Buy Nothing for Six Months

Thistle-down

Still spend free.

Dug old bottles of cleaners out from under the sink, will be using them to wash dishes. Once everything is gone, I will only be buying Stardrops and very cheap washing up liquid.

Spent the evening playing and recording with the £45 guitar. Found some free software to record CDs. Happy Camper, loving seeing my bank balance grow!

norabatty_2

Hello all, lots to report:

DH finally got around to ringing Sky, he said he wanted to cancel as we could no longer afford it. They automatically reduced our monthly bill from £44 to £25.50, which will be at the lower rate for 12 months. This is saving us £222 over the next year, at which stage we will do the same thing again!

At this week's weekly shop at Mr S, I spent the grand total of £16.43! This included a pack of 20 Mr S Basics nappies - they actually aren't that bad and haven't leaked yet. I wouldn't use them overnight but can't complain when they only cost £1.41 (around 7p per nappy compared to Pampers which are usually around 20-25p per nappy).

This caused me to look at my normal nappies - we use Boots Super Dry nappies (usually around 14p per nappy) - went on to their website and they had a BOGOF, which I've never seen before. Usually it's buy 2, get 1 free. Together with Boots Parenting Club points, they were working out even cheaper than the Basics nappies from Mr. S. So I popped down to my Boots store yesterday evening, no signs advertising BOGOF so got the lady at the counter to scan one for me. Sure enough, they were BOGOF. So I went and got 10 economy packs (all size 4s and all size 4+s on the shelf!) and managed to buy 512 nappies for £34.95. But also got 346 points from Parenting Club, which is worth £3.46, so in effect, I bought 512 nappies ( a 4 month supply) for £31.49, which works out at 6.15p per nappy. Definitely the best deal on nappies I have ever encountered. And they are great nappies too - I think we've only had about 3 leaks in about 10 months :T

Actually thinking of getting a year's supply......

Then popped to Mr. T today to avail of the Clubcard Exchange. Converted £25 of vouchers into £50 worth of toys and bought 2 xmas presents for godchildren, birthday present for nephew, 2 xmas presents for my little girl, and some stacking cups for her to enjoy now (she loves putting one thing on top of another at the moment, knocking it over and starting again...) Also used some Hipp Organic vouchers and got about a 3 month supply of snack biscuits for £2.58!

Finally, checked gas and electricity tariffs - we were already on the cheapest gas tariffs but will be saving 0.9p per kW of energy used in the next few weeks as I have set the ball rolling for changing electricity providers. I actually rang my current provider and said "There are cheaper rates elsewhere. Will you match them or do I have to go elsewhere for you to then offer me a cheaper rate in the future?" and the guy said "You will have to go elsewhere and then come back". Ridiculous! They actually encourage you to have no loyalty!

sillyinthepast

Ohh I am loving this thread. I have been reading along since it started:)

I have decided to have a go myself. I am quite a bad spender, we are not in debt or anything but if I want something I usually buy it. I am trying to live a more simple life and be more self sufficient so the spending I do (£200) a month just on me (handbags, knick knacks for the house, craft items, etc are just not sitting right at the moment.

The challenge is just for me and hubby. The children are constantly growing and needing new clothes and two of them are starting new schools in September so I will need to buy them new items.

My rules are

1 I will not buy any clothing or accessories for myself (excluding underwear and socks if needed) for 1 year. This is excluding a pair of winter boots as mine finally gave up last year after 7 years.

2 I will not buy any knick knacks for the house unless it comes from birthday or Christmas money.

3 I will buy no craft stash apart from glue, blades. I can only buy wool if it is needed to finish a project off.

4 I will make all of my Christmas gifts apart from my children's.

5 I will enter competitions, use coupons etc.

6 I will start a blog this weekend

7 I will use the mantra 'use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without' which seems to be back in fashion:)


Also there is a blog called the prudent homemaker who does a weekly post on money saving its wonderful.

norabatty_2

Hi Sillyinthepast,

sillyinthepast wrote: »

1 I will not buy any clothing or accessories for myself (excluding underwear and socks if needed) for 1 year. This is excluding a pair of winter boots as mine finally gave up last year after 7 years.

