I’m taking control of my life, now.

boxofpaws

@savingholmes - sound advice once more. It’s all good 
@girlatplay . From now I will whisper under my breath ‘right, now to walk away awkwardly’ and that is what I shall do and giggle to myself
And @Drawingaline - what a lovely post. What nice things to say! I did have a look through my old subscriptions but yours had dropped off so I assumed you’d got debt free and stopped blogging. Very happy that you have got debt free, so thank you for hanging around cheer the rest of us on! I see now that there is another diary so I’ll pop over later

boxofpaws

Good things

• Managed to get Mr Paws the watch has been hankering after for a while for Christmas. Mr Paws was pretty awesome and haggled 20% off it. See also bad things
• Met up with a lovely friend on Saturday for lunch
• Sanded and painted the bathroom unit top
• All on top of washing and ironing

Bad things 

• Said watch was £520! Oh dear. I’m going to justify it by saying that he doesn’t really spend money on anything. But mainly it’s because he’ll just be a pain if he doesn’t get the thing he wants. And it’s easier just to get it now rather than try and find something that he doesn’t really want but it’s cheaper and then end up spending the money later. I don’t know how we’ll clear this overdraft before Spring now.

Spends

Christmas presents for Mr Paws £520

More Christmas presents for Mr Paws £45

Parking £3.20

Food £2.30
Paid for lunch out with friend £40. She normally pays

Saintliness 1/10

savingholmes

Draw a line under the spend - and get back on plan. It will sort as long as you don't let it snowball in the wrong direction.

EssexHebridean

I agree with SH - it’s done. Perhaps start to give thought to anything you might be able to do to offset some of the cost? Good work from MrPaws on the haggling too - just make sure you don’t end up spending the saving in extra bits for him! 😆

boxofpaws

Thanks both. Really, thank you. I need to be able to post this stuff on here. It would be easy not to post, or not to mention it but you make it safe to do so. And that’s the way to get it paid off.

re offsetting, I have done another of the forbidden thing.  Wm H1ll is doing £50 free so I have opened an account. I didn’t really enjoy it when I tried it a fortnight ago, found it a bit stressful, but I made £25. I’ll see if it’s any better on the second try.

savingholmes

Are you doing matched betting? I could never get my head around the numbers but some people on here have made good money on it. 

I am glad you feel safe to post. I think you are in a tricky situation where there are few right answers and a lot of things are probably grey. You are taking on a lot I'm sure. 

EssexHebridean

I don't trust myself with that thing - I know my tendancy to get distracted while doing things generally, and in that scenario I also know that could lead to a bit of a problem, so I've decided it's not for me. 

boxofpaws

Yes matched betting. I’ve got my head around the principle of it. And I am not tempted at all by gambling. But it does appear easy to get it wrong, click the wrong thing. I learned a couple of things quite quickly, what NOT to do. I joined a free website that finds the bets/lays and does all the sums for you. 

boxofpaws

I’m trying to keep the diary upbeat but I’m having a bad week. It’s a year ago since my Dad died, and I’m feel triggered all the time. Full of sadness and rage. I’m surprised it’s having this effect. It’s why I haven’t posted on your diary in a few days @EssexHebridean, it’s all a bit close to home but I am very sorry for your loss.

girlatplay

I'm sorry this is a difficult time for you.  Sending virtual hugs.