Learning to think like a frugal person

chanie

day 7 arranging your environment

This is about removing temptation. I don't get the opportunity to be tempted hugely as I don't have the time to go to town and I prefer this to online shopping. I am going to prepare a snack drawer at work of cheap, healthy snacks for when I feel peckish, to further limit my spending. I don't feel like I'm missing out with this one as we only have expensive machines at work and on those rare occasions when I need a snack, I hate having to use them.

day 8 creating time and energy
I have loads of energy for this and enjoy bargain hunting, probably a bit too much as it sometimes means I feel I can't walk away from a bargain. I write down any spends above my weekly pocket money in my diary, which does force me to stop. I also have a notebook where I write down to do lists, plans, keep track of gifts and present stash etc. One thing I do, is write down how much I save on presents and bargains.

ForMyGirls

Hello coaches,

Last full day of holidays and i am only $5 over budget (having clawed back yesterday's $20 overbudget). Tomorrow only requires paying for lunch and snacks on the journey home so i am confident i will come in under budget for the holiday as a whole. Unprecedented!

I had a compulsive urge to spend experience today. Didn't quite identify as such at the time but i shall examine it retrospectively.

So the situ: while staying with family i have observed them using a lazy susan on the dinner table and thought "I'd like one of them". Today we saw one in a beautiful local wood and i really wanted it.

Rating in the scale - about a 4

Length - the intense bit about 2 minutes. The lingering "but maybe i can buy it" about half an hour.

Strategies I used (though not really recognising them as such) - naming it, in that i identified it as a habitual and unrealistic desire to spend; imagining the aftermath - thinking about how crappy i would feel when there was no money left in the holiday spending or general "treat money" categories (and it would also have used up $60 of birthday gift money i have been hoarding from my birthday in November); no choice (once i had worked out it didn't make sense to buy it). I also used Mizmir's questions technique - though it is credit to my partner who, when i said i was thinking of buying it asked "how much do you think we would use it?)

It has been interesting to notice that my compulsive urges to spend are not as intense, or overwhelming as food cravings were when i was doing Beck. I have been pondering whether this is because my food addiction was / is greater than my spending addiction or whether it is because i am practiced enough in these techniques from 6 months of using them for dieting that they come fairly naturally. Whatever the reason it is nice that (thus far) they are manageable.

I am pleased to have completed Day 13 finally. I might get a chance to read up on day 14 on the plane home tomorrow :-)

Credits:
-not buying the lazy susan
- entering almost all transactions before purchase
- thinking through a decision to buy a new meditation track in the itunes store. I am finding that my existing collection are not working for me at the moment so sampled a whole lot, checked what the impact would be on my treat money budget and countered the sabotaging thought that it would be a good idea to buy the whole album rather than just one track

I found it really interesting to read the discussion about feeling like the bad guy when you are the money manager. That stuff sits so heavy hey? In the separate finances world system i have it plays out a bit differently in that i feel bad if i say i don't want to spend money in something and then my partner pays for it. I know, logically, that he doesn't begrudge it but there is always a bunch of guilt, or concern about being stingy that gets jumbled up and confuses me.

StressedSteph - well done to you for having such an honest conversation with your hubby last november. And also how wise to pencil in those meetings so that they will actually happen.

StressedSteph

Another fab post thanks FMG, I selfishly can't wait for you to get back from your holidays so there may be more posts like this .


Well done you on recognising the impulse to buy the Lazy Susan and thinking it through, Its so hard, when you really want something.


Big pat on the back for clawing back the overspend you had the other day. I am struggling with the YNAB budgeting for the rest of January. I did a little forecast adding in all my wages and outflow for the month and it works I am £35 overspent and I haven't factored any savings pots for this month...Eeeek.
Think I will just have to decide which bill can safely wait until the first week of February to pay. Its a bit of a juggle, but at least YNAB is making me aware of the fact that things are more than tight, so that then will stop me making any silly spending to make my situation even worse.


I am hoping by the end of February to be able to start our little savings pots etc.


