The time is now:

nowpanicking

Hey Littletinks,

Sorry you're having a rubbish week. January is not the greatest month is it? After all of the build up for Christmas and New Year it does often feel a bit flat.

Your money saving seems to be going fab.. That's awesome you've made over £100 on ebay!! :T

I love doing the meal planner although I still find I still need to do a weekly shop at the supermarket. I have been managing to stick to my list while I'm there tho which is good!

Hope you're feeling happier soon:)

NP x

Littletinks

nowpanicking wrote: »

Hey Littletinks,

Sorry you're having a rubbish week. January is not the greatest month is it? After all of the build up for Christmas and New Year it does often feel a bit flat.

Your money saving seems to be going fab.. That's awesome you've made over £100 on ebay!! :T

I love doing the meal planner although I still find I still need to do a weekly shop at the supermarket. I have been managing to stick to my list while I'm there tho which is good!

Hope you're feeling happier soon:)

NP x

Thanks for your message NP x
It's not a great time of year for me tbh, so I think it's more to do with suppressed emotions coming out, and the winter gloomy weather - I miss the sunshine.

Well done on sticking to your list, that's awesome work :T. I'd stocked up the freezer on 30th Dec so I started the month off from a great position. The meal planner is keeping me focused, OH hasn't noticed much difference either :rotfl:

Thanks, I hope this week is a better week too, I've had a good day today so the week has started well

x

Littletinks

Not a NSD day today as I needed to get a bday card. I did however, save some money by using a discount code when ordering online, bringing the cost of my £3.29 card to £2.20

Littletinks

Week 4:

This week has been a complete contrast to last week. Firstly I'm pleased to say that I have I've felt a lot happier this week . Which is definitely the most important thing to me. Secondly, my spending has hit the roof, although it was planned as it was my OH (milestone) birthday which we celebrated by us going away for the weekend along with family, we all had a great time _party_. This week also compromised of:

- 2 NSD
- New current acc has successfully switched over on Thursday. I've paid in the required £1500 so I'm now waiting for them to add their promised £150.
- Shopping this week came to £12.89. Helped in part by being away for 3 days. I now need to do a big shop for next week!
- Spent £438 on our hotel room and our share of the bday meal
- Earned £17.18 through Eb@y. It's getting addictive clearing out my wardrobe - I'm loving it, and feeling better for it too.
- VSP £4.86

I still need to plan my meals for next week. I will also be able to make an extra payment on my Debt1 from what's left out of this months pay, which will be the first extra payment in a long time (yay). New budgets will include personal spending money. I'm thinking of £200pm to inc all personal spending, entertainment, going out, etc. I may reduce this but I'll see how I go.

Looking forward to week 5. I'm so pleased I've found this forum and started my diary. It's keeping me focused, and I can really see the financial difference it's making already. I'm determined to keep this up for the year, by which time I really hope Debt 1&2 will be gone! On to week 5 we go, for anyone reading this, good luck with your journey too and I hope you have a great week ......

nowpanicking

Hi Littletinks... Week 4 of your journey already completed!!! Glad you enjoyed the celebrations. I do think it's important to still have events to look forward to, otherwise I think it would be too tempting to just give up and have a big blow out. It's also then easier to cope with the quiet times in between

NP x

Littletinks

nowpanicking wrote: »

Hi Littletinks... Week 4 of your journey already completed!!! Glad you enjoyed the celebrations. I do think it's important to still have events to look forward to, otherwise I think it would be too tempting to just give up and have a big blow out. It's also then easier to cope with the quiet times in between

NP x

Hey NP

Thanks for stopping by

I totally agree and as it was a significant Birthday, it was always going to be a big spend up. But like I said it was planned and budgeted for.

Your right about the quieter times, I don't have any (planned) big spends coming up for a while now - I hope I don't get any nasty surprises lol.

I'm sitting here planning our meals for next week - is it me, or does it seem like a boring, thankless, task ?!? My OH really doesn't mind what we have, we eat fairly healthy, its the thinking what to have all the time, that quite frankly gets on my nerves :laugh:

Littletinks

A little mid week thought:

I've been reading a lot of posts on Pinterest lately that have popped up about being 'frugle' and I've been thinking about the types of posts and what it means to others. There's loads of posts on 'how to be more frugal, 'living a frugal lifestyle' 'shopping on a frugal budget' etc.

But then I read something that provoked an interesting thought, that I hadn't really thought of before. Being frugal doesn't necessary mean you have no money, just that your more careful with it, and your choosing to spend it in other ways and probably more wisely. This is what I've been doing this past month.

I've been cutting back in places without really missing out. I haven't been doing the weekly shop throwing everything in the trolley dispute having a list but putting just as much stuff in the trolley that wasn't on the list in the first place because either it's on offer, looks nice or I think sod it! I've been decluttering and turning unwanted items that are never worn back into cash.

