The October Awakening!

strandedinaber

I just realised I have possibly done this wrong and not gone through point by point on the challenge as everyone else seems to be doing - sorry, NinjaSavingKat! Thank you all for sharing your debt-free journeys - it's incredibly motivational to someone just beginning to get a handle on it.

You will aim for 20 SFD (Spend Free Days). - Managed a SFD today and am planning on doing the same until shopping day on Saturday. I don't need anything so there's no reason why I should end up spending.

Pay off debt first. Done! Minimum payments go out by direct debit halfway through the month but I paid the extra I could afford yesterday.

You will create a spreadsheet and budget EVERYTHING. I've been using Clearcheckbook for the past year and find it really helpful. They also do 'rolling budgets' which is handy because it means that when I go over budget (as with last month and takeaways, oops), it subtracts from the budget for next month. So no takeaways for me until December...

Get a small spend diary to keep in your bag, everything you buy is written on it. I use Clarcheckbook for this - the app on my phone means it counts as being kept in my bag, right?

Set your food budget now then reduce it by £20. Done!

Clear out your cupboards of food before buying more. Not quite sure what you mean - do you mean not replacing staples until they've all run out, i.e. not buying new pasta until the rice has run out as well, or just not stocking up with 17 different kinds of pasta? I prefer to replace staples as they run out because it means I don't end up having one really expensive food shop, but will change my strategy if folks have found other approaches work better.

Out of your allowance £3 of food will be donated to the local food bank. I do this anyway (and it's budgeted in) but have been wanting to increase it, so I'll add an extra £3 from the 'pocket money' budget.

Budget for outings, birthdays, Halloween parties, trick-or-treater treats and meals with friends PRIOR to the start of the challenge. Done!

No eating out, no cafes, no Starbucks, no Costa, no work canteens, no hospital cafes...you shall not buy food out! This was hard work today! Spent half the day working on campus right next to the Costa, but I was determined to make today a SFD so resisted. I might have to invest in a flask so I don't have to be deprived of tea next time that happens.

Bring your lunch to work everyday. I try and do this most days anyway and have now gotten into the habit of making lunch the night before (at the same time as I'm making dinner, so I'm not tempted to eat tomorrow's lunch at 9pm at night...). This is almost entirely due to the fact that we moved offices and it's far too much work to walk all the way to the cafe now. Laziness has its advantages!

Choose a DFD - a Debt Free Date! Oh... gulp. Okay. June 30th 2014.

Use up all your beauty products BEFORE getting any more. No more than £10 allowed on beauty spends for the month. Ah. May have broken that one - does £11 on razors count if they will last around 6 months? I'm allergic to all the cheap-n-cheerful ones. That was budgeted in my groceries bill.

And just for the “regulars” who might be a bit too comfortable in these challenges.. you have to somehow make an extra £100 this month. I don’t care how. Ebay, Amazon book trade-in, sell pictures of yourself (kidding), sell everything that isn’t nailed down - lets see what you are made of. I'm not a regular, but I am tempted to give this a try and see how easy it is. I have quite a few things that need Ebaying and I've not gotten around to listing. Question - do money-off vouchers for supermarkets count towards this?

andrar

LSD - I wish I was as cool as kirsty! I'll have to take a photo of it all once my sofas arrive (that's right; free AND getting delivered for nowt!) Just to show off, well prove what can be done when you've got no cash anyway!

Lillian - I've kind of given up on the eBay thing, I get stung in fees everytime I sell stuff I've yet to make a decent profit on anything and right now anything I have got I need so I can't flog it. I'll look into other stuff I can do in the time off though as its a good idea, tar for the push!

Loveadove - Here Here! I've been on the brunt of posters not being very supportive on a different thread (funnily enough its called a supporters thread?!) And it really gets you down. Some people are just rude and obnoxious, thankfully I have this thread to come to with all the amazing people on it!

Anyhoos my update is I had to buy milk, so low spend and no need to buy anything the rest of the week.

I got a cheque for £18 from sky today for an old account from about 4 years ago that I found was cancelled but still in credit, and I also got an m&s voucher for £100 from an offer I signed up to - does this count as my money made for the month?

thriftylass

MrsGSR wrote: »

Right, dilemma.
Party invitation from DCs cousins arrives today, that means presents not budgetted for AND I really don't want to go.
What do I do?
Oh and we barely speak to them.

Just say you have prior commitments and unfortunately cant make it?

MrsGSR

Taken on some overtime at the weekend, time and a half no less. Booom.
It will be going to the credit card...

MrsGSR

thriftylass wrote: »

Just say you have prior commitments and unfortunately cant make it?

That's what I want to say but according to DH that's not acceptable
I said that DS will be too tired at that time and he said why? He is working anyway so doesn't have to put up with a grouchy child.
Decided DC will be poorly that day.

xJOJOx_2

strandedinaber wrote: »

Clear out your cupboards of food before buying more. Not quite sure what you mean - do you mean not replacing staples until they've all run out, i.e. not buying new pasta until the rice has run out as well, or just not stocking up with 17 different kinds of pasta? I prefer to replace staples as they run out because it means I don't end up having one really expensive food shop, but will change my strategy if folks have found other approaches work better.

I think you need to adapt this to your personnel needs. Me personnel, I would not buy more pasta until I need it after its run out, for example if its not on the meal plan don't buy it.

