Flat Eric's 130 day challenge

miss_empty_piggy

determined_new_ms wrote: »

he he he!!! Sorry to make you feel bad, twas not my intention at all. My story is just that my story, I don't think it was any better my way (well a bit ) It meant I wasted money on throwing things out when it hadn't been eaten, before MSE days

To be fair my mum was totally crap so I'm sure that's not the case with you.

:rotfl:my story was meant with love & kindness & MSE solidarity in my heart x

Thanks determined new ms - I think I may have been a tad over-sensitive. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Flat_Eric

415SanFran wrote: »

Just a thought, but when I banned myself from ebay at the beginning of the year I asked my son to change the password for me, AND NOT TO TELL ME WHAT WAS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.
At first this was the only way that I could stay off it, I have still used it on occasion, like to buy a book for someone's birthday that I just could not find anywhere in my town. But now that I have to justify it to my son (how embarrassing is that) I think I have used it maybe 6 times since January the 1st, and on each occasion it has been because I could not buy the item in the UK.
You seem to have covered everything else that I may have suggested, one thing though if you are all taking pack up for lunches have you looked at approved foods? There is a whole thread about them on here, I can honestly say I have never bought a drink out of the house since using the company and never payed full price them either. Worth a look

thats a fab idea getting the password changed so you don't know it ! how easy do ebay and amazon make it for you to spend money. It's so simple to spend money on amazon, you don't even have to enter your card security code ! I did think about adding ebay to my banned site's list so that it won't even load but Im still motivated enough at the moment to steer clear !

Hippeechiq wrote: »

Charity shop books must vary in different parts of the country I think. I live in a small town, and the books in the shops here range from 99p - £2.50. Personally, I never used to pay more than £1.50. But recently when I've been to the next smaller town near me having a mosey around (it doesn't hurt to browse ) I was surprised to see some of the shops there charging 50p per book!! and they were in superb condition too. This town has 5 or so charity shops, and the dearest paperbacks are £1.50, so it even must vary from town to town, although, I agree, in general, they have mostly put their prices up.

i work near to quite a few charity shops and have a couple near where i live also. The prices vary quite considerably between them all and whilst I can get books in the shops in my town for an average of 50p, near where I work they range from 50p up to £2.50 plus. The cancer shop seems to have hiked its prices recently - they have a bear in the window for £7.50 ??? and brand name shoes / clothing they price far too high. - almost to the point you would get it cheaper new ? I am all for supporting charity shops (not whilst on my ban obviously :rotfl:) but seriously they need to wake up that people don't have bucket-loads of money spare and start charging reasonable prices.

searching_me wrote: »

well pay day today for me .. all bills paid .. got one of my DS xmas presents .. ive got £80 for 3 weeks doable as long as im careful i do need some jeans as all the working out and running ive been doing at the gym means mine are falling off but im going to hit the charity shops on tuesday after a free makeover and samples due to boots .. and the samples are going in my xmas hampers for people .. im serious now i only have to buy nappies BOGOF at tescos and jeans and im setting myself a budget of £10 so that should get me 2-3 pairs of jeans in a charity shop ..

flateric you cant expect to go cold turkey without alittle slip up .. now you know you can go for it again x

thank you ! i really thought it would be easy ! I have two more confessions then the slate will be wiped clean and I can start afresh and continue ! i forgot to mention in my earlier post that I bought an audio book set for £30 from the book people (16 unabridged audio books for £30). too much of a bargain to miss ! and today i spend £2 odd on farmville cash ??? seriously don't know what i was thinking. very :mad: with myself. Its so tempting not to throw the towel in, but to have a few more splurges but I'm resisting. I was going to order the material I needed yesterday (and almost checked the order out 3 times! but closed it each time!!) but know I will be able to borrow it from another kit so money saved there and my proposed order of some lock and lock boxes from amazon is postponed. I just can't bring myself to check out ! in other news my camera broke yesterday and I feel sad that I can't just go out and buy a new one I dont need a new camera but it illustrates that my poor attitude to money needs addressing. if it was something I really needed, i wouldn't have the cash and thats what Im hoping to change so that I do have a reserve fund for emergencies.

