My journey to a debt free life

Onebrokelady

foxgloves wrote: »

OBL - We've said before on here how we both used to overspend at Christmas, haven't we? And buying gifts for people was a big part of that for me. I used to go for what I thought would be the perfect gift, when what I needed to do was buy the 'perfect gift but within my budget'. I think it sounds to me as though your older daughter maybe had a long time of you splashing the cash at Christmas & may hasn't quite caught up with how things are now that you've been struck by that lightbulb on all matters financial! The simple truth is that the money you earn is YOUR money. Once that is gone & you are putting it on the plastic, you are spending somebody else's money so you clearly can't afford it. That applies to all of us. I buy nice gifts within my budget (I saved up this year) & I will NEVER go back to those awful February bank balances when my salary disappeared straight into the black hole aftermath of silly over-buying. I think your gift limits per person are perfectly reasonable & do you know what? If it had to be less, then so be it. We all have to somehow work together to put a brake on the mass consumerism & levels of material expectation that have overwhelmed what should be a midwinter festival of peace, light & sharing. I think many of us on here will be playing our own small part in this.
I sound like a proper old hippy, don't I?
Blessed be.
F xx

From one old hippy to another I think your right,spending at Xmas has got out of control and I for one don't want to be a part of that any more, DD1 has got used to me splashing the cash but if she finds out about the debt I have accrued while doing that she would go mad at me
I know now I will never go back to the way I was, I have saved this year and I'm actually hoping not to use it all on Xmas because to me it's a lot of money,I've got so much I need to do to this house and I should be saving for that really,this year my two council tax free months will be going in my housing fund instead of paying off my credit card bill,this makes me feel great,I think I'm going to be starting January 2019 off in a good place

Onebrokelady

Chrystal wrote: »

Sage advice from foxgloves, as always.

Does DD1 spend lots on you for presents, or is it seen as a one way street?
DD2 sounds lovely :A

No she doesn't spend a lot on me mainly because I tell her not to,she is however always telling me she hasn't got any money and yet she has been on holiday twice since June ( only camping but still a holiday) and is always going out for meals and on day trips,if we meeet for lunch I always end up paying even if I'm broke,she will say she has no money for lunch and then go and buy herself something in a shop,I don't know why she is like this because DD2 isn't and they have both been brought up the same way,she buys expensive clothes for DGS and expects nice wooden toys for him and they are quite often expensive,she did let slip however that she owes money on her credit card whereas she used ovpay it off in full ever month,I think she is on a slippery slope financially and it will catch up with her eventually like it did me

DD2 is lovely and thoughtful most of the time although she does have a temper and if you are on the receiving end then look out, she is very very careful with money though and has managed to save £3000 since she started uni and that's only working part time,they are like chalk and cheese

Kitten868

Wow! What brilliant resolve and totally right too. You've seen what sacrifices youve had to make and how long you've had to save to have the funds available. It certainly puts a new spin on it. You've definitely encouraged me to save for it next year. I get scared I'll spend the money of its there but im confident I can do it now. Just another standing order I can forget about. Well done. Loving your house fund too xxx

Onebrokelady

Another lovely day here today,it's been sunny and crisp,the best winter weather
I actually got up at 9am today so had a quick shower and breakfast before heading off out with the dog for our walk along the river,it was lovely in the sun and getting out in the fresh air was nice,we stopped at the pub where I had a hot choclate with whipped cream on top and it was scrummy,then we walked part way back,we didn't walk all the way home because my Fibro would kick off big time but we did do 14000 steps according to DD2s phone app

This afternoon I was able to let the chickens out in the garden for a couple of hours so they are happy with the world and then I helped DD adapt an Ikeaa plastic storage box into a cage for her hamster,she bought a cage with the hamster but when she looked online for how to look after the type of hamster she owns it said that most cages are too small and they actually need quite a lot of room,so most people use Ikeaaa storage boxes to house them,we finished it earlier and it looks really good,the hamster is now running round like a loony thinking Xmas has come early,I wish we had known before though because the cage she bought was £29 and the ikeaa box came to about a tenner :eek: so she could have saved some money there,anyway it's done now so she can stop worrying his house it too small
I'm just cooking my lunch for work tomorrow and then we have to take the dog out for her evening walk,I'm not sure if my legs will work now though,the pub walk is three hours long:eek:

We are watching Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them tonight,I haven't seen it and there is a new one out that I want to watch so I need to see this one first

I hope you have all had a lovely weekend,it's back to work tomorrow but only for one day so I think I can handle that

Onebrokelady

Kitten868 wrote: »

Wow! What brilliant resolve and totally right too. You've seen what sacrifices youve had to make and how long you've had to save to have the funds available. It certainly puts a new spin on it. You've definitely encouraged me to save for it next year. I get scared I'll spend the money of its there but im confident I can do it now. Just another standing order I can forget about. Well done. Loving your house fund too xxx

I knew from the beginning of this plan that xmas would mess everything up so saving for it seemed to be a sensible thing to do,I have loved putting the money in there every month and haven't been tempted to spend it,I have had minor panics that it won't be enough but now I'm thinking it's more than enough and I'm really hoping I have some left to put in the house or emergency fund,it's probably a tad optimistic but I can dream :rotfl:

I'm sure onceyou get going you will start to see the benefit of saving,I'm not at all stressed out this xmas and I'm usually a nervous wreck by now,over the last couple of years I had developed a twitch in my eye every time I went to the till to pay for a present,it hasn't appeared this year:rotfl:

Do you have a diary

Kitten868

You really have boosted my confidence - my app even has it so I can change saving account names so no excuses! I'm totally getting the eye spasm buying gifts! I don't have a diary, I used to but I totally fell off the wagon. My life changes too much at the moment. I need to get back into the groove. It's just hard as my house is awful and I'm trying to take advantage of my husband being in the country - I'm very frugal when he's deployed. But no excuses - I will work out what I need to save and start. No more but why save when I'm in debt xxx

Willowtree222

You are an amazing money saving fan now. Look how much you saved for Christmas!!

HairyHandofDartmoor

You've been so sensible saving up a Christmas fund, it must feel lovely to be stress free at this time of year .

Onebrokelady

Kitten868 wrote: »

You really have boosted my confidence - my app even has it so I can change saving account names so no excuses! I'm totally getting the eye spasm buying gifts! I don't have a diary, I used to but I totally fell off the wagon. My life changes too much at the moment. I need to get back into the groove. It's just hard as my house is awful and I'm trying to take advantage of my husband being in the country - I'm very frugal when he's deployed. But no excuses - I will work out what I need to save and start. No more but why save when I'm in debt xxx

Awwww that's lovely to hear, I used to think it was daft to save while being in debt but I'm going to be paying my debt off for a long time,so I thought it was better to try and do both,I know if I throw all my money at the debt I would be able to pay it off quicker but it would mean a long time without being able to spend anything and knowing myself like I do I realised I would quickly become miserable and not want to carry on, doing it this way gives me the best of both worlds

Onebrokelady

Nicnak wrote: »

You are an amazing money saving fan now. Look how much you saved for Christmas!!

It still doesn't seem like much to me,I'm just hoping it's enough to cover everything ,I have another payday coming up where I can squirrel away a bit more then the next payday is Xmas week and I'm hoping to have it all done way before then,I've nearly done both DDs so not much more to get,then it's just bits of food,I've already bought some over the last few weeks so not too much left to buy hopefully,I'm going to write a list and plan the food and drink so I don't go crazy like I normally do