This really is the end

toastking

Have you looked at Ramit Sethi's book? He tends to have spammy I Can Teach You to Be Rich type titles but the guy is a common (which is sadly not so common) sense machine and well worth a read and he offers a lot of freebie content online.

Next week he is doing a 5 day event where he aims to help people save $1000 or their equivalent through a series of daily exercises and claims they won't be things like cutting out your morning latte or missing out on things. I am giving it a try as trying to save for a deposit so check it out:

Sign up here: http://iwillteach.co/save-1000-event/

*I have no affiliation to this event other than taking part.

Bobarella

Hi Determined
I use an app I just downloaded for free on my android phone. I have a 3 tier system. 1. An excel spread sheet with my budget on it. 2. I daily check my bank account & 3. Log all spending on my app once it's gone through my account. The 3 things combined help me stay roughly on track. The spreadsheet has the high level category totals but looking at the actuals I. E the bank balance is so important. I love the app because I can plot spend trends, category bar charts etc showing what I am doing month on month.
It does all come down to embracing the boring things as you say, keeping track and planning.

I am sorry you feel you are the bad guy in your relationship but I'd try to see it like you are doing future you a favour. As someone once said to me, whatever you do the time will pass anyway. So you either knuckle down and get the debt gone properly for good, & yes it might take 2 years or whatever, or you can live beyond your means 'enjoying' life for 2 years. You will still get to the end of those years however you live them.

Long post!

Bob

Determined14

Argh just wrote a really long response and lost it. But the essence of it was, my balance transfer has gone through and I've paid off the last bit so hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to cancel that credit card. I tackled my OD long ago so that's thankfully still gone.

In light of my renewed DFW status I'm going to ebay the pile of stuff I've got in the spare room rather than take it to the charity shop. Even if I get £1 an item it'll add up to £30-50 which is an extra chunk off the debt. Recently I've prioritised spending time with bubs over ebaying but I need to make the effort to do it once he's asleep as then my dream of going part time and spending even more time with him will come quicker.

Right back to work, and then I'll post my monthly budget up soon to see if there are any tricks that i'm missing.

Happy Friday all
x

Determined14

Bobarella wrote: »

Hi Determined

I am sorry you feel you are the bad guy in your relationship but I'd try to see it like you are doing future you a favour. As someone once said to me, whatever you do the time will pass anyway. So you either knuckle down and get the debt gone properly for good, & yes it might take 2 years or whatever, or you can live beyond your means 'enjoying' life for 2 years. You will still get to the end of those years however you live them.

Long post!

Bob

Thanks Bob - that's the way I'm trying to look at it, that I'd prefer to be strict while bubs is still little and won't realise he's missing out rather than a few years down the line. Plus I've had enough of this hanging over me for years now and I'm determined to sort it

Determined14

I've survived Friday so now a 3 day weekend, yay! Also a NSD despite multiple yearnings for chocolate. I'm aiming to do a quick check up of my accounts this weekend to check what's gone out and plan the rest of the month. Will also need to do a top up shop but will plan carefully as it's just lunches and weekends I need to buy.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Bobarella

Congrats on your NSD!

Determined14

I knew today would be a spendy day but I've tried to minimise it as much as possible! I had to put fuel in the car but went to the garage near me as opposed to the one on the way to work which is 3p a litre cheaper (every little helps right?), then I returned a pair of shoes I've been meaning to do for ages!

Then had to go food shopping but instead of going to Sainsbobs I went to L!dl. I've never been there for anything more than a pint of milk so was interesting to see how much they sell. I'm not sure if I actually saved money. I guess I must have done because my shop cost me £38 and that included dishwasher tablets and washing tablets (totalling £8 on their own) so all the other fruit, veg and other fresh bits came to £30. There's an Ald! down the road that I've been waiting to open for over a year now, and they've finally announced the date so I'm excited to try there too!

Now to do a few more house bits and then attempt to put a load of stuff on eb@y later. Hope you're all having a nice weekend

P.s. Just checked CC1 and the balance is £0!! I know it's been transferred to another card but so nice to see it owing nothing. Will update debt totals next week

Determined14

Determined14 wrote: »

Debt Figures as of 14/5/15

CC1 (17.4%): £3207.41
CC2 (0%): £3600
CC3 (0%): £4438.50
Total: £11,245.91

Figures as on 16/5/15
CC1: £0
CC2: £3600
CC3: £7528.50
Total: £11,128.50

So only £117.41 down but it's still a 1% reduction and now everything is 0% and on 2 cards which don't live in my purse so I can't spend on them. Plus I've still got £400 to go towards debt this month (just need to decide how to allocate it now) so that's another 4% reduction by the end of the month so everything is going in the right direction!

parsniphead

I feel like it's an endless loop of getting so close and then letting things slip. I budget every month but then still spend regardless. I think my 2 areas that caused real damage (well maybe 3), are 1) Food shopping - I meal plan, and bulk cook but then slip into little top up shops so I overspend 2) overambitious debt repayments which then mean I don't have enough to last the month 3) doing the bulk of "family" spending i.e. christmas presents etc

I could have written this myself, especially the food planning and top up part. I will watch your diary with interest.

Bobarella

Go Determined you are doing really well!