Buy nothing for a month challenge

LouiseJ

princesst84 wrote: »

HI, i would recommend santander, they give you £100 for switching, match the overdraft balance and our was 0% for the first year. Open saturdays. You dont get a monthly reward though. They customer service is rated on this site as being abit rubbish but I tend to do all internet banking so has never bothered me. Good luck

Santander is a good one too for the £100 switching but if you are cheeky (and I am) and ask in branch Halifax might give you a cash incentive also, I got £50 out of them for opening a CA:D

rictus123

Well looks like first spend day...esstential though!! Paying monthly for car so £240.30 out. Earnings for this mmonth not looking great so far...had rain

bugslet

Ypu must be a brickie or a gardener then rictus, she says being nosey!:p

Check ups are covered on an insurance plan so no money spent. bad news is that I need a filling at about £42.00:(, but I've scheduled it for the 1st September - am I taking this too seriously?:o

FireWyrm

bugslet wrote: »

Check ups are covered on an insurance plan so no money spent. bad news is that I need a filling at about £42.00:(, but I've scheduled it for the 1st September - am I taking this too seriously?:o

No you're not taking this too seriously, you are taking this like an adult. This challenge is about trying to do something our parents and grandparents would have though nothing of 50 years ago...living within our means. My father told me when I started work that I should bank the first months' wages and not touch it until the next payday. How I wish I had listened to his advice. Instead, I told myself that 'life' got in the way, that I just 'had to have' this or that and before I knew it, I was in up to my eyeballs and sinking fast. Now, it's time to pay the piper and it's going to hurt, but when the pain is done with, I'll never get into the mess again.

Thanks to the two posters for the ideas on current accounts. Santander might just have the jump on Halifax, but Halifax might have something better for me since I'll be having my mortgage with them eventually. I'll certainly look into that. Since I'm well into the low hundreds on the overdraft, I can slide in under the £1000 bar which suits me just fine. I can ditch my monsterous £2.5K overdraft and if the facility isnt there, I cant use it, can I - ergo, no more trouble. I've already managed to slide my nasty credit card debt onto Barclays at 0% for the next 20 months so I'm almost out from under...at least I'm going in the right direction. This challenge is about doing just that...taking control...complete control of your finances and proving to yourself that you wont starve and you wont burst into flames if you dont buy something, that 'need' is very different to 'want'.

GreenSaints

This sounds like a great idea! I don't get paid till the 15th, but I'll definitely join you.

I'm sure after a few days I'll be telling myself how stupid this is when I see something I want!

I suppose you have to take it one day at a time.

Good luck and hope it's all going well so far

Giddytimes

LouiseJ wrote: »

You get a £1000 overdraft as standard too but dont get the reward if you are overdrawn.

I seem to still receive the reward-even when I'm overdrawn. :think:

Or do you mean if you sit in your overdraft for the entire month?

LouiseJ

Giddytimes wrote: »

I seem to still receive the reward-even when I'm overdrawn. :think:

Or do you mean if you sit in your overdraft for the entire month?

Not entirely sure about that, I just seem to remember the advisor saying that if you are overdrawn the reward isnt paid. Maybe I am mistaken?

rictus123

Well i felt like a proper old man!!! Home at dinner time, showered and had lunch then feet up infront of the telly(my last post was done half asleep :rotfl: ) then nodded off for a while, woke up to 2 bacon rolls and chips for tea. Now im stuffed but wide awake So a night of browsing my favourite forums!!!

Bought something on my card for my gf as her card wouldnt work so she paid me cash for it and iv used it to pay my digs. So outgoings this far are


£10 overdraft fee
£100 digs
£240.30 car payment

total of £350.30 out....payday on the 15th should bring in around £1,100 take home due to having lost a few days work already this fortnight. Il make up for it once we stop getting so much rain!!


Relaxing night ahead.....important part is its a no spend night.

A third of the way there, day 10/30 no spend except esstentials :T

LouiseJ

You are doing really well, keep it up:beer:

Winchelsea

Spent 40p on coffee at my knitting group yesterday and didn't even think of it - how bad is that?

Worse - today I spent £32.10 on a train ticket - already bought a ticket last month for the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham this weekend, and realised this morning I hadn't sorted out my transport. If I take a packed lunch etc, and definitely buy no goodies at the show, I won't feel so bad.

I have great stashes of fabric, threads, wool etc, so it will be good not to bring anything back to clutter the house up with!