Fiscal Fast – 7 days no spending (at all)

[Deleted User]

Thanks chums.I seem to adopt several folk on here at various intervals :) streetching to cash to spend on other things is almost second nature to me after all these years :) and it soon becomes a habit (good one too :))

I am glad I can keep you all inspired to hang onto you cash. I have always tried to have a little bit of 'Happy Cash' to keep seperate for times when you sometimes just need a pick-me-up.When we went to datfors this afternoon we went past where I used to go with the girls 40+ years ago to pick up my family allowance (In those days it was about 8/- a week (40p) not a lot but it helped on a Tuesday morning sometimes when there was too much month left until the end of the month IYKWIM :)on slightly better off days I would treat the kids to an iced bun from the shop (it was a bakers/grocers !!! post-office )and we all chorused as we drove past 'Oh there was the bun shop for Fam-allowance day :)' They still remembered after all these years .An iced bun with a cuppa was a treat then when times were tough and the mortgage hit 15% interest rates in the mid 1970s So happy cash is important no matter how broke you are ,even a small treat makes you feel a bit brighter and I still carry on with my happy-cash-stash even today :)
so onwards and upwards chums as its been said before 'Tomorrow is another day' :):) and one closer to the next payday :):)

E2006

Day 3 here. Im starting to run out of bits and bobs - like juice, we are drinking tap water at the minute which is a first in this house - Im hoping I can make it to Saturday when I will need a very small shop of fruit, eggs and a couple of large potatoes from the grocers then will go from then until the following weekend so that will be 12-13 days on only a very small shop in the middle. That for us is amazing! DH tells me he is well and truly on board with this but time will tell. In any case Im really enjoying this (even though I'm only a few days in).


E x

kackleful

Love reading Jackie O! So inspiring! Many thanks!

craigywv

sons sports day today so we having a picnic on the playing fields after,just hm saus rolls and pasta salad and cake. tea tonight is gammon steaks,fried eggs,mushrooms,potato bread and beans. fruit for afters. all from freezers and cupboards shall have a nsd today,have a lovely day all xxx

meg72

Well wont be making 10 days no spend as planned as it was day 7 yesterday and I spent 75p on mushrooms, they were reduced and I really wanted a mushroom omelette with bacon and tomatoes.
I am doing the slimming world plan so portioned the mushrooms out
so I had my omelette and will have another for lunch today and there was enough mushrooms to make a crustless quiche which does 4 portions, so cant regret the 75p and will now see how long I can go again.

[Deleted User]

E2006 well done on resisting the lure of the shops :) water won't hurt you and its best of all FREE :):) You are doing brilliantly and well done on getting OH onside it does help no end when you both have a common goal :)

craigwv fantastic doing a HM picnic for your son's Sports Day I know schools are struggling to make a few bob extra, and at my DGS primary school they do try to sell you watered down orange squash at sports day for 60p a plastic tiny cup !!! I don't think :) so I usually make up a couple of bottles the night before and bung them in the fridge Or if I have the room the freezer, so by the time Sports Day starts I have a couple of bottles of very cold squash from home that's not costing my anything.I see Mums at the fields trying to scratch around to get extra cash for several little ones drinks .I am a great believer if I have it at home and can take it with me then I will.I always try to keep a couple of bottles of cold water in the fridge anyway as I like cold drinks to be really cold :):)

meg72 Well done for getting as far as you have and the 75p mushrooms willstretch to 6 meals is great and its about making your 75p do the job of £1.50 if you can I envy you getting such a bargain.I do try to spot things like this if I can.I have in the past bought a bag of bashed-about mushrooms reduced and once home peeled and sliced they are brilliant for quiches and omelettes I also freeze any spare in a small tub to chuck into spag bol sauces or casseroles.

My celery soup is all portioned up and I have more than enough to last for the rest of the week.
This morning for breakfast I had a handful of bran flakes and a scruched up weetabix with some skimmed milk and a small chopped banana and thats filled me up so much I won't need a mid morning snack I was starting to run a bit low on bran flakes and so I thought I would bulk it out a bit with a weetabix.I did this yesterday and found it really did fill me up until lunchtime .So on my list at the moment for the weekend is cornflour ,bran flakes,low fat yoghurt (45p) basic in Tesco's :)

I was going to put SR flour on the list but as I have a large bag of plain flour to use up I will do as I did last week when baking and just add baking powder to it. I will need some milk probably and maybe some fresh veg but I'll wait and see if I can wait until Saturday or Sunday before shopping.Definitely no shopping today

Lunch will be HM soup,crackers and cheese with a sliced tomato on top and a pear from the fridge .