Flat_Eric

searching_me wrote: »

guess who cut up her CC's x

well done you ! :j:D:j i remember cutting my various cards up when I had several !!! And my current credit card lived in a block of ice in the freezer for a while ! I think I better put it back where it belongs !

searching_me

flat its not easy you're not just tighten the purse strings you're retraining how you're brain .. as you say sometimes you dont give it a second thought and next thing you've spent all you got (ok not some dramatic but you get my point) ..

jump back in with both feet and see how you go .. we're only human the key is seeing the fault and doing what you can to change or slightly amend the way you think ....

i need to becareful with money now i bought kfc today ... my DD treat i promised for good (ish) start back at school but ive honestly had 4 takeaways in the last 15 months (since my DS was born) .. didnt realise how much takeaways were now :eek: seriously next they'll want your blood ....

i refuse to be a slave to debt i will be out of it .. if it kills me x

miss_empty_piggy

Planned on having a real spend-thrift day, here is a list of things I managed and things I didn't:

Managed to:
* Picked all raspberries and brambles in garden, swapped some with NDN for some apples in her garden.
* Chop right back completely useless and fruitless cherry tree, stripped leaves and chopped up ready for kindling when dried out.
* Mend parts of fence so kids don't hurt themselves rather than having it redone.
* Get some free wood chippings (although not as many as I'll need) for play area.
* Entertain Kids by baking and decorating cakes (entertainment and snacks etc)
* To almost burn the entire house down by trying to make roast veggies in oven (but turned grill on instead of oven)
* Refrain from using either fire extinguisher and fire blanket (very cautious ex) and use sink water in the panic instead (good mse as will be able to use both above in next idiotic laurel and hardy-type situation that I seem to frequently find myself in, inspite of being complete "together" (laughs) singleton.
* Burn my finger so it was white and blistered
* Make my kitchen look like a war zone, which is excellent as I'm having a birthday party for DD2 in 2 weeks (hence the tidying up and making safe of the garden)
* Not feed the kids as was shaken up and took them to indoor play thingy costing me nearly £15.00 for 50 minutes including food as am now scared to switch oven on.

Did not manage to:
Keep any dignity whatsoever
Keep control of myself in a potentially life threatening situation (fool)
Save money in the long run - why didn't I just take them to the park and chip shop?

Just so you all know, the kids were fine and so am I, just a sore finger. The kids laughed their heads off at me afterwards and did various impressions. I think they are psychologically sound after the experience, especially as they didn't actually see the flames. Thank god they were in the garden!!!

Gorgeous BF brought me a triple G&T through and kissed my finger better for me, so feeling much better now. So life's not so bad really.

What a day! At least there's always tomorrow. x

tellmeitsfriday

miss_empty_piggy wrote: »

Planned on having a real spend-thrift day, here is a list of things I managed and things I didn't:

Managed to:
* Picked all raspberries and brambles in garden, swapped some with NDN for some apples in her garden.
* Chop right back completely useless and fruitless cherry tree, stripped leaves and chopped up ready for kindling when dried out.
* Mend parts of fence so kids don't hurt themselves rather than having it redone.
* Get some free wood chippings (although not as many as I'll need) for play area.
* Entertain Kids by baking and decorating cakes (entertainment and snacks etc)
* To almost burn the entire house down by trying to make roast veggies in oven (but turned grill on instead of oven)
* Refrain from using either fire extinguisher and fire blanket (very cautious ex) and use sink water in the panic instead (good mse as will be able to use both above in next idiotic laurel and hardy-type situation that I seem to frequently find myself in, inspite of being complete "together" (laughs) singleton.
* Burn my finger so it was white and blistered
* Make my kitchen look like a war zone, which is excellent as I'm having a birthday party for DD2 in 2 weeks (hence the tidying up and making safe of the garden)
* Not feed the kids as was shaken up and took them to indoor play thingy costing me nearly £15.00 for 50 minutes including food as am now scared to switch oven on.

