Put away your purse & become debt-averse

Blackcats

You are a truly reformed character and an inspiration.  You made me laugh about paying off credit card spends "in the same year".  Like you, I never knew exactly what had contributed to my eye watering credit card bills and therefore had no idea what the actual cost (including credit card interest) of my so called bargain was.  I've also paid off this month's bill in full - never dreamt that was possible back in the spendy days. 

Sun_Addict

Have been lurking on your diary for a while. From reading back to the beginning I think you are in the East Midlands like me. I’m also a reformed spender, although have my occasional blips. Your diary is very entertaining and will keep following 😁

amber03

Used to use CC’s all the time for Xmas, not a big lover of the sales tho. Now I save all year round for Xmas. Have already started buying saving stamps from Tesco for next Xmas. Any bargains I can find for next Xmas will be bought and put away. Just hope I can find them when I need them. Me and OH have discussed the purchases we want to make in the next couple of months as well. Have also made a list of places we want to visit in the coming year when it is safe to do so. 

Keep up the good work and look forward to your diary in 2021.x

Onebrokelady

I used to dread January but now I look forward to a credit card bill free month,I don't allow myself a credit card at all because I know I just can't be trusted with one. I use my debit card or cash for everything nowadays so things are paid for immediately, I've managed to get to the end of December with money spare to put in my flooring fund 🎉🎉 

savingmore

Evening 😀😀. I just wanted to say foxgloves, I love the way you address your dear readers by different names, and I particularly love, little festive stuffing balls.   Put a big smile on my face. It’s  the little things that give pleasure.  No one has ever called me that before 🤣🤣

Tescodealqueen

We have woken to snow much to my annoyance as I have to do dad's shopping today. I don't mind snow when I don't have to drive. Hey ho it looks pretty from the window........

Baileys_Babe

savingmore said:

Evening 😀😀. I just wanted to say foxgloves, I love the way you address your dear readers by different names, and I particularly love, little festive stuffing balls.   Put a big smile on my face. It’s the little things that give pleasure.  No one has ever called me that before 🤣🤣

So do i it gave me a warm glow 🤣

Baileys_Babe

Well done to both @foxgloves and @Onebrokelady We do most of our spending on a rewards credit card, which we pay off in full each month. We pay it off close to the full payment date as we feel we might as well gain even a minuscule amount of interest.

Sun_Addict

I put all my spending on a rewards credit card too and pay it off every time it has a balance, sometimes daily. I get quite frustrated when items are pending waiting to clear for ages and I just want to pay them off 😆

foxgloves

Hello diary readers, 
Thanks for all your comments, which I always enjoy reading. 
SunAddict - Yes, you are quite right, I do live over in that general direction!
It's interesting about the whole credit card thing. I actually didn't succumb to having a credit card for quite a long time. I suppose that despite being Very Spendy Indeed back then, I wasn't so stupid as not to be able to see the writing on the wall regarding it being a sure fire way of racking up even more debt. Funnily enough, it was my bank's sales team who seemed keenest on me having a credit card. I received regular sales calls trying to convince me I should have one. I remember one in particular, as their member of staff really became quite snotty, informing me that practically everyone with my account took advantage of the associated credit card, blah, blah, & just found myself really enjoying saying 'No' every time. This bloody-mindedness was also my undoing. I decided that what would really p*ss off my bank's annoyingly persistent callers would be for me to take out a credit card from a different provider. Oh haha, I thought! So I did just that! I was canny enough to choose one with loyalty points for vouchers, but of course, NOT canny enough to adhere to my initial idea of paying it off in full every month. Well, that card had over £900 on it in no time. This figure included a £95 top. Even though this was still very much pre-LBM, I'd never spent £95 on a top before (though spending this on  2or 3 tops in one purchase was a fairly frequent happening) so that was another downside of credit cards coming into play, wasn't it? That whole thing of those little pieces of plastic making us feel we have additional buying power. The simple truth is that if we are buying something 'on credit', we are not only using somebody else's money, so we definitely can't afford whatever it is, we are also paying extra to do so.
So my credit card, along with Mr F's two or three, just became an additional running debt. Post-LBM, it works perfectly in my favour. Our cards (1 each) are used for planned expenditure & paid off in full each month. I love seeing the loyalty points mounting up & receiving my vouchers in the post - I'm due another £15 right now.
So credit cards can work in our favour - it's just that with the wrong financial mindset, they are a sure-fire way to a whole jingley sleigh full of additional debt!
And all us ex-spenders on here know a thing or two about that!
F x