Must try harder!

WinterWarrior

@Naomim I am in awe of your full pots.
we have quite a small family, but presents are expected for everyone...as you say, it can often just be swapping money though. 

I love browsing Amazon, there is everything you could imagine and then some. Some things are dire though, those are the ones you need to send a link of to your nearest and dearest (e.g. I saw this bag lady outfit and thought of you) 😁

[Deleted User]

Hi. I've just read your diary and thought I'd say hi.  I'm on a debt free journey too! I'm trying too, to stop using my credit card but seems to sometimes be a losing battle at times.  I've decided that next payday the daily spending CC will be cleared and closed and will use funds in my second account that I've set up to budget.  

Good luck in your journey x

WinterWarrior

Hi @MrsBrownBear, it’s lovely to meet you. Do you already have the funds in your second account to cover the usual credit card spend? That’s where I fall flat at the moment. I’m seeing out the month on plastic, but then will pay it off on payday...which leaves me short again for the next month. The challenge I have is saving up enough to cover the current month and get out of that cycle. I also daren’t close my card when that happens as I still need an emergency buffer to cover car breakdowns, boilers, etc. Until I have the savings in place. 

One of the biggest spends (outside of the loans and mortgage) is I buy the pet food in bulk each month, that can be £200-300 and it’s always before the end of the month, which I then have to pay back. This month I’m hoping to hold out until pay day, to break that part of the cycle. I have enough basics in, just they might run out of treats and the fun stuff. 

Do you have a diary I can follow?
lots of luck to you...we can do this! 

WinterWarrior

I can happily report another no spend day today.
I took the dog for a drive (she’s too old and stiff for long walks these days) and then did not much of anything!
I have nearly finished Manners and Monsters (off the top of my head I think that was number 35 read this year) and have the latest Gunnie Rose book lined up for next ...I do love Charlaine Harris (even though they murdered True Blood on tv her books are always excellent). I even have a jam donut lined up to eat with my coffee later ☺️
Wishing everyone a wonderful Sunday night. 

[Deleted User]

WinterWarrior said:

Hi @MrsBrownBear, it’s lovely to meet you. Do you already have the funds in your second account to cover the usual credit card spend? That’s where I fall flat at the moment. I’m seeing out the month on plastic, but then will pay it off on payday...which leaves me short again for the next month. The challenge I have is saving up enough to cover the current month and get out of that cycle. I also daren’t close my card when that happens as I still need an emergency buffer to cover car breakdowns, boilers, etc. Until I have the savings in place. 

One of the biggest spends (outside of the loans and mortgage) is I buy the pet food in bulk each month, that can be £200-300 and it’s always before the end of the month, which I then have to pay back. This month I’m hoping to hold out until pay day, to break that part of the cycle. I have enough basics in, just they might run out of treats and the fun stuff. 

Do you have a diary I can follow?
lots of luck to you...we can do this! 

Hi, as of next payday I will have enough to clear the monthly spend credit card and live off my wages.  It has taken nearly three months to break the cycle and save up enough to do this; it will be such a relief next month. I used to pay for my gas and electric; food; fuel; pet food, daily spends all on the credit card and then pay it off.  Mr BB usually get carried away too and buys stuff knowing that he will get bonus or something so we are always in arrears and bonus was already spent, which always felt deflating when we got paid.  Hoping next month to have a reasonable amount put in our emergency fund; so we are not tempted to use the CC. Car insurance and road tax will also be paid ready for the following month; it certainly pays to get quotes for your car insurance early, I've already saved £40 compared to last years premium.  I buy pet food on a monthly basis, it used to run out a week before payday but never a problem as I used to use the credit card.  I've managed to buy extra every month so now I buy dog food at the beginning of every month now (again, without overstitching, I've done this over a few months).  As funds are running low now; my aim is to try and run food cupboards low and only buy essentials.

I do have a diary; 'Tackling this debt one at a time'

Good luck in your journey, you've got this xx

WinterWarrior

Well done. @MrsBrownBear. Fantastic to be in front. 

I did pay my car insurance in one go for the first time ever last year, instead of monthly. For the first time in 10 years I shopped around and saved over £100 and got cash back! It won’t be such a big win this year, but I definitely learnt my lesson. I was planning to save up front for it this year, but am running out of time. That’s my fault for emptying those pesky pots all the time, but now I’ve turned over a new leaf it won’t happen again (it won’t, it won’t!)
I have plenty of the pet food basics to last the month (I say basics, but obviously the poshest of everything because they can taste the difference), but it may be touch and go with the treats.

[Deleted User]

@WinterWarrior - my beautiful labradoodle, who is now 9 years young, has had all sorts of brands of dog food over the years.  I started off with the premium range and quite honestly, she didn't get on with it - over the years she became quite fussy.  Quite a few years ago now, money was extremely tight so I bought Aldi's own brand dog food with gravy (as it was a few days till payday) and now she will not touch anything else.  So I'm the lady in the carpark loading a months supply of dog meat, biscuits and dental chews! - It did look like I'm panic buying dog food last year and it did cross my mind that I may had started the rumour of a dog food shortage 

WinterWarrior

MrsBrownBear said:

@WinterWarrior - my beautiful labradoodle, who is now 9 years young, has had all sorts of brands of dog food over the years.  I started off with the premium range and quite honestly, she didn't get on with it - over the years she became quite fussy.  Quite a few years ago now, money was extremely tight so I bought Aldi's own brand dog food with gravy (as it was a few days till payday) and now she will not touch anything else.  So I'm the lady in the carpark loading a months supply of dog meat, biscuits and dental chews! - It did look like I'm panic buying dog food last year and it did cross my mind that I may had started the rumour of a dog food shortage 

Haha, I can just see it! My Labrador is 10 and is (whispers) a bit fat. She has the breed specific biscuits, but then about eleventymillion different treats a day, because we are suckers and she moans a lot. The cats only eat as good as it looks, double delicious, gourmet pate, purina biscuits and inhale Dreamies and Felix treats...I have tried them on many different brands, but they aren’t having it...there’s more of them than us, so they put their paws down...it’s mob rule in our house (or is that mog rule?). We are down to 5 cats, at one time it was 8 with all the rescues, but we’ve lost a few due to old age and illness over the last few years 😢

WinterWarrior

At the risk of sounding smug and a bit of a show off....today is another no spend day! I think that’s 4 in a row and may be my personal best! Perhaps I should treat myself to something to celebrate? (I’m joking 🙃).
I have a birthday I need to send money for this week, but I have that covered. Apart from that I need to hang tight until the 30th when I can kick in my weekly spend allowance and allocate anything left to savings and overpayments. I have lots of books lined up in my kindle, a fair bit of chocolate, work on weekdays, hobbies for the weekends, I can do this without getting too bored. Low spend needs to be the new normal. 

I hope everyone has a great week. 

elbree

Well done @WinterWarrior! Of course you should show off! Managed 1 NSD so far 😂. Back at work now so though less liable to be distracted.