Did not manage to:
Keep any dignity whatsoever
Keep control of myself in a potentially life threatening situation (fool)
Save money in the long run - why didn't I just take them to the park and chip shop?

Just so you all know, the kids were fine and so am I, just a sore finger. The kids laughed their heads off at me afterwards and did various impressions. I think they are psychologically sound after the experience, especially as they didn't actually see the flames. Thank god they were in the garden!!!

Gorgeous BF brought me a triple G&T through and kissed my finger better for me, so feeling much better now. So life's not so bad really.

What a day! At least there's always tomorrow. x

I shouldn't laugh, i really really shouldn't... but sorry, I just can't help it.

I am sure it was horrible at the time - but you reading your description has made me cry with laughter. BF is in bed (up at 4am for work) and I woke him up. Bad me!!

Hope your finger mends asap x

miss_empty_piggy

tellmeitsfriday wrote: »

I shouldn't laugh, i really really shouldn't... but sorry, I just can't help it.

I am sure it was horrible at the time - but you reading your description has made me cry with laughter. BF is in bed (up at 4am for work) and I woke him up. Bad me!!

Hope your finger mends asap x

I can't stop laughing either. What a twonk I am!!!! Glad I made you chuckle. x

searching_me

awww mep .. sorry things didnt go exactly to plan .. glad fireman sam didnt have to come though and you have a very lovely BF .. i remember when i got stuck in the back of a washing machine, very scary x

Berni888

miss_empty_piggy wrote: »

Planned on having a real spend-thrift day, here is a list of things I managed and things I didn't:

Managed to:
* Picked all raspberries and brambles in garden, swapped some with NDN for some apples in her garden.
* Chop right back completely useless and fruitless cherry tree, stripped leaves and chopped up ready for kindling when dried out.
* Mend parts of fence so kids don't hurt themselves rather than having it redone.
* Get some free wood chippings (although not as many as I'll need) for play area.
* Entertain Kids by baking and decorating cakes (entertainment and snacks etc)
* To almost burn the entire house down by trying to make roast veggies in oven (but turned grill on instead of oven)
* Refrain from using either fire extinguisher and fire blanket (very cautious ex) and use sink water in the panic instead (good mse as will be able to use both above in next idiotic laurel and hardy-type situation that I seem to frequently find myself in, inspite of being complete "together" (laughs) singleton.
* Burn my finger so it was white and blistered
* Make my kitchen look like a war zone, which is excellent as I'm having a birthday party for DD2 in 2 weeks (hence the tidying up and making safe of the garden)
* Not feed the kids as was shaken up and took them to indoor play thingy costing me nearly £15.00 for 50 minutes including food as am now scared to switch oven on.

Did not manage to:
Keep any dignity whatsoever
Keep control of myself in a potentially life threatening situation (fool)
Save money in the long run - why didn't I just take them to the park and chip shop?

Just so you all know, the kids were fine and so am I, just a sore finger. The kids laughed their heads off at me afterwards and did various impressions. I think they are psychologically sound after the experience, especially as they didn't actually see the flames. Thank god they were in the garden!!!

Gorgeous BF brought me a triple G&T through and kissed my finger better for me, so feeling much better now. So life's not so bad really.

What a day! At least there's always tomorrow. x

Glad you were OK & had such 'support' from your family :rotfl:Think you should post it here that or just read it and cheer yourself up even more that the triple G&T! https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/290130

searching_me

only took £3.90 out with me today and thats all i spent .. well had alittle change but threw that in the change tins ...... im planning my meals so saving pennies there .. tomorrow is charity shop day after my driving lesson and free mini makeover and plenty of free samples for xmas hampers .. i know exactly what i want and i WILL NOT spend a penny more then what ive set aside for jeans and cheap gift boxes for the hampers if i dont find what i want then i will not spend the money ........ i have very little cash i need to ssssssssstttttrrrreeeecccchhhh it x