Giving up Money for Lent

pippo

poohbear59 wrote: »

AS far as church is concerned half way through Lent is Latare Sunday when you can forget your Lenten promises and celebrate, feast, because you have managed to get this far. So, I think that maybe your shopping trip yesterday was your Latare Sunday equivalent. I think today is Latare Sunday but not sure.

Thanks PB59,
This may explain why a few of us are struggling this weekend.
I think I'm back on the wagon though (in more ways tahn one!) 'cos have just been invited to the pub & I said no) :beer:

pippo

TurnaroundSue wrote: »

Am really struggling now - half way there tomorrow and boy am I at odds with myself today :mad: I want to go an buy some potatoe seeds/bulbs so that I can plant them and start being a bit self sufficient, but I know then that I will be breaking my no spend for the last 18 days - help, this is a toughie for me :eek:

Hi Sue, I've been struggling too this weekend.
Thinking about your seed potatoes I think that you will need to get them now so that they can sprout in time to go in at Easter. If it is a true spend to save I'd go for it, it is Sunday and as Poohbear said it is Latare Sunday. I wouldn't suggest forgetting a;; your promises though!
Good Luck

anniewoo

2 more NSD's for me and I just bought a few essentials this morning,bread,potatoes etc.

CAFCgirl,I have been thinking a lot about your post of a couple of days ago and I have to admit that I have bought a couple of things that were not necessary and I feel really guilty now.Then I read pippo's post about the family she visited that had very little money and I felt even worse.

I have bought so many things over the last few years that I didn't need,just because I wanted them at the time and I could kick myself...and indeed have...at the money that I have wasted.Well no more...I am back on the straight and narrow and I intend to finish this challenge,in fact I am quite enjoying seeing how little money I actually need to spend.I was obviously wasting a hell of a lot before!!

Hi to CAFCgirl's Mum,your daughter is an inspiration and I am female,by the way.Do we actually have any men doing this challenge?

pippo

Hi Annie and well done,
I had forgotten about that family too for a while, it was CAFCgirl's post that prompted me.
I guess we are having a different sort of lightbulb moment about what we really need!
I can't promise to keep this going after Lent, but this challenge has really made me think - we all have our own priorities and 'essentials' and some of those things that I thought were essential have now been relegated into the do not need category.

CAFCGirl

ahhh the categories of spending

Do not need, yet want
Do not need, do not want, but society makes me feel inadequate for not having
Do need, do not want, I mean who gets excited about buying tampons seriously?

I'd like to take this opportunity however to say one little thing

CONGRATULATIONS

And thats to everyone.
We all slip up, noone is perfect!
We've all stuck as much as we could to the challenge and quite frankly I think we've all done superbly. I'm honestly very impressed!!!

As much as I still believe in my previous post, it wasn't made to make anyone feel guilty or like a failure.
Instead I think we should all look at, not how much money we have or haven't spent, but moreover the significant change in attitudes we all seem to have had.

We all now seem to be much better at recognising what we actually need, want or simply spend money on.
That I think is probably the bigger challenge to address that little voice within who says ooooooooooooh but you need one of those, and instead give it one sentence and one sentence alone..............

:money: Martin says No :money:

so can any of you tell me why I have such an urge to spend today??

Pippo,

From what I got from the whole post of yours, you're urge to spend (in my opinion) on other members of your family was an attempt subconsciously to make yourself feel better.
A lot of people do it, we focus more love and attention on those around us.
So by deflecting the "new clothes new you" feeling onto your loved ones, you get a boost from their new confidence.

Hope I havent over stepped the mark and I might have read the tone completely wrong (again! lol) but just an inkling.

Sue - Buy the potato seeds, food is a necessary remember :T

Seaxwyn

HI all

nothing spent this weekend except food & Dartford tunnel and toll bridge money.

However I am faced with spending £9.95 on something that I neither need nor want!

I took my dad to visit his cousin, both are elderly, they were talking about long deceased family members and had a little debate about where the family were living in 1901 (as my granny was born in a different town from her 7 siblings)... I said you can look up the 1901 census on the internet and they got really excited and begged me to do it. Now I find it costs £9.95 and they will be really disappointed if I don't find out this crucial information!

So am I allowed this in the terms of the challenge? I would feel very mean if I refused my dad this favour as owe him lots of money, quite apart from daughterly feelings.

One thing I've found out through this challenge is how much I spend because of my family!

CAFCGirl

p.s no spender for me even though sundays dont count in some circles of thought

Made me feel good anyway!

pippo

Hi Cafcgirl,
You are probably right,.
You haven't overstepped the mark, we can see things in others that we can't see in ourselves!! Hope you are studying psychology!

I know I know how to save money (and all the theory about weight loss) but I am seriously lacking in the motivation stakes!!

However this challenge is really helping me to focus.

I have a lot of debt 'cos wanted to keep up our 'standard of living' when dear half gave up work following a nervous breakdown (you see - spending on others again) - he now has his own small handymen business & is much happier.
I am lucky 'cos I have a good salary, and have always been able to make payments, but this site has highlighted for me the amount of money I waste.
I will keep plugging away at it and have made a decision that as it is the thought that counts, rather than the money spent, to think more about others, rather than spend on them.
Hope that makes sense, I mean things like a letter or flowers from the garden, or just spending time with friends & family.

Purpleroses

Hey all
Not spent anything this weekend been very boring actually! went for a walk to the well and carried 2 2l bottles of fresh water home, my arms are killing me! think i may do this more often actually!

ShirleyPark_2

Had a bit of a spend today, I spent £7.74 of my house/garden money on stuff for the garden, though not until I'd painted the rest of the fence though.

Also did a grocery shop and I really wanted something nice, so instead of getting a 2l bottle of pepsi max I got 2 2l bottles of tesco's own stuff (tropical and summerfruits) and a value packet of bourbon biscuits (so I have something nice for during the week even if it is just a biscuit), total spend £1.22 compared to £1.28 for a bottle of pepsi max and I get way more. Although that's going to come out of the grocery budget anyway, I'm still going to count it as it wasn't essential, but I'm pleased that I got more for my money than I would have done previously when I won't have even thought twice about getting a bottle of pepsi max.

Seaxwyn - you can get some information from this site without having to pay
http://www.1901census.nationalarchives.gov.uk/main.asp?wci=welcome