I have no money honey

jazzyjustlaw

I have been very naughty. I havent been spending a lot or anything but I havent been keeping a note of my spending or a budget. I was good in April, May and some of June but then let it slide. What can I do to get back on track? Shall I wait for my next pay day which is the 15th? It has been difficult has I have had an op and had to work hard before that to make sure work was sorted. I have been having three hours of driving lessons a week which was costly and time consuming.

The result is I have hardly any money to last me.

I need some inspiration to get me back on track!

moggins

Know just how you feel Jazzy, this month went all to pot, but I've now called a halt to any unnecessary spending immediately to stop any further drift into the red and will get back to managing the budget for the next payday.

Just make sure you have enough food in to last and try to spend as little as possible after that.

squeaky

I'd start keeping track of money now even if you don't think it will mean much at the end of the month because the sooner you get back into the habit the more practice you will have had before the start of your next month.

Stop spending money! Easier said than done but there are loads of budgeting and shopping tips in the MEGA Index now (in the Shopping section )...

Start the Store Cupboard Challenge - quickest way to find it is through the Welcome sticky at the top of the forum listing or use the blue welcome in my signature below.

Post into the daily OS threads - the mere thought of having to "own up" to an impulse buy might be one more thing that helps you NOT to do it :eek:

Don't beat yourself up - just roll your sleeves up and get on with it - one thing at a time... so that by the end of this month you should be in pretty fair shape for the next - which is your target. Try and make the changes reasonably gentle instead of a sudden culture shock as you start again.

Bogof_Babe

You know, I was just thinking that perhaps the store cupboard challenge is what is making us feel hard up now. It's been going for a few months, so most of us will be down to the bare bones of store cupboard items, unless of course we've replaced things as we've used them, which rather defeats the original object!

So how do we get around the empty cupboard challenge?

squeaky

Dunno miss - by the time I found out about the store cupboard challenge mine had long since been reduced to things I was going to use somewhen in the next month or so... I suppose shopping for the month instead of for the week fills it up often enough for me not to see an always bare shelf.

Mrs_Thrift

Hiya Jazzy,

Wot Squeaky says! I can't better it, but will echo it. Don't feel bad about it, just pick yourself up and start again, and no, don't wait till pay day - take control of your money from NOW! This minute! You have nothing to lose by starting now, but by waiting you could miss out on a lot of practice of recording your spending, and reigning it in.

If you try the Store Cupboard challenge you should find you can last a bit longer than you think before you need to shop again, and when you do shop, bear in mind everything you've learned from OS about eating well and cheaply.

You CAN and WILL get back on track, starting with wanting to, and you've already taken that step.