Flat Eric tries again ....

ZTD

Flat_Eric wrote: »

I was really keen at the beginning of the year and religiously raided my wallet and my OH's wallet every sunday evening. I fished out all unnecessary coins and into the pot they went. I also did the virtual pot raiding both my account and the joint account. Then there was one month where I simply spent too much money and was really overdrawn very early and needed to raid both pots to survive the month. I never got back into saving my spare change/raiding the bank accounts for the virtual pot.

You seem to view this as an end-point, rather than a focus. So when you had to raid the pots, did you view that as you'd "failed", so that's why you stopped?

Flat_Eric wrote: »

Cut all unnecessary spending. i.e. no more new books, no more cross kits, no perfume that I want like yesterday (will ask for it for xmas) no new clothes, no visiting charity shops. no toiletries. no new phone. nowt!

Don't do that. You will rebel and go on a splurge. It's a way forward, not a punishment. Give yourself a budget of (up to you, but let's pick a number) a fiver a week. You can spend that fiver on anything you want. Bath smellies, candles - whatever.

Flat_Eric wrote: »

Have crunched the numbers. In 2011 I have so far spent £842.66 on Amazon :eek: and £648.97 on my craft hobby.:(

Ouch.

What did you buy at Amazon?

JoeyGrey

Hi Flat Eric, I've enjoyed reading your thread so far.

If you don't mind me putting forward my opinion, you do seem to see each unnecessary spend as a complete failure instead of a hiccup. You start the challenge again each time and change your end date. If you keep doing this, you are just setting yourself up to fail each time.

Rather than doing this, do you think you could give yourself a slap on the wrist, but then focus on continuing the challenge without moving the goalposts? If you fail a couple of times along the way, it isn't the end of the world, as long as you take note of it, learn from it, and try harder.

When you get to the end of February, you can then look back at the two or three hiccups as part of the learning curve that led you to your goal of getting your spending under control, but focus on the fact that it was only two or three hiccups instead of continual failure.

Hope that makes sense

Flat_Eric

chickywiggle wrote: »

ouchhhhhhhh (and thats not including impulse cash purchases)

nor purchases on ebay....

ZTD

Flat_Eric wrote: »

nor purchases on ebay....

Why do you spend?

Flat_Eric

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flat Eric
I was really keen at the beginning of the year and religiously raided my wallet and my OH's wallet every sunday evening. I fished out all unnecessary coins and into the pot they went. I also did the virtual pot raiding both my account and the joint account. Then there was one month where I simply spent too much money and was really overdrawn very early and needed to raid both pots to survive the month. I never got back into saving my spare change/raiding the bank accounts for the virtual pot.

You seem to view this as an end-point, rather than a focus. So when you had to raid the pots, did you view that as you'd "failed", so that's why you stopped?

I don't know why I stopped to be honest ? I suppose that particular month, I didn't bother saving my spare change and never got back into the habit of raiding my purse every week.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flat Eric
Cut all unnecessary spending. i.e. no more new books, no more cross kits, no perfume that I want like yesterday (will ask for it for xmas) no new clothes, no visiting charity shops. no toiletries. no new phone. nowt!

Don't do that. You will rebel and go on a splurge. It's a way forward, not a punishment. Give yourself a budget of (up to you, but let's pick a number) a fiver a week. You can spend that fiver on anything you want. Bath smellies, candles - whatever.

I agree and thats the plan. £5 a week sounds like a sensible sum and can be saved over the month for a more expensive treat if I want.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flat Eric
Have crunched the numbers. In 2011 I have so far spent £842.66 on Amazon :eek: and £648.97 on my craft hobby.:(

Ouch.

What did you buy at Amazon?

mainly books! but also dvds, jigsaw puzzles, calendars, diaries, post it notes ??!!

Flat_Eric

ZTD wrote: »

Why do you spend?

Why do any of us spend ? We all have our little vices ?

ZTD

Flat_Eric wrote: »

Why do any of us spend ? We all have our little vices ?

Everybody buys different things for a reason. Buying is not inherently a vice, and is not inherently a virtue. Obviously we all need to buy the essentials, and we all buy the stuff we need to make our lives a life, and not just an existence. A problem arises when the act of spending is the goal - an end in itself, and the things that are bought are never used.

You've mentioned your crafting - are you buying because you make lots of gifts?

Flat_Eric

had an :idea: today :j:j:j

in short, I'm turning my challenge on its head

In this challenge and in my previous challenges, its all been about not spending. This works for five minutes while I revel in my :A attitude to spending money then I fall off the wagon and hit a :wall: I give up for a bit then start all over again and repeat :wall: etc

So as I was enjoying my usual uneventful commute to work this morning, it struck me that instead of going the next twelve months without spending so much as a bean, I have cooked up a far better plan.... (drum roll please.....)



The basis of my new challenge is that I am going to allow myself to spend all the money I wish except for the fact that come 1 December 2012, I want to have £1,000.00 cold hard cash in my bank just waiting to be spent on whatever I so choose!

So when there is something that piques my interest and I really want to buy it, I can ask myself whether I really really want it (or need it) or whether I want to save the money instead towards the magic £1,000.00.

This means I can make as many guilt free purchases as I want :jbut also means that I may be reluctant to part with a penny :T:T:T

Can't wait to get started !


:dance: :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance:

chickywiggle

like that idea

Wobblydeb

I hope you don't mind me joining in but I got into the thread and am fascinated. I am really astonished that you have the willpower to walk to work because the fare went up, but not to stop yourself from buying a magazine in Tesco.

The relative effort is so much more to walk, and yet you can do it!

I am guessing that unless you can pin down WHY you spend the way you do, that you will always struggle to get a grip on it. The only alternative I can think of is replacing the habit, with something more healthy for your bank balance. Have you tried selling online before? Perhaps some of your crafting would sell well?