I am not trying hard....

deliciosa

ltm07 wrote: »

This is an excellent post & it is what coming on here is all about. Just last week OH & i(especialy me),nearly gave up our DF journey & consolidated the £32,000 that we owe onto our mortgage. OK we would have an extra £435 a month in our pockets but the interest over the 16 years would have been an extra £22,000! There are always little ways to make savings. We have started to shop at Aldi which we reckon will save us £80 a month,cancelled Sky saving another £37 & are both doing extra overtime which brings in an extra £400 or more a month. We paid nearly £1,000 off our debts in the short month of February & we haven't really gone without much. It made me think that if we can pay that amount off in one month including interest then once we're DF even if we only save £500 a month we will have a very comfortable lifestyle(it makes us wonder why we ever bothered with loans & credit cards in the first place)! The best advice i can give is no matter how much your debts get you down there is light at the end of the tunnel. Make sure you allow yourselves & your family(especially your kids) treats now & then & our DF journeys won't become an obsession & get us down when we have a bit of a sticking point. Always focus on the day that you will be debt free.

:eek: 22k in interest??? Well done for not consolidating it!!!! This is a huge amount! Extra brownie points for cancelling Sky - I never understood why it's such a biog deal for some people, I don't even own a tv (and don't want to!) :rotfl:

t's strange, isn't it, when you realise that living on half of what you used to live on does not necessarily mean you are living a bad lifestyle.. if you cut out the luxury items that dont even make you feel that good, you can afford almost everything, right?

You're right, there's always light at the end of the tunnel, its just sometimes its hard to see. I still have my ups and downs, today being down, but I'll get through it, I will. And so will you!!

When's your dfd?

deliciosa

Miggy,

ohh don't worry about me, I am fiiiiiinnneeee The thing is once I start eating I have a problem stopping... yummi! But I kow what you mean, I know I should restrict on them and eat proper food, but I was just down - ehhh EXCUSES!!!

I wil keep telling myseld that - false friends, false friends... but so nice looking and tasting they are... and hardly any fat in them? oh who am I kidding.

I ate loads of protein on Saturday not yesterday tho.

and the cycling is not making any difference, that's also disheartening. Im not being toned, I am fatter than ever! Ok Someone kick me in the !!! as I am feeling very sorry for myself today.

deliciosa

Diane_239 wrote: »

what a great post. A friend recently told me to write my debt on a piece of paper and keep in my purse so that every time i went to spend money on something i didn't really need i would have a reminder of what money i owed I've been doing this for a few weeks now and its really helping I've started to think twice before buying that magazine or a impulse buy that will just sit in the cupboard and never get used.

It's in there!!! a big fat £4000 ish figure on a yellow postit :j

deliciosa

englishmac, wow 23p shower gel, well done! I am now using free shower gel whenever I can (gym, taking a shower at friends' place - is this stealing?? )

I certainly can remember the life befor emobile phones and credit cards, as I am doing it every week a day (saturday). It does feel liberating to walk around with NOTHING in your pocket but your keys. But then at the end of the day you just have to have them back because they are (false) security...

deliciosa

I wasn't trying hard this last week, funnily enough I thought I was. Here's the short analysis of my amex statement (long version in diaary).

£27 boots (essentials)... this is kind of justified.

Then... £47. On sunbed sessions worth £75. I know I know. Forgive me fellow dfw-ers for I have sinned. I just got panicky about gran can and paid for sunbed sessions so that i wont burn there (result: burnt now. especially on places that hnever came in contact with sun before!) I know. I know. I still have £58 credit on it so it will last for this hol plus way beyond. But I could not afford it and I am ashamed at how stupid I was.

£10 on TFL. This is ok - oyster top up,

Waterstones, Kensington, London £6.99 - what on earth is this?? Oh right. I know. Stupid, stupid me. the gran canaria travel book. It was another moment of extreme madness and it's just TYPICAL to me, thats how stupid I have been all the time, not once in two weeks' time, ALL the time! I used to buy these books once a day! Gosh, is the old me coming back?

