Saving Stargirl

Ugh, I’m really struggling with motivation now, even though the end of my credit card debt is near. I’ve been doing some shopping the last couple of weekends, and even though I can justify my purchases - textbooks for studying, and birthday presents for my boyfriend’s daughter - I’m still feeling the urge to shop, and to not save as much (or at least, putting it onto my Amex card to clear off the debt!) There are some clothes that I really like (and I don’t often buy clothes, I’m actually pretty restrained in that department, most of the time!), and some books from Amazon I’d love to read. So even though the end is in sight (if I focus, I can have the rest of my Amex card paid off before the end of the month!), I’m still struggling to stay on track, and keep progressing the same way I have been this year so far.

Any tips/suggestions on how to avoid temptation, and to keep saving hard to pay off the last $800 of my credit card?

I finally have a layout that I’m happy with AND my blogroll is working - a nice way to end a Friday afternoon, and a long week at work.

Some exciting things are happening at work, but I’ll write more about them when things are more definite :)

How has everyone been lately?

It seems that my problem with the links list/Mysql errors were because of a Wordpress upgrade I did last weekend, and my template not being compatible, so I’m using a generic wordpress layout until I have time to find one that is prettier, and is compatible with the upgraded version.

So excuse the fact that this isn’t very pretty at the moment ;)

Another update to come soon, am feeling pretty unmotivated at the moment :-\

I have been pretty stressed out lately, of course it didn’t help coming on here this afternoon and finding out that my Blogroll list isn’t working for some unknown reason (Mysql issue… it was fine yesterday though!)… hopefully it will sort itself out as I have no idea how to fix it! Life in general has been stressful lately, and I just want to go to sleep for a long time or something… I brought myself some lovely Vogue magazines at lunchtime today - the international ones, which are more expensive, but oh, I love them, and they really are like a treat to me. I suppose it’s not too bad, though I’m not sure if emotional shopping is a really good habit to get into (well, not that it was actually shopping… more like a stressful dash into the city during my lunchbreak to grab the magazines & out again, and was STILL late back to work!) Still, I really needed that today. I’m looking forward to curling up at home with them later, and reading through, looking at the beautiful photoshoots. They always cheer me up.

I hope everyone has been having a better week, and hopefully a more positive update soon :) Hopefully my links list will be back too….

I emailed No Credit Needed about changing my debt repayment chart to reflect a goal date of December 2007 (instead of my overly optimistic April deadline - though at that stage I was only thinking about the credit card debt, not my card AND loan), and the cheeky bugger has set me a challenge - to have it paid off by November instead. Oh well, I’ll definitely give it my best shot! This year is definitely going a lot better than I expected it would so far - thanks in part to having this blog and all the motivation of other personal finance bloggers around whom I read regularly. It’s amazing how much more inspired I feel to get everything paid off, and get back in control of my finances!

On an entirely separate note, I’ve been working on a new blog this week, for something different - Lace & Stars. Okay, so it seems like a complete 180* from this one, which is about SAVING money, and that one is about, well, fashion & homewares & other shopping related things. BUT, I am just APPRECIATING those items — I haven’t BROUGHT anything!! I actually make a lot of stuff like jewellery, stationery etc, and finding things I really like - in magazines, books, on the internet - is very inspiring. So my Lace & Stars blog is a place to keep all those inspiring pictures & websites together, but doesn’t mean I’m out spending loads of money. I promise!

Of course I’ll still be updating this blog, Lace & Stars is an entirely separate project.

I hope everyone’s had a good week! I can’t believe it’s February already, but I’m very proud of myself for all the money I paid off my credit card in January, but still had a life too - I saw some movies, went out for dinners, brought some books & magazines (which I love - they are my ultimate treat!) - but I didn’t go crazy. I budgeted for those occasions, and I mostly stuck to my budgets each week. I think I’m starting to get the hang of this thing!