Must try harder!

beanielou

What have you been up to then!

WinterWarrior

beanielou said:

What have you been up to then!

No good Beanie, I’ve been up to no good. I’ve been sitting on the step of shame 😖 for spending most of my allocated spending money on stupid games. Luckily that was set aside as mine to fritter and I haven’t touched the pots this month at all, but I must be very good now to keep it together for May. So tomorrow I will be having NSD9 and there will be many more to come. I’ve made myself feel very silly by having to put it on here and hopefully that will help. 

beanielou

You are you a gamer then?  (Like my DS!)

WinterWarrior

Good morning and happy Thursday. Another day, another dollar!
Today I have declared NSD9 on the NSD challenge board. Declaring early means I have no choice, but to stick to it 😬 My new pocket money week starts on Saturday, so I have 2 absolute no spend days, then I have next week and the week after with £15 per week. As this is only to cover things I have plenty of, I really shouldn’t need even that. This will enable me to finish the month with £200 in my emergency fund and £316 in my pots, which has been unheard of. Add to that my loans going down and the new 5 yr mortgage deal and things should be looking up.
Yes I did spend a lot of my weekly allocated spending money on foolish frittering, but although I’m a bit sick about it, that’s what the spending money can cover and I know I’m ‘not allowed’ to take anything from anywhere else. If I bemoan my lack of spends for the rest of the month please remind me to suck it up because I took it early 🙄
I have also joined the 3-6 months savings challenge. At the moment to track my £1k emergency fund and when I hit that I will work out my 6 months and restart it. I think being honest and sensible 6 months will be around the £6k mark after the loan payments have gone.
Well that’s enough of my moaning and making excuses for one day, thanks for sticking with me while I embarrass myself ❤️ Have a wonderful Thursday ⭐️ 

Sun_Addict

Don’t beat yourself up about frittering your allocated spending money, at least it was allocated and you still have money left in the pot. There’s a really good programme on C4 on Mondays called How to Save a Grand in 24 hours, have you seen it?

CRANKY40

Ha ha, I live with a 16 year old who plays various games and his pocket money is also his to spend on Riot points or whatever. He's gradually become more cautious about what he does though and most of the time he can see where using his cash would be a waste and where he can splash out the odd £5 and it will be OK. As you said there's no more where the game money has come from so that will be ok. If you didn't use money that you weren't supposed to then that is still a win I reckon. 

WinterWarrior

Sun_Addict said:

Don’t beat yourself up about frittering your allocated spending money, at least it was allocated and you still have money left in the pot. There’s a really good programme on C4 on Mondays called How to Save a Grand in 24 hours, have you seen it?

I haven’t seen that, but I’ll look for it now, thanks.
It’s not gaming as such, it’s slots on a bingo site. Those 25p’s really add up. I had blocked it for a month, but the day it opened I was back, so now I’m closing it completely. It’s not for the win, it’s just playing the games I enjoy, anything I win goes straight back to prolong the fun (unless it’s big, which has happened a few times). I know it’s an issue for me. I’ve never got into debt with it, but I have spent more than I should. It’s so unpredictable too, £20 could last days, or it could be gone in minutes. It’s a stupid hobby that I started because I was bored and far from family. No excuses now, you will see my pots and EF increase next month, my loans go down and my spending money be mindfully spent or hoarded! 

Cranky your boy is much more sensible!

Thank you for your kind comments.

CRANKY40

Yes, don't do that. I have a friend that does the same. Her brother (my best mate) has given her thousands over the years - supposedly to pay bills but when we started cleaning her house and sorting it out ready to sell was an absolute hole. Never any money for food shopping so brother sends her cash and you can guess the rest. My best friend has now retired, paid all her debts, banned her from gambling and has stopped giving her any money. It's quite interesting to watch (I've been there as moral support for him, house cleaner and decorator for her and general all round good friend when they aren't speaking to each other). I definitely don't recommend it as a life choice. 

I've said before on my diary that a lot of people on these boards have addictive personalities. Our addictions are different (mine are over shopping and over eating) but we all have the same root problem. I took money out of my savings yesterday (must have been a moon phase or something as it seems to have been the day for it) and rejoined slimming world. I joined 4 weeks ago but then took 2 weeks off to overeat and sulk about my xray results. It'd be so much easier if all of us like minded people could just call for each other and go for a walk or something wouldn't it?

Debt_Me_Out_Of_Here

CRANKY40 said:

I've said before on my diary that a lot of people on these boards have addictive personalities. Our addictions are different (mine are over shopping and over eating) but we all have the same root problem. 

Totally agree - mine are overshopping and over eating as well!

WinterWarrior

Oh @CRANKY40 wouldn’t it just...a walk and a good talking to! I have paid for slimming world in the past..and exante..but the only thing that works for me is calorie counting...and then only if I’m in the right frame of mind (looks sadly down at my stomach)..
your cautionary tale is most welcome. I have only ever frittered what was mine and have never missed a payment, or done without an essential, but I have cringed at my bank statements many times. All that money wasted over the years must add up to something shocking. Sadly I don’t get the same pleasure from savings, but I need to train myself on that. I know I have spent money and then bought things on the cc because I didn’t have money...luckily I have had that running at zero each month end for some time now and with this new leaf I am getting ahead so I have nothing to pay off on pay day. I do use it for prime, etc. But any spend is paid immediately (so sometimes my card looks in credit while it’s going through). 

I think once my loans are clear and I can add to savings quicker it may make me more excited about them.
Thank you for being so kind, I’m cross with myself, but I’m going to learn this lesson. I should probably tackle this extra stone next 😢