress you're making - particularly on the smoking and the online game. Those two alone will save you loads.

Looking forward to seeing other ways you are cutting back. I used to spend £100/week at one time, now it's nowhere near that...it can be a lot more fun to save than to spend!

Try matching the money you save for your niece with money you save for yourself, pound for pound. It's lovely that you are saving for her but your sister would want you to be in a good financial position yourself.

You have the benefit at the moment of very low living costs as you live at home, but this presumably isn't going to go on for ever, so look ahead and be prepared for higher living costs in the future.:T

Domayne

Hi DFW! I do think your right in that...I haven't had that true lbm yet because I keep wasting money on crap, I know mostly where its going (Junk - food, cigarettes, books, magazines, my game...I have an app on my phone recording my spends, but finding myself thinking 'well I still have X amount left til payday, does it really matter WHAT I spend it on??:) and I keep trying to justifying it to myself -and usually succeeding- Then feel the guilt after like...That £6 I spent on cigarettes yesterday could have been better spent on breakfast or lunch at work for THE WEEK rather than 1 day of weakness...yep, I started smoking again, well I had a wobbly day where the cravings won out over my will-power I haven't smoked at all today yet but this is my main struggle right now...to keep on not smoking, people here at work keep telling me that at least I'm doing well by not smoking during the week so least I'm saving money by only smoking at the weekends...but that is still £6 a packet wasted
Still good things I have done today!
1 - Cancelled one of my credit cards...I got an e-mail telling me my new statement was ready to view and this card was totally paid off, but I got a bill of £14.04 for interest...interest on WHAT? :eek: So I called them and cancelled - that's a weight off of my head at least :T
2 - Called Equifax and cancelled my 30 day free trial!
3 - Bought some sparkling water and lime cordial...I think I can get used to this...I wouldn't say I 'like' it so far...but its not as terrible as I remember xD However the sparkling water I got was from one of those metro MrS's and the only bottles they had was 90p and the lime cordial 2.80...not sure this is more MSE than diet coke...:rotfl:
4 - Haven't given into the cig cravings...yet!

I was pretty bad this weekend and signed up for Netflix...Although I quickly learnt they don't have a great selection and will not be staying with them after my 30 day free trial...so its not a loss or anything, but these stay at home weekends are so boring, I feel so boring! How does smoking make your life feel interesting? I really apologize for my rambly post tonight I'm just super craving for a cig, feeling sorry for myself and in the mind of...Is it even worth giving up? Giving up diet coke/my game/cigs...da heck have I got left?!


Hi hummingbird - I'm really glad you are enjoying reading my diary but I warn you...I'm a highly confused individual and it might make for awkward/weird reading sometimes :rotfl: I agree its alot easier to look at other peoples diaries and see where they are going wrong though...I can look at my own and see where I'm going wrong...but somehow, I can't quite stop myself from doing it completely....
I work near regent street and I'm surrounded by starbucks, costa, nero, pret etc...I used to have an addiction with prets mochas with an extra shot of espresso when I was working in the building next door to it, used to have 3-4 of those a DAY! Then when I moved around to one of the back roads, I was too lazy to walk there so started bringing my own coffee into work. I still have a slight coffee problem - 3 cups a day at least, but including milk/sugar its more around £5 a week rather than a day xD It is seriously scary seeing how much it can all add up to though! :eek:
I agree on the savings...I've REALLY enjoyed watching the money build up for my niece so I did open an ISA account this weekend for myself...its with halifax, 2% interest fixed for 2 years and I've set up a standing order from 1st Jan 2014 to take £350 each month...its not a huge amount, but after my credit card is paid off, I can pretty much double that and I'm really looking forward to watching it grow! :T So I'm like...making good steps as well as bad ones :rotfl: I will get there I think...

Domayne

Reason 5m of why im an idiot!!
So after transferring my balance to a 0% card last month...turns out that actually, I didn't. ..I just shifted it to an already existing card...got my statement this month and the interest was £84.42 /rage
So now I just paid off 406.18 taking my balance to £3203.42
Feeling annoyed though and not sure what to do

geelamch

Hi domayne

Chill out,we've all been there.youre doing great and focusing on the right stuff.
One thing I will add is that you shouldn't try and do everything at once.
Made that mistake myself!lol. Just set a wee target for everyday and eventually it becomes the norm then move onto another challenge. You'll win in the end .slowly slowly and remember you're still young and need fun etc.
Good luck!

Domayne

Chill out? What is this?? :rotfl:
In all seriousness. ..I know I need to learn to relax/don't stress...even my mum and dad tell me this OFTEN but I don't seem to have an off switch, I did try yoga which was supposed to be relaxing but my bones don't move it seems and all I did was end up putting my back out :rotfl:
I don't think im doing too much though, its just the trying not to smoke which I think is making me even more erratic than normal

*Vikki*

Just been reading your thread, I am 27 and been working for last 11 years. And also have no savings. I also have dipped in to debt then came back out again. Its a constant struggle. I dont earn as much as you do though I warn £1080. Id love to earn as much as you as dont think I would have ever had so much of a problem. I too want to get a house. So will be following your thread, Good luck!

