Fiscal Fast – 7 days no spending (at all)

kittendothroar

Day one has made me realise I probably need to wait until next week to properly start this! My bleep of a car is requiring nearly 1k in repairs :eek::eek::mad: though my dad is paying bill and I am paying in installments to save raiding my ISA's :cool: I have also paid my car tax just now. Also realised with going to theatre on Friday not enough on oyster balance and will need to pay for parking at station..think I will start this Saturday instead and just lurk until then instead!

GreyQueen

taplady wrote: »

morning!

just caught up with all your fab posts:T

Greyqueen - I've noticed my rubbish bin is far emptier than it used to be too:) I've heard the Sainsbugs fairtrade cheapo teabags are good - are those the ones you mentioned?

I had to have a mini spend yesterday - have had toothache for a couple of weeks(dentist tomorrow) and had run out of ibuprofen plus I needed some hairdye(far too much grey showing through)

I consider the hairdye money saving in a way as its far cheaper then going to the hairdressers!:)

I'm just letting mine go grey without interference - hence the username.:p;)

The teababgs are those Basics ones in the white and orange carton, something impossible like 27p for 80 bags and they're Fairtrade, too. I couldn't see how they could be any good but I kept hearing from several sources that they were fine so I thought I'd try them and they're just as good, IMO, as more expensive brands. I've just finished using up a big pouch of Sainsbury's Red Label teabags but had noticed in recent months that the quality seems to have taken a turn for the worse and did not justify the price.

Weeeeellllll, liberated from the Fast, how wild did I go? Ermmm, the answer was, not a lot;

£20 on bicycle repairs (new tyre & tube and fitting of same)
£1 milk
£3 on chocolate (intended to last several days)
£1.50 on a delightful trinket from a c.s.

All in all, a princely £25.50. And I feel calm and relaxed. My indy greengrocer didn't have anything I needed in his bargain box (3 bags for £1) so I will try again tomorrow.

Today, I am eating Kit Kats and a pie and peas, and still haven't darkened the door of T***o, long may that continue. A retired friend who lives in the block and who is currently on sabbatical from her demanding life as a churchwarden and is hiding out at home despite telling everyone she's gone away for the week so she won't be bothered by their incessant wants. As she's not officially here, she couldn't be seen in T***o so asked if I could nip in and buy some Cif for her. Explained that I am currently on an avoidance strategy but gave her a bottle of their Basics cream cleanser from the cache under the sink.

Ahh, the pleasures of having a storecupboard; you can stay at home when it suits you.

OK, as we have torrential rain and thunder, I'm not tempted to go out and the purse is now in closed mode. Be interesting to see how many more NSDs I can achieve this month.

Stepping away from the purse...............have a good night, all.

calicocat

G.tea....agree that this is pretty difficult to do as 'life' just gets in the way be it a script,car kids,etc , as things have to be paid form...but I think this keeps us on our toes?

Hair dye is deffo a negative spend considering what it could be.

Kiwisaver....keep going,2 wks is really hard but u can do it (I failed as had a couple of spends)

Waste!......my bin guys ignored my bin this wk,think it was so light they thought it was empty! Was never huge as cook from scratch but is certainly less last two wks.

Izzy.......any elastic come out yet??........and don't pull it! I once had 2 kittens with tinsel from tree coming out of bottom (s),just let it come out on it's own,dangerous to pull it out.:eek:

Ches....garden centre....to buy clothes???....expensive?? (Kidding...the C.C queen talking and that was just for fun.....no longer)


Walk away from the purse:T

firesidemaid

all as planned today:).

tmrw will be toast n honey for bfast (i have LOADS of jams, honey marms etc as a) i make a lot and b) i buy on offer). i need to give some away - i sometimes swap too - as in a couple of months i will start making more, AND i still have fruit in freezer lol.

i think i might start buying value tins of rice pudding and make some fruit compote to go with them as desserts.

tmrw lunch will be s/wich with remainder of year-old frozen quorn. tea will be burgers/saus from freezer with onions.

am definitely getting closer to being able to defrost a freezer;)

calicocat

kittendothroar wrote: »

Day one has made me realise I probably need to wait until next week to properly start this! My bleep of a car is requiring nearly 1k in repairs :eek::eek::mad: though my dad is paying bill and I am paying in installments to save raiding my ISA's :cool: I have also paid my car tax just now. Also realised with going to theatre on Friday not enough on oyster balance and will need to pay for parking at station..think I will start this Saturday instead and just lurk until then instead!

Just jump in when/if it suits you,you will enjoy it,but maybe you wanna lurk 4 a bit....climatize yourself to it,I did ......still am. . C.card wise.

Phone keeps crashing,think may be about to blow up:mad:

lizzyb1812

Morning!

Too early to report a NSD of course, and off topic, but the elastic net has reappeared, forwards, not backwards :T

Have to take the courtesy car back and pick my own up today - it's always tempting going to the garage as I pass lots of shops I don't normally see as they are on the other side of town. Must - stay - strong.

