Compulsive borrower to compulsive saver?

Hillwalker17

Another NSD today :j

Keeping busy during the week with work and i'm actually quite tired so it will be an early night for me. Just can take this rock and roll lifestyle :rotfl:

Another few chapters last night, the book is getting exciting. Maybe a few more after dinner tonight. Books are such a cheap thrill

Just heard the awful news about the attack in London. Shocked to say the least and my heart goes out to all those involved. It must be so hard for those emergency services people to go to it and remain calm/positive.

DancingUnicorn - Thanks for posting. I'm the same with spending on a card, before I know I have racked up lots of transactions and I just keep spending. I like the idea of holding and using cash as it makes me realize what i'm spending.

I will review my savings v debt repayments I think in a month or two. Once I get the remaining 2 loans paid off and bank 1 back to normal, I will see where I am financially. It's a difficult one as I need to save but I would also like to pay the debts off quicker. Oh the dilemma

Thanks for your kind words

HW17

natsplatnat

Ok, so using cash .... A habit I got into back whilst clearing my debts was to withdraw £30 a week every Friday. This was to cover a keep fit class, any lunches I bought, a trip to the pub, a charity shop spend... essentially anything that wasn't budgeted. If I ran out - then tough. After a few weeks, I could see how draining buying lunch every day was, so made sure I started making it at home (always have something in my desk drawer in case of a total time failure in the morning!). After a while I even started to see a surplus each week which I put in a pot in the kitchen (usually changed it into 5p's at work so that it would be more difficult to raid!) This became a treat pot... the odd takeaway etc. I still do this now!


Number of bank accounts? I have a few.... one I for my wages, which my personal DD's come out of. A second which my OH and I transfer money into to cover rent and household bills. I then have an account where anything surplus goes to earn a bit of interest until it is needed. And a third interest paying account which (according to my spreadsheet) has 3 different 'pots' making up the balance for longer term things like holiday / clearing my student loan / car fund etc.


Nats x

Poor_Single_lady

How's it going Hillwalker.

Cherryfudge

Hi again HW

How is the book going?

Re: bank accounts, we have two joint current accounts, an ISA and a couple of others: a small one for paypal and one left over from when we rented out a property: it's supposed to be holiday savings but we forget it's there. I think it's got about £2.50 in. Somewhere in the depths of the Post Office I have some sort of account but I lost the details in a house move and never got round to tracing it as memory of it got swept away in the tide of bringing up children. Thanks for the reminder, maybe that's something for my to-do list.

Hillwalker17

Hi guys. Today marks day 10 :beer:

Been really busy over the last few days, hence the no update. Still on track money wise and nothing had changed at all. Feeling a lot less stressed with the no gambling and I have a more positive outlook at things now

Work has been very busy. I have an office manager who always comes to me at the end of day, expecting tasks to be done in 5 minutes, rather than 5 hours. He has caused me to be late a few times this week

natsplatnat - Your idea about withdrawing money is a great idea. I suppose it's a good way to keep track of what your spending and where. I might do this, but then again I suppose I don't spend much on a day to day basis anyway.

Cherryfudge - Thanks for posting. I was interested to see if others had as many accounts as I do.

I have 2 bank accounts, 1 joint one, 1 old and unused ISA, and that's it. It's alot better than I used to be as I used to have about 10 online savers :rotfl:

Onto a different matter, I got some loan paperwork through. The provider was only asking me to contact them about a matter but my partner found the letter. She wondered what the problem was and asked me, but I just couldn't tell her I had been overpaying because I would then have to tell her about the new loans. I felt ashamed that I had to lie to her. She was very upset this week over he own work stuff so I just didn't want to tell her...oh relationships

No spends this week other than £5 for lunch at work yesterday. I was having a bad morning so I went our to the bakery for lunch and ended up buying one too many cakes :rotfl:

Thanks for posting and wondering about me, it's appreciated.

