Time to stop being frivolous! 20 June 2021 at 2:00PM edited 21 June 2021 at 8:46PM in Debt free diaries 74 replies 6.1K views

WatchedByOwls

I'm biting the bullet and starting a diary! If anything I'm hoping it'll help me think a bit more about avoiding frivolous spending and remind me to get better at keeping the cards in my pocket.

To quickly introduce myself, I'm 31 and live in London with my boyfriend and our rescue cat. I'm fortunate that I work full time in a secure job and earn a good salary. 

Sadly though I've ended up in a bit of a rubbish financial situation. I bought a flat outside of London as my first home about 5 years ago . A few years ago I had to move back to London for work so rented the flat out with the intention of selling it, while renting a place in London and hoping to eventually buy somewhere new. However there were problems with the lease and the sale fell through... it cost me quite a bit of money in legal fees to resolve. So here I am in June 2021 - I still own and rent out the flat though I'm hopeful it can go back on the market later in the year. Till then I'm in limbo, stuck with an expensive buy-to-let mortgage! Fortuntely the rent I get almost covers it.

I had hardly any savings so had to borrow £10,000 from a family member to afford the legal fees. I'm lucky I was able to borrow this and don't have any interest to pay. I've been paying it off in bits here and there and now owe £6990

I now need to get serious about paying the rest of it back so I can start properly building up my own savings again. I also need to build up a 'Big Spends' pot of £1000 so when I do have big things to buy they don't have to go on a credit card or out of my savings. I'm currently at £580 though this goes down sometimes when I need to buy things!

If you've got this far down, well done and welcome to my diary

WatchedByOwls

Wow what a poor start to my diary!!

I owe £6990, not £699 (I wish!). Can't work out how to edit the post.

I've gone through the MSE Money Makeover guide and I'm pretty happy I've not got any unnecessary direct debits and everything is in order. I've just changed my electricity tariff to Ovo (from EON) which saves me £15 a month.

Last year I discovered the wonder of Monzo Pots which have really helped me manage my money - e.g. I have a Pot for food shopping which I put £150 into each month; another Pot for my holiday (if I can ever go away) which I put £50 in each month; and quite a few other Pots which just help me not to spend money that needs to be allocated for something else.

My big problem is just frivolous / pointless spending where I fritter away £5, £10 there - it all adds up. For example this week I spent £6 on a snack in a cafe, had a couple of days when I bought work at lunch (even when I had food at home I could bring in!), bought a t-shirt I didn't need, got a takeout when we had food planned, etc. All spontaneous purchases due to lack of willpower.

That money would be better off going to paying off the debt or into savings!!

I need to get better at being more prepared and having better willpower. I also want to feel comfortable when I've got to buy something I NEED - e.g. new shoes for work -  and not guilty because I've already spent £30 that week on rubbish .

WatchedByOwls

So to start with I'm about to go and prepare lunch for work tomorrow. I'm also going to go and get the ingredients ready for dinner this evening - slow cooked lamb meatballs in a tamarind tomato sauce! Made it before and it's lovely.

I also need to meal plan for me and the boyfriend for the this week. We have a Tesco delivery coming tomorrow. We used to go shopping but stopped last year when you'd end up queuing for 30 mins just to get. It costs us £5.50 (£2.25 each) for the delivery charge and we lose out in not being able to pick up Yellow Sticker stuff but balances out in saving petrol driving to/from and being easier to stick to the list.

Just need to keep to the plan next week now 

WatchedByOwls

Final post from me today!

Debt: £6090 (paid £3010)
Amex: £54 (down from about £500, will pay off £15 a week over the next month)

Big spends pot: £580 / £1000

CRANKY40

You edit your posts by clicking on the little cog wheel in the top right hand corner on the dark coloured stripe at the top of each post. Good luck with paying off your debt. One of my regrets about living in London (many years ago) was that I never had enough money to do all the things that I would have liked to do. 

anjyeah

Welcome and congratulations on your new diary! Be looking forward on your journey so far. 
I am liking the idea of the "pots" management to track spending. Well done on paying off the debt so far, I'm sure you'll pay it off in no time. 

