Yet another new guy enters the frame.

In_Search_Of_Me

welcome to DFW! A couple of thiks to me are quite striking - the o2 bill is mad & I just dont understand how you spend that much! I use my mobile for emergencies only and have had £10 on my payg phone for months...you need to find a way of getting a phone cheaper and investigate the options. The second is that you need to get a clear idea of what comes in & out & do a realistic budget. ie - gas & elec are a fair chunk of any bills yet you dont know what they are so you need to look at this generally & have a look at getting the cheapest option. Have a look at your bills for the last year & average them out & then have a hunt for cheapest deals...if you look at Martins give yourself a payrise on front page you can apply this to all your finances. Also think things like TV lisc are underestimated but check on this. Spending diary will give you a salutory lesson in how quickly money goes but also where it goes and if you go to spendingdiary.com it will even do you pretty graphs!
Ultimately you have a choice to either sort this now and get a grip on your money or end up like many of us who didnt till it was too late! Please take the former option cos the latter is a painful & lengthy error to make!
Dont want to sound harsh and sorry if I do (long day & realise that I'm tired but didnt want to post nowt . You can turn this round but it will take some work & also sorryto hear of recent break up but at least now you can ditch the mobile contract eh!! Hugs for you & keep posting

Gemmzie

That's fair enough

Stick with us, and try Moozie's weekly challenge thread (posted by PAP - postingalwaysposting). Set a target for the week, withdraw it in cash if that helps, stick to it and write it down to see where it goes. It helps a lot.

Good luck

millionaire_in_training

We all fall off to be honest. Thats why we do this. It is funny but sometimes the thought of confessing on your diary can be enough to stop you from going mad spending wise. My grocery challenge is like that as I really want to do it one of these months( never managed it yet) so I really think about it when I am in the supermarket and it really curtails what I buy. I hope this makes sense.

HBFS

fishface-69 wrote: »

welcome to DFW! A couple of thiks to me are quite striking - the o2 bill is mad & I just dont understand how you spend that much! I use my mobile for emergencies only and have had £10 on my payg phone for months...you need to find a way of getting a phone cheaper and investigate the options. The second is that you need to get a clear idea of what comes in & out & do a realistic budget. ie - gas & elec are a fair chunk of any bills yet you dont know what they are so you need to look at this generally & have a look at getting the cheapest option. Have a look at your bills for the last year & average them out & then have a hunt for cheapest deals...if you look at Martins give yourself a payrise on front page you can apply this to all your finances. Also think things like TV lisc are underestimated but check on this. Spending diary will give you a salutory lesson in how quickly money goes but also where it goes and if you go to spendingdiary.com it will even do you pretty graphs!
Ultimately you have a choice to either sort this now and get a grip on your money or end up like many of us who didnt till it was too late! Please take the former option cos the latter is a painful & lengthy error to make!
Dont want to sound harsh and sorry if I do (long day & realise that I'm tired but didnt want to post nowt . You can turn this round but it will take some work & also sorryto hear of recent break up but at least now you can ditch the mobile contract eh!! Hugs for you & keep posting

Thanks for the support. I suppose I really should have looked at this harder than just copying the first bit of the SOA! *embarassed*

It's not harsh in the slightest. I appreciate your honesty.

HBFS

millionaire_in_training wrote: »

We all fall off to be honest. Thats why we do this. It is funny but sometimes the thought of confessing on your diary can be enough to stop you from going mad spending wise. My grocery challenge is like that as I really want to do it one of these months( never managed it yet) so I really think about it when I am in the supermarket and it really curtails what I buy. I hope this makes sense.

Makes perfect sense. My main fall off is alcohol. If I go to my local on a day off, I generally spend about £30/40 a night. If I take less, I use a tab if I run out of cash(thank god, I've at least cleared that!)

millionaire_in_training

:rotfl: at the tab. Priorities huh?

HBFS

millionaire_in_training wrote: »

:rotfl: at the tab. Priorities huh?

Well that was a silly £150 to have hanging over my head! (as are the rest!)

tealady

Hi. I appreciate that as a shift worker it is difficult to get a routine but if you have regular shifts could you meal plan and freeze enough to get you through a week or so? There are plenty of recipies on the Old style thread. Also sarnies can be made and frozen (or just freeze the ingredients eg cooked meat, cheese). I would look at changing your phone contract as well, go via a cashback website to see if you can get a better deal. Re the internet if BT want £180 to set it up try haggling. It costs nothing and if you dont ask you dont get.

GettingThingsDone

Hi - welcome to DFW! I've just lost a long-ish post to you here, but in summary it was to say stop going out drinking for a couple or three months. It seems to make more difference than you think it will.

Good luck and keep posting!

gtd

HBFS

tealady wrote: »

Hi. I appreciate that as a shift worker it is difficult to get a routine but if you have regular shifts could you meal plan and freeze enough to get you through a week or so? There are plenty of recipies on the Old style thread. Also sarnies can be made and frozen (or just freeze the ingredients eg cooked meat, cheese). I would look at changing your phone contract as well, go via a cashback website to see if you can get a better deal. Re the internet if BT want £180 to set it up try haggling. It costs nothing and if you dont ask you dont get.

It's certainly worth a try! Only problem I have on that is that my shifts are all over the place (Earlies, Lates and Nights) and sometimes I barely have time to go home sleep and then get up for work! Thanks for the ideas tho'