4 Comments on “2012 – The next twelve months”

1. Blue Witch says:

   Thu 5 January, 2012 at 17:04

   Good to see you writing here again.

   If you want to owe less, can I suggest that the only way to do it is to really take stock of where you’re up to at present? Write down *exactly* what you earn and *exactly* what you spend, on what, in glorious detail (but, that may be a bit hard, given the nature of your work, that you’ve moved – several times? – recently (so won’t know exact bill amounts etc), and that your travelling varies enormously).

   I’ve not used it (I tend to sit down with people I’m helping and write everything down on A4 lined paper, but, that’s just me), but The Budget Planner on MSE is meant to be good for this (https://budgetbrain.moneysavingexpert.com/budgetplanner/edit/986264). There’s an online version as well as an oflfine one.

   Then evaluate. Happy to help (in complete confidence) with that one as it’s my speciality as you know. You could be my number ten beneficiary… 🙂

   And as for weigh less… you can’t defy genes. I don’t think that factor has yet permeated enough into the research/media.

   I was talking to someone else about this the other day and we concluded that if weight loss is important enough to you (to one), then one does something about it, and if it isn’t, then one doesn’t, but feels guilty and that one should. Generally, for most people, there is something, eventually, that tips the balance to action. But, it’s usually a long path of guilt and failed expectations first.

2. lyle says:

   Fri 6 January, 2012 at 12:00

   Re the weight loss thing, there was an interesting piece I found yesterday about motivation (or perceived lack thereof) which made a lot of sense.

   The article ( http://blogs.hbr.org/bregman/2012/01/your-problem-isnt-motivation.html ) basically said that if you’re wanting to do something, it’s not motivation that’s the issue – instead it’s “follow-through” (which made me giggle childishly) – and that it’s addressing that which needs to happen, rather than trying to find motivation.

   As for owing less, I do know the stuff about taking stock etc. I know what is owed, but the basic plan is just “Pay it off” – i.e. pay a lot more in than gets spent, pay off cards one-by-one, most expensive first. And that’s it.

3. Blue Witch says:

   Fri 6 January, 2012 at 14:28

   Yes that article is what I was trying to say. The stress and guilt bit getting in the way particularly. Staged action plans, whereby each small step is startable and manageable in itself are far preferably to overall big plans.

   And, really, there is no way you can succeed in owing less if you plan to just pay off more. You’ve got to not spend something in the first place in order to pay off more. And in order to do that you first need to know exactly what you are spending in order to know where you can most easily make savings. Let’s see if I’m right come Jan 1st 2013 😉

4. lyle says:

   Fri 6 January, 2012 at 16:17

   I can owe less – the spending’s already been done, it’s now the paying-off phase.

   So if (for example) I owed £10,000 now , and pay £500 per month (with no further spending on the card) I’ll owe £4,000 at the end of the year. (And yeah, I know, interest etc. but you get the idea)

   At that point, I will owe less than I do now.