A newbie: can I join the club please?!

taxi73

Hi and welcome you seem to have got your head around things and thats half the battle...so well done.I agree leave your partner be as you don't need any more strees to deal with...it's hard living with someone with mental illness as my son has manic depression..so I know how you feel...and you must be proud that hes stayed in his job..good luck with giving up smoking

JoeHel

Well my OH has now got his head around WHY I am doing this and has finally realised that we're not on the bread-line and there's no need to panic so all is smiles again

I have started reading the Allen Carr book again this morning. I put the extra £200 a month in the snowball calculator and it told me that if I quit smoking (apart from the millions of other benefits) I will clear my credit card debt in November 2009 instead of June 2010!!! It's a no-brainer really, isn't it?!!!

I've decided I'm not going to tell my OH that I'm quitting 'cos it will only panic him into thinking he's got to as well. I'll just see how long it takes him to notice and then I'll just say that it's making my throat hurt too much at the moment with the cold I've got. Then after that I can just say I'm seeing how long I can last without one. He can get used to it gradually and he'll see that I'm not in the least bit bothered about him still smoking by the time he finds out I've actually quit (which I think is his biggest worry!!!)

I can't get over how much difference £200 a month will make. I could be credit card free in just 2 years!! I can't see where that shows me how much less interest I'd pay overall but I bet it makes that £200 a month worth even more...

Third week of sticking to my £100 a week budget and I'm finding it a lot less painful than I thought it would be. As soon as the ciggies are gone, my budget will go down to £50 a week and I'll already know I can stick to that easily as that's what I've got now once I've bought the dreaded fags...

planbetter

Sounds like you've definitely got a plan. You'll have to find a happy thought to keep you going. Good luck!

JoeHel

planbetter wrote: »

Sounds like you've definitely got a plan. You'll have to find a happy thought to keep you going. Good luck!

LOL. My happy thought is what I'll be able to do with the £1,400 a month "extra" I'll have to spend every single month in two years' time when the CCs and loan are paid off! I think of it like I'll be winning one of those "£1k a month salary for life" scratchcards - except it will definitely happen and not just be luck!

Okay - this weekend's "to do" list ....

1. Go through my bathroom and bedroom cupboards and dig out all the pampering products I've spent a fortune on (and probably used once each) and make sure I do not buy another moisturiser/bath oil/face pack/cleanser or whatever until they have ALL GONE! Put them in order in the store cupboard so I can easily see what I've got.

2. I need to "find" £140 to renew mine and OH's passports. I won a weekend break in Europe which includes flights and 5* hotel and we haven't had a holiday in years! We have to use it before March 2008 but we need our passports renewed before we can book it. To that end....

3. Go through our "store" cupboard and look for anything that can be sold. We've got BOXES of DVDs, CDs, a brand new juicer, a bath spa that's been used once, a footspa that's been used once... etc... They are clogging up valuable space and I will never use them!! There is a boot fair in the car park 5 minutes from our house every Sunday morning. Or Ebay might be the way to go. I'll see what I've got!

4. Keep reading my Allen Carr book. While I'm feeling ill with a cold, I'm feeling VERY motivated to quit smoking. Get on with it while the motivation is high!

It's going to be a busy weekend!!!

anniestar

Just wanted to say a warm welcome to you. You will love it here.

JoeHel

Thanks very much anniestar.

I've had a very productive evening today! I'm a lot closer to getting those renewed passports... I remembered a holdall full of loose change that we found around the old flat when we moved house and it's been stuck under the bed since we got here in May. I just did 4 hours worth of bagging up ... and so far the total is £124!!! :j Looks like the stuff I dig out to ebay or sell at a boot fair will go on spending money in Prague instead!

JoeHel

Well quite a productive few days! I managed to rake in £780 (take home) in overtime this month :j so Mr Barclaycard has done very well out of me and that's a nice chunk gone! I have applied for an Abbey 0% credit card to transfer my Barclaycard balance on to as I'm paying 22.9% to 27.9% APR on an £8k balance at the moment (OUCH!) and am praying they let me have the card so I can transfer it. There is a handling fee but it's still tons lower than the interest I'd end up paying Barclaycard.

Looks like there's quite a lot of overtime going again this month (yup, it's now 5.20am and I'm STILL in work from yesterday!!) Supposed to be starting again at 9am but hoping they let me have a couple of hours sleep at least :rolleyes:

So lovely to have mse back. Have sooo missed you all!!! :beer:

JoeHel

Another piece of good news today.... My PIN number arrived for my new 0% Abbey credit card!!!! I GOT IT!!!! No idea yet what the credit limit is though, and whether it'll be enough to shift over the whole Barclaycard balance, but keeping everything crossed!

JoeHel

Quick update...

My Abbey 0% card arrived and my limit was what I'd asked for, so the entire Barclaycard balance is now on 0% :j The haggled about it because the balance transfer equalled more than 80% of my credit limit and apparently they don't usually allow that, but I told them I showed my Barclaycard statement to the person I applied for the card with and SHE recommended the limit I apply for!!! They had a quick word with their manager and let it go through.

Also ... I have QUIT SMOKING!!! I am over the moon. Feel better than I've done in YEARS! My stats, as of this minute are... "I have been quit for 1 Week, 5 Days, 16 hours, 13 minutes and 50 seconds (12 days). I have saved £92.27 by not smoking 354 cigarettes. I have saved 1 Day, 5 hours and 30 minutes of my life. My Quit Date: 04/11/2007 23:00"

So, nearly £100 saved in just under 2 weeks...

HBFS

Welcome and congrats on the steps made so far!