NST: May the odds be ever in your favour!

Doris17

Ok here goes.


Motivation - I want to be debt free by the time I am 50 (46 now, soon to be 47), currently owe £18,389.01. Then I want to pay the mortgage and change roles in work so I work three night shift a week, allowing me time to start a small holistic therapy business from home.

Money - I have made a note of all D.D. Spending diary in operation, Payments being made to debt, payment being made to savings. Looking to over pay to BOS Credit Card. Budget set.


Me Time - Meditation 2/3 times a week in the early morning, outside in the garden, if the weather is warn enough.


Move - Walk to work on days I don't need the car, I live at 15 minute walk away from work. Shame on me.


Activation - What is going to spur me on and keep me on the path? I want to be debt free. I read many of the threads and will investigate some blogs.


Arm yourself - Want to be debt/mortgage free, reduce my working hours, spend more time with Mr Doris.


You - I am happy when not thinking about my debt, then I have the weight of the world on my shoulders.


I did walk to work this morning and left my purse at home so today will be a SFD.


Doris.x

apple_muncher

Well done Doris! You have a good plan there. How much are you able to chuck at the debt per month? Is it just you paying it, or Mr Doris too?

Doris17

Just me apple muncher, all mine, Mr Doris does not know. Min payments are £300 per month, de-cluttering to sell on ebay, will over pay on one of the cards to get it cleared.

liltdiddylilt

Hi guys

Can you believe it is the 1st May already?!?
Checking in with my goals and then I will be working for several hours!

Motivation - I am doing this to give Jellytot a better future than has been the case in Him's family passed down through generations. Namely to run up debts, live in a council house and give it back when you die. I don't want that, not that there is anything bad about council housing, but I just want to choose my own home, BUY IT, and pay the mortgage off so that it is an inheritance my daughter can have. For this I need:

Money - I try exceptionally hard to stick to budgets that I always set a bit too low in reality. This gives me plenty to throw at savings and I have a healthy emergency fund in place now. If I go overbudget, I know about it as I track everything in YNAB. I'd like to realistically save £7000 this year. But we shall have to see!!

Me-time - I am not great at doing this but having just bought a fitbit and going onto a diet that is almost selfish in its slavishness to cooking and the correct foods, I will take this as my *me-time* as it will improve my quality of life through exercise and diet, get rid of migraines hopefully by the end of this month, and also bring my weight down a bit.

Move - As above, I have a fitbit that is already inspiring me to walk further and think about what I am doing I will try and up this on the days I don't HAVE to walk as they will be my downfall.

Activation - Simply put, the savings totals in YNAB going up and the interest paid to me each month creeping that bit higher each month.

Arm yourself: I spend a LOT of time on here with you fabulous bunch. I read the odd blog here and there, but the main thing is YNAB. Without it my spending would be uncontrolled and I would have no idea where the money went!

You - I am happy, doing what I am doing

The_Only_Girl

Hi MAY NST's!

April flew by, not as great financially as March had been, but today is another day, a new month, and I am hoping for the best and surrounding myself with like-minded people.

MOTIVATION. My motivation is the desire to be debt-free and money-wise so that I can leave a better legacy for my children. Not only in terms of money and material things but to give them a better lifestyle that involves being frugal and economical. This debt-busting journey has been quite a life-changing and eye-opening experience for the whole family.

MONEY My goal is to be mindful of the IN's and OUT's of money, the what's, the why's, the when's, the where's and the if's. To have a lot more psychological filter before deciding to part with our money and to have more conscious effort to increase the IN flow. Looking back to April we relaxed a little bit on this aspect. The result is a little less surplus/leftover than what we have achieved in March. We hoped to be able to pay off the whole amount of money we owed to Halifax CC at the end of this month but the lack of discipline has put it back slightly.

MOVE. This area needs a LOT of work!!! Without sounding like I am making feeble excuses, working on shifts, with shift patterns all over the place doing earlies, lates, twilight and nights is not the best for exercises and being healthy in general. BUT with DETERMINATION, it is achievable. The problem is I don't have much of that. I am hoping and wishing and dropping hints to my dear OH to give me a fitbit for my upcoming birthday, but in reality, a fitbit alone will not lift my bum off to exercise I bit more.

ME. Ouch, this is another sore spot. My friends used to say to me, the one word I need to learn to say is NO. I find it hard to say no to people wanting and needing my time and energy, so when everything's said and done, I am depleted of much needed energy for myself. This year I have started to learn to say NO. I gave up a lot of my responsibilities in church and social circle and paid more attention to my family and myself. I started reading again, hurrah! I am starting to reap the benefits as I have noticed a lot more quality sleep recently (apart from today when I am supposed to be having my beauty sleep after my 2nd night shift, still have to do my 3rd one tonight. Instead I am typing away my goals for May). Oh and by the way, the family and I have started having mini-holidays that are inexpensive. During the long hard slug of our debt-busting journey from our LBM, we have deprived ourselves of this privilege.

