Making changes to become debt free

Poppy1984

Woohoo had my first NSD TODAY so 1/10 for March. I'm counting down the days until pay day (8) I still have money in my shopping budget but I am going to have to do some shopping before pay day, minimal I hope. I still have money in my spending budget and I don't have much that needs to come out of that unless DS needs something. I need some flowers for Mother's Day but other than that shouldn't spend much more so should hopefully have a little bit to pay off next and a little bit to go into my EF. My item on eBay only sold for £10 I'm gutted but £10s better than nothing and will go into my EF.

Starmummy

Hi Poppy.

I thought i'd check out your diary after you left a lovely message on mine.

Try not to get to stressed out with things (I know that is easier said than done). Changing spending habits is hard and it's only natural to want the worries gone immediately. Try not to obsess over it. as another poster commented, 10-15 minutes to update your trackers and a quick nose on the forum then go and do something that is free and self caring. go for a walk now the evenings are longer, read or do some yoga. It's important to look after your mental health.

I also agree that having a bit of an emergency fund will give you peace of mind (as tempting as it is to pay off the debts first)

I started keeping a spending diary/spreadsheet at the start of the year to really monitor my spending habits. i note down how much and the category of the spend and also how i was feeling when i spent it. it taught me to keep my bank card at home on days where i was upset or stressed. if i really need things on down days i just take cash that only covers the amount needed for the essential item(s).

I also saw someone talking about a 48hour rule for non food spends. think about it for 48h and if you still really need/want it and you have wiggle room in the budget then buy it...on the proviso that you do not make yourself feel guilty. I usually give myself a 1 hour rule on take aways too...by the time the hour is over i then can't be bother to wait another 40 minutes for food to be delivered so just make myself some toast or knock up a quick pasta dish.

remember lots of self care in your journey Poppy

SM

Poppy1984

Starmummy wrote: »

Hi Poppy.

I thought i'd check out your diary after you left a lovely message on mine.

Try not to get to stressed out with things (I know that is easier said than done). Changing spending habits is hard and it's only natural to want the worries gone immediately. Try not to obsess over it. as another poster commented, 10-15 minutes to update your trackers and a quick nose on the forum then go and do something that is free and self caring. go for a walk now the evenings are longer, read or do some yoga. It's important to look after your mental health.

I also agree that having a bit of an emergency fund will give you peace of mind (as tempting as it is to pay off the debts first)

I started keeping a spending diary/spreadsheet at the start of the year to really monitor my spending habits. i note down how much and the category of the spend and also how i was feeling when i spent it. it taught me to keep my bank card at home on days where i was upset or stressed. if i really need things on down days i just take cash that only covers the amount needed for the essential item(s).

I also saw someone talking about a 48hour rule for non food spends. think about it for 48h and if you still really need/want it and you have wiggle room in the budget then buy it...on the proviso that you do not make yourself feel guilty. I usually give myself a 1 hour rule on take aways too...by the time the hour is over i then can't be bother to wait another 40 minutes for food to be delivered so just make myself some toast or knock up a quick pasta dish.

remember lots of self care in your journey Poppy

SM

Hi Star Mummy, thank you so much for the lovely message I really appreciate it. I've had a break from my diary for a few days, I was getting obsessive and negative! I'm feeling a lot more positive now x

Poppy1984

Hi Diary
Had a break for a few days, still on a money saving debt busting mission but trying to dial down the obsessiveness and the stress and anxiety!
Its nearly pay day!!!! Wooooohooooooo!!!!!! 3 days and counting!
I've sold another item which I got £50 for so that has gone into my Emergency fund which is now sitting at £105 I'm focusing on getting it up to £300 then I will go back to paying my next account off. I have been listening to Dave Ramsey's audio book on YouTube its really inspired me!
I've put a couple more buts on Ebay but not expecting to get much for them, still every penny counts.
I've been super good with my shopping budget and only spent £150 / £200 for the month so I'm proud of myself with that one and I haven't spent all my "spending money" budget either although DS needs a few bits that will have to come out of that before the end of the month sadly.
Still doing surveys but they're very slow, anything I make from them is going into my xmas money account, in fact I might put it into my EF until that's up to £300 then put it into the xmas account after that.

MeenaM

Poppy1984 wrote: »

Hi Diary
Had a break for a few days, still on a money saving debt busting mission but trying to dial down the obsessiveness and the stress and anxiety!
Its nearly pay day!!!! Wooooohooooooo!!!!!! 3 days and counting!
I've sold another item which I got £50 for so that has gone into my Emergency fund which is now sitting at £105 I'm focusing on getting it up to £300 then I will go back to paying my next account off. I have been listening to Dave Ramsey's audio book on YouTube its really inspired me!
I've put a couple more buts on Ebay but not expecting to get much for them, still every penny counts.
I've been super good with my shopping budget and only spent £150 / £200 for the month so I'm proud of myself with that one and I haven't spent all my "spending money" budget either although DS needs a few bits that will have to come out of that before the end of the month sadly.
Still doing surveys but they're very slow, anything I make from them is going into my xmas money account, in fact I might put it into my EF until that's up to £300 then put it into the xmas account after that.

yay! you are doing really well I have to get my daily dose of Dave to keep me motivated atm well done on the ebay sales and with keeping to your budget :T

Poppy1984

MeenaM wrote: »

yay! you are doing really well I have to get my daily dose of Dave to keep me motivated atm well done on the ebay sales and with keeping to your budget :T

Hi meenaM thank you!!!!! Can not wait for pay day!!!! I'm finding Dave so inspiring at the moment, he talks so much sense.

onedaysomeday

Well done on everything so far :j

Poppy1984

onedaysomeday wrote: »

Well done on everything so far :j

Thank you

Poppy1984

Pay day tomorrow!!!!! Wooooop!!!
I have £150 in my bank (I'm normally well into my overdraft the day before pay day. So I have transferred it to my EF
I now have £255 in my EF my aim is to get it up to £300 before I go back to paying my next account off so that I have a buffer if something unexpected pops up!
I've just cashed out £5 on prolific surveys so that will take me up to £260 when that clears and I'll hopefully make the £40 selling on eBay over the next few weeks.
Ps my referral link for prolific is https://www.prolific.ac/p?ref=YJR7UYDW if anyone would be kind enough to use it to join
I like it as the surveys are interesting rather than mundane as some of the others can be. And you can cash out through PayPal rather than with vouchers like valued opinions.
I've not had a lot of luck with VO's lately which is frustrating as I have £14.75 and can get a £15 Amazon when I get up to £15.50 lol.

Mumoffourkids

I only do prolific for surveys now. The other sites just take too long or are incredibly boring. The only other thing I do is taking pictures of my receipts. I am now on three different apps and have already had £15 in Amazon vouchers from them but you can take the money out via PayPal as well. Got me it is easy and doesn’t take too much time. And as I go to the shops a lot, it builds up very quickly!

Oh and well done on not going into your overdraft and having money left over to go into your emergency fund.