New Challange : Don't spend for a Week!

squeaky

Pal wrote:

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.

It takes days for the milk to unfreeze and never seems to come out quite right. As for car and bus - No Car. I've been on benefits a long time and used to be in all sorts of trouble over bills when I realised that I was keeping a car outside my house and only actually using it once a month to go into town. Even the cheapest third party insurance at £30 a month meant that it was considerably cheaper to bus into town and then, when loaded with shopping, get a "luxury" taxi home. Heck - car parking fees in town are more than the bus fare. When you think about all the other things you pay for to keep a car you can see I made a huge change to my outgoings by getting rid of the car.
The AA quotes about £1500 a year to run a car doesn't it? I can't have been that much, but even so that's a mega chunk of a benefits income. I've never had trouble finding money to pay a bill since.

And yeah, I totter along to the village shop for milk on foot.

tru

I buy semi-skimmed milk, it takes about 24 hours to defrost in the fridge (4 pinter), when it's defrosted give it a really good shake and it's fine.

elona

Lillibet

Could you put your books in an old suitcase - blanket box - or anything that you can move more easily?

elona

Lillibet

Could you put your books in old suitcases or blanket box so they could be moved more easily?

squeaky

troo wrote:

I buy semi-skimmed milk, it takes about 24 hours to defrost in the fridge (4 pinter), when it's defrosted give it a really good shake and it's fine.

Maybe I've got my fridge set too cold.

the_cat

lillibet

you say that you won't have access to the internet for a week - how about combining one of your antenatal visits with a trip to the local library to get some books and an MSE fix - all for free!!!

calleyw

I know this will only move stuff from one place to another. But what about under the bed.

We have pine framed one. And before we moved a couple of weeks ago. We where living in a one bedroom flat.

And when we started to get ready for the move we packed in boxes and put it under the bed.

It is amazing the stuff you can get under a double bed.

That reminds me need to move the unpacked boxes from the computer room to under the bed will make it look tidy. Not that I have found homes for all of it yet. As we don't have things like book cases at the moment.

Yours

Calley

tiff

Pal wrote:

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.

Its each to their own and Lillibet will decide herself whether she wants to do this but I dont recommend sharing your bed with the baby, on a regular basis anyway. If you choose to breastfeed, once you get the hang of it you can lie in bed and the baby can feed, you will probably nod off and so will baby. But regularly sleeping with the baby I think encourages them not to learn how to sleep on their own. I know in many countries of the world they do it etc but personally I wouldnt.

Lillibet_2

Pal wrote:

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.

Half of me really wants to defend myself & the other half really doesn't want to get into this kind of exchange . Unfortuantely in the legal profession we are used to arguing our case:o .

I take on board that "not spending for a week" is misleading, but everyone else seems to have grasped the gist. There will always be necessary spending, even by turning a light on, for example, we will be spending even if we won't be shelling out on the spot cash for it. However, my personal challange is not to spend anything additionally on a weeks annual leave and to spend much less than planned. Given that we were planning on going away, plus other treats, this is an automatic cut back. Preparing in advance for a week of minimal spending will discourage & limit opportunites for additional spending. Hopefully we can spend less than a usual working week. I guess I thought it was old style to re-assess plans & not push ahead with them anyway but make adjustements due to budget? I accept that maybe I should have entilted the post "don't spend any extra for a week" but it's hardly inspiring, is it?

I have not "suggested" to my husband that we should decorate the nursery, nor have I "nagged" him about it. Again this is your (wholly unjustified & very offensive) interperatition. I actually said "we have decided", which clearly implies it was a joint decision. This is twice you have passed judgement based on inaccurate paraphrasing.

As we have been given a crib & already have a cot I think we would like to get good use out of them & use them as much as possible, plus again as my husband works shifts I am not sure how much he would disturb Spud in our bed. Also I imagine it wouldn't be suitable to leave Spud to nap during the day in our bed so would need somewhere else anyway?

RWSteele: Have you tried long life milk? I know not everyone likes it but it can work on a daily basis or even mixed with fresh milk to eek it out?

Hi Cat, good idea about the libriary, thats one place within walking distance & I have a couple of books to return anyway!

squeaky

Lillibet wrote:

RWSteele: Have you tried long life milk? I know not everyone likes it but it can work on a daily basis or even mixed with fresh milk to eek it out?

Oh YUK!!! :rolleyes:

Can't stand the stuff. I have to admit that milk - that's proper milk is my one big weakness. It's the very last thing to come off my shopping list whenever I need to do a bit of serious economising. As it is I try to span one container over two days and just plain do without if I don't make it. That's pretty good for me since I used to use one a day. Or more.