Hummingbird's Progress....Well it's time she made some!

littleDOTS

Hi Hummingbird, I like your diary and have subscribed as I'd like to follow your journey. My story is similar. I love the calm, purposeful place that is the shops. We have may nice shopping places in our city!
My other love is bric-a-brac at the car boot and charity shop. Both damaging to my account. After I divorced I could never think long term and splurged money with my head firmly in the sand. Ignoring that the figures weren't adding up. My ex was a saver whilst I supplied the house with food, d!cor etc on a lower income and was left in debt when we split, with a baby, a part time job and a car to run when - the 'in for a penny-in for a pound' mentality took over which I still have the hangover from. It's great that you're living life whilst in debt and still doing things - I agree, it's a balance; living life to the full v's crazy debt, a balance that can be struck that will spell happiness. I want to go to New York this year which seems at odds with being debt free but I do believe if you do your sums right you can have (nearly) it all.


Can I ask, what is the sealed pot and the freedom fund and the £10 extra a day? I'd like to know your game plan


thanks!!

Gretchen2012

Hi HB. Hope you had a good afternoon browsing the shops. I've had a bit of an expense today with my mums 70th but she's worth it. Lovely meal out for me my oh and dd and my mum. But it was a two for one place. Very mse don't you think lol.

Westie983

Now I popped in the give you the riot act on all that money you spent today to find you are AWOL...

you are not with Lilty are you thinking its hysterical to hide from me.... you know I will find you....

;-)

hummingbird

Hi LittleDOTS:hello: Welcome and it's really lovely to see you!!:j:j It certainly looks like we're alike in many ways!

Sealed Pot and £10 extra a day are both challenges - if you go to the DFW challenges board you'll find those and lots of others you can sign up for. Sealed Pot is where you put loose change away all year and we count it in November ready for Christmas.

Earn £10 extra a day is, I think, one of the best challenges that has ever been devised on these forums. You aim to earn an extra amount (doesn't have to be £10, it could be £5 if you like) on top of your "normal" money. Then everyone posts how they've been earning the extra, whether it's from ebay, surveys, competitions, vouchers topcashback etc etc etc.

Freedom Fund is just something I started up for myself - it's not an actual challenge, just saving 20ps and 5ps in a jar and paying a bit into my debts when I can.

Gretchen I'm glad you had a good time out with oh dd and mum, a 70th birthday definitely calls for a celebration - and even better if it's still MSE LOL!!

Westie I wouldn't even tryto hide from you lovely, I know you'd find me..... Now for confession time..... well not too bad but a little bit of money was spent yesterday afternoon - we went to Zizzi and had starters to share - bread and olives, some sort of cheese dip like a fondue.....and drinks. But no main course, puds or coffees. We sat outside as the weather was beautiful and it really felt like being on holiday. Spent £6.75 there.

Then - yes the inevitable happened. I hadn't factored in the fact that the sales were on, which meant visiting a fair few shops, but fortunately it was too hot for anyone to want to try on clothes. One of my friends bought some tops and a pair of shoes for her holiday and the other one got some bedding from John Lewis. I caved in to temptation and bought a long-length necklace from Next which has butterfly charms on, reduced to £5 from £14. Shouldn't have bought it really but I will wear it lots. I've transferred some money over into my a/c from Paypal today to cover these purchases and to make sure I don't incur any more OD charges:p

Westie983

MMMMM....

I was thinking okay, the HB has to socialise and eating out is part of that and she has done well with the sharing starter....

then I got to the next paragraph....

you then redeemed yourself by making the transfer from paypal to your current account...

So I could say you have created a MSE sandwich, a good outer layer, supporting the bad middle, stuffing and then a nice chunk of good at the bottom...

:-)

hummingbird

^^ hehehe I like the idea of the MSE sandwich and you haven't read the riot act to me Westie so I must have done ok......:rotfl:

Further progress definitely needs to be made though regarding the socialising - it's still a big reason I'm getting nowhere fast with debt reduction when I'm being totally honest with myself - even though I have cut back loads on what it used to be!!:o

I mentioned this awful fact before I think, that my DFD is in 300 years (actually I think that on Levi's diary?) That is totally, unbelievably ridiculous. I can see straight away how that can be cut to 150 years and that's my first target...............:o Anyway, I feel in the mood today for the walk of shame and it's going on my signature for the world to see - that might help me focus on reducing it.

Westie983

WOW 300 years that did make me giggle....

Ill come round for a cuppa and keep you company if you want :-)

hummingbird

Westie983 wrote: »

WOW 300 years that did make me giggle....

Ill come round for a cuppa and keep you company if you want :-)

That would be lovely Westie, we can have lots of refills in that time:rotfl: Glad it made you giggle hun, it does me too - I mean sometimes you have to laugh or else you'd cry wouldn't you??!! Anyway there it is on my sig - July 2315!!!:eek:

I got really cross about it yesterday though so am definitely focusing on bringing the date forward!!!:D

Westie983

thats the spirit, getting that date down....

are you ready....

hummingbird

I've just had another GP appointment and I was so happy to be able to tell him about my improved sleep!! He said he could see a great deal of difference in me and that I looked a lot more bubbly (which is my usual personality:D) He said he was really pleased that he has kept me off the meds.

I haven't heard any more regarding the CBT so he suggested I ring up and see where I might be in the waiting list and how long its likely to take to get me started. I had those two telephone appointments pretty quickly, then nothing more..... he actually said I might not need to have it if I continue to improve at the rate I am, but i said I would still like to have it if possible as it is practical support and I respond very well to that.

He also told me to book another follow-up appointment for 4-6 weeks time so he can check my progress. Hooray for reward charts, sleep and friendly GPs!!:T:T:T