Fiscal Fast – 7 days no spending (at all)

Kerfuffle

Hi Folks,

Sorry, I haven't been on for a couple of days, was doing a bit of running around yesterday and today had some 'stuff' to deal with. When I did get a minute to come on the computer Hubby was hogging it so I didn't get the chance. Anyway, here I am now

Catznine - The caterpillar cake is awesome, your friend is very talented. Yey to decluttering, it's something I really need to do, but I also need to overcome my fear of ebay first :eek: You must have a real feeling of satisfaction now you can get in your conservatory :T.

Spendless - Welcome back from your jollies, I hope you feel refreshed and invigorated and ready for the year ahead, or at least until your next one Well done for getting some bargain purchases, now you've discovered the best time to go to the supermarket :T

Rosebowl - Welcome to the thread. Looking back at purchases is a real eye opener on what was needed and what wasn't. I hope the exercise strengthens your resolve to get your finances sorted, and it's good to see where you've found alternatives to spending, making it fun and challenge is half the battle. Pants to the 10.00GBpound spends, it's amazing how quickly it falls through our hands when we're just having a bad day. Hope Friday is a better day for you.

craigywv - Well done on the 4 nsd, and getting your freezer defrosted and sorted out, it can turn out to be quite a time consuming task, but is a wonderful feeling once it's done. I like the name 'fiscalater' I wonder if I put it on a CV it will blind the interviewer with science

Calico cat - It's a long time since I had a Viennetta, and after the introduction of the caramel one then non of the other varieties were up to the mark - not even the mint one - but I don't think a caramel Viennetta can be considered retro :eek: not yet anyway, surely I've got to be much older before that can happen. Re the Honey Twinks, I substituted some syrup for some 'ordinary' honey as I was going for the honey oat flavour, I don't think I put enough honey in though, it didn't harm them though I think you would be hard pressed to make Twinks healthy, although in my opinion the challenge wouldn't be too much of a hardship

Modern Millie - My Hubby is a snacker too, I've just sent him off to work (he's on night shift) and after he'd packed his lunch box I went in and started removing stuff, I left all the healthy stuff in but reduced his peanuts and boiled sweets, told him he was rationed

News from Kerfuffle Kabin: Tuesday was day 8 of my Fisal Fast so I achieved my goal :T, Wednesday was my spendy-day, running around the supermarkets and discount shops to make the pennies stretch. I had a budget of $70.00 (approx 43.75 GBpounds) and went off armed with my shopping list. Happy to report that I came home with $1.05 (approx 66p). I did forget one item though, even though it was on the list :mad: but I wouldn't have been able to buy it anyway as it cost $2.47 (approx 1.54gbp) so I'll just have to get inventive with breakfasts for the next few days. My next planned shopping day was going to be Thursday 21st but I'm going to bring it forward to the Wednesday 20th as it fits in better with Hubby's shifts, so as of today I'm aiming for a 6 day Fiscal Fast.

JackieO hasn't been on for a couple of days, I hope everything is okay and she's just too busy with her family.

calicocat

Hi everyone , hope all are well this evening (actually just reolised it is actually not evening) Just popped in for a read really and have found myself typing again.
Kerfuffle......i have never heard of caramel viennetta , used to love the mint too , to be honest i have never noticed them in the shops until the other day and grabbed one as it was only a £1.00 for my ice-cream fix. I thought they were extinct but obviously not.
Catznine...thanks for the honey reply , will try this next time.:)

Rosebowl............21p roadkill..;)

[Deleted User]

Hi Chums yes I have been rushing around with the boys and dogs and workmen who came to fit my 'grab rails' in the bathroom yesterday.All's well just the busyness of family life I sometime think I'll meet myself coming back iykwim :) Shoppingwise I have stayed away from the shops for food buying but will be going first thing in the morning tomorrow.I have been busy baking though and this week made a chocolate cake ,a victoria jam sponge,2 dozen jam tarts,and a couple of dozen iced fairy cakes .Most of which has dissapeared down into the tummys of four of my grandsons.Mondays chocolate cake lasted until Tuesday evening Wednesdays Victoria sponge had a tiny bit left last night in their cake tin and the jam tarts vanished yesterday when Henry's friend from school arrived to 'play' (and help them scoff the jam tarts ).I don't mind, and heard his little pal say to him 'You are lucky your Gran makes cakes my Mum never does'
His Mum sadly doesn't have time as she ,like my DD has to work fulltime .Although to give her her due my DD does bake at weekends ,mainly because its a cheaper way of filling the boys up and she doesn't like them to eat crisps or junk food.Even when she was younger she was given home made cakes and I too worked full time but I would spend one night a week filling up the tins and at weekends I would also bake .I am just not keen on shop bought stuff as its seems too full of additives and chemicals .I saw in a supermarket some cake with a sell by date of about three weeks away How can a cake last that long without a chemical in it.Plus of course I enjoy baking, which helps I suppose.
Well I'm slowly working my way through my freezer but it still seems to be full Perhaps its multiplying in there :)
Hope you are all getting on o.k. and trying to stick to the plan.I have got really good about only shopping once a week and if I run out, then its a case of thinking up an alternative instead
Right onwrds and upwards chums I have the school run first thing then a dental appointment with Ben as we had to alter his last one to fit around his GCSEs He only has four more exams to do this month then he's done for the rest of term.Ben also has some 'humping' of junk from his Mums garden to do and we will do some today to the tip if the weather holds dry until lunchtime Then I may treat him to lunch out of my Happy Stash as he is a good lad and does help out quite a bit. he's got his place in sixth form for next year to do his 'A' levels which I am pleased about.
Time to go have a good day everyone
JackieO xxx

