New Habits Needed...

BalanceBy50

I have recently completed an annual review of my DMP and sent financial statement to my ceditors and have been pleasantly surprised to receive an acceptance letter from one which also asked if were saving any money.  They recommended that 10% of our disposable income should go towards saving.  I think its great that they realise that those in debt need an safety blanket xx

ladysummerisle

BalanceBy50 said:

I have just completed a PA survey for 90p and I have £2.66 - I am not very good at responding to these and looking to see if there are any available.  Can anyone recommend any other survey sites? xx

The trick for this seems to be when working from home keeping the browser open / installing the alert when a survey is available. 

BalanceBy50

ladysummerisle said:

BalanceBy50 said:

I have just completed a PA survey for 90p and I have £2.66 - I am not very good at responding to these and looking to see if there are any available.  Can anyone recommend any other survey sites? xx

The trick for this seems to be when working from home keeping the browser open / installing the alert when a survey is available. 

Thank you so much for replying 😊. I am laptop based most of the time so will definitely look at installing the alert.

BalanceBy50

Quick Update! My car pot is looking quite healthy and I should only need to fill my car once more before payday on the 20th so I have transferred £33.75 to my credit card😊
May Challenge - Credit Card additional payments - £70.73/£100
This could be quite addictive so may need to look at what other pots I can raid 😊. 

jwil

TheAble said:

BalanceBy50 said:

Finally managed to sit down and sort my finances out this morning. Everything is straight, largely due to a cheque my in-laws gave us. They wanted it to be used for the boys hobbies so that’s what we have done instead of using our money. Without it though I would have overspent at the weekend. The overspends were on greenhouse glass, ironing board cover & a new mop even though the house pot is empty.  I also, yet again, overspent on groceries. I have recently increased this budget to £130pw and it covers food, cleaning products, basic personal care such as toothpaste & shower gel, cat food & litter & about £12-15pw on alcohol for 4 of us (obviously the alcohol is only for 2 of us 😂😂) I don’t know if this is a reasonable amount or not.  

We allow £100pw for entertainment & a shortfall in other stuff. £10pw is used on an exercise class for DH & I and £10 on a sport activity for the boys the rest, especially during lockdown is frittered away. Today I spent £3.10 on a breakfast sandwich, I took a flask to stop me buying a coffee as I am not a fan of the coffee in the office (I buy the milk & my colleague buys the coffee - it’s Douwe E... so not cheap but I don’t like it 😂😂😂) I also took a salad & some fruit so quite a low spend 😁.

I have transferred £36.98 to my credit card as I’d had a refund for some clothes I returned 😁. I have paid a deposit for a celebration event for my oldest son’s birthday next month - this has depleted my gifts pot - not sure if this is the right pot but I don’t have a pot for birthday celebrations.  it’s my dads birthday next week & nothing in the gift pot for his present 🙈 so that will have to come out of our weekly spends. My youngest son has decided he wants piano lessons in school (we borrowed a keyboard off of my in-laws but it doesn’t work very well and I think this is what prompted the cheque from my in-laws) so we bought a new one however we encouraged our son to pay for this out of his birthday money.  We are paying for the lessons & used the money from in-laws to buy the books.  

Think that’s it from me today.  I hope tomorrow is better weather wise - I just want it to be a bit warmer 😁
xx

You definitely can't be frittering away over £300/month on "entertainment" when you're running credit card balances with interest rates in the high 20s. Every single pound you get your hands on should be going into paying those back asap. You're allowed to buy food, pay your mortgage and other essentials but that's about it.

You're 'allowed' to do what you want with your own money.  As long as BB50 is paying back her debts at the agreed rate, she can do whatever she wants with the surplus.  Even in a DMP you are able to account for having a life.  Some people like to cut everything and clear asap, for others, particularly when we are in it for the long haul, it's not realistic to do nothing for years.  Both ways work and everyone should do what's right for them.

TheAble

jwil said:

TheAble said:

BalanceBy50 said:

Finally managed to sit down and sort my finances out this morning. Everything is straight, largely due to a cheque my in-laws gave us. They wanted it to be used for the boys hobbies so that’s what we have done instead of using our money. Without it though I would have overspent at the weekend. The overspends were on greenhouse glass, ironing board cover & a new mop even though the house pot is empty.  I also, yet again, overspent on groceries. I have recently increased this budget to £130pw and it covers food, cleaning products, basic personal care such as toothpaste & shower gel, cat food & litter & about £12-15pw on alcohol for 4 of us (obviously the alcohol is only for 2 of us 😂😂) I don’t know if this is a reasonable amount or not.  

We allow £100pw for entertainment & a shortfall in other stuff. £10pw is used on an exercise class for DH & I and £10 on a sport activity for the boys the rest, especially during lockdown is frittered away. Today I spent £3.10 on a breakfast sandwich, I took a flask to stop me buying a coffee as I am not a fan of the coffee in the office (I buy the milk & my colleague buys the coffee - it’s Douwe E... so not cheap but I don’t like it 😂😂😂) I also took a salad & some fruit so quite a low spend 😁.

I have transferred £36.98 to my credit card as I’d had a refund for some clothes I returned 😁. I have paid a deposit for a celebration event for my oldest son’s birthday next month - this has depleted my gifts pot - not sure if this is the right pot but I don’t have a pot for birthday celebrations.  it’s my dads birthday next week & nothing in the gift pot for his present 🙈 so that will have to come out of our weekly spends. My youngest son has decided he wants piano lessons in school (we borrowed a keyboard off of my in-laws but it doesn’t work very well and I think this is what prompted the cheque from my in-laws) so we bought a new one however we encouraged our son to pay for this out of his birthday money.  We are paying for the lessons & used the money from in-laws to buy the books.  

