Fiscal Fast – 7 days no spending (at all)

thriftymoo

Morning all!

Just wanted to say a huge well done to everyone, its very inspiring to read and I've learnt so much!

I did slip up yesterday but I knew that I would have to have one spend day before pay day. Its bf's b'day on wed and I had to get him a card etc to go with the pressies I had already bought. I needed some cleaning stuff so bought it all yesterday to stop me going back to shops over the weekend. Only spent about £10 in total so not too bad.

Did manage to get some banana cake and carrot soup made yesterday using some stuff that didnt have long left! Yummy low fat food yey!

[Deleted User]

Day seven today and definitely no shopping for me I have History club this afternoon and this morning I have just got to whizz through the sitting room with the vacuum and flick the duster here and there (you can tell housework doesn't interest me much :))Then I am all ready for the weekend.I don't like to do anything to strenuous at the week-ends as I am always so busy during the week so weekends are a break from routine.Tomorrow I shall do my miniscule amount of shopping that I need to get,I am really cutting back as I only have five weeks until I go on my holiday to Dorset so the less I spend now, the more I have to spend then :)I shall shortly be doing my menu for the coming week,I still have a pack and a half of wraps in the freezer to get though so that will be lunches taken care of.I am going to have a good sort through my tinned stuff as well today to see what I can have this coming week If I get them out of the cupboard and put on the side I will then make sure they get eaten,or its out of sight out of mind when they are in my cupboards:) The food mountain is slowly going down but as there is only me here its taking a long time .I have my friend June coming for lunch on Monday and I know I have a small gammon joint so I may get that out of the freezer and slow cook on Sunday so it will slice up nicely for lunch on Monday.
well done everyone on your hard work we are all doing well and cutting back on things is not too hard and I certainly don't miss the shops at all.in fact when I do go now I seem to think 'do I really need that or can I adapt something I already have indoors' :)

Kiwisaver_2

I guess technically my fiscal fasting clock needs to reset to zero today. I did the remainder of my $21 stealth shopping to top up on essential supplies to last the coming week.

I stuck to my mission with cold military precision, with nothing more than a fleeting glance at all the temptations laid before me, briefly smarting at all the lovely specials I would have bought if I were in normal shopping mode. :rotfl:

All I bought was two loaves bread, 2L milk, four bananas, 1.5kg potatoes, one lemon and a small bag of budget cat litter.

So that's it, all done at $21.34 To add some context I would usually spend $120 ish per week

Dinner tonight was HM Pizza with ham and tinned pineapple, the last red onion, some cherry toms from last week that were getting a bit softer than I would like and some chopped pepper.

greent

Well, as I had to pay out for 3 lots of non-uniform days today (and money for charitable cake sales and fun events at 3 schools...) I thought I'd do my Tesco & Aldi shopping at the same time. I did buy some non-list things - they had teatowels and some 'posh' giftwrap and a matching bag reduced and I was only thinking earlier in the week that I needed some more teatowels and the posh paper will be just right for my mum's bday. Most other people get a roll of brightly coloured stripey stuff that was reduced to 50p for 20m! Still, the wrap and bag together came to about 65p, so not too bad.I resisted the urge to buy a 'Gran' bday card for Great Gran though - she can have a lovely one I have in my card box instead.

I have pizza dough and bread dough proving (I bought a small loaf from T's for DD & DS2 - the rest of us will probably eat the homemade (fingers croseed - haven't made bread in years.....! )

Sunday should see me only needing a paper (our only one purchased a week now - we used to have one a day, 2 on Saturdays and Sundays) and it lasts for a few days! Also one more bottle of milk and another 2 loaves of bread - and that really should be it until we go on holiday - unless we run out of milk for the small ones (in which case I'll send DH, as he won't be tempted)

I also spent out on National Trust membership for us a family - online by DD saving 25%, with cashback of 20% and 2 free gifts (which I'll probably sell on for a few £s) - but we'll recoup that cost with 2 visits over the year, so it'll be a saving overall.

We have a busy day planned tomorrow doing lots of bits n pieces of little jobs - which should keep us busy enough to stay away from the shops

camNolliesMUMMY

Day one- and all is ok and it should be lol ds who is 4 was ill very high temp last night the only thing we will spend is for ds to go swimming and as he has a leisure card at our local baths he only has to pay £1.60 instead of £3.50, and as I have nothing that fits with only 6 days to go till I'm due to have ds2 I can just watch and oh can take him- he is a full gym member so does not need to pay extra.
We've got enough in and I need to stop panicking that their is not enough, il have a look in the freezer in a mo and count the chicken/sausages/fish fingers etc so I can reassure myself lol
My menu plan is quit good for the week and may do the same or next week so I know what I'm doing and keep organised, if I don't that's where il flap?

