Trying to stay out of debt! [35/AuDHD/Cats/Frugal Living]

Chocolatefund

Hi @Catlady2025

Try a physical calendar.  I’ve got a calendar on my fridge that I use to track my spends.  On the days that I don’t spend anything, I write a big old X through the day and write NSD.  If I spend I write the amount on and what it was for.  At the end of the month I can easily count up the no spend days.  I also keep a diary.

Catlady2025

Thank you! This is a really good idea. I wonder if I could find a calendar like this quite cheaply at this time of the year...???

dawnybabes

Pop a post in FB asking if anyone has a spare one ? 

AnotherNewDay

Catlady2025 said:

Thank you! This is a really good idea. I wonder if I could find a calendar like this quite cheaply at this time of the year...???

Try The W@rks - from 50p at the moment.

browneyed_girl

I'm in the same boat with having increased my debt this month, but trying not to see it as a bad thing as it's all been planned spends for house renovations.  Decluttering and spring-cleaning sounds like a good plan - might find some things to sell and bring that debt down a bit more...?

Catlady2025

It can be demoralising to see your debt go up. I suppose really it's about the long haul. I could have spent much more than I ended up doing. 

My plan is to pay it all off this month and then work with what I have left. When I see a larger sum in my normal account I feel abundance and that tends to make me spend more than I really need. 

I've been spring cleaning - but not much to sell really. Mostly throwing away stuff.

Catlady2025

I managed to find a calendar! I paid £2.50 for a large print one from a local charity shop. I didn't mind paying a little extra and it was what I wanted. There is more than enough space to note a lot of things on it. 

Today was almost an NSD, but I went to another local charity shop (whilst at the post office, I'm terrible at just going to one place and coming home). Anyway they had three seasons of Grey's Anatomy - which is pretty much the only show I watch these days so I bought them. It turned out that I could get all three seasons for £1. !! Pretty shocked at I picked up only one season at another charity shop for £4. 

This may spark a new 'need' to get the whole collection - but then I keep thinking about how much I'll save in subscription costs!?

daintydaisy

I’ve just been catching up on your diary and find a lot of it resonates with me, we seem very similar! I recently got diagnosed with autism, I’m a crazy cat lady and my recent hyperfixation is Pokemon cards. I found myself nodding along to some of the things you spoke about here e.g. finding it hard to budget properly because spends always fluctuate on petrol etc. I also find it hard because of my impulsive spending habits. 

I’m in the early days of my debt busting journey so don’t really have much advice to give, but hopefully we can both find a bit of peace knowing we’re not alone in tackling it. 

With your Disney+ subscription - is it worth cancelling it now as you have 3 seasons worth of eps to watch? Otherwise there isn’t really a saving as you’re spending on top of your subscription. 

Catlady2025

Hey @daintydaisy! It's really great to hear from you. It definitely sounds like we have a lot in common! I will check out your diary - it's always nice to hear from other people who are autistic/neurodivergent. 

I'm a big believer in how important it is to find other people who are similar to you. I spent so much of my life trying to work out what was 'wrong' with me, and now knowing there are other people out there with the same struggles who understand the general experience is a relief, and a community. 

I was thinking about cancelling my Disney+ sub the other day. Annoyingly they're releasing episode of both Grey's Anatomy and Daredevil weekly now so I'm not sure I can bring myself to cancel it just yet. Maybe once this season of Grey's ends! 

I saw someone on Tiktok say they'd found Pokemon cards in Aldi the other day. I had a bit of a drive around town looking for some and wasn't successful, but maybe that was a good thing? I did get some singing therapy in though! Hamilton is back on repeat in my car. x

Catlady2025

Proud of myself today. REALLY wanted a to get ice cream but I didn't! Another NSD for me.