Fiscal Fast – 7 days no spending (at all)

threepenny_bit

Day 2 down and I stayed home so didn't get tempted by shopping. We had fish and chips from the freezer and I found lots of things in there that I had forgotten about. We are having pasta and sauce tomorrow and some nice garlic bread - may make an apple sponge for pudding as I found lots of stewed apple from last year that I had totally forgotten about. There was a lot of rhubarb also so think we will have crumble during the week, I may make some and put away for future dinners.
It is easier to organize meals as I am on Summer vacation but if I was at work I would be more tempted to stop at the shops and get something for Tea.

[Deleted User]

Morning chums,another beautiful day ahead by the look of the sun on the River Medway that I can see from my study window.

Today my DD has a day off from work, so we are taking a picnic and flask and taking three of her children to Tilbury Fort as one of them Jack wants to go there.DD has sorted the picnic stuff out and I only have to supply the flask of coffee and my car (not a problem as I 'tanked up with diesel' last week for the month and haven't really been too far since

I have an English Heritage card with all the boys plus DD on it, so no admission fees to find , so its going to be an inexpensive day out (fingers crossed :):))

I have dug a curry from the freezer which will do me for tonight's dinner and I have plenty of rice to bulk it out a bit.pudding will probably be some tinned fruit from my stash.

Hanging on to my left over loot from my July food purse and will use it towards August. Only have a couple of weeks then we all go on holiday on the 15th until the end of the month so ekeing it out until the holiday, saves me drawing anything out from my account.

I have so much stuff stashed indoors that its not too hard to eke :):):)

Onwards and upwards chums we are all doing suprisingly well.

Have a good day and hopefully the sun will shine down on us all today
Cheers chums JackieO xxx

gien

Glad that you are having a sunny day Jackie, here it's overcast and a bit drizzly.

I discovered a huge amount of veg in the garden - broccoli, tomatoes, french beans, celery, beetroot, leeks - all deliciously fresh and free (although I probably spend more on seeds than I save!). So getting enough veg isn't going to be a problem for a while.

Yesterday was spend free but today I went to the supermarket and got some fruit - only 3.70 worth and I found a pat of butter in the freezer so need to buy that.

later I'm going to bake a cake I think, will be nice for dessert.

threepenny_bit

Day 3 done - wasn't so worried about buying things today. I went to get petrol and had no interest in popping into the supermarket and checking out the aisles
Maybe 7 days is possible after all

[Deleted User]

Last day of the month and nothing bought ,so only two days this month when I actually went to the shops.:):)

I have sorted out my menu plan for the next two weeks and will shop for definite this Saturday as DD needs a lift into her Maidstone office for work, so I''ll pop into Maidstone Lid*s on the way back.Then that hopefully will be my only shop needed in August as I am away on my holidays from the 15th until the end of August :):)So what I have left in my food purse from July will definitely be more than enough for this Saturdays shop :):)

Almost starting to see small gaps on the top shelf of one of my store cupboards and will do an inventory on Friday night to see what I have still got in my stores.Frezzer is still looking full ,only not quite so 'crammed' as it was.
JackieO xx

hoglet121

Big shop today $124 including all food, some wine, 1 beer 1 cider, cat food and toiletries.

Curry from the freezer for dinner then delicious pudding - using up crusty honey that I had to cut the bottle to get to, floppy rhubarb and some well past it brownie that I baked all together in the oven. There's enough left for tomorrow too and DH loved it.

I'm off to the food show this weekend but I shan't be buying anything,just my ticket and enjoying all the samples of food and wine (and car pooling with friends) , I need fuel DH needs a quick hair cut and 2 of the cats need their annual injections this weekend. Nothing else shall be bought!

GreyQueen

Well, just had an arrangement for a ride out of town fall through, due to very understandable reasons with the other party, so won't be going to archery club tonight, which means am £10 ahead of the game. Which means, ta dah! that today is an NSD and we are at the end of July.

With great fanfare (sniggering) here is the accounts for the month, exluding rent, council tax, and utility bills.

Food £15.10, archery lessons, £30, busfare £7.50, toiletries £3.39, gardening £6.00, homemaking £2.50, clothes £1, treats £2.20, gifts and cards £1.50, OTC medicine £1.30 making a shocking total of £70.49.

Hmmm, that could have been better done. I stocked up on deodorant at special offer, so that's that sorted for 2014. The gardening expense was 2 x £3 bean wigwams, reduced to a quarter of full retail. They won't be used until next summer but my present bamboo wigwams are deterioating and I lose a few each season. The gift cards weren't strictly necessary now, but they have birds on and I have lots of birdy-friends who would enjoy them and for whom I do cards anyway. Lovely cards worked out at 8p per card. I could have forgone the £2.20 treats which was a cider and some chocolate, and probably should, but what the heck.

Archery is an indulgence, the only thing I do which involves me spending money regularly, but of course, would have been forgone in a crisis.

Actually, most of my expenditures could have been forgone. I have ended the month with a fridge full of food and have spent less half of what I earned (on everything inc bills).

Now, let's kick some money-saving butt in August.

hoglet121

Congratulations GreyQueen! What a great set of figures :-) I also have plans for money-saving butt kicking in August!!

Miaow121

I'm a student so I pretty much do this all the time! My OH was awful for "popping to the shops" though - before he met me he and his housemate would go to the shop on their way home from Uni and buy what they wanted for that night and the next morning's breakfast - every single day!

When I lived next door to a well-known supermarket I too used to be a bit naughty, but now we shop in the first week of every month, and buy whatever we will need for the whole month. The only things we are allowed to buy during the month are milk and bread. Our total spend on food together is now 2/3 my OH's when he was single!

I like the idea of a complete fiscal fast though- sometimes when you are on campus and have been in clinics all day it is so easy to buy a coffee from across the road or a cake from the charity stand. I'm going to give it a go!

Upsidedown_Bear

GreyQueen wrote: »

Well, just had an arrangement for a ride out of town fall through, due to very understandable reasons with the other party, so won't be going to archery club tonight, which means am £10 ahead of the game. Which means, ta dah! that today is an NSD and we are at the end of July.

With great fanfare (sniggering) here is the accounts for the month, exluding rent, council tax, and utility bills.

Food £15.10, archery lessons, £30, busfare £7.50, toiletries £3.39, gardening £6.00, homemaking £2.50, clothes £1, treats £2.20, gifts and cards £1.50, OTC medicine £1.30 making a shocking total of £70.49.

Hmmm, that could have been better done. I stocked up on deodorant at special offer, so that's that sorted for 2014. The gardening expense was 2 x £3 bean wigwams, reduced to a quarter of full retail. They won't be used until next summer but my present bamboo wigwams are deterioating and I lose a few each season. The gift cards weren't strictly necessary now, but they have birds on and I have lots of birdy-friends who would enjoy them and for whom I do cards anyway. Lovely cards worked out at 8p per card. I could have forgone the £2.20 treats which was a cider and some chocolate, and probably should, but what the heck.

Archery is an indulgence, the only thing I do which involves me spending money regularly, but of course, would have been forgone in a crisis.

Actually, most of my expenditures could have been forgone. I have ended the month with a fridge full of food and have spent less half of what I earned (on everything inc bills).

Now, let's kick some money-saving butt in August.

Delurking to make sure you get your fanfare as you deserve it