Small steps clearing debt with paws by my side

teacats

Oh and I’ve sold 3 things on Vinted, yay! It only totals £11.40 but it’s £11.40 I didn’t have yesterday so I’m taking it as a win! 

OopsIdiditagain1

Definitely take that as a win.. a few pounds here and there will all add up. Have a good day x 

itsthelittlethings

You might not be able to get medication to stop smoking but do they do a stop smoking program in your area?

FootyFanDan

Emmia said:

I'm a fan of gamifying goals, currently I'm aiming to do a daily weights workout, and I have an app on my phone (Loop habit tracker - android) where I "tick" when I've done my workout.

I also have "goals" of going to the gym 10x a month - every time I go it's another tick. 

No alcohol days... Another tick (I'm aiming for 5 days out of 7)

I could also use it for no spend days, days where I've swerved the biscuit tin.. 

Could you perhaps try this for smoking? i.e. start with a goal of twice a day and tick if you achieve it... 

It relies on you being "honest" with yourself, but when it comes to this stuff, the only person we have to be honest with really is ourselves.

I absolutely love this approach, I like the idea of this, I guess it does rely on you been honest with yourself. 

Emmia

FootyFanDan said:

Emmia said:

I'm a fan of gamifying goals, currently I'm aiming to do a daily weights workout, and I have an app on my phone (Loop habit tracker - android) where I "tick" when I've done my workout.

I also have "goals" of going to the gym 10x a month - every time I go it's another tick. 

No alcohol days... Another tick (I'm aiming for 5 days out of 7)

I could also use it for no spend days, days where I've swerved the biscuit tin.. 

Could you perhaps try this for smoking? i.e. start with a goal of twice a day and tick if you achieve it... 

It relies on you being "honest" with yourself, but when it comes to this stuff, the only person we have to be honest with really is ourselves.

I absolutely love this approach, I like the idea of this, I guess it does rely on you been honest with yourself. 

The app is free and pretty intuitive to use. Why not download it and give it a whirl?

teacats

Right here is an update after being out today and then it’s time to respond to all posts - thank you all. 

Lidl - £51.85 (main food shop, but got toilet roll and kitchen roll too)
Petrol - £49.33 (hoping this should last for the month but ouch)
Tesco - £8.75 (dog dental chews and then partner picked up reduced meat to freeze)
Pet shop - £22 (expensive because I got sausages in bulk, but they will last longer than a month)
Total: £131.93

Obviously spent more money than I’d planned to but petrol and pet shop should cover me for the next month. Vinted orders posted and my job for today is to try to find 10 more items to upload and hopefully sell. 

I signed up for Prolific surveys but I’m on the wait list. I have downloaded the curious cat survey app and have been doing surveys I’m eligible for there. Each one is pennies but it all adds up. 

I’m holding off doing a full SOA because right now I don’t have a good idea how much I’m spending on things that aren’t bills e.g. food. I could go back over my statements but it won’t be an accurate picture because until now I’ve kind of been sticking my head in the sand so I’m tracking my spends in the hope next month or month after I can have an accurate SOA. 

Thinking on how to spend today so I’m not tempted to smoke (I already am wanting to). 

teacats

FootyFanDan said:

Wishing you the best of luck. The most difficult step is taking time to sit and write everything down and acknowledge that changes are needed. This forum is full of very helpful people too, so sure they will be able to help you along 

Thank you yeah it definitely is - I feel a bit better now it’s “out there” and not in my head anymore. 

teacats

PestoPasta said:

Best of luck. You’ve got this. The hardest part is starting, soon you will be as excited about no spend days as you were about buying the latest ‘whatever’. And pets are a form of medicine right there.

Thank you! This is very true, not just with debt but with anything in life. I’ll try to remember that fact. Yeah I can see how no spend days could be exciting - the funny thing is I don’t actually like spending money but I seem to be very good at doing it anyway!

Pets are a great medicine for sure. 

teacats

Sponge_pudding said:

Hi, I'm knew here too.  Wouldn't give up my pets for all the tea in china. 
Giving up or cutting down on the smokes is going to be harder with all the extra financial cutting back you're going to do.  We only do things that benefit us and smoking gives you a physiological calming reaction - hence seen as a benefit.  Maybe look at a back up plan of 'benefits' that also give a calming reaction such as lavender aromatherapy candles, epsom salt baths, meditation, just so when the going gets tough and you fancy a smoke, you have other options you can try.  Good luck we are only a failure if we stop trying.

Hi, lovely to see another newbie! I’ll go and check out your thread.  
Yeah you’re 100% correct and I’d be lying if I wasn’t a bit concerned about that. Love your idea of thinking of a backup plan of things that might help calm me instead of smoking - I’ll figure that out today. Thank you and I love that - “we’re only a failure if we stop trying” - what a great affirmation to remember. 

teacats

Emmia said:

I'm a fan of gamifying goals, currently I'm aiming to do a daily weights workout, and I have an app on my phone (Loop habit tracker - android) where I "tick" when I've done my workout.

I also have "goals" of going to the gym 10x a month - every time I go it's another tick. 

No alcohol days... Another tick (I'm aiming for 5 days out of 7)

I could also use it for no spend days, days where I've swerved the biscuit tin.. 

Could you perhaps try this for smoking? i.e. start with a goal of twice a day and tick if you achieve it... 

It relies on you being "honest" with yourself, but when it comes to this stuff, the only person we have to be honest with really is ourselves.

Ooh I love this idea! Definitely going to give it a go. Thank you and good luck with your goals!