Must have been good boots to last that long - mine usually only last three!

4 I will make all of my Christmas gifts apart from my children's.

Oooh, I've never done this before but think it's a great idea for the female members of my family, who would appreciate such things!! Have you any suggestions for somebody who is in no way creative but at the same time is not a complete loss, ie I can make meals but would not attempt cakes because they look like they would require precision!


6 I will start a blog this weekend

Please let us know when it's up and running!

7 I will use the mantra 'use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without' which seems to be back in fashion:)

Never heard that before, I like it!

Also there is a blog called the prudent homemaker who does a weekly post on money saving its wonderful.

Thanks, I've just had a quick look and it looks good

Just went back to Boots to get more nappies, they are now being advertised as BOGOF so I got another 10 packs (as much as I could fit in the trolley when I had LO with me!)

sillyinthepast

Norabatty - thank you for the comments. For the gifts I was looking at doing gardener a hand scrub which is just olive oil, lemon and sugar mixed. Chutneys, jams, etc.

If you google homemade hand or body scrubs hundreds of recipes come up x

Aril

Weekly round up as promised.

-still blogging. One good side is it means I'm doing more freebie stuff so I can then write about it!
-we've used our annual passes to visit the Weald and Downland museum. We have them for the Portsmouth dockyard [bought half price from Dealmonster] National Trust for Scotland [Xmas pressie from my parents] and one for the local nature reserve. They very soon pay for themselves.
-Have found a source of 12 freerange eggs for £1- they are from older hens so are cheaper. Someone my Mum knows
-Zip went on an old skirt so have cut this up for morris dancing tatters and found a new one still with labels attached [per una] for £3.50 in the CS along with a monsoon one for the same price. Someone also kindly gave me more black material unexpectedly which has meant I haven't needed to buy any more for my tatters jacket
-From the garden we've had our first carrots, strawberries [only 5 or 6 so far but it's a start!] and lettuce
-My mum gave me a waterproof mascara that she's used once and didn't get on with
-we need to redo all the raised beds in our front garden- Mr GBT managed to source two lots both multibuy offers and then further reductions due to a split bag and 15% off promotion at Homebase
-managed a trip to the library and found an armful of interesting tomes to keep me occupied over the next few weeks.
-both Mr GBT and I managed to source some supermarket whoopsies when we were passing the supermarket and have used money off vouchers for this.
-used a double points voucher for fuel today and managed to hold out until the price dropped earlier this week
- I made invisible ink- erm it was supposed to ink made from flower petals and looked promising...ah well put that down to frugal fun:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Am loving all the input chaps!
Arilx

sillyinthepast

Well the challenge starts for me tomorrow :-)

I have just done number 6 on my list.

flyingmamma

finding it tough not spending.....i,m ok if i stay away from town but if i venture in....usually with my bargain finding mum i do spend. have been trying to stick to things we need.....got pampers 4.95 per large box in @sda.....not my normal sm but was delighted as this will save us a tenner thiscmonth. took kids to soft play....spent the 10 we,d saved on entrance and lunch,but i reckon it was a cheap day out ,got one kid in free too . tomor i plan a nsd ....aiming for 3 a week now....plus 2 non driving days . these probably are the best moneysaving things we do at the minute....walking to the park..beach....docs....family....we are lucky everyghing we need is within 2 miles.

Thistle-down

I am finding it pretty easy to stay spend free because I am avoiding shops as much as I can, and sticking to lists when I have to go into one.

I was able to pay off my first debt due to the non-spending. It was only £50 but what a great feeling! :j

Savannah02K

Another good tip I'd recommend is when you get your vouchers for so much off a particular item at Tesco or Sainsburys, don't spend them straightaway. Wait until the very last week of the voucher but keep checking every week to see if the goods are on special offer. I had a £1 off the mouthwash we buy, expired next week but this week, finally, Tesco's had it at half price at £1.64 for a 500 ml bottle so I got it for 64p! Also managed to snag similar bargains on couple of other voucher offers.

I use up my store rewards, Nectar points, Advantage points on any BOGOFs or half price offers to make them go as far as possible with the shopping. All helps.