Fiscal Fast – 7 days no spending (at all)

thifty

Hi everyone,
Wondered if mind having another one on board? We have had to cut our spending due to me being a supply teacher and work not being too great so far. I have only worked 4 days since September and while I know my new contract starts at the beginning of November, it's a little scary to say the least. I have an allotment, 3 freezers, a cupboard full of HM jam and beetroot, can cook fairly well and like to bake so I'm raring to go! I meal planned and did our shop on Saturday but as I took my DD with me (I usually don't as she's 5 and never shuts up:D) I forgot to buy milk:eek: So I am going to buy some milk in tomorrow, then start my seven days if that's not cheating.
I have been sort of doing this in my own way, challenging myself to cheat the shops out of my money buy doing things like taking my travel mug full of coffee to swimming instead of buying inferior machine coffee, buying stuff in AlDi and only buying what is on the meal planned shopping list, so saving about £30 on what I normally would buy. DH is really behind me and the kids are getting used to it- puddings are their bug bear as they always want one!
Off to read some more of the thread now for inspiration:D

EricaDawnCali

Fiscal Fast Day: 3 So far so good. I have been doing a small inventory on things I have here in my appartment. I want to make this Fiscal Fast as long as I can! I need to save some Money as my Mom borrowed almost ALL of my emergency fund:(, and she still owes me.
I can actually see the back of my freezer and it has only been a few days. My freezer is very small. But, so far so good. I'm doing laundry at the moment. (ugh..) Although I save my change for that. I have to pay the machines here at my appartments but, I still consider it a no spend day! Yay!!:)
It is cold here and rained a little last night. The sun is trying to poke through the clouds, I sure hope it will be sunny tomorrow.
I have almost eaten all of the vegetables my Dad brought over from his garden, I still have a few squash that are starting to look a little sad. I will cook them up tonight.
Well I am off to knit my cotton towels. Take care everyone!! You can do it!! ((HUGS)) Erica

Secretstasher

Well another day not spending. Some jam made with strawberries I had In the fridge. Not quite 2 full jars, but still better than buying it and tastier too, even if I do say so myself
Hope everyone has had a good weekend. I will be preparing to go back to work tomorrow, so making some soup for my lunches and some cheese bread. Night all.

[Deleted User]

Monday day seven today and no spending today as this morning I have my knit and natter group.The tea is free so after I have dropped DGS at school I nip home to hopefully be able to hang out the washing then off to the library for my knitting group for the morning.Back for lunch and a quick whizz around with the vacuum then pick up dgs from school and back to their house until their Mum comes in at 6,30.So nowhere near a shop today.:):)I am eating from my store and freezer this week so fingers crossed I'll resist the lure of the shops :)Nothing of great need to buy anyway which helps.I have enough fresh milk and fruit and veg.My DDs in-laws gave me a huge bag of windfall apples which will keep me going this week for fruit,and yesterday youngest DD gave me a pack of yoghurts she wasn't keen on so not being one to turn things down I said thank you and brought them home.I had one last night and it was very nice.Black cherry(she had picked up by mistake)I will eat almost anything :) never been fussy,the result of war-time rationing I think :)
I have the last of the parsnip and apple soup for today and tomorrows lunch and I think I'll make some leek and potato tomorrow for my soup this week as I have three sorry-looking bendy leeks in the veg rack that need using up:):)a dollop of lazy garlic and a few spuds and voila another big pot of HM soup that costs pennies to make,thats lunches sorted for this week with some crispbread.I also have some wensleydale and cranberry crumbly cheese to use up so that will go in either a salad or on crispbreads.I have stopped eating bread and feel so much better with crackers far less bloated for a start and as I am dieting its better for me.
Start of a new week chums and only 70 odd days until Christmas so belt tighening is in full force for the next few weeks.:):)
Good luck everyone
JackieO xxx

Winchelsea

Hello all, just a quick check-in. Had to buy cat food and milk yesterday, and some stamps today, but am doing pretty well.

Knowing I've joined in on here again is a definite help, a bit of incentive not to open the purse unless I have to. I'm sure other people find the same.

I've still got plenty of veg in the bottom of the fridge, so made a nice stir fry to eat tonight, with some lentil Dahl that I'd cooked and frozen a few weeks ago. Actually tasted very good. Dessert was an apple off my tree. Oh, and I had some home-made bread with the stir fry, so a nice balanced meal.

