Tales Of Woe Wanted!

RoxieW

Just checked my bank statement and October was a serious overspend month. :eek:

I knew it would be but was sort of putting off adding up the damage. Its definitely eek, eek and eek. Now I'm experiencing that horrible crashing down to earth 'd'oh!' feeling.

In case anyones interested it was the deadly combo of sons birthday plus a child-free weekend (they went to nannas) that did it.

We'd booked a birthday trip to wales to see the monster trucks before I left work to be SAHM so that was hotel/petrol/tickets/food = fortune!

Then his 'cheap' halloween birthday party that I thought I was being fugal hiring the community centre for. Trouble being by the time you've made the community centre look spooky you've paid a fortune on decorations that are now cluttering up my house. Plus cake/food/present/costumes....oh yes and clown (shamefaced).

And then - the final nail in the coffin - nanna kindly offered to have the boys for a weekend. Its such a rare occurance that we're child free that we went a bit mad eating out 3 days on the trot, going to the cinema and generally gallivanting around like crazy fools!

Now as much as i've enjoyed all of the above, I'm not enjoying the sick feeling now that we have £200 to last november for all non bills ie food and fun.

I think I suffered a bit from 'caution to the wind' syndrome. Now I'm looking around desperately for things to ebay and scrabbling for clicks on quidco, sick with the thought that theres no way I can make up the money gone.
Does anyone want to share their tales of woe and or offer tips for our frugal cold, cold november??

fistfullofdollars

Not a tale of woe as listing negative things only makes you feel negative. It will also give the impression that you are asking people to post their woes to make you feel better as you arent in the bother others are. You only have to read some of the debt-diarys on here to do that.

I'd start with a SOA so you can work out a decent budget to prevent future overspending.

betti911

I had a similar tale of woe in September when I spent lots during my 2 weeks off work on stuff for my flat, eating out etc. October has been hard work trying to get back on track but don't worry if you put your mind to it you'll manage it Here's to a frugal November!

RoxieW

ummmm.... sorry if i've offended anyone. i made a mistake in overspending last month and was just posting a rant basically to get it off of my chest. was just looking for a bit of mutual support - don't worry we've all been there type thing I guess.

just inviting others to do the same if they wanted to. didn't realise that that was a no go as seen as negativity.

RoxieW

thanks betti - here's to a frugal november indeed :beer: (although without the beer because i'm staying in drinking tea all nov, obviously!)

In_Search_Of_Me

bah humbug fistful! It may be that you feel that roxie WAS wanting to know that she's not alone in compleatly stuffing up the budget and going a bit off the rails rather than asking people to enable further negative behaviours. Regardless I am happy to emphasise and say been there & definately done that! Its tough being in debt and there are times when the spending urge gets the better of us. From the sound of it that was a relatively short splurge so well done on that (mine lasted a few months). Try & use the experience to plan in some treats (possibly what fistfull was suggesting!) so that you dont repeat the behavior if at all possible. I would also look at your feelings before, during & after the splurge so you can help not do this & plan strategies for the future to stop yourself sliding backwards.
The main thing is you're back on track so learn from what happened and move on while acknowledging that we're all human and sometimes make mistakes. I guess the seriousness depends on how much debt you're in & whether it will affect something like a DMP or if, as you suggest, a frugal month will mean you can recover from it!! If so it can just be used as a valuable learning experience & a way of learning how many mealsyou really can get out of a packet of lidl pasta, an onion and can of tomatoes!!!

Fortheloveofmoney

RoxieW wrote: »

thanks betti - here's to a frugal november indeed :beer: (although without the beer because i'm staying in drinking tea all nov, obviously!)

Tea!!! You can't afford tea! Water only for this month.....;) Only joking hun, it sounds like you had a fab time and at least you know what you have to do to recover. Be proud of that fact and trudge on. We all have those moments.

This year will be the first time I've had a proper budget for Xmas. Not sure how I'll do but am quite determined. Let's see how I've done come January.....

Good luck!

sammiboo

With christmas coming up and new house to spend on - there is so much money i ahem "need" to spend its unreal :eek:

I think i'll have to sit quietly in a corner so not to tempt myself spending money i havent got

RoxieW

thanks guys- thats just what i needed! i am drinking water right now actually - no waste of a good tetley or the electricity to boil the kettle. very mse me thinks :rolleyes:

yeah, hopefully if i stick to a strict budget for food this month, run down the cupboard and get some stuff on ebay it should redress the balance a bit. plus made £60 so far on the £10 a day challenge :j

lesson learnt - at least it'll stop me going ott at xmas and having a jan headache anyway.

carrliadiere

I have a looming tale of woe, if that counts! I am almost certainly going to buy Guitar Hero for my XBox 360 (which Microsoft returns it), and that will cost me 64.99!

I really want it, I know I will cave in and buy it... but so expensive!

Maybe I'll sell some other things to make it cash neutral...

RoxieW

wow - £65 for a comp game?? I knew they were expensive (hubbys a ps3 addict) but wow wow wow. still if you're gonna get lots of use and enjoyment out of it, and can cut back/sell something to make it up then who am I to rain on your parade!