We have......
Sack of 7.5kg potatoes
5 very large onions

X2 cartons of passata
X4 tins of plum toms
X1tin Tom soup
X20 eggs
X1 400g mince
X6 beef burgers
X1 sausage meat
X6 fish
X16 sausages
X1 pack of bacon
X8 large chicken breasts
X30 chicken nuggets
Various frozen veggies
And a cupboard full of herbs and spices
I think I can finally relax lol

taplady

evening!

day 8 here and we're off soon to get our weekly shop. I have a list which I have been adding to during the week by sticking it to the inside of the cupboard door.

I managed to save just over £20 out of the budget which has gone into our holiday fund.:T:j

Everyone seems to be doing really well:T

GreenT - we are also thinking of taking up the National Trust Offer.

Lisakay - hope your DHs op goes well x x

We're now out of milk(typical as DH is a milkman:D) and the fridge and freezers are not so full of zillions of bags of odds and ends. I've found it useful to tape a list of the freezer contents to the insode of the cupboard door too and I cross things out as \i use them plus I can see what I've got to go with it.

Keep it up everyone!:)

firesidemaid

modern_millie wrote: »

I've just finished a book by Peter Mortimer, journalist from the North East, written in 1998 when he walked from Plymouth to Edinburgh with no money. Very insightful in terms of how excluded he feels, especially in urban areas, and the suspicion - and help- he encounters. Found the book in a charity shop, don't know if it's still available, but a good read.

well. i've been catching up with this thread, which i think is great, and would you believe i found and bought this book today from a charity shop for 75p:)

determined_new_ms

Hi guys - well I did actually go shopping with my dd on Thursday. I stuck to my list (coffee, eggs,
milk, yogurt, bananas, chicken breasts - oh eats a protein diet and he needed them) except for some reduced bagels, rolls & corriander. Spent just under £15 and my veg box arrived yesterday :j I feel like such a farmers wife so shopping for the week is £19 :T Meals have been fine, although as I said before it takes some thought as everything is cooked, without any quick things you can just throw in the oven.

Yesterday's meals were another smoothie - I think that's the last of the frozen bananas! Soup & a roll for lunch with banana & yogurt mmm

Last night we had a pie (which I was given by my dd in feb), some frozen roast potatoes pre boiled from last Sunday and curly kale & purple sprouting broccoli. And I made some coconut muffins with some desicated coconut that has been in the cupboard for ages.

I am really happy I happened across this thread. If I hadn't I would have gone shopping last Sat & today and probably would have spent in the region on £35-50 each trip. I think we can definitely last another week, but next weekend will need to do a big shop. Am thinking this will change the way I shop and in April I intend to do a big shop at the start of the month, and then pop in to the SM at reductions times to fill up the freezer.

I have (if I'm honest) really missed having a glass of wine or two as that ran out last weekend. Last night we nearly did succumb to going and buying a bottle but instead made do with some pimms & tonic water that has been kicking about in the cupboards since last summer :T

Today will be a spend day as we are going out with my best friend and a group of friends for her birthday :beer:

Well done guys :A

taplady

Morning friends

We did our grocery shopping last night and I used the calculator on my phone to make sure we kept to the budget - I find this really useful and it keeps my mind focused on getting only what we need and not what we want as I see the total going up!:)

I managed to come in at £20 under budget for the second week running:j I spent the odd amount left over fromlast week but saved the full £20 so if I can get through this week I without spending then I will then have £40 in my holiday fund:T

WE went to M's not long before closing and got several packs of melon, pineapple and grapes for 9p each (will eat them this weekend) plus a 35p curry to go in the freezer and a few other YS odds and ends.:TWe had to go and call by at DHs work so got some free milk too. WE took a flask of coffee with us and bought some YS cookies to eat with them so that was a nice little treat:)

I think this thread is brilliant - before I had a budget of £70 a week for food and cleaning materials etc and I was always spending it all but I've now changed my mindset - I'm not just spending it because its there, I'm enjoying the challenge of shaving some off that budget and saving it to see if it will pay for our short break in June.

Have a lovely weekend all x

firesidemaid

just finished reading through the entire thread:j took a day or two.....

very inspring. i also agree with another poster re. somehow chaining up OH's lol;)

mine won't eat the same dinner two days in a row and is very reluctant to eat leftovers out of the freezer. he also cannot go to any shopping area to look and not spend - he doesn't get it lol.

i, meanwhile am prone to buying too much whoopsied stuff!

i had him on board for the last 2 months as we need a new roof and we had been squirrelling away a lot of money, but we've gone off track this month and barely saved half as much:(

am going to stop taking cards to shops when we go out, so if he 'needs' something he will have to buy it himself:rotfl:

anyway, thanks for this motivating thread:)