Finally taking back control after a decade of debt

Humdinger1

Please keep posting @londoner2019.  You have a small but devoted posse of admirers on here who are following with interest. Onwards and upwards Humdinger 

londoner2019

A couple of quiet weeks this month, plus a couple of generous friends insisting on paying for dinners, means I have a healthy surplus for November. A little getaway this weekend shouldn't make too much of a dent in it, so I will keep this aside for the inevitable December splurge.

I've seen the surplus grow this month and it's actually stopped me from spending on things that I was planning on getting for myself. So not spending has encouraged more not spending.

I have a chunk of Christmas money in a pot, but I fully intend on spending as little of it as possible. Isn't that mad, it's saved for this very reason but now I have it, I don't wish to part with it.

I think it's much easier to be frugal with money you've already saved up. I know that budgeting future income, I would always be thinking: "well, I need this, I need to pay for that..." Might not be true of everyone, but certainly is for me. I want for less.

My partner also got a new job and she has a benefit where she gets some money for things like gyms, activewear, or general wellness. She's struggling to think of things to get for herself, and I know I could blitz through that in a moment. But I'm trying to encourage her not to spend it on me. It's her benefit.