Champagne Chaos

TimeToChange

So, here i am starting a diary. I never thought i would but my life has changed so much that i don't think i know who i am anymore! I think this will help keep me on the straight and narrow, even if only i read it then maybe charting this path from disater to dreams will show me how far i've come on my down days and give me a place to share my sucess on good days.

A little background, I'm CC, i thought i had it made. I have a job i love (it's very demanding but i LOVE it) i have a beautiful house in a gorgeous part of the world, i had a boyfriend who doted and adored me, i had no money worries, i went on long haul holidays twice a year and two or three ski trips a year, we ate out atleast once a week, essentially did anything we liked and i had a great time doing it!

Then one day, last summer, he left. He just packed a bag and said he wasn't coming back. It turns out he had been having an affair whilst i was away with work. I had never had to worry about money so i carried on not worrying about it, spending to fill the gap in my life, to feel valued, trying to use money and things to validate myself.

He now lives with is new girlfriend in a lovely big house, driving to lovely new cars going on all those holidays, and living the life i used to.

I still have my job i LOVE and my beautiful flat and £ 28933.09 of debt.

My SoA is on the DFW's board and i am determined to get rid of this burden i am carrying aorund. And maybe find out who i am in the process. Surely i don't need things and money to feel good about myself?

So, this diary won't be restricted to just my money....it wil be mostly plotting the course of my great adventure, and all the twists and turns i go through on my path to the debt free role of honour!

CC xx

DawnW

Good luck CC, you seem determined to do this I look forward to following your progress.

twiggy86

What a *****!

It's great that you see the next step in your life as an adventure! I've seriously reigned in my spending and I fell more fulfilled knowing that my happiness is bought! (If that makes sense!)

Good luck in your adventure - I'll pack a bag and come along for the ride!

TimeToChange

So, i must say i have got off to a fairly good start today, i brought my lunch in from home, i have had an email about my energy switch over, (24th March yey!! £270 a year saving :eek:) i have gone onto my internet banking and set up a savings fund which will in time hold my emergency fund, and most importantly i have designated today ANOTHER no spend day. I'm going to do no spend Tuesdays all month, but i just woke up and realised i don't NEED to buy anything today, so why no go for it?

Also, i have found a pretty vase in a back cupboard which i have prominatly placed on the bedroom to be my penny jar every little helps! I'm hoping to use the pennies to start paying back additional on my overdraft, one of my local supermarkets has one of those money changer things, so i think once every three months i'll pootle off down there and see what few pounds i have made.....

I had an unexpected surprise at work too........ someone left a bunch of dafodils on my desk for me it was very lovely and really brightens my office up but it's a little embarrasing as i don't know who left them here and i work with all dudes!

I plucked up the courage to ring my girlies this week and tell them that i wouldnt be able to join them for our weekly Friday cocktail night out for the foreseeable as i was sorting my money out post the (bad) breakup. I was really dreading it, i literally thought it would be the end of the world. Do you know, three out of five of them sais they were relived as money was tight for them too and the other two were just like, yeah, thats cool CC why don't we meet up at one of our houses. So we have agreed that this month, no cocktails but each of us will host on a friday. so thats the next 6 Friday dinners sorted!!! I'm kicking things off and i have enough in the freezer to cook our meal without doing any additional shopping,:j also the rules are the host cooks everyone else brings a bottle. So i have 2 bottles in, one week i'll be duty driver so wont have to provide anything and that leaves me two bottle to buy, i have enough in the groceries budget but as i have time i'm going to keep a look out for half price deals at the supermarket and bin end deals in our local wine shop. I wonder what the best way of getting a cheap decent bottle of white is? i know many of you will say just don't drink, but our normal cocktail night out used to cost us all about £70 each, so i think £10 for two bottles of wine (this is what i aim to spend) and having dinner cooked for me 5 times must balance out as a saving?

Now, i just need to think of a way to make some additional money this month............ also, i need to start dishing out the Spanish inquistion on my lads at work to find out who the daff's are from

CC xx

hummingbird

Hi there! Just checking in to say well done for starting your diary and being determined to turn things around. I'm amazed at some of the similarities between your situation and mine, as I was 10 years ago and actually still today LOL!

Funnily enough I just started my diary yesterday and if you have a quick peek you'll see what I mean!

I'll be following your progress with interest and hope we can encourage each other along the way

P.S I got my energy switch through as well, saving about the same amount! :-)

hummingbird x

TimeToChange

Ooohhh hummingbird it's so strange I was literally just reading your diary! I'm going to subscribe and follow your progress! Strange how similar our circumstances are/were! Life eh!!!!

Cc xx

hummingbird

Yes it must be meant to be that we've started our diaries at the same time!! :-)

MinnyMoo

You're making good progress CC, certainly inspiring

TimeToChange

Gooooooood morning!

Twiggy - looking forward to your company along the ride!