Molly41

Have to pay my cleaner today (not a luxury as I am disabled) and Osteopath tomorrow. Those are planned spends - weekly. Hopefully nothing over and above that though. Have done an online shop but will get Hubs to look over it with me to see what can be pared down. My kids seem to have gone off fruit as there are two sorts of apples left in the bowl so will not be buying that for a while. I spend a lot on feeding my piggies and dogs so need to look at that - they eat better than me.

Lizzie - really pleased the net has re-appeared. I have a dog who will eat anything remotely foody and she has caused me much worry in the past!

taplady

morning!

Greyqueen - I dont feel ready to go grey just yet - at least not this side of 50. I'll be pure white eventually as it is genetic in our family - Mum's got a wonderful head of hair but as we look very alike I dont think I want to be a mini-me to her just yet:D

We dont get to Sainsbugs vey often but when we do next time I will try the teabags. DH loves their frozen sausages .

Molly :wave:

2 days off now. We need to do a top up shop later as I'm working evey day next week except one so wont get chance. Am determined it will be a minimal spend though this week.

HM quorn cottage pies from freezer for tea with carrots and peas.

Have a good day all x

catznine

GreyQueen wrote: »

As I wasn't going to spend anything, I decided not to risk c.s. browsing but did go for a wander in the shopping streets watching the interplay of shoppers and shops. The place was fairly buzzy mid-afternoon, despite it being a day of intermittant showers and quite chilly. People seemed in good spirits but less than half the people were carrying any shopping bags, and of those who were burdened, it was rare to see more than one bag.

That was interesting. Because of the time of the day, and the direction of the wander taking me against the main flow of foot traffic, I figured that most of the people were heading towards the carparks and thus completing their trips. I suppose that some of them could have bought really small stuff and be carrying it in their pockets but it did make me wonder if there are a lot of skint people out there who are "going shopping" out of force of habit and aren't really able to buy stuff but just can't stop looking at it...............

Ummmmm, interesting how taking a conscious step back from purchasing makes you notice other things.........

Yes I have noticed the same, our town centre used to be so busy, always difficult to walk through, with the multitudes thronging the pavements, overloaded with bulging shopping bags proclaiming one chain stores name or another. Was that only a few years ago? Now we see less shoppers, less carrier bags (good news for environment) but also less shops! The times they are a changing all right. I do feel for all those people who worked in retail though and was almost in tears when our local Past Times shut it's doors, they were so nice in there! On the plus side we now have a thriving farmers market and I can walk through the town without getting bowled over.

How have you all been doing? I've been away for a few days visiting my little grandaughter I took advantage of a passing son in his car, down for a friends stag weekend, flagged him down and cadged a lift up to the sunny north (what the eck has happened to the sunny weather I left behind on Sunday?) All I needed was to pay for my train fares back down yesterday! Well worth it as she is a little gem, so many ready smiles bless her.

Anyway back to the fiscal fasting as my week away is fast upon us. We are self catering in the uk so I am packing up a box with tins and packets from the cupboards. That should save some pennies.

Just to remind everyone that the Fiscal Fast is really only for 7 days and for maybe 4 times a year. Impossible to do all the time as we all need to shop sometimes. (I've been reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books again, Ma reused all the fabric she could and I doubt she wasted anything but even so Pa needed to go to the Mercantile for flour, sugar, coffee etc.,) What it does do though is focus the mind on not spending if at all possible and that is something we can carry on with during the rest of the year. We have all been brainwashed into parting with our money by the advertisers, it's all around us on tv, radio, cinema, magazines, papers, posters, internet - difficult to resist. There is more pleasure to be found in staying home and using up what we already have though, also such a great feeling of achievement.

Today dh and I shared the last rasher of bacon, half each in a sandwich with the last big mushroom sliced and fried and added, dh had an egg as well, it was plenty for us both with a large cuppa to wash it down with. Lunch will be soup made from the last sad carrots, spuds and onions. Dinner tonight will be a stir fry as we have yesterdays veg box to use up. We have decided to use up all the oddments of jam in the fridge so snacks will be toast and jam slices. It will be nice to have some clear shelves and empty jam jars ready for the next seasons jamming sessions.

Hope you all have a happy frugal fiscal fasting day!

Catz x

lally666young

Who who!!! I am back, tired but back. I have missed you gurls soo much. I felt like sometimes I was talking to myself at times. So I am at home on rest, I promised to be good and to do as I am told which is working so far. Paul has been great hes made the meals for tea and supper so the eldest one can heat them up.
I am so proud of them, they have been living out of the freezer and the cupboards. So I may have to go shopping tomorrow, but I got a money off voucher in the mirror today for Aldi. I am going to send the family. I thought my home would be a tip and full of take away boxes but no not the case. They did spoil me when I came out, new bag and not a cheap one either!!! I was cross about that, but I know they would have made a joint choice in picking it so I let them off. I feel like a granny, I have a flask of water my sons mini fridge and my bed downstairs. But I know I can do this fiscal spend again and I do intend to do so. so I am glad to be back yay!!!