Meet the frugal's, 365 day challenge of buying nothing.

Country_girl_5

Hi Again, The National Savings address to log onto and do a financial health check is
https://www.nsandi.com.
I forgot to include it yesterday, sorry. Iv'e been looking back at some of the old messages and find that many of the hints I do already, I sometimes think I can't make my money go any further......and then I do by looking in my cupboards or making do or mending.
Every little helps and I totally agree with Martin that savings have to be planned, its no good waiting to see what's left over as invarieably there is none. So setting up a direct debit at a time when you know may have a little spare cash is a good idea, even 50p a week adds up eventually to a sizeable amount at the end of the year.....£26.00 to be precise. In my experience though it has to be put away otherwise its a temptation and distracts me from my 365day goal of 'not buying it'.

lauren_1

DAY 14

Well our cards are well and truly gone now, chopped up in to ickle peices, put in a container, filled up with water, sellotaped shut and frozen in the freezer:T :j Thats all our credit cards, cash cards and debit cards.

All our direct debits are set up ready to roll, standing orders to pay xx amount from one of my accounts to the other to cover other bills. Savings account has been set up to take out £40 to cover road tax and insurance so we can pay it off in one lump sum (i never realised they charged intrest too) :beer:

Luckily i get paid in cash every friday/saturday so we will use that for our housing/kiddy budget and petrol, and OH has set a weekly shopping budget for £20 :eek:

Our pocket money has been firmly set to £4.50:eek: , i know i spent all mine yesterday on suncream so this week i will be extra extra good :A but i have been given permisson to raid the change jar if i need to bribe a child with sweeties

I never expected to last 2 whole weeks even if i with OH hitch and my weakness for NO7 i think i did blinking well (pats herself on the back)
after a month i have promised to take the children swimming as a sort of reward for having completly mental parents.

black-saturn

I put my daughter on cows milk when she was 6 months old. It was a case of having to as she wouldnt drink formula milk. Her weight was dropping and I was a panicky mum. She thrived on cows milk (full fat variety) and never had any ill effects from it. She's nearly 10 now and is tall and strong and is hardly ever ill. Remember your parents and grandparents were all brought up on cows milk as they didnt have formula milk in those days.

lauren_1

May i please share this joyous occasion with you all.................

Picture removed for card security reasons

JET34

lauren_1 wrote:

May i please share this joyous occasion with you all.................

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w66/MSElauren_1/100_1938.jpg

WOW good for you def no more spending on those WELL DONE:T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T

lauren_1

Double post, sorry

lauren_1

I could actually cry now, i even cut out the CVV numbers and melted them in the chiminea so no more vertbaudet bargains.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaa.

I have just worked out with our pocket money (if we spend it all), petrol, food (probably wont need to go evert week) and kiddy (formula and bits and bobs for DD) stuff it should come to around £50ish a week. Sounds a lot to me now i have not had any spending recently.
:j

Crown

Hi Lauren, Great Pic.... And a massive step/comittment to your quest.

It always has amazed me how we all grow so attached to what in essence are bits of plastic that cause us nothing but grief.

I cut mine up in October last year and was glad in a way that they had gone but I did feel rather apprehensive in doing so becasue of the thought what in case of a emergency? I soon realised though that if I did use the cards even for an emergency I was falling into deeper debt and was just part of the vicious circle.

Well done in lasting this long, I havent replied to you much but I am reading with interest.

lauren_1

Thank you crown, my stomach is in knots but my wallet seems very light and empty, only has my reward cards and college I.D in it, well i supose it saves hassle when i lose it again:rotfl:

The "what if's" are running through my mind now BUT am taking my mind off it by sorting out stuff to get rid of at our car boot sale in a few weeks time.

Country_girl_5

Wow! Lauren what an amazing picture, you must be feeing pretty damn fantastic at the moment as all your hard work has paid off. I'm not sure I could get to actually cutting my cards up, dont you have to notify the card providers first? The big thing that would worry me is supposing I have an emergency, like the boiler breaking or needing the plumber, the car being stolen or a million more other emergencies that would need MONEY. I just hide the cards I dont want to use from myself but keep them intact just in case!!!!