Hummingbird - How are you this fine morning?

And to everyone - thank you for your kind words, they really help during my down moments!

So, it is FRIDAY!!!! Usually for me this would mean a night out at a swanky cocktail bar wearing something i have literallt just bought! Not tonight my friends...... the new Friday is everyone coming to my house, the girlies are providing wine and i am cooking us up a feast! It's all stuff out the freezer but no-one needs to know that except us !!! I'm doing a Nando's style spread, marinated Chicken, sweet potato wedges, chilli baked sweetcorn, peas, salad coldslaw, when i wrote it all down its loads! and i was amazed that i didnt have to buy a thing - it's quite a good feeling knowing i am able to save some money and still treat the people i care about to a good night.

It does however mean the my apartment needs a good hoover - so that and food prep will keep me from internet shopping when i finish work.

I did my freezer stock take the other day - oh my gosh people, i could feed the 5000 from it. It is embarrasing - i have so much stuff in there, i honestly don't think i'll need to buy meant for about three months if i plan properly! I also made my first batch of soup yesterday using nothing but stuff i had in my cupboards, lentil and bacon and i must say it is delish! It's now portioned up and frozen for next week (i'm hungry already!).

I have had a bit of a down moment when i realised i had made a very costly mistake this month though, i thought i was being good and paying all my bills on the 1st of the month - it now turns out that i paid my CC's too early and the payment didn't count as this months payment as the statement hadn't been calculated. There is good and bad here, good - its and extra £350 paid of the balances. bad - i now have to find £350 from somewhere this month. So i think i'll update my sig block to record how i get on but i must confess to be worried as to how to make extra money i have an old phone to sell, thats the first dent into it, and an old ipod somewhere. i also have an old laptop i wonder if thats worth anything?? and where to get rid of it?? i guess thats this weekends job. It's also time i started shifting some of my old clothes on ebay - wish me luck people, it's a lot of money to magic out of no where!

I'm no closer to solving the mystry of the flowers at work, although the boss is taking the managment out for lunch today so i hope to get some information then, i'm not drinking (i have used the excuse i need to drive as usually at this lunch i would have wine and go out for cocktails afterwards, everyone seems to have bought it;)) so the lunch won't cost me a thing as we only ever have to pay for alcohol. This means i can proudly say i have £1 in my emergency fund - i promised myself for every full week i didn't buy lunch i would save £1, it is only £1 but i now officially have savings !

The ex put loads of pictures online of him skiing last night, this made me have a bit of a cry, i love skiing but really can't afford it - and what upset me moe than that was that even if i could afford it iwould have no one to go with - i still feel so alone sometimes, especially coming home to an empty flat. I've been trying to put my own stamp on the place since he left, it is fairly unrecognisable to be honest now and i'm gradulaly making it a girly paradise, but all that cost money.... which i don't have. So i'm keeping an eye out on freecycle for things i need and hoping to start getting the spare room sorted so i can potentially let it out for a while to help me pay stuff off. It would be amazing if a friend wanted to move in - i just don't know anyone who is looking.

Well, enough of my random ramblings......i'm off to check the free postcode lottery!

Happy Debt Busting gorgeous people

CC xx

snowscreamer

Hi CC,

Good luck on your journey. Sounds like you started well and hopefully your mistake, although unfortunate, will help you knuckle down even more and get out of bad habits which will eventually lead to an earlier debt free day

Have you tried YNAB yet? I am a YNAB fanatic/addict, but it's really got our spending down from previously unsustainable levels to having a £500+ surplus at the end of each month without really feeling like we're cutting back. We're just much more aware of where all our money currently is, what expenses are approaching that we need to put money aside for, and conscious of our everyday spending. So all that's really been cut is waste; and it is not missed!!

Looking forward to the end of this month as the previous three were spent getting out of our overdrafts (achievement 1, ticked!) and building up a bit of a buffer in our bank accounts so we don't dip back into them - now this month we make the first overpayments to our credit cards. I can't wait to start seeing their balances coming down.

Snowscreamer xx

hummingbird

Hi CC, that's a lovely inspiring post! Well done on everything you've been doing, like the batch cooking etc!

One thing I do with some friends who get together for a meal quite regularly is that one of us will do the main course and host it at their house, one of us will bring dessert, and one of us will bring drinks. Then we change it round next time! It keeps the cost down for all of us.

Hope you have a great evening with the girls.......wish I could come LOL!! :-)

OOOhh don't look at any photos of your ex online!!! He doesn't deserve your attention LOL!! (Easier said than done, I know.......)

You know that thing you did with your credit card - I did that one month. I suddenly got a call from the card when the payment was due the next time saying I hadn't paid .....it turned out I'd paid a day or two too early, like you did. Once you're aware of that you won't do it again. Wouldn't you think they'd recalculate it for you so the payment is applied to this month? Actually it may be worth an ask, nothing to lose and all that.......

H x