Hope you have a safe flight home. xx

chanie

Fmg - well done on not giving in to temptation. You should say to yourself 'I will get one WHEN I get my dream home'

Steph - well done with your progress. Little steps.

thinking frugal
I've joined a scheme at work which costs £4 a month but gives a range of discounts and offers. To work out if it's worth it, I am going to keep a log of how much I save. Tomorrow, OH and I are taking our son to the cinema for the first time and we have saved £13 on the tickets, so it's a good start.

my hobby
I've decided to get back into my gardening. I really enjoyed growing my own veg and flowers but haven't done much these past few years as I've been pregnant or recovering from childbirth!!!! I want to get a greenhouse, but as they are expensive, I've said that I need to have two good years of growing before I commit.

StressedSteph

chanie wrote: »

Fmg - well done on not giving in to temptation. You should say to yourself 'I will get one WHEN I get my dream home'

Steph - well done with your progress. Little steps.

thinking frugal
I've joined a scheme at work which costs £4 a month but gives a range of discounts and offers. To work out if it's worth it, I am going to keep a log of how much I save. Tomorrow, OH and I are taking our son to the cinema for the first time and we have saved £13 on the tickets, so it's a good start.

my hobby
I've decided to get back into my gardening. I really enjoyed growing my own veg and flowers but haven't done much these past few years as I've been pregnant or recovering from childbirth!!!! I want to get a greenhouse, but as they are expensive, I've said that I need to have two good years of growing before I commit.

Hi Chanie

I do alot of veg growing, its bloomin hard work, but we had alot of meals last year, where I could proudly boast that everything on the plate was grown and reared at home (We also keep chickens, pigs and sheep). It's a lovely feeling, I just have to work harder on getting veg available during the WHOLE year and not just the easy bit at the end of summer .

Keep you eye out on Ebay or your local papers, I have often seen people virtually giving their greenhouses away if you come to dismantle. Might mean a couple of boken panes of glass but definately a cheap way to go. Otherwise look into small polytunnels, they are tonnes cheaper than greenhouses xx

chanie

Steph - I may have to call on your gardening expertise. I grow in containers on my patio. This year, I plan on growing cherry tomatoes, lettuce leaves, spring onions and potatoes.

We took our son to the cinema today. He didn't do too badly for a 3.5 year old, but did get bored halfway through. We took some sweets and a drink in. I know its not strictly allowed!!! My partner did buy McDonald's for him, but overall, it was a frugal day out.

We did our food shop in lidl today. We didn't plan to go, so didn't bring any bags with us, but clever Mr Chanie picked up a box in store, so we used that. It was so much easier unpacking when we got home. Even better, the children loved playing with the box, they both managed to squeeze in (it's currently a boat, but who knows what it will be tomorrow). It's a good reminder that entertainment doesn't have to cost much.

mizmir

Oooooh - growing veg - might be asking about that too. We have a spot fenced off away from the dogs for growing veg but haven't done anything with it yet. I guess the first stage is digging it over!

StressedSteph

Evening all,

Guess FMG's is getting over travelling home from her holiday. x

Hi Chanie and Mizmir - will happily try to answer any veggie questions. Good on you both for planning on growing something. Even if its a few herbs and some salad stuff. Still feels great to know you are providing your family with something you know if clean and pesticide free. I swear it taste better if you've grown it yourself and you waste less as you know how much hard work it took to produce it. xx

I just adore the cinema, I have ALWAYS wanted to join the monthly membership but never afforded it. That will be my first treat when we are debt free :heart2:. Well done you for taking in the treats, I did that last time, and before the movie started, I looked about and was surprised at how many others were doing the same.

Thats so cute of your children Chanie, I just love how they can create fun out of an old box. Bless.

ForMyGirls

Hello coaches,

Yay for growing veggies. My partner is a pretty enthusiastic gardener and chook owner so I get the benefits without the hard work (though I do do my share of the boring weeding in the rest of the garden). I particularly love garden fresh greens - lettuce and spinach from the shops, or even from the farmer's markets are never even half as yummy. Our tomato crop is just starting too - yummo. My partner was so worried the plants would die while we were away as there has been a record heat wave here in Aus during the last week (well into the 40s (centigrade that is). Fortunately our teenage house sitter did us proud and kept both the chooks and the tomato plants well watered :-)

Chanie I loved your frugal thinking about having to demonstrate a commitment to gardening before you invest in a greenhouse. I have such a history of buying expensive things to support a plan I then don't follow! Loved the story of the box too.

