Fiscal Fast – 7 days no spending (at all)

craigywv

Hi all been awol for a few days ebaying and such like. I caved in today and went to asda i needed to buy manchild some new combats and slippers , ended up spending a bit more, 94 quid to be exact thats all the christmas presents in and all the sweets also got the ham in for boxing day and i got a few butters for the freezer, i know it sound s a lot but i have ebayed a good bit and this is from that. I didnt buy any food at all only the ham and 2 milk, still emptying freezers. Tomorrow is lentil soup and a ham shank i excavated from back of one freezer, this will do for tea tomorrow night with a spud and hm crusty loaf still no spending.fancy baking over the weekend maybe a cherry cake and some jam buns, got all ingredientsin. Your all doing great the nights are so dark now i just want to sit and eat!well i away now have a good night all xxx

GreyQueen

I made a fast pass thru a small Tosspots on my way home from work and was pleased to find their chilled indian meals at half price (I use these as takeaway substitutes for a rare treat, but only ever at half price) and I had a voucher for 70p, bringing the item down to 95p.

As I find the portion size over-large, I intend to eat half of it tomorrow and freeze half of it uncooked for another day, giving me too tasty meals for under 50p, with some h.g. veg from the allotment.

I'm working backwards from a £20 note for my food spends (normality is circa £50 a month) to see what I can do. As it is an intellectual exercise, I won't panic if I run over-budget, but will be interested to see how far it goes.

Weather permitting, I shall go to a sports shop which sells archery equipment tomorrow to get something tweaked (c.s. purchase, needs some small 'ponents) and purchase an accessory. Other than that, and a bus fare to visit family to go to a funeral, I haven't spent anything this month yet.

Being out of town for the funeral meant I missed archery, and the bus fare and the class fee were the same to the penny, which amused me slightly. Funny how the money goes.

Tomorrow I shall be putting my meter readings into my online account and shortly afterwards, they'll prepare my bill, which I will aslo pay online. No sense in being profligate with postage stamps, hey?

Keep up the good work, everybody. GQ xx

[Deleted User]

Good Morning fellow frugallers, well day nine and still only spent £2.00 so far this month.My shopping list is getting long though ,so tomorrow is the day of the 'big shop' I am keeping it as frugal as I can and only buying essentials at least.I hope to do it for around £25 or under ,fingers crossed.mostly salad ,cheese,fresh fruit and veg etc no meat to buy as I'm still wading through the freezerstill 20 odd days until the end of the month so almost a third of the way through.DD gave me an avocado that DGS decided he couldn't be bothered to wait for it to ripen so thats in my fridge and will be used at some point this week.No one else in his family like them and he knows that I do which was nice as at first he was going to bin it !!!.mixed with half a tin of tuna and some chilli mayo dressingit will go down a treat possibly on Tuesday with some salad .Free dinner almost :):) Thanks Danny :):)Right time to get baking as my cake tins are empty and also the biscuits tins as well.
Cheers everyone keep up the good works
JackieO xxx

craigywv

Jackie I put avocados on windowsill it softens them far quicker, I love them but only buy when in ys as so expensive enjoy it! yesterday made cherry cake it was lovely, today have choc fudge cake on the go for afters. still have lentil soup left that will do a few lunches next week.pound shop over here are doing 1.4 kg sugar for a pooond got mum to get me 5 so will pay her out of next weeks money when I see her tues morning. also need fruit and veg and actimel. small enough spends for next week my food purse is bulging as I haven't spent anything substantial its great yayyyyyyyyyyyy freezers still disgracefully full so shall plunder them before buying any meat/fish. have a great day all xxx

craigywv

Hello all very quiet on here had to go to page 4 to find you all again!well spent 5.00 on the sugar i got mum to get me and a further 10.75 in that dashing german shopping place. Got fruit and veg, black pudding boke boke boke oh loves it, and some lemonade hidden in back of shed from greedy boys . Oh birthday tomorrow so we having 2 ys lamb shanks i got a while back will put in sc in morning with veg and gravy ,will do roast potatoes, mashed turnip and yp and cauli cheese, manchild will have all the above omitting the lamb he not too fussed on that he can have some bacon. Oh is on night shift this week so we will have his dinner and i making a cake while he is sleeping tomorrow think a choc flake one and fresh cream. Still banging away at the freezers still seem to be putting more in again than taking out as i baking pies etc now , pasta sauces and hm garlic bread. If anyone likes shortbread our pound shop is selling a good big packet of it for a quid i got 3 for christmas pressies last week ,opened one and they are really lovely name is royal caledonian ,think school teachers will be getting some. Hope your all well xxx

