Insert witty title here

Olliegami

I think it's pretty common knowledge that when you start trying to save money and make changes to the way you live it's important to remind yourself of it every day without overwhelming yourself.

Finding that balance is so difficult though, especially when there are so many temptations.

Mine are pretty simple, but hard to resist. It's the packet of sweets that I throw in the basket as a 'treat' because the rest of the things I'm buying are 'on my list'. It's the cup of coffee I buy with a friend after work to 'catch up' and the £10 spend in poundland because the stuff there is 'cheap'.

Soooo, I'm here again - trying my damnedest to cut the spending and pay off my debts. One of the first things I'm going to do is bookmark this page and stick it right up there on my bookmark's tab!

I keep trying to do different things to help myself, the first one was to make a spreadsheet and put in it all my income and outgoings for the month so I can see how much money I have to play with for the rest of the month.

My credit score is low, so I've taken out a £200 credit card, and that's what I make all my purchases on. At first I got stuck in the mentality of 'oh, right I have £200 a month to play with now!' which was kind of not cool when it came to the end of the month and I had to pay out £200 right away to pay it off. So, I use it as a guideline, and it's turned into a challenge to see how small I can make the balance at the end of the month.

Today, I've been trying my best to work out ways to curb my spending. I've come up with a meal plan out of the food I have in the house and I have enough food to last me until the 20th June, which is pretty exciting, if I remember that - it might help me to make sure I stick to it! Which means no take away's, and no to a bunch of other stuff.

We'll have to see how well it goes. =D

Brightspark87

hi

you are so right about the 'temptations', however I have come to see some of them as the emperors new clothes. Yes its great to have the latest bit of technology or certain clothes or even a takeaway coffee. But I now see everything (most of the time I am not perfect!) as I think I would rather save that £2, £40, £250 towards something more important, which is debt repayment at the moment and saving in the future.

Olliegami

I definitely need to change the way I think about those little things, more often than not I end up thinking that I 'need' things!

Going to start applying this logic to everything. (Or try, like you say. No one is perfect!)

shinner

I struggle with resisting buying clothes for the children when I pop to the shop OH that's nice only £6 and before you know ity £20 shop is £45 !!! Good luck. X

Olliegami

Hi everyone~!

Very pleased to say it's been another no spend day today. There haven't been any temptations though, but things are going okay.

Had breakfast, lunch and dinner as per the meal plan, and was lucky enough to get a cupcake at work! Which was delicious.

I've also managed to sell four copies of my book which is published for Kindle, so that's all money to throw at the debts when it comes in (Not that it will be vast amounts, but every little helps!)

Olliegami

Bit of a fail day today.

I really should see it like that though, I suppose! After work a friend took me to Starbucks for a late birthday get together, which was lovely - as she paid! We spent 3 hours there, and happily took their offers of free foodstuffs closer to the end of the evening. (About 6.45)

After that though I remembered that we're going on a school trip tomorrow, and I didn't have anything in the house that I could take as a pack up. So, off I went to Tesco. I did cash in 88p worth of coupons from their savings campaign thing, and the total came to £18.85.

Basically I bought;

- Tesco's own blackcurrant squash x 2 (£0.84)
- Bath Bubbles (£0.67)
- Mountain Dew (2 for £2) Terrible I know!
- Andrex Toilet Tissues (£2.00)
- Toothbrush (£1.20) Perhaps could have bought Tesco's own
- Toothpaste (£1.39)
- Twinings Teabags (2 for £2.50) Again...
- Fruit Strings snacks (£1.50) Totally uncalled for!
- Sushi (£2.40) Instead of a sandwich! (Trying to eat less gluten!)
- Eggs (£1.00)
- Creme Caramels (£1.10)
- Chocolate Mousse (£0.18)
- Apples........ (£2.95) TOTALLY EXCUSABLE... I only like Pink Ladies.

So, on one hand I feel good about it, it could have been a lot worse. I avoided the chocolate!!! Also, I know with the fruit teas I could have bought a box of 20 for 90p, but this is a treat I suppose - because I'm trying to cut down the amount of sugar I have (2 in a cup of coffee!) Coffee is obviously not great for you. Unless it's Starbucks coffee and your bff is paying, apparently.

Tomorrow won't be a NSD either! I have a driving lesson after our school trip, but I'm taking a packed lunch, so that should save me a few quid. (That I obviously spent today...) Oops.

tiger_eyes

Olliegami wrote: »

I've also managed to sell four copies of my book which is published for Kindle, so that's all money to throw at the debts when it comes in (Not that it will be vast amounts, but every little helps!)

Congratulations on your sales! I also self-publish to bring in some income. I'm finding sales are quiet now that it's summer, so I'm hoping for a good autumn and strong winter in the ebook market. Wishing you many more sales.

Olliegami

Hi Tiger Eyes!

Thanks for the encouragement! I've had my book on sale for a little over a year now, and it went kind of crazy at first, I had loads of sales but now I tend to get one a month. Do you see a trend over the year?

tiger_eyes

Like you, I'm still new to self-publishing, but my understanding is that spring and summer tend to be quiet, autumn picks up, and December through to March are the best months. Hope you're writing more books.

Olliegami

Well, aside from my blip on Tuesday night, I think I've had a good week!

I went out for a meal yesterday to celebrate a friend's birthday - but I used a voucher! Today I'm going into town to get cracking with some more ideas for my story and drink free starbucks courtesy of a gift voucher I got for my birthday, so that should be lovely.

The temptation to open another Savings Account is rising again, but I'm struggling to decide if it's beneficial or not. I know it's important to have something to put money away into for emergencies, but then I look up at my 'motivational wall' and see the current amount my debt is at and I think again.

Olliegami

Oh wow, I have NOT been doing well the last few days.

Trying to keep to this thing is really tricky - but I have been trying to earn as much as I can online though. Free Bingo has been fruitful!! I have £27 in my account but I'm leaving it in there to see how much more I can get.

I made 20p on PTC sites today, and I'm starting on my Adpoints now.