StressedSteph - well done for facing up to cold hard reality with the budget. I am sure you will achieve your goal of getting some savings going next month. It took me a little while to wrap my head around the YNAB system when I first started using it too.

Some credits:
- home from holiday now and still had $4.02 of my budget left. Woohoo! And I have just transferred it into my "big ugly overspend" category - another small step in $ but big step in attitude!
- last night was a designated take-away night after arriving home late from travelling but in a fine moment of good frugal and health conscious thinking I listened to my body and realised what I actually wanted to eat after a day of travel food was a great big salad so picked up the inexpensive ingredients for a tuna salad instead. Yum. And cheap. And healthy.
- I am conscious that after a week of holiday spending and holiday eating it will be important to get back into line so am making time today for using all the strategies I have learnt.

BTW - it is so lovely having you folk to post to. This is exactly the "community" I was hoping to find :T

ForMyGirls

In the Beck Diet Solution Day 14 is about planning what you eat. Beck recommends that everyday you write down what you are going to eat the next day and then check it off, noting any adjustments you make. The logic is that it will make it much easier to stay on your diet plan because you won't be having to make decisions all the time. You get to avoid that standing in front if the refrigerator wondering what you are going to have and feeling deprived because you keep thinking of things that aren't a healthy option.

Beck says this is one of the most resisted parts of the program and I have struggled with it a lot. But I do notice that life is easier when I do it!

I think that the planning part will be pretty directly referable to a world of frugal thinking. All I need to do is add into my evening planning of meals for the next day a planning of what I will spend the next day. Lots of days the answer to that will be NOTHING so in some respects it will be a lot easier than the diet planning. I won't plan spending on groceries- we have a separate groceries account so it is easier to stay on budget there.

So - to model it - today I plan to buy a bra (finally have enough in my 'play money' :-)) and fill the car with petrol. That is all I will buy (other than groceries). I am noticing as I do this that I have a habit of anticipating lots of expenditure - the money burning a hole in my pocket syndrome - there will be about $50 of play money left after the bra and there is a real impulse to work out what else I will spend that on. It occurs to me that I actually don't need to! I will buy the bra and delight in it and when there is something else that warrants spending my hard earned cash on then I will plan to buy it and not just buy it on impulse! This feels very different from my usual way of operating.

The other part of Day 14 of the book is preparing to weigh in on the morning of Day 15. To me the equivalent is doing a financial stocktake - working out what your actual financial position is. Both with the dieting and the money I did this on day 1. Beck recommends weighing weekly (though many of my Beck friends weigh daily). She also recommends weighing in similar conditions each time - ie the same time of day and in the same type and amount of clothing. I think the same thing applies for logging financial progress. I am going to calculate my financial position each payday, straight after paying any bills and after my regular direct debits have come out so that what I am getting each time is a similar cash flow position.

Before I finish up this post I realised when I read the book today that there is a part of Beck's format that I have not been including in my posts about each "day" in the program. This is a "checklist" each day to make sure that you are not only doing the new thing from that day but still doing all the things you learnt on previous days. I will go back and add these checklists into my earlier posts so that folk who join in (or for those who are working through each day now) the checklists appear.

But for now here is yesterday's checklist;
1. Read my ARC (Beck recommends twice but I am just doing once a day) - yes
2. Read my other response cards as needed - yes
3. Entered all transactions into YNAB before spending and savoured the item or experience (every time? Most of the time? Some of the time? Not at all?)- sort of, I entered everything but not always before I spent it! The savouring was not so thorough as most of it was food on the run while travelling.
4. I gave myself credit when I engaged in helpful spending behaviours (all the time? Most of the time? Some of the time? Not at all?) - Most of the time
5. Spent wisely (i.e.: used what we had / bought in cheaper shops) - no!
6. I tolerated and resisted compulsive urges to spend rather than giving in - some of the time
7. I wrote out a spending plan for tomorrow - yes