£15,000 to 0

Working_Mum

How we spend our money is linked to our emotional state I find. I have a budget of £150 each week, on a Thursday I give myself £150 FFF money, this money is to cover, Food, Fuel & Fun!! I had to budget really hard when my marriage broke down and after the initial buzz had worn off I really resented being so boxed in by my finances. I craved freedom!!

I am self employed and my children are a bit older now so need me less but I have found have a proper budget i.e. £150 each Thursday means I tend to not overspend BUT having the freedom to spend it how I wish has helped me enormously and I feel less resentful!!

I eat beans on toast if I have a busy week ahead, I always put £30 worth of fuel in my car (so can get from A to and will accrue a few £'s each week if I have a BIG night out coming up.

Maybe re-framing how far you've come and re-calibrate your plan a little will help you stay focussed.

((Hugs))

WM

Silver_Queen

lonelyrat wrote: »

Try and nip the cc spending in the bud asap! I say that just because it's how I got into problem debt in the first place... My wage wasn't going far enough so I supplemented it with spending on credit cards. But then that goes out the next pay making the next wage even smaller and meaning I relied on credit more. It's the beginning of a cycle... It probably won't end up that way for you as you have your head screwed on far, far better than I did BUT just be careful!

It's definitely difficult if you're bringing in more than OH. I feel like I just want to have a treat when I get paid, but OH obviously can't afford it. His solution is that we just don't do anything... But then it feels so draining that you're working and there's no "fun stuff". It can be hard but you'll get through it.

Whens your next holibobs? Try and focus on that and how well you've done sorting out Christmas. AND how you're at £9000. It may seem like progress is slow, but you're getting there and saving at the same time which is fab.

Relax your spending budget a little bit and try to work it in so you don't need to use the credit card. But please don't feel like beating yourself up about it... You're doing so well and there's going to be ups and downs (just like with your stocks and shares LISA :rotfl:)

You're right as always. Do you ever feel like we just give each other the same piece of advice back and forth like an Xmas gift that nobody wants? :rotfl:

The next holibobs is in the middle of December, although I've had to rebook it three times because of various personal reasons, which has been absolutely infuriating!

I'm also going on a work trip at the end of Nov which I've cheekily extended to a long weekend away. Holidays have definitely been a major downfall...

That bl00dy stocks and shares ISA :rotfl: it's like watching a trainwreck happen very....very....very....slowly!

Silver_Queen

Working_Mum wrote: »

How we spend our money is linked to our emotional state I find. I have a budget of £150 each week, on a Thursday I give myself £150 FFF money, this money is to cover, Food, Fuel & Fun!! I had to budget really hard when my marriage broke down and after the initial buzz had worn off I really resented being so boxed in by my finances. I craved freedom!!

I am self employed and my children are a bit older now so need me less but I have found have a proper budget i.e. £150 each Thursday means I tend to not overspend BUT having the freedom to spend it how I wish has helped me enormously and I feel less resentful!!

I eat beans on toast if I have a busy week ahead, I always put £30 worth of fuel in my car (so can get from A to and will accrue a few £'s each week if I have a BIG night out coming up.

Maybe re-framing how far you've come and re-calibrate your plan a little will help you stay focussed.

((Hugs))

WM

I think you are completely and absolutely right. I'm going to have a good hard look at my finances tonight and properly sort them out once and for all. I was doing really well keeping on top of it but I've been procrastinating about it for the last 3-4 months. Time to pull my socks up and properly sort out a realistic budget so that I don't feel so deprived all the time and go on my crazy spending sprees.

Silver_Queen

Had a couple of small annoying setbacks but not the end of the world.

Part of the reason why I got my new phone is because I could get around £130 by selling my old one. Annoyingly my mums phone has just died (she dropped it in the toilet - again! :eek:) so I've given her my old one instead, so I can't get that £130.

Had to rebook a holiday a few times because of various circumstances, which has cost me an extra £100 or so.

Still haven't been paid, should happen tomorrow.

I've told OH that he needs to step up the paying back because it's putting me in a tight spot, he felt awful and will he paying me back as much as possible on his next payday. Felt a bit guilty making him feel bad

Will be trying a new cash based spending system starting from next month. Need to properly work it all out. Looking forward to getting everything in order again :money:

Rebecca01

Good Luck with a new cash based system.

I think I may need to do something like this. So no cards at all?

I have the same problem with my oh. I buy him things he asks me to get. Then feel guilty taking the money off him. Even though he asked me to get it.

Silver_Queen

Rebecca01 wrote: »

Good Luck with a new cash based system.

I think I may need to do something like this. So no cards at all?

I have the same problem with my oh. I buy him things he asks me to get. Then feel guilty taking the money off him. Even though he asked me to get it.

I have a billion different bank accounts because I try to do all the bank switching offers, so what I'm planning is to keep just enough in my main account to pay all the DDs plus a £10 buffer. The rest of the money goes into account 2 which I then take out X amount in cash every week for everything else, including travel, groceries, shopping. Means no online shopping so I can't be as lazy

For the last few years I've thought that having cash = spending more, because I always just spend all the cash I have since I don't see it as real money, but I'm interested to see if I'd be better off with cash.

Silver_Queen

A bit of a nice surprise today, I referred two people on Nu tmeg but didn't think I'd get the referral bonus because of the weird t&cs. Woke up today to £200 in referral bonuses!

Annoyingly I can't actually do anything with the money, it's unallocated and can't be allocated into my account because of the type of account I have, I can't withdraw it and I can't open a new pot because there's a minimum of £500! Will have to try to scrape together the extra £300 so that I can make use of the referral, since it's just sort of hanging around doing nothing right now...

lonelyrat

That's awesome! A shame you can't do anything with it, but it's still something you didn't have before.

Hows your cash based approach to money going? I tried it before but ended up completely losing track of how much I'd spend then end up totally skint :rotfl: Hope you're having more success with it than I did!!

Working_Mum

lonelyrat wrote: »

Hows your cash based approach to money going? I tried it before but ended up completely losing track of how much I'd spend then end up totally skint :rotfl: Hope you're having more success with it than I did!!

Hey lonelyrat,
I always ask for receipt and then track my spends in a little book (others use YNAB) and balance my cash in my purse to it each day. It's being mindful each time you spend any pennies which is the key.

Have a great weekend :-):j

lonelyrat

Hi Working Mum! Thanks for the tips! It's a solid idea and I feel I should try again! ... I may get myself a wee notepad and do what you say. Sitting down at the end of the day and going through my purse/ receipts would be quite cathartic (or i'll have a heart attack at what I actually spend in a day :rotfl:) I really do need to focus more as I've started just going a bit doolally with the contactless on my card :eek: Mindful is very much what I need to work towards! Hope your weekend was lovely