Bobarella

How do you guys run this challenge exactly? Do you just pick 7 days and fast for them or must they be certain days of the month?

craigywv

bobarella wrote: »

how do you guys run this challenge exactly? Do you just pick 7 days and fast for them or must they be certain days of the month?

hi , i just start say today and use up everything i have in freezers, fridges, cupboards etc. I try not to go near shops at all. Just start on day that suits you and use p what you have in. I have 3 freezers and need to defrost 2 very soon as build up of ice is awful so have to defrost asap so im only buyinf milk fruit/veg and yogurts until i can defrost at least one freezer. Hth

Frugalsod

Bobarella wrote: »

How do you guys run this challenge exactly? Do you just pick 7 days and fast for them or must they be certain days of the month?

They can be any 7 days that you like and start whenever you like. The purpose is to cut discretionary spending. So you can exclude things that you have to spend or group them together.

One thing that works for me is to have a notice board with what I want to get and a rough budget and then to save up for it by saving say £50 a week. Then each week that goes past without spending gives me a £50 tick against the total. So a new TV might be £300 but will require 6 ticks or weeks to save up for. Then I continue with everything else on the list in order of priority. If I actually need to spend the money on that item then I wipe the item off the board. Over time I will accumulate savings for what ever I need and so not need to get into debt for it. It also makes you think about what you actually need now, and what can be delayed. It can also be used as you pay down debt on a credit card. Just make sure that you make allowance for interest.

[Deleted User]

Good Morning chums and its day 12 and I have just been to the shops first thing this morning so I have spent a huge amount (£24.70) so just under my £25.00 estimate .But I have managed to get so much for that and fingers crossed I will be able to stay away from the shops for at least another 7-10 days I have spent in total this month £26.70 which I am happy with I even managed to treat myself to three lamb chops at £2.21.Lots of fruit and veg and I even tucked two packets of frozen puff pastry away in the freezer towards the Christmas sausage rolls.So 12 out of 30 days gone from my November challenge and 18 more days to go.That's my shopping done and put away and the freezer is looking fairly full again.Now I am just going to sort out a menu for the next week using up fresh stuff first of course.This afternoon I have a U3A meeting to go to so a nice cuppa and a natter with free biscuits and tea thrown in .:):)
Onwards and upwards chums

craigywv

helloooooooooooooooooooooooooooo is there anybody out thereeeeeeeeeeeeee xxxxxx only joking , today I have been a sinner I wantonly went to m and s and spent 46 quid on the most luxurious ready prepared food!!!!!!!!!!!! mashed spuds,yorkshire puds etc oh and croquettes not to mention the cakes tins of biscuits and everything else. all hiding in freezers apart from the tins of biscuits. I paid grand sum of 6 quid for it all as I have done an exuberant amount of surveys in the past 3 weeks and amassed 40 quid in e tokens so printed tokens out and off I went! I can say that's me done for Christmas now,i radiating in happiness (I don't get out much)I can sit back and enjoy it this year yayyyyyyyyyyyyy. I will still continue to eat out of the freezers and keep my food budget money / week in food purse,. this year I hosting Boxing day dinner its not till 5pm so I am planning to be in mr t at 11 am when it opens to get ys stuff, yes im prob being greedy but I have scrimped and saved all year and hopefully will get enough to tide over a few months. I do this every year and love it. well in sc have a massive garlic chicken which will do dinner tomorrow and make a few pies for freezer and soup with the bones. found a bag of cherries in a tub in cupboard so think shall do scones next week to use them up . have a lovely weekend folks xxx