Fiscal Fast – 7 days no spending (at all)

[Deleted User]

Just done a long term plan for our next years holiday which I booked last night. F/Frugaling will become a way of life for a long while I think.But I have done a stock take so I will now work out how many meals I actually have in store in my cupboards and I am going to try for a once a fortnight shop if possible.DD and I have decided that we are really going for it and my big jar indoors will get hopefully full of surplus cash from our frugalisting ways .We are sorting though lots of bits as we are going to do a boot fair in a couple of week towards next years hols and I have decided that not a scrap of food will get binned and we are working out between us what we can use to cut right back on food spending .I am fine as I have always been fairly frugal anyway but DD hasn''t reallydone a lot ,although recently she has started to buy staple stuff from Icelands instead of Tesco's and its made quite a difference in her food bill. As I'm at home during the day I will search out the best deals for her from her weekly shopping list .Aldi will get a bit more custom I think.
Today I am making some carrot and coriander soup as I have some carrots that are getting past their best and also some veggie soup as I have half a swede that needs using up and a good few odds and ends of veggies in the bottom of the fridge drawer.I am going to have a running total of what I have managed to save from the food bils and will see how we fare over the next few weeks.This will be a really good way to see how much we really spend on food during the next few weeks .As it is DD takes a packed lunch to work as does her OH and the four boys to school I am going to make extra bits if I can for the boys lunch boxes and hopefully we can save a bit more there Its really a case of shaving things back as much as possible.
Fingers crossed it will all go to plan

Kittikins

Wow JackieO, you are super-organised! I thought I was good, but planning next year's holiday and how to finance it between you and your DD (and family) is fabulous.

I hang my head in shame, I spent yesterday.....but it was, all bar 50p which was a 'treat' for me, all stuff for our next weekend's camping trip or desperately needed salady and fruit stuff. I don't know if we eat more f&v than the 'average' as we're non-meat eaters, but I do know that DD demolished a whole punnet of cherry tomatoes in less than 12 hours I hope she enjoyed them, but I was a bit annoyed as they were quite pricy.......*sigh*

Anyway, the money I spent has come out of my put aside for the camping weekend money, so it wasn't 'real spending'.

We're off to grandparents at the weekend and as we go via a Co$tco, it would be rude not to pop in, although I hope that we can get away with cheese (at about £5/kilo) and apples!

I have £1.20 of 'real' money left and £30 in the camping weekend pot until next Friday.

CW2

Hello everyone,

Well Day 4 of the FF today and all going to plan so far.

Breakfast at home as usual and then had lunch out with the work team today. This was one of my planned spends that I decided to not count for my 7 day FF as it was a leaving meal for a colleague and I've had it budgeted and the money put aside for some time. Had Grilled Mediteranian Vegetables for starter and then fish cakes with sweet chilli dip and salad for main. £14 with a drink so not too bad. HM carrott and red lentil soup from the freezer for dinner with a couple of rivita.

Onwards to day 5 and the weekend :j!
Hope everyone's fasting/frugalisting is going well.

calicocat

Kittikins wrote: »

Need to join in on this challenge as I think my job will be made redundant pretty soon due to some org changes. My cupboards are groaning under all the food in them, I have plenty of fresh stuff..... I just worked out how much I need to have coming in to pay the bills and its mega-scary, so need to get saving as much as possible, whilst trying to do up my house, so that I can ease the pain a bit when the axe falls and sell up if needs be! Baby steps though as I am rubbish at not spending.......

DD's sandwiches are made for the week with a 20p YS loaf of bread and safely tucked away in the freezer. Monday's lunch for me is last night's leftovers, which is in the fridge in a box.

Day 1.....

totally understand the loosing your job situation , i am facing this too at the moment as the ward i work on is closing. The whole thing is very scary isnt it, but i am trying not to panic and will be doing the F.F again soon when i can get my head out of fuzz , although most days are NSD at the moment to be fair.

