Flat Eric's Challenge!

Flat_Eric

twistedhazel wrote: »

Hurrah - good for you Flat Eric. I think that's a much more realistic set of rules for you. Once you get going with this and stick with it I think you'll be surprised at how little you actually end up spending. I'm going to be following your progress with interest. :j Good luck.

Thank you. its more realistic now and I'm still fine tuning it so it works for the long term... rather than a simple fail in a couple of months and giving up

Spiggle wrote: »

Hi FlatEric

I've popped over from the GC to have a read of your challenge. I agree with twistedhazel too.

If you don't mind me doing it, I'll outline how we've managed to regain an appreciation of the value of money.

In shopping terms there were two initial challenges that made huge differences to the amount we were spending. The GC which you're aware of so won't go into detail there. And the second was the No More Toiletries until Stash has Gone.

I had almost an addiction to buying toiletries and it was one of the most sobering (and embarrassing) things I've done when I went through the bathroom and bedroom in Febraury and listed everything I had. It truly brought me to a point where I had to say no more. Listing the stash on the challenge thread really helped as I'd 'gone public' IYSWIM. The upshot of it is I haven't bought a single cosmetic or toiletry since February that hasn't already run out.

One word of warning though, the challenge thread has some great people on it who kindly notify others of offers and bargains available which I found real temptation. So after a couple of months I stopped posting on there so I didn't have the temptation put in my way. Nevertheless I kept the tag line and running date in my sig until very recently when I felt I'd beaten my 'addiction'.

We were spending a great deal on alcohol which the OH drinks but I don't. So we stopped accounting for it in normal shopping and set ourselves £15 per week pocket money each. This we may spend however we wish with no come back or complaints from the other. It works brilliantly. I'm sure that your treat money will too.

Finally, after doing a complete budget and money makeover in August, I set up a monthly amount each to cover Car Ins, Tax, Maintenance and House Insurance, Tobacco (sadly we both smoke), Entertainment, Clothes, Christmas**, and Birthdays** which is transferred directly into separate savings accounts. (I use IF as I can have separately named 'jars' into which each amount goes though I don't think it's a recommended best buy on interest rate but works for my piggy banking purposes.) How well these work came fully into focus a couple of weeks ago when I renewed my house insurance, paid with my current account card* and then transferred the amount to cover it back from IF to the current account. It worked brilliantly and I highly recommend piggy banking.

*The other benefit of this is that I could pay in one lump and therefore avoid the astronomical interest charges for paying for insurance via monthly direct debit.

**With regard to the piggybanks for Christmas and Birthdays being relatively new I won't be touching these until 2011 as they haven't built an appreciable balance yet.

I hope all that helps in some small way. I have learned so much from the forum and try as much as possible to pass on the tips I've learnt.

Good luck with your quest and all the best,
Spigs

Thank you for your post Spigs, most interesting and thank you for your best wishes. My challenge here is only the start, over time, I hope to address all issues concerning my money management. I haven't done too well with the GC this month but its the first month where I haven't given up/stopped counting so although the budget is blown big style, I'm not too disheartened - december will be interesting but certainly in january, proper meal planning rather than spur of the moment spend lots of money shops!

I sat down on Monday evening and looked at my money and although the next couple of months will be a tad tricky (i.e overdraft will need to be used), if I stick to what it says in my spreadsheet then I should by the early part of the year be overdraft free and making headway into paying off my credit card. This is allowing £25.00 treat month and also allowing £18 a week spending money - for example, lunch that I do with a friend (she pays one week, I pay the next), magazines (craft themed mainly) chocolate bar, just random stuff really.
I bought my three month travel pass today - so I'm covered till the end of feb :j so no need to worry about that. Hope to be back in sw target soon also so no more sw fees to be paid.

I have also been thinking along the lines of that re my £2 pot, when I get £20 saved, rather than leave it in the pot, I'm going to use it to put towards my credit card. So the credit card will get paid off quicker and I will keep a note and pay myself back the £20s when the credit card is paid off and I should be making a credit card payment (but don't need to) ifswim.

onwards and upwards.

finally have you seen this thread ? fab !
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2850408

Flat_Eric

Went xmas shopping last night or rather looked around the shops and marveled at how expensive everything is! Interesting though. Didn't know I was going shopping so didn't have my credit card with me.

As its almost the end of the month, my current account is looking rather sad ! and thus I had to be careful if I wanted to buy anything.

Don't think this really influenced my spending as I can't really think of anything in particular that I saw that I really wanted.

I did walk round though thinking, how nice it will be (this time next year) when I can walk into any shop and be in a financial position to buy whatever takes my fancy. we went in one shoe shop and saw boots that were £180 :eek: I don't think I would ever spend £180 on boots no matter how much money I had and think that after my year of being good, I will have money but won't want to spend it :rotfl: but it will just be nice to know that If I want something, I can have it.

Flat_Eric

I'm not sure how December is going to work out money wise given that it is probably the most expensive month of the year. I haven't given up on my challenge but have certainly hit the pause button because I have been ordering from ebay as and when I please and I have ordered wool to knit a snood today (i can't knit by the way:rotfl:) and some books from amazon (at least two related to money saving though:j).

I wish I could wave a magic wand and improve my financial situation over night but sadly thats not to be. I am very aware though that things need to change and thats a start I suppose. I have had more than enough treats this month (november) so really don't deserve any in december and any xmas money I get should in my opinion go towards my credit card rather than the camera I would love to have (my old digital camera broke in september )

I can't seem to get over the spending when very overdrawn mode of thinking (it won't matter) and I'm debating paying very little off my credit card this month so at least I start January with very little on my overdraft. I wish though that I was much more disciplined.

Flat_Eric

I feel sad to report that I have up until now been spending money as if it was flowing freely though my hands like water. I see something, I like it, I buy it. Simple. End of. Except financially, I am suffering one huge headache !

I feel sad that I have wasted these last few months squandering my money away. Almost six months of the year wasted when by now, I could have made inroads into my credit card debt and overdraft and have had a small sum to spend freely as I pleased.

I can't undo but I can change. I am already doing many things on here including sealed pot, virtual pot, weekly spend challenge, grocery challenge. I have started this week keeping a daily track of my spends and will continue to do this so can at least see where all my money is going. I'm not giving up on the challenge despite the fact that you could say I have failed already because its only a failure if I don't continue with it. From January the challenge starts with earnest. This doesn't mean I am going to continue spending every penny I have (and more) this month, it means that I am going to be as careful as I can be and start the challenge properly and determinedly in January.

castri09_2

i find this time of year hard this is when i spend the most i like to have nice new clothes and things for christmas.if you are doing a challenge in jan i would like to join you (have a go anyway).

Flat_Eric

This will my last post on this thread as I have started a new thread in the debt free diaries forum.

I will be continuing with my challenge but with no agenda, no rules, no pressure.

I've had my :idea: - I can't undo what has gone before but I can make changes for the future. I feel that if I approach money saving with no agenda / no rules then I am more likely to succeed because I won't have any rules to break ! Thank you all for your posts and all your support. Hope to see you on my other thread :j