Fiscal Fast – 7 days no spending (at all)

Kerfuffle

Hi Folks

JackieO- well done to your daughter for reducing her shopping bill by 30.00 pounds a week. That's a great amount, and not to be sniffed at. Is she saving for anything in particular or just making her money squeak too?

Spendless - Big hugs to you over the mix up with the date of your interview, if it was me that kind of mix up would gnaw away at me as I'd be feeling pretty sure it wasn't down to me. I guess it's best if you just let it go and see if you hear back from them, otherwise you'll stress yourself til your sick. Did you have the informal chat when you turned up early, or did you have to go back 24 hours later, how do you feel it went?
I used to do the Jacket Potato Buffet when the kids were little :rotfl:lots of little dishes all lined up with odds and sods in them, the kids went first and took the best stuff then it would be me and then Hubby would have the leftover leftovers :rotfl:

News from Kerfuffle Kabin: Today has been Day 5 of the FF.
Hubby is working a 12 hour shift today so I've just been grazing all day, I had some leftover tuna pasta for lunch but since then it's been mainly fruit and smoothie.

I've done an inventory of my freezer and cupboards, and have meal planned up to the 28th June, and have done 4 shopping lists one for each week. Each week the shopping day moves on one day so that I'm actually going 8 days in between shops. I'm really on a mission to not spend anymore than $71.00 (approx 44.00pounds) each week upto the end of June, if I overspend then the credit card will have to come out All being well I'm hoping to manage to put off this weeks shopping until Tuesday 5th, if I can do that then my Fiscal Fast will have been 8 days.:shocked:

ETA: I've just realised I just seem to talk about food and grocery shopping, but I can confirm that I'm not spending any money in other departments either. I'm pretty restrained with most things, it's just grocery shopping that I can't seem to tame.

taplady

Kerfuffle wrote: »

Taplady - Hello :hello: Enjoy your jollies and I look forward to seeing you on your return.

Thanks Kerfuffle - I'm here till next weekend though:D

off shopping tomorrow - we're off to Asd* which we dont normally shop at as its too far awat but we need to go near there for something else so will give it a go.

I'm starting my list now - hoping to spend a small amount - although DH does tend to find me lots of 'bargains' when we go together.

JackieO - well done to your DD:T - she's obviously picked some tips up off her Mum;)

You've also reminded me that I have some jelly in the cupboard so I'm going to make some small pots to go in the fridge using your idea of old yoghurt pots.:)

My DH is 50 in 2 weeks - anyone got any ideas for an inexpensive present? :question: :think:


Hope you all have a great weekend x

calicocat

Haven't had time to read everyones post but thought I would quickly come on to confess.

SPENDLESS.....I did catch the bit about your job interview , if you are returning at the later time use it to your advantage and make I bit of a joke about it ?? Something like "bet that's the first time antone has been that early" , "thought I'd get here early to superglue most of the seats so that only I can get interviewed when people are asked to go in" , "just think of me as keen to be here ".........???. Don't let it knock your confidence,use it and point out positives that this side of you brings to life.;).


Well......disaster has struck. :eek:

The problem was taking the car for a service and MOT.......so , I get this nice new car to try out for the morning. I love driving around in different cars , so once I'd fleed around the countryside for a while (using petrol) , I drove to pets at home and seemed to have turned a bit odd...wandered around ,picking up cat food , loads of cat treats , a new massive scratch pole (more like a column) .......thankfully stopped myself buying a guinea-pig and all the things needed for that ( which would have been near £250 I rekon). Left there several pounds lighter , dRove about in nice new car a bit more (more petrol) and found my way to aldi. Wandered round there picking up bits and bobs and a couple of random things I don't need (but will use).

So , I'm a bit cheesed off with myself.......but cat is really happy.

Actually I think what I am cheesed off with is how much I enjoyed it b , but admittedly a lot of this was due to driving about in the car.

Hope others are doing better than me, and I'm not even gonna put my usual 'walk away' bit on the bottom as that would just be taking the mick today.
Good luck all.......especially Spendless for the interview.

modern_millie_2

Evening all,
wrote a longish post yesterday, but it disappeared!

Calico, don't be too hard on yourself, I think the idea of this challenge is to do it intermittently, not all the time. Anyway, doersn't sound like you went too over the top.

spendless, I was going to say yesterday, I did that once with a job interview and was, eventually, offered a job! So don't give up hope completely.

Work for me for the next few days, only part time but some every day except tomorrow so will keep me out of trouble. Helped with cleaning a holiday cottage yesterday, so a few more ££s for my holiday fund!

Made pancakes for dinner with spinach and cottage cheese, garlicy tomato sauce, very nice they were too.

Well done everyone on the FF atm, sound like you are all doing really well.

atypicalblonde

Hi everyone, long time no "see" :wave:

I am still here and actively participating, albeit to a slightly amended version of the challenge that works better with our lives right now. I hope you'll still let me play

The last two months have been very hectic and spendy, we were on holiday for two weeks which was fabaroo but obviously meant spending some money (though I did keep a spending diary whilst we were there so I knew exactly where each Euro went :cool:). Since we have been back we have had numerous weddings/christenings/parties all of which have involved some cash being parted with albeit I have really tried to keep this to a minimum.

