New Challange : Don't spend for a Week!

honey

Hello!

I'd like to join in with this. I'm terrible for nipping out for a couple of bits and spending a small fortune.

I'll do my food shopping on Mon (within budget) and then not spend anything else until the following week - just make do.

Lillibet - about the fruit, we buy lots of fresh fruit when we do the weekly shop which lasts most of the week and then we rely on tinned fruit and frozen summer fruits to make it through to the next planned shop - have a really great week off :j

Sarahsaver

I did something a bit like this before christmas, I didn't do my fortnightly tesco shop, which was at the time £60 for 2 weeks. This got my kids' main xmas presents instead:)

Curry_Queen

Well, as all my spending is done online the only way I could stop myself spending is to stay off the 'puter :eek:

As that just isn't possible, what I can do is to try and not spend anything at all (apart from necessities) which I'm getting much better at since I introduced my 24 hour wait before purchase rule

In fact thinking about it, I got my benefit paid today and I already had my grocery delivery yesterday (had enough left from last week to pay for it) and all the animals have sufficient food to last at least a week (the cats have supplies for a year!!!) so I can't think of anything I should need to buy for at least a week, so you're on, I'll join you on this challenge

foreverskint

You could do what we do in moments of financial crisis, have a stall at a car boot sale. Last time we did this the kids wanted a day out, so we made them help wash iron and lable all our un-needed items and get up early to help sell them. We sold a quarter of what we took and made £70.00. It made the kids realise how hard it is to earn money, and more careful about spending it the next day too.:j


good way to clear some space too for the baby, and raise some money for the nursery decorrating

Luis

Hi,

I didn't spend anything for the first week of this month, as we too are going through a short term financial crisis. I had already been on a 'emergency rations' shop prior to this, and topped up the car with juice.

This week, I have topped the car up again, spent about £2 at KwikSave, £2 in the matalan sale on a pair of trews for hols, paid for my new Yoga course (out of leftover Christmas money which was a bonus), and treated myself yesterday to a £3 KFC meal. So far, so good.

What I have been doing is to get all the odd bits of DIY done that I can, done all the stupid bits of housework that don't normally get done - cleaned the oven, washed and ironed the curtains, tidied cupboards out again, had a big throwout and charity shop donating session etc.

I too have been watching borrowed DVDs, have borrowed books from the Library etc - I have done a lot more cooking, and have done some financial spring cleaning too! I have also done things like take the dog on long walks etc.

I have caught up on correspondence, as I am really lazy when it comes to keeping in touch - so that has been a good thing to do.

Suggestions for other things you could do -

Have an evening / afternoon when the pair of you dig out your old music, play it and reminisce. Do the same with photos maybe?

Plan a romantic evening - spend time telling each other what you love about each other, the past, the future, build in a meal, some massage, whatever takes your fancy might be less opportunity for things like this when sproglet arrives.........

Tackle one of those hideous jobs that always get put off - tidying the shed, the attic etc

Start a scrapbook - on anything! Could be about you two, about preparations for the kid. A nice thing to do, and look back on.

DON'T go to the shops or anywhere near them. Keep out of temptation's way - I am so weak lol - bl**dy Ebay is my downfall :rolleyes:

Avoid using the car if you can - think 'I'll save that trip til tomorrow' (obviously I appreciate you have antenatal stuff to go to).

Enjoy not spending! Savour the smug feeling of a day without spends (try not to think about all the direct debits sneaking off behind your back :rotfl: )

But don't get downhearted if you do end up spending on something - you must have needed it after all this advice!

Good luck with this, and for the baby too.

Lillibet_2

Thanks everyone, some encouraging stuff here.

I should probably explain that converting our spare room into a nursery is not a WANT, it's a NEED, we do plan to bed Spud oyut in our room for the first few months but we need to organzie the baby stuff plus Hubby works shifts so am not sure how long it will be pratical to retain Spud in with us.
At present it doesn't resemble a spare room in any conventional sense, more of a general dumping ground for : Old recycling crates from when we built a new conservatory last year (eek!); An old pine set of slatted storage shelves, the kind designed for utiltiy rooms & garages which I intend to convert into a storage unit for Spud with the aid of some on-hand hardboard & fabric/paint (thanks for the fabric tips, I have a cupboard full of old fabric & curtains which can be used); The computer which needs relocating to the dining room before we have broadband installed at the beginning of June; Enough books to fill a medium sized librairy, I am slowly sorting through & lisitng on Amazon or re-locating to other parts of the house, trouble is need to get them off the shelves in order to move the shelves & need somewhere to store the in th mean time; a TON of baby equipment which we have been given/aquired/bought on sale (currently referred to as Spud Mountain!) if we don't sort this out & get it stored away then Spud will be nappyless & naked until we do plus it's a bit inpratical to keep storing the cot mattress in the bath long term! Oh and our landing is already piled high with stuff for a car boot sale as soon as they start in this area, hopefully there might be an opportunity at the end of our weeks leave but we are nto too sure yet.

We had some work done to our roof earlier this year & need to deal with a little bit of damp which pre-dates the roof work, we will need to strip off the paper in that part of the room & as it's horrible anaglypta which has been up since before I moved in 9 years ago we are OK with doing this & putting up new lining paper in the room before we re-paint. Unfortunately we don't have any reserves of paint we can call on but I have been wondering about buying plain white & tinitng it somehow? The exisitng cream curtains are fine & I think we are sorted furniture/storage wise.

squeaky

If I'm allowed to buy milk - I'm in. Actually, for me this is easy peasy. I have a neighbour who takes me up to my local Asda once every month to six weeks or so and I do one big shop.

Only shopping once a month means fewer opportunities to impulse buy!

It's fruit and veg that need the top up and I try to that only once per fortnight at the village shop and otherwise stretch things as much as I can.

It really is fresh milk that is my big weakness.

rchddap1

I actually think that this would be good for me too. There are things that I have to spend money on...diesel to get to work, but other than that a week without spending would be a good idea.

I need to save some money for a holiday at the end of October / November and my OH has been giving subtle hints about his birthday in July. You know the "I want a...." type of subtle house brick style hints.

Mrs_Thrift

This is quite a coinicidence, as I was just thinking this morning that I need something to keep me focussed on NOT spending money. I'm OK with spending as little as possible, as it's fun to challenge myself and record how little I've spent, but when it comes to a complete lack of spending on a given day it's just boring!

I came to the conclusion that I need to keep a diary of not only spending, but also NON-spending, so it'll be like giving myself a wee pat on the back for every time I manage to avoid spending.

Good luck with your challenge Lillibet, and with the nursery.

And Luis, I love those ideas for cheap nights in, so will definitely be doing some of them myself as well, thank you!

Pal

I guess my subtle point was that the plan not to spend doesn't work if you simply spend the money in advance anyway. Distilling your basic idea down, it is that you save money by not going out for a week for entertainment, and you have "suggested" to your husband that you both do the DIY during that week. I wonder if he considers it nagging....

Nothing wrong with your idea BTW, I was just imagining how full my house would get with food and DVDs if I wasn't allowed to go out for a week. (Not that full actually, I already have children so don't go out any more. )

rwsteele (who cannot liive without milk) could buy it in advance and freeze it. The question is: which costs more - Electricity to freeze milk or petrol and depreciation on the car/bus fares to go and buy it? The latter, presumably.

Your baby could sleep in your bed for the first couple of months, until they go into a cot in your bedroom for another couple of months. You don't have to sort out the nursery until then. That said I recommend that you do sort it out because spare time becomes a distant memory once babies are around.