Dinner tonight will be a large salad with a tin of spicy sardines that I dug out of my stores, still in date as well which is a result :) although I don't take a lot of notice about dates.


I must use up the blueberries I have in the fridge, also the white grapes are starting to get a bit soft so I will think of a dessert that I can make with them I know my DGS said blueberries are good for you but to be honest I think they are a bit like the Emporers New Clothes
Folk say they are brilliant, but maybe its me, I just find them a bit tasteless.Anyone else think the same or have you an idea that I can use to 'perk' them up a bit.

After rearranging my food stocks last Saturday I seem to have quite a bit of tinned evaporated milk in store. I also have some pudding rice so I may chuck the slow cooker on this afternoon and do a rice pud. I can make a big one and throw some sultanas in it as well as some cinnamon spice and a large tin of evap.milk will make me a 2 pint rice pud which will do for puddings for the rest of the week, so I can maybe wait until Sunday before buying the Yoghurt.
I use the basic low fat yoghurt for so many things.with fruit as a pudding or in cooking a bit like creme fraiche.but a lot cheaper :)I like to try and juggle things around a bit to utilise what I have in store if I can.
Anyway enough of the blethering,onwards and upwards fellow frugallers :):)
Cheers JackieO xxx

E2006

JackieO wrote: »

E2006 well done on resisting the lure of the shops :) water won't hurt you and its best of all FREE :):) You are doing brilliantly and well done on getting OH onside it does help no end when you both have a common goal :)


Cheers JackieO xxx

AW thank you JackieO, unfortunately I've succumbed to the shops, well... didn't really have a choice this time - I ran out of DD's (1yr) nappies. So I bought everything I was planning to get on Saturday and the plan now is that this will last me the next 8 days, if I do it will still only be one grocery shop within 12-13 days its just I will have done it a little earlier. Ive bought some tinned pineapple too for when I run out of fresh fruit, and have bought some cheap choccy biscuits on offer as a treat in the boys' packed lunches which Ive now hidden to make sure they last all of next week (I know I should bake my own, but honestly baking is something I just cant do. I follow the recipe to the letter and they never seem to come out right. I cook most of what we eat from scratch so am no novice in the kitchen, but just cant crack baking for some reason!!).


Lunch today is some left over tuna from the fridge in a warburtons thin from the freezer. Dinner is good old bacon (pack in the freezer), eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes and toast mmmm.


Have a good day all


E x

peony40

Hello all, nice to have company here.

Day 5 of my FF and all is going ok. Will be popping out tomorrow as I need butter, potatoes, tinned fruit, disinfectant and some bits from the chemist. Should be a smallish spend so happy with this.

Still catching up with everyone's news as not long been home from visiting my parents.

Need to press on and tidy up kitchen (enjoying my new stove as it has a double oven and never had one before.). Then need to work out what to have for dinner. Cannot decide between mince and pasta or meatloaf.

Bye for now.

Peony x

malamay

Oooh peony, a double oven! I would love one of these, and have been mentally rearranging my kitchen to incorporate one (I'd want it mounted higher on the wall so I don't have to bend, but we don't have the space). Our house and kitchen are only just turning 5, so nothing is going to happen here for some time yet!

This is day 6 for me, and I think we're going shopping. I have some trousers to return, and a parcel to retrieve from M&S. Hubbs has been in dire need of trousers, and we found some cheap ones here that were ordered last week. With any luck I'll be able to resist buying, and will come home with more money than I started with!

Grocery wise we are still doing well. I am planning steaks on the BBQ tonight, so a nice easy meal where Hubbs will do most of the work!

Tomorrow we are going to a family garden party, so I might actually make the whole 7 days without spending! Fingers crossed..

peony40

Thanks Mal, I am enjoying the oven. In the past I have always had the eye level grill type ovens but they are hard to find these days.

It was nice to cook yesterday and have 4 working hobs instead of the 1!

Not a NSD today as I popped to the local shop and spent £28.48 on groceries. This leaves me with £71.52 to last until the 27th June.
I did forget to buy salad tomatoes and bananas so if we pass a larger supermarket this weekend I may pop in and pick them up.

However, I have avoided buying incidentals this month. I spent far too much in May on Amazon and wool sites, and this is what I am trying to avoid.

Good Luck all.