ARM YOURSELF. Sometime in March, I shared with you what a visiting pastor shared to us about money. He said, "To be rich means to HAVE MORE THAN WHAT YOU NEED." He also said, if you make £100 and you need £90 to live, you have excess £10, you are rich! To stay rich, YOU NEED TO INCREASE WHAT YOU HAVE AND DECREASE WHAT YOU NEED. sounds very MMM, doesn't it? This month, the plan is to increase our earning by doing some over times, selling our hordes on eBay, Facebook, car boot, cash for clothes, Mazuma, etc., and decrease our budgets, and try to live within that budget and carry on decreasing month after month after month. It also includes increasing the SFD's and LTW's. I am setting mine at 15 NSD 's and 15 LTW's.

YOU. I am doing this hard struggle to fight the debt, not because of the banks, credit agencies, etc. I am doing this for MYSELF AND MY FAMILY. For freedom from the shackles of debt and for peace of mind that the freedom will bring.

One thing I noticed that contributed to my less successful April is the lack of checking in and posts. I concluded that the number of checking in and posting is directly proportional to the awareness of our situation and the motivation to keep on track, and inversely proportional to the number of days on the naughty step. So I promise to check in every day. Fingers crossed. Keep me right guys.

academiablues

Wow, there's some amazing motivation on here this month! It's fab reading all your stories and learning more about everyone's goals and dreams for the future. So, here's mine:

Motivation: we (me and the OH) bought our first house last year, and I've already started working on being mortgage free! We're managing to pay off quite a bit each month, which should mean we're free 11 years early, but that's still a bit far off for me so I'm looking at what I can do to save some money up to pay off a lump sum as well. I figured that it was no good to throw ALL my money at the mortgage though, as I'd end up miserable, so I'm secretly planning to save up enough money to go to New York for OH's 30th birthday in two years :eek: I've got £330 saved already, and am planning to split savings between these two goals.

Me-time and move: I recently started getting up earlier to work out on a morning, as I'm useless when I get home from work, and it's working out pretty well for me, so I'll continue that this month (goal is every morning that I'm at work, save if I'm ill). I get a Gr@ze box every month, which is £3.29 and is one thing I look forward to, so I'll continue that, and I'm going to try not to eat any dairy at all this month, as I'm lactose intolerant and I keep making myself nauseous by eating little bits!

Activation - going to the library next week to see if they have any good books on finance. Remember about cashback, as this is a new concept for me!

You - I love music, but keep getting stuck in a rut, so one goal is to listen to three new albums this month (new to me, not new per se) - I'll use a free service for this. I also need to make more effort to call and text my friends, as I get a lot of minutes in my SIM-only contract that I don't ever use.

PHEW! Sorry for the long post!

Today is a NSD - been at work all morning and early afternoon, eventually gave up and came home (feel like I'm banging my head against a wall sometimes). Parents are coming over later and bringing pizza (this is a rare occurrence!) so I'll get a free tea as well, and then planning on watching a film or two.
Hope all the other turtles are having a good day and are looking forward to the long weekend!

mothernerd

Lots of lovely stories. Just catching up as the internet seems to be working and don't know how long that will last (DS3 said he just kept resetting it until it gave up and decided to work).

Still not sure if I will join you this month but it is an excellent challenge and I will be concentrating on keeping healthy and happy. Have just written out the challenge so will think if I have anything to contribute. I have paid the minimums on three cc today (+ 99p and a few extra pence on one) using telephone banking. The three cheques I wrested from the energy company last month helped me get through and pay a bit extra. Still trying to get the final (most important) cheque from them which would make this month okay and set up for next month. Still have things I could possibly sell but lack of internet (and general uselessness) have delayed this. Worried about a possible interest hike in July which might make my current budget unworkable.

Will be back later (internet willing). Yesterday I spent £4, renting a video from the library for 3 weeks (Torchwood series 1 & 2 plus Children of Earth and Miracle day - 18 disks). Also spent on food (delivered) to try and get ahead.

apple_muncher

Wow! Awesome posts, turtles. Thank you.

Just to repeat myself - I forgot to post the rules so have added them in to the 1st post. Do check them out!

Samiszel

So far I've only thought as far as MOTIVATION- to be financially independent. To do this, I must first pay off the mortgage. Aim to do this by the time I'm 40 (13 years to go), and it's currently around £230k :eek: We pay £550 extra every month on top of the £950, but aim to really shorten the term when our current deal ends.

Once we are mortgage free, it would be great to not have to work, but do something I really enjoy. Haven't thought about what yet. My dad afforded to retired at 33 and my mum didn't work after she had me, so I've grown up used to living a frugal lifestyle, yet not wanting for anything. So I definitely have my parents to thank lots. I have wondered many times whether MMM is actually my dad :rotfl: They are so similar!

Will think of the other parts and update accordingly.:D

nannygladys

Hi everyone
Well today I have been shopping, and spent £2.25 on milk, mushrooms, carrots and a lettuce, so not too bad. I shouldn't need anything for a couple of days so I can rack up a few sfd.
Dinner tonight is veggie burgers, sweet potato wedges and veg, sounds like it's all veggies which I suppose it is .... stop twittering woman, anyway it's yogurt to follow with some frozen fruit I have found in the freezer, and later I will be making some more yogurt for next week and doing a freezer inventory for the next few days Meals, so that's about me done.
Off to eat them a quick walk whilst it's still light.
Nannyg