Good luck! And keep posting

Loveactually

 Congratulations on your new dairy. My dairy is also regarding the frivolous spending. 

I am trying to reduce the extra spending by having 4 NSD every week. Give that a try if you want

WatchedByOwls

Evening all! Thank you for the tips and support, greatly appreciated. 

I ended up working from home today so it was a very easy NSD - the only time I've been out was to go to the gym. Tesco order has just arrived so in a moment I'm going to cook a vegan curry for dinner. Will hopefully have some leftovers for work lunch tomorrow.

I was going to take some shirts to the dry cleaner to be pressed but decided that I could just get the ironing board out and do it for free at home. So that's a frivolous £5 not spent. I've set up a Pot (another one! 😂) - every time I resist a frivolous spend I'll put the money into it. Hopefully seeing how much I could have spent will spur me into better habits. 

Annoyingly my suit trousers have ripped so I need to go and get a new pair this weekend. I also need to get some more protein powder - I tend to have a protein shake for breakfast. I need to stop feeling guilty about big, necessary spends!

Have a great evening all 😀

WatchedByOwls

Hello all!

Today was another NSD. I had to go into the office in the morning but was home by lunchtime. Unfortunately one of my ties ended up in a muddy puddle so I had to drop it off at the dry cleaners. Only £1.50 and to be paid on Thursday but still irritating. 

Tesco missed a couple of items off of yesterday's order so need to pick them up. It'll come out of the food shopping Pot so not a proper spend. I've also applied to switch my bank account to First Direct as they're offering £125 cashback. I've been with HSBC for about 15 years but have zero loyalty to them so thought it was time for a change.

I'm in the office all day tomorrow so I've just prepared lunch which mustn't forget to take with me. Currently have some salmon in the slow cooker for dinner and then a quiet evening ahead.

WatchedByOwls

Evening all.

Spent 10 hours in the office today Fortunately I brought loads of food in with me so I wasn't tempted to buy any snacks. A colleague suggested a lunchtime coffee but I persuaded her to go for a walk instead so no frivolous spending!

Today wasn't a no spend day though. Dinner plan included some of the items that Tesco forgot so had to pop to the shop and get them for £2.50. I also had to buy some new shoes for work. I needed a specific type and had seen them for £63 online. I went in store to get them and got a student discount so paid £53. 

Not had anything from First Direct yet to confirm my account switch. Will give them a few more days then call them. 

I've had a look through my recent spending and in the last month I've spent over £200 on 'frivolous' things, just money down the drain - rubbish overpriced sandwiches at work, takeaway pizza when I was too lazy to cook, top up shops when I didn't fancy eating what I had in at home, etc. Cutting all this out means I could pay over £2000 a year extra back on the debt! 

Absolutely shattered this evening. Chill in front of the TV time!

WatchedByOwls

Hello everyone! 

Today was a spend day - had to pick up some fresh dill as Tesco also forgot that in our order and needed it for dinner today - couldn't get it in my local shop so had to pop up to the High Street. Usually I'd pop into the bakery for a snack or browse the bookshops but I managed to resist. Spending came out of the food shopping Pot.

Also picked up my tie from the dry cleaners, only cost £1 and I couldn't get away with washing it at home.

Thursday would usually be the day I cracked and got a takeaway but instead I made a Middle Eastern chicken dish which was lovely. In the office all day tomorrow so going to prepare my lunch shortly. 

First Direct have sent me a text telling me they've posted my bank account documents. Looking forward to getting my £125 cashback!

Oops, forgot to mention that we signed up for the Tesco delivery subscription yesterday. We get a weekly Tesco delivery which costs us £5.50 delivery each time - so £22 a month on delivery (or £286 a year! ). With the subscription we pay £8 a month and then don't pay any further delivery fees. That'll save us £13 a month or £190 a year which is excellent. We've wanted to sign up for a little while but Tesco closed it during Covid.