Flat Eric's 130 day challenge

Flat_Eric

I don't know when I stopped appreciating the value of money but certainly I have a very strong memory of being about 12 years old and being given £1.00 to spend at a local boot fare. By the time I got to the boot fare, I had lost my £1.00. I remember retracing my steps but to no avail and I can vividly remember how upset I was!

£1 held so much value for me back then yet now, money holds very little value. I don't know why. Pocket money was £10 a month from my parents and £1.50 a week from my neighbour as I used to feed her cats and run errands for her. Thus my monthly income was a mere £16 a month ??!! My first Saturday job paid £104 a month and my first full time job paid about £400 a month. I was never overdrawn and didn't use credit cards. I always had money left at the end of the month. At some point I did discover credit cards and thus the financial meltdown began !

I am determined that in a year's time, I will be in a much better financial position than I am now. I want to have that magic amount of money you should have in your bank account (before you get paid) to see you through if the worst happens and I want to have a zero balance on my credit card. I want to be able to have a mad moment i..e walk past the travel agent and be able to afford to go in and book a holiday. This might not all be achievable in just a year but I want to work towards improving my finances forevermore so in some respects this is a lifetime challenge !

Despite my wish that a magic wand is waved and everything is sorted overnight, it isn't going to be and thus I have decided to start my financial road to recovery by doing Flat Eric's 130 day challenge.

130 days because it is just 130 days until the end of the year!! I want to start 2011 off without having the financial hangover of Christmas thus I hope by cutting back now, I will be able to afford Christmas without my credit card.

Here are my aims: -

1. Save all £2 coins I receive in my change.

2. No extra lottery purchases I.e scratchcards/extra lottery tickets either online or from shops)

3. No ebay purchases. (this is going to be really difficult !)

4. No amazon purchases (unless its Christmas presents!)

5. No craft purchases (for card making / knitting / cross stitch etc). The occasional magazine is allowed ! The odd craft purchase to be allowed in December if it is for an xmas gift (i.e. not allowed to buy now just because Im on a financial no spend ban from tomorrow)

6. No farmville or cafeworld cash purchases !

7. No book purchases including charity shops !

8. No Lush shop purchases (I could open my own lush shop with the stash I have!)

9. No toiletries to be purchased until my stash of products is all used up. Only exceptions / shaving cream, totm stuff and dove soap (other soaps (apart from lush) irritate my skin.

10 . No avon purchases (sorry to my avon consultant)

Regarding my amazon and ebay pledges, this doesn't include any ebay bids which are currently live and doesn't include the items I have on pre-order from Amazon. Once the auctions I have bid on are finished though, I am not allowed to bid anymore unil 1 January 2011. Similarly with Amazon, Professor Layton is on pre-order as are a few calendars but no longer will I spend my free time finding stuff to buy !

I will post on here to let you know how I am getting on!

If anyone would like to join me in this challenge then please feel free. The more the merrier. Its not going to be easy but I want to get back that sense of worth about money that I had all those years ago.

blondieliz

Hi,

I love this post!

Really focussed me and I can't wait to see how you get on. I remember that is how I used to feel about money too - £5 note was amazing and well a £10 note - I felt postivley rich! When i started work at college I always had cash and like you, I went down hill when my bank offered me a little loan of £1000 - I took it becuase i couldn't believe that they would give me one and then I had a card, even though I had NO idea what the apr was, infact I didn't know what APR or interest was at all!!

The sad thing is that none of my stepkids seem to be like that now, they don't see the value and although i am really trying hard to instil it in to them that they have to control and manage the money that they have - it's like beating my head against a brick wall. At school it's all a competition and they have too much imo.

For example, my step daughter will be having a prom at PRIMARY SCHOOL next year - !!!!!!. Some of the parents are on about getting limos and the kids are competitive about dresses etc. It's a regular primary school in Dudley - hardly cash flow central.

Flateric, let's start a scholl to teach kids how to manage money! LOL. Do you recon that we could get them as excited about £1 as we were? :rotfl:

Sorry for going off track

Flat_Eric

well its the eve of my challenge and I feel rather nervous and excited at the same time. It was really tempting earlier to have one last spend binge, particularly on my craft addiction and justifying it to myself by the fact that I was buying bits and pieces to make presents. How about I make the stuff first and then buy the bits to finish them off ?!!

Im nervous because I love a bargain and ebay has many but it isn't so much of a bargain when the odd £2 here, the odd £3 here etc all add up and all of a sudden twenty pounds has vanished from your bank account.

I think I will have to delete my searches from ebay so I am not tempted.

I know I won't get bored over the next 130 days because I have more than enough books to read and more than enough crafty bits to keep me busy. Any new books I fancy (Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals for example (out in September)) will have to come from the library instead of amazon.

When I was little, birthdays and Christmas were eagerly anticipated because that meant presents and meant I finally got whatever it was that I wanted at the time. Now adays, christmas and birthdays are just not the same. Credit cards put paid to the need to wait and thats got to change !

I'm excited that I have made the decision to do this because I am determined that I am going to give it a damn good try and Im looking forward to the results (i.e. more money in my bank account)


In answer to your post above blondieliz, I think money management should be taught in schools. I remember it being quite competitive when I was at school, I dread to think what its like now in this day and age especially with mobile phones and games consoles and as for proms for primary school children ???

Hippeechiq

What an inspiring post Flat Eric love the name by the way

If I still had a job, I'd join in, but now, the only money I have is for food for the family, and there is never a spare £2 coin, all of it is spoken for.