The savings plan is going well (see signature) and if DH can take another decent wage this month out of his company AND if the car passes its MOT (I'm not hopeful ) we may just do it. Fingers crossed. I go on maternity leave shortly and until I do I am determined not to buy any lunches and to run the freezer down by eating random things to use them up so I can put "defrost the freezer" on my list of first-week-of-maternity-leave-things-to-do. Sad? Moi?!

Keep at it peeps, this thread is so inspiring. Going to declutter a brew :D xx

[Deleted User]

Hi all well spent most of today ironing,hoovering and baking but feel better for it as I have stayed out of the shops.I did an inventory of my stores and I think i could probably feed half the street at the moment so its going to be a strictly 'by essential needs only' shopping for me for a week or two.I swear my freezer never seems to be empty.My store cupboards also seem to be multiplying a bit so its 'lock up my purse ' and throw away the keys :) I only have some 'twinks' to make tomorrow and all my cake tins are filled up I adapted my Victoria sponge and used apricot jam as I was out of strawberry.I know if I had gone to buy some I would have ended up buying something else as well.definitely nothing needed at the moment until at least Wednesday at the latest.I have some small shelves that need sanding down and repainting so I may do that this week to keep me out of the shops Thats the worst of living three minutes away from a shopping presinct you get tempted to go for a wander and a look-see.Well I am staying away as much as I can this coming week as its only 11 weeks until outr family holiday so I want to stash some more spare cash into the fund.
My DDs done well with changing her shopping habits it was a case of not enough incoming cash to cope with rising costs of food.She has four growing lads that seem to have bottomless pits for tummys :)
Well done everyone on your valiant efforts
Good luck with the coming week
JackieO xxx

modern_millie_2

Hi all,
Jackie you are not wrong about rising costs, saw some muesli when I was last shopping for over £4! Not a large box either. You are a very caring mum helping out your family as you do. My mum did the same, and I'll always remember that.

Has been a cold and drizzly day here, bit frustrating but good for the purse. Stayed in most of the day and made some lovely scones in the Remoska - am very pleased with it - made soup for tomorrow and nut roast for tonight. Watched Made in Dagenham with DD this afternoon on a DVD from the library and had a walk between showers, with the OH, so have not spent a penny today. Have £10 to put in holiday fund, which would usually have been spent on coffee out and bits and bobs.

Good luck next week everyone, hve a nice evening.

calicocat

Hi folks , just popped in for a look to see how everyone is as not on it at the moment. Hope all past and present are fine.

M.Millie.......the reason I may appear hard on myself is sometimes me just jesting , and also that I need to check myself often , I have an amazing ability to randomly shop ,and this can be a serious shop (well in my past). I once wandered into russel and bromley and managed to come out £1850 lighter.....in a matter of an hour , 3 pairs of boots and 2 handbags later :eek: . This was a long time ago now,but that 'evil seed' is still in my head somewhere...lol.., and I am now saving and not doing that so need to watch out for the alarm bells !


I also think food has gone up again recently , quite noticably in fact.

Made a load of strawberry coulis today 4 freezer , HM burgers,,,,and a batch of spag bol that I have no room in freezer for.....again. Gonna have to make it fit in somehow though , I bit of re-arranging yet again in my tardis.

Anyhow keep going everyone, hope everyone has had a good holiday weekend.


Walk away from the purse.......:T

calicocat

Quick question M.millie.....do you find the remoska costs less? , maybe too early to judge for you yet. Just I was reading other threads and got really confused as to whether it is better cost wise than a SC or not. There seemed to be also massive differences of opinion when I have googled it .

[Deleted User]

Day 8 of NSD and I'm still managing without going to the shops I have enough bread/milk and fresh fruit and veg to keep me going hopefully until Saturday at this rate .On Sunday when my eldest DD came for coffee she had been to the shops beforehand and instead of flowers she brought me in a chicken pasta salad bowl long dated to 12 June, a pot of coleslaw also long dated and a bag of chocolate brownies (just 'cos she thought it would be nice to have a treat together.)Well on Sunday I ate at youngest DDs, also yesterday as we were doing a lot of 'tip' runs to make some room in their garden for the boys joint present of a trampoline so I haven't actually eaten at home for two days so todays lunch will be some of the pasta salad and a few bits and pieces some garlic bread from the freezer and some new potatoes.Tonights dinner I think will be fish from the freezer and some potatoes and peas with fresh fruit for pud.So todays menu is sorted .I will try to use up some odds and ends in the fridge as much as possible this week Tomorrow I am at DD looking after the boys for the day so what ever I make for them for lunch I will have as well I may take my waffle gadget that I bought on holiday round to get them to help make some waffles.Should keep them amused for a little while at least .If its raining I will use some of my craft stuff to keep the smallest boy happy as he loves painting and gluing stuff.I am off on Thursday as DD has a day off but I am going out with my eldest DD for some Mum and daughter time She normally works quite long hours, so I only get to see her for a little while at the weekends so Thursday we are going to have a day together which will be nice .She's going to bring her staple gun and help me to fix some bits up in the conservatory,also get to do the bits in the bathroom that I can't get up( my bathroom has an 8ft high ceiling) to.
Friday I will have the boys again for the day I may take them for a ride to Greenwich to the maritime museum if its raining and take a picnic with us .I am hoping it will be at least Saturday if possible before I have to shop again.Only 74 day to go until our holidays so every penny saved is going into the holiday fund for spends for the boys
Onwards and upwards chums