HW17

Cherryfudge

Very well done for 10 days! And only a fiver bit the dust - good going. :T:T:T

I haven't tried an online savings account... not sure it would have any advantage as our emergency funds are already in a given account and right now I'm ploughing spare pennies into the mortgage overpayment, which is addictive. Once that's paid off (which it won't be for a while), online savings may be explored.

Oh no! :eek: re: the loan paperwork. I'm inclined to think it might help to wait for a less-stressed day and say 'Look, you took me by surprise when you asked about that, truth is I wasn't doing too well with my money and this was part of the plan to get it sorted, which I've been working on and I've had some help. But I didn't want you worrying especially as it's getting back on track and I'm here to support you not make you worried'...

Mind you, you know your situation best and how she might feel. The whole trust thing is such a difficult area.

Hillwalker17 wrote: »

I went our to the bakery for lunch and ended up buying one too many cakes :rotfl:

Not the one too many cakes! I never knew there was such a thing. :rotfl:

Hillwalker17

Day 11 - all good in the hood :rotfl:

Went out for a long walk with the dog today down by our local canal. 4 hours later and we are both knackered.

I filled the car up with fuel today, so that's £25 spent. I think I mentioned a while back that I had £30 saved for my weekend away in April. I had that cash in my wallet so that's what I used for my lunch on Friday (£5) and the £25 for today. It means I got to keep my banks clear from any transactions and from using them at all. I will keep the money in the bank for the weekend away

CherryFudge - R.e the loan paperwork, you make it sound so easy
I think i'll let it pass over for the meantime. I'm doing well with the gambling so I don't want any added stress with me and the Mrs having arguments etc. She could do with chilling out anyway :rotfl:

I'm planning to pay off the 2 old loans this week. I hope the totals are slightly less than the expected £700 + £500 so I can save some extra cash. I know the weekend in April is going to cost upwards of £50, maybe even £100, so any savings made until then would go towards this.

Need to check the credit card account too, not sure when the interest will be added from the transactions earlier in the month. Again I hope this doesn't cost too much.

Let's just talk about the weather today - wow it was so sunny!!! Hopefully summer is here to stay.

Back to work tomorrow Sometimes I dislike having a Monday-Friday job. The weekend passes so quickly..

Any exciting news this weekend you guys?

HW17

Cherryfudge

Hillwalker17 wrote: »

CherryFudge - R.e the loan paperwork, you make it sound so easy
I think i'll let it pass over for the meantime. I'm doing well with the gambling so I don't want any added stress with me and the Mrs having arguments etc. She could do with chilling out anyway :rotfl:

Sorry!

I know it's a lot easier said than done, and I'm at a safe distance. :rotfl:

We had gorgeous sunshine too, and a strenuous walk to the top of the world - fabulous! Not as long as your walk though, and we did stop for a) a picnic and b) coffee.

Eleven days free and paying off loans this coming week - well done you!

Hillwalker17

Cherryfudge wrote: »

Sorry!

I know it's a lot easier said than done, and I'm at a safe distance. :rotfl:
Eleven days free and paying off loans this coming week - well done you!

No no, i'm sorry. Reading my update it sounded rude...:(
I appreciate the time you guys take to pop on here and encourage me daily

Day 12 done and dusted, another beautiful day and yes I was in the office working :rotfl:

Its PAYDAY :j

The Mrs checked the bank (it goes into the joint) and I got paid £2040 ish. This will get split as follows:

Leave £750 in the joint account
Transfer over £1050 to bank 1 to pay the bills/loans
Withdraw £140 to emergency fund (this is my monthly spending money)

In theory, I shouldn't touch the banks this month if I have the £140, but i'm going to do the opposite and spend my money in bank 2 and save the £140 to the emergency fund. I need to build up that cash balance a good bit more.

As it's such a nice night, i'm away to get my book and sit in the garden.

HW17

Cherryfudge

Hillwalker17 wrote: »

No no, i'm sorry. Reading my update it sounded rude...:(

Not at all, only you really know what 's feasible in your situation.
Where did you get your nice evening weather from please? It's woolly jumper land again here!