Fiscal Fast – 7 days no spending (at all)

lisakay_2

:mad: DH forgot to get his mum a mothers day card, which meant I had to go to the co op and buy a hallmark card £3-bloody-50!!! AND i had to take it round. so not a no spend day, but I did have to walk past a trolley of reduced stuff by the till and i still bought just the card, so pleased with that at least.
KIds have had sausage mash and veg for their tea and I did extra mash so they can have croquettes for tea tomorrow, with a piece of random from the freezer. I think it's white fish;).
I think I fancy some salad for my tea, but I'll do it when the kids are in bed now, and I'll sow a few more lettuce seeds while I remember, I hate having to buy it when it's so easy to grow.

we made carrot muffins yesterday and some coleslaw with some VERY manky carrots and cabbage that I found lurking in a bag in the garage. I've eaten 3 of the muffins already today:o, if there's any left they can go in the kids butty boxes!

I can't think of anything coming up in the next week or so that will make me spend money so I'm going to try and go to the end of the month instead of just payday on the 25th, it's not that much longer:cool:

Best wishes to all, keep it going:D

lisakay_2

Wuf wuf and i wantid to go out to play but we cudnot go out to play becos we had jobs to be good.i went to my nanna and gave her a mothersday card and flowers and she likde them.
From bethany
xxx

modern_millie_2

Well, FF has gone for a burton today - this morning I thought (!) I read in the paper that alcoholic drinks were going to be priced per unit at approx 50p per unit, from Wednesday's budget. Worked this out as really substantial increase on cider and wine, so took some Mr T vouchers and some cash, and stocked up.
Came home and read the article again - likely to be implemented in 2014!!!!:o Oh dear. If there is a plus, used a voucher which ran out today, and also stocked up on cat food - but I do feel a fool. Will make sure I read the small print next time!

So I am starting afresh tomorrow, will definitely be aiming for only spending a £10 voucher I have this week, and as many NSDs as I can manage.

Mung beans have shooted/shot - looking good.

Well done Ninno on completing 7 days! Re: firelighters - we also use insides of toilet rolls stuffed with contents of the shredder, after shredding documents.

Hi Bethany:j sounds like you've been really helpful today.
Lovely to see more joining the thread.

lisakay_2

errrm, just popped back on to see if there were any more posts (because i'm finding this a bit addictive:rotfl:) and noticed that it is not a good idea to leave laptop unattended while I go to run a bath for the kids, lol!
She's a right little monkey, she'll be really chuffed to see she's got a reply! I can't believe she managed to post! And just for the record, i'm not an evil mother, and i know the weather was lovely, i would've loved to have gone out to play too, but the beasties had trashed their bedroom...completely. even after being on at them all day i can only just see the floor. they are now under threat of daddy going up with a bin bag and getting rid of all of their toys.
I wonder if she's the youngest MSE-er?
she told me before that she would like to cook tea tomorrow, she wants me to teach her how to make lasagne and christmas dinner...she's 6:eek:. she can already make herself an omelette and cheese on toast (under supervision). maybe we have the next nigella on our hands:DRight, must go and get some jobs done, but I'm sure I'll be back on again before I go to bed!!

westlothianlass

Hi all,
Had to get some shopping in last night as we had ran out of a number of bits and bobs, but hope that will be it for the next week. I've got a meal plan and enough baking stuff to make some treats to keep everyone going (especially my 6ft4 teenager):rotfl:.
Was chuffed with the response to my make do tea tonight. I defrosted some cooked ham and made a ham and mushroom pie which got lots of yum votes.
It's amazing how this challenge focuses the mind, i feel slightly possessed by the idea of not spending .
Hope everyone had a lovely day.
x

Spendless

What a great thread :T have been reading it all afternoon on and off (pesky kids wanting to go on PC ). We had a 'windfall' aka a critical life cover pay-out last December which has made us debt free on cc :j, we didn't have any loans and is offsetting over 1/2 of our mortgage as well as spending a little bit - new big tv for Mr S, replace my written off a year ago car for me. Unfortunately the same week the cheque came I lost my job when my employer lost their contract. I have refused to pay off our overdraft with savings as we need to learn to budget, on paper it should be a doddle, the reality is something different and we need to work out what we are doing - going to the cash machine too often I suspect.

