Learning to think like a frugal person

chanie

OH and I both have overdrafts and one on the joint account. I think I may put some money into my savings and then pay a chunk towards my overdraft towards the end of the year. I'm not very good at 'not spending'. If I have 'spare' money in my bank account, I can always find a use for it, whereas saving up to pay off the overdrafts seems more manageable. Between the house and the children, there is always something that's needed!!!!


Today was a lovely day. We took the children to a local park, which had a farm attached and they loved petting the animals and feeding the ducks. The best thing was that we didn't spend any money and we all had a nice time.

StressedSteph

chanie wrote: »

OH and I both have overdrafts and one on the joint account. I think I may put some money into my savings and then pay a chunk towards my overdraft towards the end of the year. I'm not very good at 'not spending'. If I have 'spare' money in my bank account, I can always find a use for it, whereas saving up to pay off the overdrafts seems more manageable. Between the house and the children, there is always something that's needed!!!!


Today was a lovely day. We took the children to a local park, which had a farm attached and they loved petting the animals and feeding the ducks. The best thing was that we didn't spend any money and we all had a nice time.

Hi Chanie,


Sounds like a great idea for the money. I was exactly the same with the overdraft. That's why I had to change banks so I could then treat the OD as a debt to repay. I had been in the OD for so many years, that I actually saw spare money in the OD as mine to spend. I fought for years to get out of it, and its only now that we have separated it that we are finally reducing it.


Probably a good idea to save separately and then hit it with a big payment.


Sounds like a lovely day out you had, even sweeter as it didn't cost any money :T


Hope FMG is ok, haven't seen her for ages

chanie

Hi everyone,

Just thought I'd drop in and make sure we aren't forgotten about.

Nothing to update really. Looking forward to payday next Monday!!!! I've been pretty good this last week. Things are still tight for us financially and will be in March as well (I won't see my pay rise until the end of APril). Work for Mr Chanie has been quite sporadic, so we are hoping that things pick up soon.

DS turns 4 in April and he is excited about his party. When I ask him what he wants for his birthday, he says 'cake and sweets' am pleased I have such a frugal son!!!

Steph - I will pop over to your thread.

FMG *WAVES* hope you are okay. Come back soon, we miss you.

ForMyGirls

Thank you so much Chanie, Steph and Mizmir for keeping my diary alive this last month :-)

My horror month is over - it has been pretty rough going but I have come out the other end now and feel like the world is a bright and cheery place again.

I will do a financial stocktake tomorrow or Sunday to see where things are at. There should be a decent reduction in the Big Ugly Overspend - yonks ago i did some creative budgeting in YNAB and put some notional money aside for legal bills, and increased the BUO by $5,000. Well the legal bills have come in under so now I can move the leftover $ into the Big Ugly Overspend. I am not sure how much there will be to put back, but i am pretty certain it will be over a $1,000. Huge thanks to the person (I think it was Iammumtoone) who suggested doing it this way all those months ago. It will be a huge boost tomorrow to be able to see a big reduction in that number as i get back onto the frugal bus.

My commitments to myself for tomorrow:
- i will do the financial stocktake
- i will enter any expenditure into YNAB before i spend it

My credits:
- being here and recommitting to a frugal life on the very first day after the horror ended

chanie

Welcome back FMG, we've all missed you!!!

credits
Haven't done any credits in quite a while.

Putting away some money towards Ds birthday present in April and buying a few bits for his party (will continue to do so over the next few weeks).

Bought the newspaper with the £5 off a £40 spend at Aldi. I missed it last month, but wrote it in my diary so I wouldn't forget.

Found a voucher on this site for free pantyliners - the voucher arrived yesterday.

Cashed in a voucher for some free clinique eye cream for my mum's Xmas advent calandar.

Read my ARC most days.

ForMyGirls

Yay to you Chanie for all those savings you are making.

Credits for my day- i did my financial stocktake and there was about $1500 left from the virtual money set aside for legal fees so that has made a nice big dent in the Big Ugly Overspend. I also worked out that my total debt is down from before Christmas. Given the expenses i have had to meet in that team i am really really happy with that. It feels good and scary all at the same time to be getting back to checking whether there is money in the budget before spending it!

Thanks for the reminder about ARC Chanie - i had quite forgotten about my response cards so it was really helpful to pull them out and read them today.

ForMyGirls

Hello coaches,

Credit for my day is that i rode my bike to work despite inclement weather. In an unusual twist for me it was more about wanting to be doing it than anything else - i have missed my bike riding in the last month so it was nice to be out there today. Weather ended up being fine too :-)

Re-establishing the habit of planning before spending is proving trickier than i thought - but at least i am noticing that i am not doing it!

chanie

FMG - well done for getting back on the wagon. I'm sure you will find things easier this time around as you have already made so much progress.

April is going to be another tight month as I won't see the benefits of my rise until the end of April, but at least the end is in sight. It has been difficult these past few months.

Frugal family fun day
I had the day off work today as I was given some (free) tickets to a children's event. I managed to find some free parking and we bought drinks and snacks from home, so we barely spent anything the whole day. I want us to have more fun this summer so I plan on finding the most frugal ways to do so.

credits
're-read the first few pages of this thread to remind myself of the steps. Plus read my ARC.

Bought some greetings cards which were 3 for £1. Have written a list of cards I need to buy for 2014/early 2015, so I can stock up.

Bought 2 stocking fillers for Xmas, which is good going considering how tight things are at the moment.

Managed to save £15 of last month's play money for a treat in April for me.

Treated the children to an ice cream last week in Ikea and it only cost me £1 for two ice cream cones.

chanie

Hi everyone,

Hope you are all okay, just thought I'd pop in and say a quick hello and see how everyone is doing.

StressedSteph

Hi FMG


Great to see you back. Haven't been great at posting on other peoples diaries lately. Just about had the time to update mine.


Great to hear you are over the worst and back to posting and getting life back on track.


Love it reading that you are already buying the odd stocking filler. I ought to do that when I see the odd bargain. Would definitely take the pressure off.


Keep going hun. Speak soon