P.s get a spending diary and write down everything. Can you see if you can lower your phone contract? £35 a month is £420 a year. A nice holiday could be booked on that. £50 a month for your neice, thats so kind of you, I have three nephews. What happens if the have any more you still going to give each £50? Can you not reduce this a little?

Quit the smoking if you can, eurgh what a disgusting addictive habit and just burning money. Harder said than done i can appreciate.

Have you gone through all your stuff, had a good sort out? Ive often had a good clear out selling stuff on ebay and made literally hundreds! Im down to my last £1600. And flipping heck its a drag and stretch. I still am scared have I learnt anything? Will i dip back in to debt? I think ill always enjoy spending money so it will always be a demond i got to whip back down!

As for games, £100 a month is crazy money. Can you not try xbox or something similar game instead?

Are you making pack lunches cheaply and taking to work?

Domayne

Hi vikki, thank you for reading and posting! from reading alot of diaries on here over the last few months, it seems our stories are not all that uncommon, I think we just came from a generation that handed out credit like sweets without anyone to really explain the implications of them and now boom...most of the country is in debt :rotfl: For the first 9 months I was working though, I was only doing 30 hours a week as securities receptionist and barely making 700 after tax so that's when I took the overdraft and first credit card, and was living way beyond my means, then that job was abolished and they asked me if I wanted to do security, this was the days before you needed a licence so I said sure why not rather than suddenly have no job and a few k in debt but I've worked on quite a few sites doing security now, been at this current one for 3 years next march andso far its the highest paid one and will go up by another 2-3% in april, im not in a huge hurry to leave here yet. Do you have any room for promotion in your current job? Or could you perhaps talk to your manager about a pay rise?
I have started a spend diary with an app on my phone which is brilliant and keeping me on track quite a bit, and the current phone contract is up for renewal on 16th December so I will see about cutting it down then, the only thing I really need is the unlimited data as I don't text/talk very much tbh.
I did actually speak to my sister about what would happen if she had more kids as I probably won't be able to save £50 a month for all of them :rotfl: but she said she only wants to have 1 more and then I will probably just half it and they will get £25 each and now I've set up a standing order to my nieces account that goes on the 1st of each month so ill just worry about future babies as and when they arrive xD
I haven't gone through my stuff yet no, been dragging my heels a bit with that one because im somewhat of a hoarder and don't actually WANT to sell anything I know this will probably sound quite stupid/naive but the thing is that my outgoings are really quite small, my debt is not that huge and I don't want to have to sacrifice everything I own and everything I do because im already starting to think life is blah, you know? Do you feel bad that you sold any of that stuff? Or do you miss anything? I sold my exes ring on ebay but it was more...because i was trying to let go of him, and holding his ring was a bit of a hindrance Do you feel like you have learnt and wont make the same mistakes again?
smoking is a huge financial drain so im trying to quit, REALLY trying and ive wobbled a few times mainly on weekends when im bored or socially, but I am giving it everything I've got and even when I fail, I haven't just given up and started again, I just keep on trying. ..all I can do really
I've been bringing home made lunches/left overs to work from home for the last two weeks which has definitely helped the finances as before I was spending around 7-8 a DAY on food! I'm really lucky though that my dad fancies himself as a master chef and likes taking over all of the cooking and has been packing them up for me to bring in to work :rotfl: Today I had left over homemade chicken pie but I'm annoyed because I left it at home, too busy playing with my pup lol, im not going to buy anything though, just have some cereal and fruit that I have here!

hummingbird

Hi Domayne,
Well done on the progress!
I was also wondering what was going to happen about any future nephews and neices!:rotfl: But I can see that you have thought about this!

Domayne

Thanks hummingbird! Although tbh, I don't feel like I've made much progress what with my botched credit card balance transfer and still part time smoking, I feel like I should be doing more but what, I don't know. What I do know is that I'm not in a position where I HAVE to sell everything I own, Buy basic brand everything etc...I just want to basically learn to live on the budget that I give myself, which I have cut to £70...which might seem like a fortune to some, but to me isn't really all that much. Though last week I made £25 last the week and so far this week I've spent less than £20 so while its nice stretching my money, living on less, paying my card quicker, saving quicker etc I'm starting to feel very depressed this week for some reason

kazwookie

Hi

Well done so far, but I think you need to have a REAL LBM, as another poster has already said.

I struggled for years, I allowed my self £10 per week, and even then that as £520 per year, often I have some left over, you had £100 per week, now you have cut this to £70 per week, plus you still pay for online games...............you need to get real.

You mention your phone app, are you sure you are using to to record EVERYTHING you spend? pen and paper maybe better, then once a day (at night) transfer the amounts to your phone. I am sure you are spending more than you think you are.

1. get 0% credit cards
2. move the balances to these cards
3. cancel (for now) the £50 to your neice, till things are all paid off.
4. cancel your online gameing account.

Good luck