I can't make spur-of-the-moment purchases anymore as I have no money to call my own, but that's fine, there are many worse off than me.

If I could join in though, out of your list, the hardest one for me without a doubt, would be No Book Purchases Including Charity Shops. I adore books, and mooching around a charity shop for second hand books has always been a passion of mine. I have no will power when it comes to books, and so, in many ways when you have no money, there is no temptation because you know you can't have it

I wish you the best of luck with your endeavours, and remember, how ever many you manage to achieve it will make a difference to how much you would have spent had you not tried.

Good Luck

MadamMim2013

Hi, will be joining you on here! I am absolutely disgusted with myself for allowing my hubby & I to fall into the credit trap & getting ourselves in a right pickle!!
I pride myself on having two boys (aged 6 and 10) who are not bad with cash... they are far from spoilt, getting very few treats in between xmas & birthdays (youngest's b-day is 28th Dec too!!!!)
Well regarding the challenge I have added bits... hope it comes out right??

Flat_Eric wrote: »

Here are my aims: -

1. Save all £2 coins I receive in my change. Going for this!!

2. No extra lottery purchases I.e scratchcards/extra lottery tickets either online or from shops) Don't buy these anyhow...

3. No ebay purchases. (this is going to be really difficult !) Have banned ourselves from here since July

4. No amazon purchases (unless its Christmas presents!) Yup same here

5. No craft purchases (for card making / knitting / cross stitch etc). The occasional magazine is allowed ! The odd craft purchase to be allowed in December if it is for an xmas gift (i.e. not allowed to buy now just because Im on a financial no spend ban from tomorrow)
Me too

6. No farmville or cafeworld cash purchases ! Never allowed these!

7. No book purchases including charity shops ! Been relying on Nan for reading materials!!

8. No Lush shop purchases (I could open my own lush shop with the stash I have!) Love the smells but my skin doesn't like the products (

9. No toiletries to be purchased until my stash of products is all used up. Only exceptions / shaving cream, totm stuff and dove soap (other soaps (apart from lush) irritate my skin. No stash at present..

10 . No avon purchases (sorry to my avon consultant) Don't have an avon "lady"..

So all in all will be trying to follow, it may help us out with the finances.. thanks flat eric good luck to you :T

Flat_Eric

well I have done it. I have deleted my ebay searches . my heart was in my mouth as I selected them all and hit the delete button. I love a bargain but its no good attempting this challenge half heartedly and I know that if I continue to get the e-mails then I will be really tempted to fall off the wagon.

In the last 60 days I have bought 31 items and spent £54.48. Thats £54.48 that could have gone to reducing my credit card and I can't think of anything particularly exciting that I bought??!!

I have nine items with live winning bids against at the moment.

Im not allowed to increase my bids so the most I would have to pay for these items will be £8.04 plus whatever the postage is (for each respective item). I know I'm not going to win a couple of the items because they have only just been listed and are popular items so I think I will soon be outbid.

Once these auctions have finished, I will have no reason to visit ebay until the new year .....

Hippeechiq

Well that's a big thing to have done.

I know many people who are addicted to ebay...my daughter being one of them.

It's the thrill of the bid and a bargain.

Good start! :T

Flat_Eric

DAY 1! The challenge begins !!!

boultdj

Good Luck.

ASC

Wow, fabulous thread, there’s so much I relate to.

You have inspired me. 130 days doesn’t seem all that long so I’ve been trying to decide how I can make a difference of the rest of 2010.

Ebay/Amazon aren’t really a problem, I have had a few small ebay purchases lately but they have all been financed by some sales I’d made previously so I don’t feel quite as guilty (there wasn’t enough money to take from paypal without paying fees so I sort of spent it instead of selling more to take it over the threshold ).

I have also massively cut down on crafty spends (and have even been using up some of my stash :T)

Anyway, I have been trying to budget all spending properly rather than getting to the end of the month and running out of money so I am going to commit to creating a budget that takes me through to January AND sticking to it! DD should start to get some funded hours at nursery in January and I want that money to make a difference to our debt rather than just getting spent on stuff we don’t really need. Hopefully, sorting out a manageable budget now will enable me to stick to that next year.

Thanks for the inspiration and good luck with your challenge!


A x

Flat_Eric

Day 1 of my challenge has proved interesting. still have that excited feeling but also feel very apprehensive about what I am letting myself in for. popped into Wilkinsons to get my OH some shower gel (he is down to his last bottle) and found my eyes wandering over the lovely (half price) shower gel. Then I remembered (1) I didn't need any (plenty to use up at home) and (2) I'm on my challenge. Incidentally I didn't mention yesterday but the challenge only applies to me so as and when my OH needs toiletries then I will (reluctantly) buy them for him.

I have been outbid on a couple of my ebay items so I am down to just 6 items now. One finishes tonight and I am still winning at the moment. I really like the item so would pre challenge, follow the auction right at the end and increase my bid right at the last minute to ensure I won. Im sticking with my promise to myself though and will not be increasing my bid. If I win then , if not then but I'm sure the item will come up again (although of course I won't be looking now until next year!)

Its interesting having decided on this challenge because it is focusing me on everything I spend. Although I haven't mentioned anything about food in my challenge, it is my intention to be more organised and I will religiously be doing the grocery challenge each month.

I did spend some money on chocolate today and my lunch (never very organised on a Monday) and I also hired a cd from the library which meant £1.50 on my library card (not strictly allowed but no cash handed over - debt will just sit on my library card until I decide to pay it !) but doing this challenge has made me wake up to the fact that there are many ways I can stop wasting money, the challenges i have set, just being the start!