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

lauren_1

Happy mothers day!!!!

I got a card from cait who made it at school, OH is working today moonlighting as a chef and has been suckered in to doing the mothers day carvery so we are just sat waiting for daddy to arrive so i can get my present, but i did get a nice lie in today before going to pick the kids up off their grandma.

Last night was hard work, if i ever have to pull another pint of guiness i will personally blow up the factory myself:D The trouble is.....most party goers use it as an excuse to drink which is fine for us but A, THEY ARE NOT IRISH...B, THEY ARE NOT CATHOLIC and C THEY ALWAYS WANT IT DONE BLIBKING RIGHT:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
So we had around 40 pints of guiness settling before we could top it up and do the shamrock just to please our wannabe leprechauns draped in guiness hats, badges, and shamrock flags we did run out in the end but never fear magners irish cider saved the day:T Hell i could have poured blackthorn and called it irish cider they were so passed caring anyway. We had the best folk band in town playing and probably were twice as busy as new years eve.
All in all was a great night looking back, 5 people forgot their change (netted £9ish), 11 people bought me drinks (pocketed £22) and i now have lots of guiness stuff for my bootsale:rotfl:

lauren_1

1 MONTH DOWN:T :T :T

Well we started on the 19th feb and just passed the month mark, i really cant believe we have done 1/12th of the challenge:j

Must admit it feels like 6 months rather than just the one and cant really remeber what my old life was like but i do feel rather liberated from the spending cycle, the withdrawals and the wanting to spend have gone and we have had a lot of fun trying to recreate our favorite food (the KFC was very hard to try and do):p We have been trying to reduce our electric and gas bills and have been constantly turning every appliance off at the plug when not in use (inc kettle, oven and toaster) and today our combined bill for the last quarter was £133.29p but are aiming to get it down to £80.00 by the june 30th bill, wish me luck

catewithers

Hi Lauren,

I've just sat and read through this whole post - oops, must do some work!

I'm so amazed at what you've taken on and feel a little bit crap for not making more of an effort myself! You're an inspiration and I'm going to try and put into practice some of the things you're doing.

Keep going and keep us updated.

:T

*zippy*

:T Congratulations Lauren

Do you know how much extra you saved this month?

Crown

Congrats on reaching the End ofthe 1st Month. An amazing achievment overall and now you have sorted out many of the arrangments hopefully it will get easier.

BTW have you started that spending diary yet?

JET34

lauren_1 wrote: »

LOVEFILM have started to charge me £4.99 a month even though i cancelled my free trail and sent the DVD back but they are claiming they have never received the DVD and will be charging me until they receive the film, grrrrrrrr.
Do they do this to everyone who doesnt subscribe after a trial?

They have charged me to:mad: - although I know they have received my last DVD - I can't find there phone number now- so i've sent them a mail asking for my money back!!

dianadors

Well done - I think that this is an amazing challenge. Spending is a national addiction and its great to see people taking this up. I'm not as focused as you are, but I'm getting there!

Keep it up!

Mortgagefreeforme

Jet I think this is the pphone no for Love film that you were looking for :08000911514

Lauren, can I ask where you reckon your biggest saving has been so far? We have a very small budget, but since reading your thread I have found inspiration to cut back and save even more. I find I am missing papers the most, what are you finding it hardest not to buy?

southern_chick

well done on getting through the first month

i always switch my kettle of when i've finished with it but never remember to switch it back on again when i need it and then wonder why the kettle hasn't boiled!!

good luck with the next month (take it one month at a time)

SC XX

lauren_1

Thank you very much for all of your replies:T

I think our biggest saving has been by not buying munch and takeaways, we both work some odd hours and really cant be bothered to cook when we get home so we jusy grab a indian on the way home or we just go round the shop and grab £15 worth of munch + cans of coke.
My biggest down fall was walkers chilli sensations could eat up to 3 big bags a day:eek: No wonder i am still carrying 2 stone extra weight :mad:
I used to buy a lot of clothes for the kids too, mainly from asda when we went shopping so spending £70 a week on food was a regular occourance then go and blow £60 in primark for OH and myself every now and then just because it was in my purse.

Also baby mags would eat up to £10 a month , used to buy every one going for the past 5 years so now, i daren't add up how much i have wasted through that and gossip mags