[Deleted User]

Hi chums the reason I booked next years holiday was there was such a good discount, and the deposit was only £25.Holiday should have come to just under £2.600 and I got it for £1891 so it was well worth the savings.DD is really buzzing and its given her a good reason for fiscal frugalling(although she's not that bad but 'could do better' :))I have been sorting out stuff to go to the boot fair and didn't realise how much stuff I actually have in my cupboards .
carrot and coriander soup was great last night and I have half a litre gone into the freezer for later.Not going anywhere near a shop at all this weekend as I have sorted my menus out for next week and the only thing I could possibly want is maybe a cucumber but I have a little bit in the fridge and its not important as when I run out I can live without it.I found a bag of radishes in the bottom drawer of the fridge that I had not used I forgot I had a bogoff so they will be utilised in my salads over the weekend as I love thinly sliced radish mixed up with shredded lettuce to give it a bit of a crunch.I may make another quiche over the weekend as I have lots of eggs and cheese in the fridge and a slice of savory quiche brightens up lunch with some crackers . I also found in my cupboard scouring a box of left over assorted crackers so they will get used as well.I think someone posted a recipe for using up crackers to make a southern fried chicken coating so I will look up my Online Misers Cookbook as I am sure I posted it in there.Nothing is going to waste at all as every scrap I am going to use up if I can.
Well good luck everyone this weekend and Happy Frugalling
JackieO xx

Kittikins

Where are you off to JackieO? I think I need to make some quiches, have lots of eggs, always buy them for when OH stays over as he has eggs for breakfast every day, but he's not been over for a week and if I can make one with frozen peas and sweetcorn (the only veg I have in), even better!

I've got urges for bread and cakes today but have neither, oh no, I have do have some bread, some lovely German rye bread (the very odd looking stuff) that I can put marmite and mayo on, nomnomnom. I was thinking of popping up to the village once I've dropped DD at school, but I should be sensible and keep my £1.20 in the bank!

We're away for the weekend so that will help the budget and hopefully my parents will let me raid their cupboards a bit.....when I was first single with DD, they used to turn up with food parcels, hope they will again soon, as my finances are going to be scary for a while, even if I survive the redundancy threat, as my house is a building site and I have no money left to turn it back into a lovely home.

[Deleted User]

Anglesea Villa at Sandown on the Isle of Wight with my DD, son-in-law and four grandsons and myself.Its in the cottages4you.co.uk site and looks fabulous.Right almost on the sea front so not far for the boys to go for a paddle

Kittikins

It looks lovely JackieO, room for a few stowaways?? I should imagine we'd all like to come, I can bring a remoska, lol.

[Deleted User]

I always take my remoska with me when I go as it is always useful when cooking for 7 of us .It does look nice doesn't it and gives us something to look forward and work towards for next year This year we are off to Norfolk and a cottage in a small village about 16 miles north of Great Yarmouth called Sea Palling.We enjoy family holidays together, and if I want to just sit and relax in the garden I can, or sit with all the picnic stuff on the beach under the sun brolly (what sun ???:)) reading my Kindle I do that as well It's my idea of heaven, and I sit there and the boys bring me all the things they find on the beach (sometimes dead bits !!!) but we do have a lot of fun. My DD was brought up with family holidays on the Isle of Wight at her Granny's house and wants the same for her little boys .They take their fishing bits and buckets and kites and cricket bat and balls and its a very old fashioned sort of holiday but they all seem to enjoy it .We do have a day or so out and about and usually use my National Trust card as the boys are all listed on it and we visit what ever local attractions that we can,especially if their free :) But its almost always with a picnic lunch until the last night when we have a blow-out meal in a pub restaraunt if we have any cash left over .With four lads its not always affordable to do a lot more but the kids all seem to have a great time and we do play with them quite a bit and they are all good little card sharps :)If it rains we always take a store of DVDs to watch or if we can run to it we will take them all to the cinema

CW2

JackieO wrote: »

I always take my remoska with me when I go as it is always useful when cooking for 7 of us .It does look nice doesn't it and gives us something to look forward and work towards for next year This year we are off to Norfolk and a cottage in a small village about 16 miles north of Great Yarmouth called Sea Palling.We enjoy family holidays together, and if I want to just sit and relax in the garden I can, or sit with all the picnic stuff on the beach under the sun brolly (what sun ???:)) reading my Kindle I do that as well It's my idea of heaven, and I sit there and the boys bring me all the things they find on the beach (sometimes dead bits !!!) but we do have a lot of fun. My DD was brought up with family holidays on the Isle of Wight at her Granny's house and wants the same for her little boys .They take their fishing bits and buckets and kites and cricket bat and balls and its a very old fashioned sort of holiday but they all seem to enjoy it .We do have a day or so out and about and usually use my National Trust card as the boys are all listed on it and we visit what ever local attractions that we can,especially if their free :) But its almost always with a picnic lunch until the last night when we have a blow-out meal in a pub restaraunt if we have any cash left over .With four lads its not always affordable to do a lot more but the kids all seem to have a great time and we do play with them quite a bit and they are all good little card sharps :)If it rains we always take a store of DVDs to watch or if we can run to it we will take them all to the cinema

This sounds absolutely lovely JackieO!