nannygladys

Hi everyone, I have just joined the GC again and I will be trying the FF from tomorrow, I have been paid today and trying to manage on £10 a week for the next 4 weeks (next pay day). Problem number 1 is that my youngest DD and SIL are staying over the weekend and DD is staying until Wed (husband working away for a couple of days and she doesnt like being on her own - I love it cos its precious mummy-daughter time) but it will be interesting to see if I can manage:o Anyway I have plenty in the freezer and pantry and DD likes the same kind of food as me, soooooo Im off the SM and the FF begins:j
Jxx

candygirl

Have just had to empty my coin jar, to put some diesel in the car:(:(Will be having a frugal weekend I reckon;)

rosebowl

First can i say thank you to all that has given me such a warm welcome on here, is nice to talk to people who are trying to achieve a simalar goal... so a big thank you

Day 5 ......... had a real good day ........... haven;t opened my purse at all today, so it looks like a NSD today........

still going through the freezer, it seems to be taken ages for me to put a dent in all the food in there, i must remind myself never never let the freezer get that bad again.....

So with it been pay day today i have now got my £10.00 budget for the week....

Today i took my first step in sorting out my finances, i phoned Virgin and dropped down a package on my Broadband, TV and Phone..... a Saving of £50.00 a month...

taplady

evening all!

not been here for a while - been busy plus been on holiday. My petrol money and hotel were paid for by money shaved off my grocery budget:T so my next challenge is to do it again ready for another short break later in the year plus I want to try and cook more instead of relying on carp from the freezer - my DH likes his convenience rubbish but I'll try and convince him to change his ways.

I made a nice veggie pasta bake tonight to go with some sausages - everyone cleared their plates:T plus I got a portion left to freeze for myself for an evening meal. I also had a bit ofleftover cooked pasta and sweetcorn so will put that with the half a tin of tuna left over from lunch today to make myself a pasta salad tomorrow.

I defrosted a small rhubarb crumble and made some custard for pud.

Sunday is DHs 50th birthday - he wanted me to bu a cake for him but I'm trying a chocolate fudge recipe instead - be much nicer and I know whats in it - not hundreds of E numbers.

Have a lovely weekend all x

craigywv

well i managed 4 days and crumbled was lured into tescos on the pretence of looking at earphones for dh for fathers day and succumbed to magnum lolly and a paper! so i tried. will try ff when i come back from cyprus , go on wed . have done very well getting freezers/cupboards down so i should be happy but im not i didn last the week i will suceed next time.

modern_millie_2

Hi all,
just popping in quickly to say I made marmalade today with one of the MaMade tins - was quite fun to do and cost £3.80 for 6 lbs. Noticed all the cheaper marmalade now made with glucose/fructose syrup, and "quality" ones are about £2 a jar! So this could be a good option if you are a marmalade fan.

Have earned the princely sum of £21 this week, which will pay for my petrol and not much else....luckily had some surplus from last week. New tyres this week were about £130, budgeted for, fortunately. Not easy atm, is it?

Well done everyone Fiscal Fasting, I will be joining in soon.

hattifattener

:wave: Hi there, I hope no-one minds if I pop my head in.

I'm not fiscal fasting at the moment, but I have (over the course of a number of evenings) just finished reading 48 pages of FF mayhem, so I feel as if I've achieved a challenge of some sorts. :rotfl:

First of all you FFers have been an absolute inspiration to me over the last week or so. As I say, I'm not fasting, but hubby and I had a mini lightbulb moment at the beginning of June about our month to month spends, and having this thread in the back of my mind has really helped me to think about what I'm spending. I've really thought about using up leftovers, eating perishables first, going shopping once a week instead of in dribs and drabs, and all those good habits you ladies employ in here.

We're hoping to have a mini-fast at the end of June, but until then, any NSD is a bonus for me. I won't write an essay on my first post, but I hope you don't mind me delurking in order to try and keep me on the straight and narrow with my 'low-spending' before the fasting gets underway.