Then Zizzi london £12.90. That was the lunch out with colleagues. Am I ever going to learn??? American Waffle house £16.50. Dinner out with friends. I seriously can't remember I used the amex there, but I must have. I need to leave the bloody card at home!!!!!
Starbucks London SW5. £5.68. Oh sod it. I messed up big time last week.

So there, please feel free to come and tell me off, I totally deserve it.

locutus2003

Well, I don't know about telling you off ... but I had a MUCH better week money-wise last week.

Having had 3 NSDs in the end at work, I then spent £3.50 on coffee out with the family (DH, me, DS and DD (well, DD is 5 months so she was free!)) and then a NSD again on Sunday! Today ... well, I spent 45p on milk to go with my coffees in the cafetiere (and I share the milk with 2 others so having drunk all their milk last week I felt it was only fair).

However, will need to spend £15 tomorrow as it's my birthday on Thursday and we have a cake tradition at work (don't we all?!). Doubly unfair as I'm on WeightWatchers and so won't be having any. Other than that - I don't think I have anything else I have to spend on this week. We'll have to see - I may treat myself to a Starbucks on Thursday ... but might not if I can be strong!

My DH has been making up my lunch for me to take with me. So when I meet up with friends we've sat in the canteen (of course, we're lucky enough to have one which helps). On other occasions I've taken sandwiches to the local park and sat with a friend there (in the summer, obviously!) - perhaps you could try something like that? I find it helps me.

I can't help you with Starbucks I'm afraid. There is one directly under where I work - now how unfair is THAT?!!

deliciosa

locutus2003 wrote: »

Well, I don't know about telling you off ... but I had a MUCH better week money-wise last week.

Having had 3 NSDs in the end at work, I then spent £3.50 on coffee out with the family (DH, me, DS and DD (well, DD is 5 months so she was free!)) and then a NSD again on Sunday! Today ... well, I spent 45p on milk to go with my coffees in the cafetiere (and I share the milk with 2 others so having drunk all their milk last week I felt it was only fair).

However, will need to spend £15 tomorrow as it's my birthday on Thursday and we have a cake tradition at work (don't we all?!). Doubly unfair as I'm on WeightWatchers and so won't be having any. Other than that - I don't think I have anything else I have to spend on this week. We'll have to see - I may treat myself to a Starbucks on Thursday ... but might not if I can be strong!

My DH has been making up my lunch for me to take with me. So when I meet up with friends we've sat in the canteen (of course, we're lucky enough to have one which helps). On other occasions I've taken sandwiches to the local park and sat with a friend there (in the summer, obviously!) - perhaps you could try something like that? I find it helps me.

I can't help you with Starbucks I'm afraid. There is one directly under where I work - now how unfair is THAT?!!

#

Well done, glad to see youre doing so well. Happy bday!!! :beer::beer::beer: starbucks is the bestest thing, i think you can treat urself on your bday - what do the others think? :T

When spring/summer, i could go to hyde park with food - i did it last year once or twice, was lovely.

ohhh we have one starbucks IN THE BUILDING!!! orange headquarters are just below us and they have their OWN STARBUCKS! now top that! sooo unfair...

deliciosa

Proud to announce that I haven't bought any new dvds since the club started.

(I can't believe it.. I really haven't!!!!)

CAFCGirl

Hey everyone, how we all doing?

I've been spending money like wildfire, its not good! not good at all

locutus2003

Well, I had a weird week in the end.

Ended up getting a taxi on Weds evening - tube up the spout and DH at home with 2 ill children. Taxi was £5. Was going to treat myself to Starbucks on Thursday as it was my birthday but, guess what? Yes, I'm ill now too - so I spent my whole birthday talking to the porcelain phone! Yuk! Feeling a bit better today but not really OK - so will have my Starbucks on Monday.

Have got to do something - I've really mucked things up this month - I bought my season ticket - 3 months at a time as I'm hoping to change jobs - without realising it was the same price to buy it monthly. Not only that, but paid for it on my Egg card for 0% - and then discovered that 0% comes to an end on 1 April so will be paying interest on it to boot. Grrrrrrr! Oh, and work underpaid me - they're supposed to be sorting it out but haven't yet.

Still, I find this thread REALLY useful - and I'm definitely spending less than I was!

Hope everyone else is OK and that you can't get my lurgy through cyber space!