Think that’s it from me today.  I hope tomorrow is better weather wise - I just want it to be a bit warmer 😁
xx

You definitely can't be frittering away over £300/month on "entertainment" when you're running credit card balances with interest rates in the high 20s. Every single pound you get your hands on should be going into paying those back asap. You're allowed to buy food, pay your mortgage and other essentials but that's about it.

You're 'allowed' to do what you want with your own money.  As long as BB50 is paying back her debts at the agreed rate, she can do whatever she wants with the surplus.  Even in a DMP you are able to account for having a life.  Some people like to cut everything and clear asap, for others, particularly when we are in it for the long haul, it's not realistic to do nothing for years.  Both ways work and everyone should do what's right for them.

You can have something but it has to be meaningful. Op has said she is frittering away the best part of £100 a week and doesn't know where it's going. In the meantime her family are waiting to be repaid and a stack of interest is going to the credit card companies.
The title of the thread is "New habits needed" - no time like the present.

WinterWarrior

I love some healthy debate and agree with both @jwil and @TheAble. Everyone has their own journey and where being too strict derails some, being to spendy derails others. Everyone has to choose what works for them and this can be trial and error and acting on the advice people offer from their own experiences. I would say working out what the money goes on would be a great start, maybe track it for a few weeks, then if it’s all necessary spending for happiness and good mental health that’s fine and if tweaks can be made that’s great too ⭐️ Good luck ☀️

jwil

TheAble said:

jwil said:

TheAble said:

BalanceBy50 said:

Finally managed to sit down and sort my finances out this morning. Everything is straight, largely due to a cheque my in-laws gave us. They wanted it to be used for the boys hobbies so that’s what we have done instead of using our money. Without it though I would have overspent at the weekend. The overspends were on greenhouse glass, ironing board cover & a new mop even though the house pot is empty.  I also, yet again, overspent on groceries. I have recently increased this budget to £130pw and it covers food, cleaning products, basic personal care such as toothpaste & shower gel, cat food & litter & about £12-15pw on alcohol for 4 of us (obviously the alcohol is only for 2 of us 😂😂) I don’t know if this is a reasonable amount or not.  

We allow £100pw for entertainment & a shortfall in other stuff. £10pw is used on an exercise class for DH & I and £10 on a sport activity for the boys the rest, especially during lockdown is frittered away. Today I spent £3.10 on a breakfast sandwich, I took a flask to stop me buying a coffee as I am not a fan of the coffee in the office (I buy the milk & my colleague buys the coffee - it’s Douwe E... so not cheap but I don’t like it 😂😂😂) I also took a salad & some fruit so quite a low spend 😁.

I have transferred £36.98 to my credit card as I’d had a refund for some clothes I returned 😁. I have paid a deposit for a celebration event for my oldest son’s birthday next month - this has depleted my gifts pot - not sure if this is the right pot but I don’t have a pot for birthday celebrations.  it’s my dads birthday next week & nothing in the gift pot for his present 🙈 so that will have to come out of our weekly spends. My youngest son has decided he wants piano lessons in school (we borrowed a keyboard off of my in-laws but it doesn’t work very well and I think this is what prompted the cheque from my in-laws) so we bought a new one however we encouraged our son to pay for this out of his birthday money.  We are paying for the lessons & used the money from in-laws to buy the books.  

Think that’s it from me today.  I hope tomorrow is better weather wise - I just want it to be a bit warmer 😁
xx

You definitely can't be frittering away over £300/month on "entertainment" when you're running credit card balances with interest rates in the high 20s. Every single pound you get your hands on should be going into paying those back asap. You're allowed to buy food, pay your mortgage and other essentials but that's about it.

You're 'allowed' to do what you want with your own money.  As long as BB50 is paying back her debts at the agreed rate, she can do whatever she wants with the surplus.  Even in a DMP you are able to account for having a life.  Some people like to cut everything and clear asap, for others, particularly when we are in it for the long haul, it's not realistic to do nothing for years.  Both ways work and everyone should do what's right for them.

You can have something but it has to be meaningful. Op has said she is frittering away the best part of £100 a week and doesn't know where it's going. In the meantime her family are waiting to be repaid and a stack of interest is going to the credit card companies.
The title of the thread is "New habits needed" - no time like the present.

I think that's where these diaries come in very handy.  By making ourselves accountable (even to ourselves) it helps identify where we are tripping up and we can take steps to rectify it.  BB50 has posted just above that the extra that has been transferred to the CC is getting addictive, and it's little habits like that which will make a big difference, and can help stop the frittering when we start trying to reach targets.

BalanceBy50

Thank you @jwil, @WinterWarrior & @TheAble for your comments and support.  I will not be restricting ourselves so that we have no life however I can do better with our spare disposable income and that is where this diary comes in and also my username - I do want a better balance by the time I am 50 and I also want to start new habits. However new habits are not created overnight and take time to imbed. I need to make sure I have enough money in my pots before I spend & I also need to track where my weekly entertainment/free spends have gone! One thing that has inspired me with being a long time lurker on the diaries is how people have mini LBM’s - you can almost see the realisation dawning 😁. I feel that the debt snowball calculator was one of these for me 😁

xx

BalanceBy50

Need to work out where I am with my weekly spends but that will probably be Monday. Today I have bought my dads birthday present, some bits of food & beer for DH. He has got together with some old friends and had a great time catching up and I think he needed it 😁. Haircut for the boys too - badly needed after my attempts with some cheap clippers during lockdown 😂
Annoyed with myself as I had my online shop delivered & yesterday I took about £20 of food out of my basket as I didn’t need it however I mustn’t have checked out as it was all delivered! It’s gone in the freezer so next week should be cheaper & I was still underspent in my grocery pot 😁
Another new habit I need to create is going to bed earlier too so good night and thank you for all your support xx