I reckon I've cracked my addiction and maybe my OCD now!

[Amanda_George]

I've been addicted to spending money for years, but I reckon I've finally cracked it at last.

The shopping has just been delivered and I've moved £30 that I was willing to spend on the groceries into my secondary account.

There's £90 in there now and it'll be £100 by the end of the week and I'm hoping it'll be up to £150 by the end of April.

Even 6 months ago I didn't think it would happen... around Christmas time was hard going but I made it through that, still in credit, and now, 3 months on, I'm in credit in my main account as well as in my back-up account.

I'm going to still take each day as it comes, but I'm hoping to have £150 in there by the end of April and, I'm hoping, £500 by the end of 2017.

I've still got Namehog bills to come out, but March's bill is only £50 which I splashed out on new clothes for Steve in February and kitchen stuff (food processor, pasta machine and ice cream maker) in January, so I'll use that money for the Namehog stuff and just put the tenner a week into my back-up account and I'll still manage it!

It's a truly awesome feeling!

What's even better is that I'm not so OCDish any more either... I have cravings to tidy up still, but I make use of those feelings now and I'm not so fixated on numbers as I used to be.  I still like things to end in certain numbers but I don't move pennies between accounts any more and it doesn't make me anxious if bills aren't exact numbers... things like that, so I'm well on my way to cracking my OCD too!

It's been hard going, but I'm well on my way to having just the psychotic depression now... I haven't harmed myself in getting on for a year, I haven't been actively suicidal for even longer, I can cope with things a lot better now - the mess inside my head has made me a better person... far from perfect, but more rounded and compassionate now!

If I can do it, then so can you... take tiny steps every day and don't expect to wake up totally cured one morning 'cos it doesn't happen like that, but keep taking tiny steps forward every day and you can get there too.

Keep taking steps forward every day and don't be afraid to ask for support when you need it... you really can do it!

[Pip]

For many years we had to watch the pennies so anything I don't know about cooking potatoes, eggs, rice, spaghetti and mince isn't worth knowing.  I had good teachers - my parents - and yet I didn't know we were poor when I was young.  By the time I got to my teens my parents were better off financially and that's with my dad having a 'professional' job.  Even now I can keep a week's shopping for two to about £25 as we are in a position of topping up on what we already have.  Obviously that doesn't include all the pet food but again we don't add much more - £5 to £15 - but we all eat well.

I am fortunate that I take home veg from the lunch club which the rabbits get and sometimes the neighbours give us veg as well.  Morrison's sell wonky veg that is exactly the same as 'perfectly' shaped veg but it is cheaper - I am a bargain hunter 

[Amanda_George]

OMG!  For the 2 of us, a weeks shopping is rarely below £100!  You get a month's meals for the same price as our weekly shop!

Mitzi's vet food is £30 a month too!

At least I've stopped spending on things we don't really need though