Fiscal Fast – 7 days no spending (at all)

Ninno820

Evening - another NSD declared here. I have also sold a couple more patterns via facebook so my total so far is £9 - you're right - its creeping up! My plan is to reach £100 and then pay towards a cc bill.


Tea tonight was a repeat of last nights - the beauty of living on your own - and I'm about to fee some rather inadequate meatballs from the freezer to cook in the slow cooker with an onion, tin of beans and some herbs for tomorrow nights tea. Ontheir own the meatballs are not much but palatable when I cook them in some form of sauce. Not only that they were 50p for a bag of 40 (small meatballs, used money off voucher). should get at least 4 meals from there!

GreyQueen

The improvised curry recipe (with peaches and chickpeas) was lush and there is enough left over for tomorrow, which is pleasing. So glad I attempted it (am not a confident cook).

Charlton_King

How much of this is actually just deferred spending?

I don't wish to rain on anyone's parade but it strikes me that using up things in the house is all very well but represents no saving whatsoever if eventually they're going to have to be replaced.

Ninno820

I understand your point but in my case I have built up a stock which I would overlook and end up throwing out. True - I shouldn't have bought the stuff in the first place but I did - so let's use it. There are also times when saving one or two months salary may be of use - holidays, paying off debts etc. being frugal, to me, may not be a forever position but it is a way of life that makes you stop and think - using what you have already rather than buying your way out of trouble.

Alan_Cross

Ninno820 wrote: »

I understand your point but in my case I have built up a stock which I would overlook and end up throwing out. True - I shouldn't have bought the stuff in the first place but I did - so let's use it. There are also times when saving one or two months salary may be of use - holidays, paying off debts etc. being frugal, to me, may not be a forever position but it is a way of life that makes you stop and think - using what you have already rather than buying your way out of trouble.

I think that the whole point is that 'building up a stock' is indeed, in all but name, 'buying your way out of trouble'. You've paid for that stock and you're kidding yourself if you think you're actually saving.

[Deleted User]

Alan_Cross wrote: »

I think that the whole point is that 'building up a stock' is indeed, in all but name, 'buying your way out of trouble'. You've paid for that stock and you're kidding yourself if you think you're actually saving.

of course you are saving money as what you have to pay for it today is probably more than you paid for it when you bought it.I bought two large packs of loo rolls (24) a few months ago in a local store they cost me £4.50 They now are on sale ,same brand,same size in the same store at £5.99 so eventually ,probably by the time I have used them up they will have gone up in price even more so at the moment I am saving on todays price £2.98 over the cost of storing them at home for later use.I have quite a bit of stuff stored away(I think I was a squirrel in a previous existance:):)) and to me thats how I can save cash .

skogar

I think it depends, it is money saving to have a hunt round and check what needs using up especially fresh things. Yes you've already bought it but if it ends up in the bin it's throwing that money away. Also putting off going shopping can be money saving as it encourages you to check through cupboards / fridges and look for things that need using up and maybe gives people a little more incentive to be creative and try and use things they have.

Also if you go into the shop you are more likely to pick up a couple of extra things so it does often mean that you spend more even if you don't mean to. Of course people who are very disciplined may not have this problem and for them it won't make much of a difference.

Frugalsod

skogar wrote: »

I think it depends, it is money saving to have a hunt round and check what needs using up especially fresh things. Yes you've already bought it but if it ends up in the bin it's throwing that money away. Also putting off going shopping can be money saving as it encourages you to check through cupboards / fridges and look for things that need using up and maybe gives people a little more incentive to be creative and try and use things they have.

Also if you go into the shop you are more likely to pick up a couple of extra things so it does often mean that you spend more even if you don't mean to. Of course people who are very disciplined may not have this problem and for them it won't make much of a difference.

There is a solution to that and that is to only take enough cash to buy exactly what you want on that trip. It makes over buying next to impossible.

Ninno820

After that healthy discussion - I can see both points of view to be truthful - dare I admit that I spent money today? I was given a rare treat to waitrose today so bought a couple of treats for the freezer.

GreyQueen

Charlton_King wrote: »

How much of this is actually just deferred spending?

I don't wish to rain on anyone's parade but it strikes me that using up things in the house is all very well but represents no saving whatsoever if eventually they're going to have to be replaced.

It's a valid comment.

Some people may be so incredibly disciplined that they never built up a surplus of anything, whether foodstuffs, toiletries, apparel, reading or viewing materials. They have just the right amount of all kinds of stuff, at all times, with zero waste and zero hoardings.

I must say that I have never in my life encountered one of these paragons. Most of us are lesser mortals. We carry grocery items across from week to week, we may have the gift-set toiletries which aren't what we'd've chosen ourselves but are perfectly servicable. Etc etc.

So we do have more in our lives than is needed for immediate consumption, and some find it valuable to use this method to catch up with our household supplies, to appreciate what we have, and to use it efficiently.

Eventually, many (but not all) of the things which are used up will be replaced, yes, but as we're mostly flawed human beings, not paragons, we will tend to acquire random excess items whenever we're in a shopping environment. Therefore, by limiting our exposure to those environments, we limit the opportunities for more of our money to be spent on more Stuff.

There is also the side to the issue in that we are deprogramming ourselves from the consumer culture, desensitising ourselves from advertising, learning to enjoy other things than spending money. This is a valuable lesson which can save you eye-watering amounts of money over a lifetime.