Id start off by searching for things you've bought but not eaten and they've been in stock for a while. Run down all the things thats just sitting there. Have you ever bought something to try as a experiment but never got round to it? Tin of soup been sat all lonely?

Remember we don't need to buy things just in case? Whats the worst that can happen if you run out of pasta? Also spending 20 lots of £1's and £40 food shopping, is the same as spending £60 all in one go. However if you actually only need say 3 lots of the £1's items and £40 shopping - you've saved £17 which would of just been sat in your cupboard xx

Fmess

Advice please;

I have three ccards and feel I should cut some of them up to avoid the temptation of spending on them, but I keep justifying keeping each one as they have different features!

1.) S4nt4nd3r card which has zero balance and is free to use abroad. Apparently, there aren't many free to use abroad cards so it's nice knowing if I ever can afford another holiday, I won't be charged to spend abroad and won't need to carry lots of cash.

2.) 4SD4 card which has zero balance and offers cash back. My aim is that when I feel I can trust myself, I will pay for most items on this card and then pay it off immediately, thus getting cash back but not being in debt.

3.) T3sco card which has £2187.17 on at 0% until June as is 0% on all purchases and balance transfers until June. This is currently my emergency fund card we have 4 dogs, 1 cat, 2 cars and a house and no savings so I like to know that if a huge vets bill or similar appears, I can pay it.

Currently, they all reside in a sealed envelope on which I have written warnings to myself about using them and increasing my debt!

Would you cut any if these up?

Thanks for reading, any advice much appreciated

Daisychain1

Good morning,

Well yesterday was a SFD as planned. Even OH is getting in the swing of it. I came home to find him making a homemade sauce to go with the pasta we were going to eat for tea and enough for a portion to freeze. I think I've cracked it

Unfortunately the run of SFDs ends today but only to the tune of £6 so not the end of the world. Still not bought any food and taken all lunches to work.

My most challenging time will be the weekend but I will do it!

SFDs 2/20
Food 0/180
No eating out 0/31
Lunches to work 3/18

strandedinaber

xJOJOx wrote: »

I think you need to adapt this to your personnel needs. Me personnel, I would not buy more pasta until I need it after its run out, for example if its not on the meal plan don't buy it.

Id start off by searching for things you've bought but not eaten and they've been in stock for a while. Run down all the things thats just sitting there. Have you ever bought something to try as a experiment but never got round to it? Tin of soup been sat all lonely?

Remember we don't need to buy things just in case? Whats the worst that can happen if you run out of pasta? Also spending 20 lots of £1's and £40 food shopping, is the same as spending £60 all in one go. However if you actually only need say 3 lots of the £1's items and £40 shopping - you've saved £17 which would of just been sat in your cupboard xx

Ah, thanks - this helps! I wasn't sure what this meant. I actually don't have much in my store cupboard that doesn't get used on at least a fortnightly basis and usually more often than that - things like pasta, rice, lentils, quinoa, tinned tomatoes, baked beans etc. The reason why I keep a fairly up to date storecupboard is because I work really long hours and takeaway is my weakness. If I don't have something easy to make up (like tuna and pasta bake, for example, or baked beans on toast) when I get home at 9pm, and the planned meal will take half an hour to cook, then it's way too easy to go just to the telephone. But I see what you mean and will avoid adding to it. I think over the past 5 years of living alone I have managed to sort out what's a one-hit-wonder and what's a store-cupboard-staple for me, but there are definitely times when I get a bit too adventurous and then never touch something again. Will definitely avoid that aisle unless I have something specific I need.

(On a related note, anyone got any suggestions on what to do with a bag of split peas?)

cottage_retreatist

Fmess wrote: »

Advice please;

I have three ccards and feel I should cut some of them up to avoid the temptation of spending on them, but I keep justifying keeping each one as they have different features!

1.) S4nt4nd3r card which has zero balance and is free to use abroad. Apparently, there aren't many free to use abroad cards so it's nice knowing if I ever can afford another holiday, I won't be charged to spend abroad and won't need to carry lots of cash.

2.) 4SD4 card which has zero balance and offers cash back. My aim is that when I feel I can trust myself, I will pay for most items on this card and then pay it off immediately, thus getting cash back but not being in debt.

3.) T3sco card which has £2187.17 on at 0% until June as is 0% on all purchases and balance transfers until June. This is currently my emergency fund card we have 4 dogs, 1 cat, 2 cars and a house and no savings so I like to know that if a huge vets bill or similar appears, I can pay it.

Currently, they all reside in a sealed envelope on which I have written warnings to myself about using them and increasing my debt!

Would you cut any if these up?

Thanks for reading, any advice much appreciated

FMESS - cut all of them up!!!!! :rotfl::rotfl:

I kept giving myself excuses about not cutting them up - emergencies etc!! Paid off the two lowest budget ones (500 each) and then we spent on them with carp we didn't need and now I'm paying them off again.

That emergency everyone is thinking will happen will (touch wood) rarely happen!! We kept one (400 limit) but the other 4 we chopped up! And it was soooo liberating - now I watch that amount drop every month and i'm not tempted to spend on an 'emergency' pair of shoes!!!!

ps - i say 'we' chopped up -i chopped up!! Thought OH clocked on the other day but phew! He's still none the wiser all the cards were chopped!! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: