Ground zero

I am still gamble free but have wasted some money over the last few days on some unnecessary expenses. I urgently need to get my austerity measures back on track and stop fooling around. I am looking ahead to the rest of this year and am hopeful of turning around my debts by Christmas. It seems unrealistic at present, but I am going to try my best and however close I get will be an achievement. I have been rather lazy recently, but cycling to work is mandatory from now on as I cannot afford to spend £5.40 on the tube or £10 on a taxi each day. Expenditure on lunch needs to be curtailed: as much as I like the food in Pret, it does come at a price and I feel that, until I am debt free, I will have to make do with fruit and bread from the supermarket. I have no opportunities for overtime in my job so that avenue is closed, but I am looking to persue other revenue streams: paid surveys are deathly boring, badly paid and time consuming, but I shall endeavour to do one per day during my lunch break. Mystery shopping still needs to be investigated. Further books and CDs need to be flogged, but there is a limit, which I am fast approaching, in terms of how many of my possessions I am prepared to give away for a knock-down price. I did think about volunteering for a clinical trial, but the risks worry me and I do not think I am that desperate at the moment; besides, I would need to take at least a week off from work, which is not possible as my annual leave is all but exhausted and I am saving the little I have left until Christmas. Any ideas you may have for money-making schemes (other than matched betting) will be received with grateful thanks!

Day 314: no gambling today.

Day 315: no gambling today.

I have just studied my diary and realised that I have managed to get out of synch by 1 day in my recovery. I am actually one day further ahead than I thought, which is a good thing! My day count went awry in mid-July. I shall edit my entries later. Once I hit one year gamble-free, I shall stop counting the days. It needs to be 366 days this year though because we are currently experiencing a leap year!

Day 316: no gambling today.

Thanks for your supportive post on my diary. Actually, I only work for the farm 18 hours a week. I'm not a full-time mm. I basically do it to keep fit, and because I like the bloke I work for. I have other part-times jobs too, but I'm self-employed in these. But that's not the financial boost - that's another complicated story about money owing to my wife for her maternity pay via her unwilling employer (abroad). She doesn't earn now, so she gives me any money she gets. So it isn't even 'my' money, but it'll surely help.

As to your post a couple of days ago (about making money), you've got it pretty much sewn up, but have you considered bulk-buying promoted goods? It saves me shed loads of money. It takes about 2 months to get on an even keel, but after that it's really noticeable that the supermarket bills come down. Just a couple of examples: 2 months ago Morrisons were promoting a certain well-known 9 pack of bog roll at half price (£2.29) price. It was a genuine offer, and the stuff we usually buy. I bought 15 (yes, they must have thought we have a problem in our house), saving £33, and the saving shows in the nextsix months since I don't have to buy it again. Multiply that by other stuff, dishwasher tablets, cheerios, pesto etc etc and it soon adds up. Our weekly shop has gone down from about £100 to £70. It just takes time to accumulate things. And you need somewhere to put them, of course - perhaps not ideal if you live in central London.

Will post debts next week, but a guesstimate tells me I should be at about £8,500. Nearly halfway.

...and another plus is that if there's a nuclear war tomorrow, we'll be able to hold out for several weels with our cans of tuna, cheerios and peach slices in grape juice. and we'll all have clean bottoms.

Day 317: no gambling today.

Day 318: no gambling today.

A new week begins and I am trying to get some new policies in place: from today, I am planning to start work earlier and finish earlier (8am-4pm) so that I can spend more time with my son in the evenings before he goes to bed. In order to do this, I need to go to bed earlier and get up earlier. Of late, I have had too many late nights, wasting time in front of the computer and that has to stop (although at least I have not been gambling). I also need to start getting disciplined in terms of my lunches: either I take something homemade, although that is not always possible, or I buy something healthy and cheap in my lunchbreak (from the supermarket rather than Pret). I do not buy food in bulk at home as space is limited: I only have a modest two-bedroom flat and it is already crammed. Anyway, I must sign off now and do some work!

Day 319: no gambling today.

Day 320: no gambling today.

Day 321: no gambling today.

I have spent some time re-assessing my debt situation and updating various Excel budgeting spreadsheets. As much as I would like closure by Christmas, it looks like I will still have £3,500 of gambling debts chained around my neck during the festive period. Realistically, June/July 2013 is probably the most likely date for being debt-free. I am unwilling to spend more than £500 per month on debt repayments as I cannot afford it. I have tried to rush things recently and have ended up back in my overdraft and paying interest to NatWest. I need to get out of my overdraft ASAP and stop fretting about my debts. Since I stoozed my personal loan onto an interest-free credit card over the summer, I now have two interest-free credit cards and one high-interest overdraft. One of the credit cards will be paid off by Christmas, but the other credit card will have to wait until next summer. The first priority, however, is ridding myself of my overdraft.

Day 322: no gambling today.