What happens when you get tired of fighting the good fight? I have worked on being frugal and financially sensible for the past few years, more ardently in the past year, I have been writing this blog. Now I am afraid that life has gotten the best of me and my fight is waning.
I am in the process of trying to refinance my flat as my 3 year fixed mortgage is up. That is the way it is in the UK, you don’t get a fixed mortgage for more than 5 years so you need to go through all the pain, agony and expense of refinancing on a semi regular basis.
As you probably know getting a mortgage in this economic climate is no mean feat. The offers come and go faster in the blink of an eye. Even with a fabulous mortgage broker, which I have, it is exhausting.
To add to the mortgage nightmare, my mobile phone has decided to make calls only when it wants to and my computer doesn’t have enough puff to run Tweetdeck. Add to that my sewing maching keep trying to eat my class project and my iron only will work on one temperture, super hot. I know having all your appliances pack up at the same time is not unusual, but it is going totally against my frugal grain to unfreeze the credit card to buy new. I will get the sewing machine repaired, as for the mobile phone, iron and computer they definitely will need replacing. Boo hiss.
Recently, I must confess my frugal ways have gotten a bit away from me; I have been going out more therefore spending. I want to blame it on the lovely weather we have been having since in London, you don’t know how long it will last. My other excuse is that I am just plain pooped and need a holiday but I should be being even more frugal to save up for it shouldn’t I?
I need to ask all you fabulously frugal readers – how do you stay on track? Are there any ways to trick myself?
And now some good news!
I have been included in the Carnival of Personal Finance – The Punch Out Edition for my post Where is the UK Dave Ramsey??? The Punch Out Edition goes brilliantly with my Rockem Sockem Robots! Go have a really good read.
Hey Viviana, when I get like that I sit down and draw myself up a new budget – of course the hard part is sticking to it! If you need a holiday, can you substitute an intensive rest in the meantime? (unplug the phone, have a soak in the bath, pamper yourself a bit, nice book or magazines…)
You might be able to get a free new phone if you’ve been with your provider long enough, and the sales are on so you might find cheap replacements for the things that are wearing out. Good luck!
Hi Penny, thanks for commenting. I would love to do a new budget but with the present mortgage situation I think it might be on rice and beans, beans and rice so I can get more savings tucked away or get taken out to dinner. For other items, I will be checking our Freecycle.
I feel like that sometimes too and I keep on track by reminding me the reason why I’m doing all this frugality in the first place. I hope your mortgage situation gets resolved quickly.
Agh, I can totally relate. We were so very poor for years and I grew up poor. I’m sick of living like I’m poor! I know being frugal and paying off debt is a choice, but some days I just can’t do it anymore. It’s like I’ve lost my drive and my desire. I just want to relax and have a little bit of fun. You know like buy some pretty postcards for $7.00 instead of chastising myself for spending SEVEN DOLLARS on writing materials when it could be done so much more cheaply. I’m sorry I’m not too much help. New reader, found you while clicking through on BlogHerAds. Nice to meet you.
Thanks for commenting. I do keep reminding myself but some days it is more of an uphill battle than others.
Welcome and thanks for commenting. We are on exactly the same page. Sometimes working to get out of debt seems a lonely and thankless project. I find reading other PF blogs and listening to people like Dave Ramsey help to keep me on track. You should not scold yourself for a tiny luxury like postcards. We all need treats sometimes to feel good then we can go back to the good fight with a bit more zest.