New Challange : Don't spend for a Week!

Lillibet_2 · 12 April 2005 at 8:54AM

Due to some rather unexpected & urgent car repairs we need to find £400 next week. As the car was only serviced last month we are going to struggle to find this money in our usual budget. OK, our savings can take the hit but we want to try & recoup as much as possible.
We are on annual leave next week & were planning on a few days away in Wales, our last chance together before Spud is due. However, we have decided we have more than enough to keep us occupied at home and are going to try & go next week without spending any additional money. We will top up the petrol on Sunday night & that one tank will have to last us the week. We really need to crack on with turning our spare room into a nursery so we will shop for materials on Friday & will have to make these stretch, anything which we find we need but haven't planned for we will have to find a way to do without or create from what we have on hand. My intended trip to Ikea has been cancelled, no point delaying it beacuse then I'd just spend the money at a later date. For entertainment we still have a couple of unwatched DVD's given to us at Xmas and we have the river right behind us for summer walks & maybe a picnic if the weather is nice enough. I will do my usual grocery shop this week so usually would just have £3 available to top up fruit & veg next week, but we will try & & manage, fruit is always a hard one for us but we will have to just make do.
Any tips on how to NOT spend money or anyone fancy trying their hand & joining in? It doesn't have to be for a whole week, just a day or a weekend would be a good start! Unfortunately we don't yet have internet at home so I won't be able to keep you updated on my progress but I promise to keep a mini-diary & update you when I am back online.

Katgoddess · 12 April 2005 at 9:02AM

I only have one tip for not spending money, but you won't be able to do this if you have no internet access.

When you get the urge to buy something, especially online, transfer some money from your current account to your savings account. You've "spent" money but you haven't really. Just moved it out of sight.

I've got 5 pots with my ING account, and I have great fun moving money between them.

Of course I do slip sometimes

Sarahsaver · 12 April 2005 at 9:06AM

I will try this week as i have already started this week. If you have any fruit left use it to make cereal bars, cakes or stewed fruit which will keep longer. Carrots keep ages, and these i must admit are our main vegetable, but also frozen peas/beans and a sack of spuds.
Try to see how much you can do to the nursery without spending. Do you have fabric you could make into curtains? Do any relatives have paint lying around? Have you joined freecycle?
My son's room has one wall purple, one crimson, one peach and one pale green, that is the paint we had left over! I would say you need do no more than make space for a cot in the spare room, as babies don't notice what their room looks like, Good luck, and I will try not spending next week too. Ive already done ok on the not buying any clothing new or second hand for this month, so Im sure i have enough in the cupboards/freezer to keep going.

Pal · 12 April 2005 at 9:19AM

So to summarise your tip:

Spend lots of money on DVDs you don't watch, food for the cupboard, DIY materials and petrol, then don't spend for a week.

Can anyone else see the flaw in this moneysaving plan?

moggins · 12 April 2005 at 9:29AM

She's not spending money on DVD's, they already have them but haven't watched them yet.

Thanks for this post, it's a challenge I really need at the moment. Got up this morning feeling really down as I've got through far too much money this month already. I've had Mum and Mum-in-laws birthdays this month, mine is at the end of the month and it doesn't look like I'll be getting much.

I've failed the April Grocery Challenge miserably as I only have £40 left of the 200 I withdrew on 30th March.

I've even had to take £60 out of the savings account and I feel gutted about that.

System · 12 April 2005 at 9:31AM

Pal wrote:

So to summarise your tip:

Spend lots of money on DVDs you don't watch, food for the cupboard, DIY materials and petrol, then don't spend for a week.

Can anyone else see the flaw in this moneysaving plan?

Pal behave!!!

The only way i can stop spending is if i dont go out at all during the week. It helps if my purse is empty too because i wont give it to the kids if it havent got it. In the past, i have had to ask MrJudi to babysit my debit and credit cards. (Should have asked him yesterday, i went in Matalan for a pair of shorts - ended up spending £80 and i didnt get the shorts.)

Magentasue · 12 April 2005 at 9:32AM

For me it wouldn't save money because I would need to buy in advance. Have to have petrol for work, food to eat so it would just mean buying these things before I need them.

Maybe a more realistic challenge would be to only spend money on things you need?

Lillibet_2 · 12 April 2005 at 9:50AM

Pal wrote:

So to summarise your tip:

Spend lots of money on DVDs you don't watch, food for the cupboard, DIY materials and petrol, then don't spend for a week.

Can anyone else see the flaw in this moneysaving plan?

Hi Pal

Just to clairfy, I'm not promoting a tip, I'm challanging myself. I was asking for tips, preferably not sarcastic ones. Eveyone has different needs & requirements, I would never dream of imposing my standards on others, I was simply floating an idea.

If I was not clear then:

The DVD's were Xmas PRESENTS, we did not buy them & have not gotten around to watching them yet, therefore they are FREE entertainment. In an ideal world we wouldn't have films we haven't watched, books we haven't read & projects we haven't finished but I expect most of us do.

Don't know about you but for us it's a fairly basic need to either have food in the cupboard or go out and buy it on an as needed basis or starve. I was saying, perhaps unclearly, that we are going to try & stick to our usual meal plan instead of allowing for treats, eating out etc which we would usually enjoy when on holiday.

I didn't actually specifiy how much we would be spending on DIY materials or even indicate exactly what we planned to do to turn our spare room into a nursery, but I certinaly don't plan to spend "lots". "Lots" is your interpertation. What I was proposing was to buy what we consider necessary in advance & have already planned for and not to run out & get anything additional if we find we have mis-planned etc. And it's a better plan than sitting around for a week getting bored & ending up going out, & inevitably spending money, just for something to do.

We will need to have petrol in the car to get it to the garage for the repairs apart from anything else. In addition, I am almost 6 months pregnant & have both an ante-natal appoitnment & a ante-natal class to get to next week (both free), we don't live within a mile of any public transport (which doesn't go where we need to get to anyway), we are more than 3 miles from our doctors surgery & 9 miles from the hospital and cycling is not recommended when pregnant. I suppose I could dig my broomstick out, I feel like renewing my Witch's license:eek: !

tru · 12 April 2005 at 9:55AM

Lillibet, don't worry about Pal, you'll soon get used to him

ALL of his posts are sarcastic, he doesn't know any better

Spendless · 12 April 2005 at 9:55AM

Lillibet - Personally i wouldn't worry too much about needing the nursey ready. When i had daughter 2 years ago i am sure that the advice from the FSID (Foundation for Study into Infant Deaths) recommended that the baby slept in a cot in your room until he/she was 6 months old.

If you're not in a rush to do the nursery you can keep an eye out for when they have sales and 10% off days for example.

elona · 12 April 2005 at 9:56AM

Lillibet

If you want fabric then it does not have to be a roll of stuff - you could use anything that you already have - tablecloth- curtain- duvet cover - sheets etc and dye it if necessary.

Re paint - if you have any white paint left over you could mix it with a tester pot or else other coloured leftover paint. Or ask friends or relatives if they have any leftovers.

Do not say you are economising - just that you want something that no one else has that is identical.

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New Challange : Don't spend for a Week!

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