Paid off the £31,000! BUT - still scrimping!

Liptons

Hi there SSG
Well done you kido
I have recently joined this site and inspired by so many individuals, like us.
Got to find motivation right now to find sanctuary in the form of my the car. Currently on a coastal walk and its really cold.
Well done again..... Bfn

redofromstart

Happy New Year SSG. Hope you get the iPad back soon.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Happy new year SSG. I hope you're enjoying Scotland.

milann

Hope 2019 is good to you. Enjoy Scotland - it’s the place to be at New Year :beer:

Seasidegal58

Thank you everyone and hello to Liptons!:wave:

This is rather belated but HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone!:beer:

And I finally have my iPad back (although I'm £120 lighter)!:j

Christmas seems so far away now but I enjoyed my Scottish Hogmanay. We went to DD and OH's neighbours to see in the New Year and have a 'wee dram.' There were some others there as well that DD and OH knew and we all had a merry time. Walking back to DD's it was a clear night and the Stars were absolutely beautiful - no light pollution there! On NY 's day DD joined in with the adjoining village's yearly ritual of jumping in the sea! :eek: She did borrow a wet suit though! OH and I sensibly stayed on the beach near the fire......

It was lovely to relax up there but I'm back home now - flew in last night.

I've been mulling over my 2019 goals today and one of them is to get back to being more mindful of what I spend. I've been slipping back lately when it comes to little frittering type things - and we all know what these can do to your careful, thought out MSE plans.

For example last night I downloaded Tom Ketteridge's new cook book to my Kindle after watching his new TV programme. But I really don't need another cook book! I have quite a few already and probably all the recipes in the new book can be found in one form or another in the books I have already!

So I have decided to follow Mrs Frugalwood's advice and wait 72 hours between seeing a 'want' and actually buying it so that I can work out if it just an instant gratification.

I've also decided to get back to recording my 'Scrimpy Scores on the Doors' for each week and month in my diary like I used to do to help keep me on track. I have YNAB for my budget pots and it also shows how much and on what I am spending re my available spends, but I think recording it on here again will help immensely.

I'll be back later with my goals and to catch up with diaries.
Xxx

HairyHandofDartmoor

I'm glad you had a good new year SSG, it sounded like a lot of fun.

It's easy to slip into mindless spending so it's a good idea to record all your spends.

When are you back at work? Sorry to mention the W word.

milann

I’m with you on watching the mindless spending...I’m going astray and need to reign in.

Seasidegal58

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

I'm glad you had a good new year SSG, it sounded like a lot of fun.

It's easy to slip into mindless spending so it's a good idea to record all your spends.

When are you back at work? Sorry to mention the W word.

milann wrote: »

I’m with you on watching the mindless spending...I’m going astray and need to reign in.

Thank you both!

I'm back at work on Monday - I've had a lovely long break this year. Didn't go in to work on Christmas Eve for the first time I can remember and only went in one day since then and now. Lovely!

The mindless spending needs to stop now - it's very insidious - it creeps up on you. I've noticed I've started buying more coffees at work plus breakfasts.......:(. It's late so will post my goals tomorrow now. But - will keep in mind one of Munchin's 2019's goals just to keep things real, i.e. "be frugal though not a tight.....'!:)

redofromstart

I think that there needs to be a balance between fritter and tightwad though, depending on the available funds. It's mindless fritter that I get cross with myself about, or costs because I procrastinated and didn't sort X out. Jotting everything down is always a bit of an eye opener, as is paying cash for day to day things - suddenly realising you have to get yet more cash out makes you focus on quite where the cash went.

Sounds like a lovely long break. Have you got your breakfasts planned to remove that temptation?

Sun_Addict

Another one here planning to track spends and set goals. My spreadsheets are all set up and raring to go It's the small spends that add up, £10 here, £5 there, before you know it £200 has disappeared. Still need to have a life though and that has been factored into the budget