I'm being more sensible/ frugal and I'm enjoying it . Of course there are many for whom it's not a choice. I've had, in the past many many years ago some very tough times financially. The circumstances surrounding that time, were not my fault. Neither the less I had to budget and stick to it! Treats and meals out were very rare. Thankfully those days are long gone. But then instead of being sensible, I had more money to splash about and I did! BUT I also splashed out and spent more than I had. Hence ending up with debt

But finally with my sensible 2019 head on, I'm changing my spending habits. I work hard for my money and I always look for holiday deals as I think of these as big one off outgoings a couple of times a year. Or take ages deciding on my next mobile phone contract as I know I'll be paying it for the next two years ( more on that coming in this weeks diary entry). But now I'm making all, not some, of money work hard for me.

So my thoughts are: being more careful, sensible, frugal or whatever you decide to call it, doesn't have to be a bad thing - you can still have a good time!

natsplatnat

Littletinks wrote: »

But now I'm making all, not some, of money work hard for me.
!

Me too! As my debt reduced I was able to find ways to make the small amounts of money I had available work harder for me (well, I had worked hard enough for them!) Initially it was temporarily transferring any amount of money that was 'spare' for a few days into my old OD - this reduced the balance for a few days, meaning I was charged less interest which in turn helped me clear the balance quicker. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't have don't it without my trusty spreadsheet to keep check! Small things like saving on a mobile bill and then diverting my 'saving' into a 'pot' to build a fund for 'something or another'. I was used to not having it, so didn't miss it!


Now I am DF I am definitely always looking for ways to make my money work as hard as possible.


Unfortunately it is true that your opportunities to get the best deals / spend the least / save the most money come when you have the money available, but any mindful / frugal changes you can make along the way can only help!


:T

Littletinks

natsplatnat wrote: »

Me too! As my debt reduced I was able to find ways to make the small amounts of money I had available work harder for me (well, I had worked hard enough for them!) Initially it was temporarily transferring any amount of money that was 'spare' for a few days into my old OD - this reduced the balance for a few days, meaning I was charged less interest which in turn helped me clear the balance quicker. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't have don't it without my trusty spreadsheet to keep check! Small things like saving on a mobile bill and then diverting my 'saving' into a 'pot' to build a fund for 'something or another'. I was used to not having it, so didn't miss it!


Now I am DF I am definitely always looking for ways to make my money work as hard as possible.


Unfortunately it is true that your opportunities to get the best deals / spend the least / save the most money come when you have the money available, but any mindful / frugal changes you can make along the way can only help!


:T

Hey Natplatnat :hello:

Thanks for taking the time to stop by.

Congratulations on being debt free!!! I agree with your comments having some money available definitely helps with the choices you have available to you, which in turn help you save or get a better deal.

Sadly it takes very little time to build up a small amount of debt which before you know it can turn into £000's. It takes months and even years to pay it all off. I am determined that i will be DF and stay DF this time around.

I'm loving ths site and as silly as it might sound, writing on here knowing that there are others who have been in similar or worse situations to me, but have come out the otherside helps me to stay focused. I know noone really knows anyone on here, but I feel like everyone is really helping and supporting each other, which is great!

Littletinks

Week 5:

So it's been another good week mood wise, although work has been a bit stressful ,so I've been hitting the sweetie jar - a lot! Still, I resisted buying things to perk me up, so I'm not gonna be too hard on myself.

This week:
- 1 NSD day
- Contacted mobile phone provider
- Shopping (with my list) £46.55
- VSP £ 8.95
- Extra £200 sent to debt1 (no council tax this mth, so most of it was from that )
- Eb@y £4.50

My 2 year mobile contract ends in March so I've decided, since I'm more than happy with my current phone, I'm not going to upgrade, instead I've switched to a sim only deal. My network offered me a loyalty discount on a 1 month rolling contract for £5pm. This brings my monthly mobile bill down from £49pm to £5pm!!!! So that's another £44pm for the holiday pot! :T

I didn't do a big shop this week, like I had planned too. I've planned the dinners again for the week and my top ups mean I can still make some really nice dinners. We we're away again this weekend visiting family so that was another two days I didn't need to plan meals for. It just goes to show how much money I was needlessly spending on shopping each week before I started this journey. Ramming stuff in the freezer before it went out of date, or worst of all and I'm ashamed to say it, throwing stuff out :eek: But I'm pleased to say the new year has brought new spending habits.

Now for the best action of the month - the feeling of sending my extra payment to my debt 1 this week was total joy :j. I was thinking I might be able to pay more off it later in the month too. I'm definitely on track to kill Debt 1 by the end of March - whoooppeeee!

Week 6 ......here I come!