I have to work out how to make the challenge work for me though. I have a 12 yo who requires bus fares etc so i'd prob just put that to one side weekly. I also have an elderly grandmother recently out of hospital who I take grocery shopping once a week, she treats me to a meal afterwards as a thank you. Whilst I don't *have* to shop at the same time, I think she would feel pretty uncomfortable if I wasn't doing so and that she was being a burden, so I think I will compromise with that with just adding any ness top ups by any vouchers I have.

I have plenty of milk but not a great deal of bread- though I've come across 1/2 pack of bread mix left from DS's cookery class and I forgot to buy eggs last week.:mad:

Someone earlier in the thread mentioned de-cluttering. I've been doing this since I stopped work and the things I've found that have saved money. :eek: DS's bus pass was the first thing- in DD's top toy box (and she's not tall enough to reach it :huh: ) saving me £5 replacement fee, about 3 or 4 full packs of sanitary towels and a whole bag full of shoes, which I sort of 'knew' were there. A few years back sis-in-law helped a shop-o-holic woman move house and she passed a load of things on including a bag full of shoes in my size with the labels still on. Mostley sandall type shoes but I shouldn't need to buy myself any footwear all summer. :money:

Love the little one posting. I have a very internet savvy 8year old, who once claimed she had set up her own twitter account.:cool: I had to ask DH who works in IT to look into her claim.:rotfl:

[Deleted User]

OK chums so Monday morning and No3 NSD today as I managed to get through Sat & Sunday and not get near to the shops.Dinner tonight will be chicken curry from the freezer, and rice from the cupboard.
Lunch will be a wrap and some left over HM soup from yesterday(leek and potato)
I still have four apples and orange and five bananas in the fruit bowl plus some grapes in the fridge so I'm o.k. for fruit for now. I shall ration it out over the week so I can wait until Saturday before shopping.Veg wise I have quite a bit in the freezer, running a bit low on potato's but its not a problem as I have some mash in the freezer and I can always substitute pasta or rice mid-week.
Good luck everyone
JackieO xx

taplady

lisakay - well done to little Bethany for posting :T- its never too early to teach her some old style ways which will put her in good stead for her future:)

Work for me today - hoping for a NSD.

Have a great day Fiscal Friends:) x

determined_new_ms

Morning so day 3 food wise for me and still going strong (yesterday while out with dd and seeing ds I spent £8, but took a drink and sandwiches for me and dd for the journey so was not as expensive as I had thought). It was a week ago that I last did our food shopping but spent more than I wanted to then. Freezer definitely has enough meat and bits and bobs, have run out of bread but going to make a loaf in a bit before work. Fruit is going to have to be tinned, although I have loads and loads of frozen bananas in the freezer so we could have smoothies for breafast to get 1/5! Milk has now run out but I am loving the carnations in coffee! Although I have now run out of coffee! Have decided I will just drink it at work until I go shopping next.

Last night I made roast and doubled up the amount of potatoes and froze half parboiled.

For lunch today I have a portion of spicy tom soup out of the freezer, tinned peaches and yogurt. Dinner will be jackets, beans and cheese I think. Easy NSD today! I think we can definitely last until Wed or Thurs without milk and fruit although just realised we have run out of toilet roll...

Am going to walk to work all week so the £15 of petrol I put in yesterday should last me for 2 weeks instead of 1!

Am loving the FF!

Kiwisaver_2

End of day three for me and already my fingers are getting itchy thinking about how I will spend my precious $21 (Ten quid) on Friday. :rotfl:Have now put that money to one side as a reminder that's all there is between now and the end of the month.

determined_new_ms wrote: »

I have been going through a rough time recently and have been spending money out of escapism but its got out of hand!

Hi DNMS, hope you're alright m'dear. :wave:

JackieO wrote: »

I have just done my menu for dinners for me for the coming week and everything on there is coming out of my freezer so a week of non-spending is definitely on the cards, plus it will help to reduce my over-stuffed freezer

I did similar yesterday and should essentially be able to make it through to 30th March with main meals from things in the fridge and freezer, before things start to get difficult and/or weird. Tonight's dinner was cheese on toast and soup from the freezer. Have heaps of cheese because it's been off-limits due to dieting.

Although I have my $21 put by and will try my best not to spend it all at once, but come Friday I will need at least bread and milk and maybe some fruit and veg to last the second week.