EricaDawnCali

Fiscal Fast: Day 4
I had a small spend as I had no garlic or garlic powder so I had to get some as the recipie I am doing for Dinner requires it. I bought my garlic with cash.
I think paying for things in cash helps me to not over spend as with a bank card. I may have to try a cash only week or more. I find I think more about what I need to buy and how much the item is.
I took a little money out of my bank account to put away for an emergency. (It can't be touched otherwise.) I've been thinking about what to have for dinner, and I am thinking of having the rest of my squash and a spinach and fetta cheese sausage.
I am finding it hard to do this fiscal fast and I don't know why. Unnecessary worries come into my head and it is hard to get them to stop. Oh well, I'll just come on here and read the thread from the begining for inspiration.
I have finnished one of my cotton towels and am making a second. It might take me a while to make them but, that is ok. I hope everyone is having a good Fiscal Fast!!
Love, hugs and prayers, Erica Dawn

EricaDawnCali

I just cooked up an improvised dish using my Dad's squash.:) I grated the squash then beat some eggs, and mixed them together then added some season salt, pepper and parmesean cheese. It turned out delicious!!! I have leftovers that I plan on puting in a flour tortilla with some grated cheese for lunch.
I may have to do this again. I come up with some interesting dishes when I am bored.:)
I am starting to wonder if I can do the Fiscal Fast untill the 25th of this month? It seems like a long time until then. (sigh)
"I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!!" will be my mantra untill the date mentioned above.
I'll be checking this site quite often to keep myself going on the FF and for inspiration.
Take Care FF's!! (Your friend from across 'The Pond!')

[Deleted User]

EDC go girl you know you can do it if you try.Its only 10 days until the 25th.list what you have in stock and try to sort out a menu plan.
i.e.
Breakfast ----
Lunch ----
Dinner ----
I do this ,usually on a Sunday afternoon and have found it a great way to focus on whats in the cupboard and how to think of different ways to use it up. Its cold and wet and windy at the moment in the UK so HM soups feature for lunches quite a bit :) cheap to make and uses up veg that looks past its best.You have started already with your improvised squash and eggs and parmesan. It sounds really good and very tasty I think.When my children were small and there were several thin looking days ahead mealwise before pay day I would make odds and ends pie which was often literally that I would line a sponge/quiche tin with pastry and whatever was in the fridge I would bung in.so it maybe a finely chopped up onion fried in the fat of a couple of rashers of chopped up bacon.maybe a sliced up and gently sauteed sausage mix them all together and chuck in the pastry shell,some mashed spuds on the top and some grated cheese.Chuck in the oven until the pastry is cooked and voila you have a tasy savoury dish that you can have hot with gravy or cold with salad.If there were any left over cooked grren veg that would go in under the mash as well (I had secret ways of making my little ones eat their greens :))It was a case of streetching out what I had to make ends meet :) Everyone had odds and ends as a rule left over in the fridge and if you can wrap it up into a savoury filling so much the better If you are on your own as I am now I sometimes will just make a pastry round and fill it with odds and ends and turn it over in half so its a cresent shape and brush the top with milk or egg and cook it so its a pasty shape.This again can be eaten hot or cold I always think if you have cheese,eggs potatos and onions you can survive tough times or times when you want to make something out of almost nothing.I had a good teacher in my late Mum who endured years or war-time rationing and then another 9 years afterwards as rationing didn't finish in the UK until 1954.My old Mum god rest her could feed her family on very little and she was great at inventing different ways with some of the stuff she had in stock. I love to try mixing different things together to see how it works and will give anything a go .
I think I will try using up some of my left over cooked cabbage tonight with some left over cooked potato chop it all up and chuck in the pan with some diced onion hey presto what we call 'bubble and squeek' once browned off and crispy a poached egg on top and I will have used up my left overs for a cheap dinner.It is possible to eat quite well on next to nothing as long as its tasty :)

mam_of_five

oooh wow carnt believe Ive read this whole thread lol...will be trying this i used to do this many years ago, but over the years got into bad habits, 5 children 3 of the boys with autism and very fussy eaters, getting into menu planning again, and have to make sure there's something on the table for everyone, but would love to see how many days i can go without spending, shopping became a day out for me, especially when with mam as shes very slow around shops and so enables me to buy more, but this month experimented with online shopping and i do really spend less, 2 shops online and 2 in shop.
i had a nsd yesterday and hoping for one today too, see how we go , but im excited about this challenge and i think it help that its cold and dont want to venture out lol
well done to everyone whos doing well, and u have all been an ispiration to me thank you!!!

mumofthetwins

Hi everyone :wave:

Day 1 completed yesterday .... No spends ... Kids were moaning on for chocolate but I said no and at supper time they had some porridge instead ...

Day 2 today. I'm gonna make some scampi peas and chips for dinner save the skins for tomorrow and some cheesecake for afters (all already in)
Gonna make some HM cookies for supper with hot chocolate and hopefully have some left for packed lunch tomorrow

Just gotta keep away from the shops today

Lisa x