Learning to think like a frugal person

mizmir

Day 4 - Give yourself credit. Like this one Credits for this weekend: posted a final call for my online course and got 5 extra bookings so I have exceeded my earnings target for January with 10 days still to go I wasn't planning to do this but then thought - why not? And it worked. Lesson - always just give things a go! Another credit is that I have finally posted a load of stuff on eBay. Sold one thing already and have a few more with interest. Mostly small stuff but one with potential to make a lot of money.

I'm liking this approach FMG - it is helpful to have focus. Must remember to read my ARC each day though!

ForMyGirls

Hello coaches,

Glad to hear you are enjoying the Day 4 credit giving experience Mizmir :-) And glad to hear your online course is proving a success - well done!

Credits:
- Sorely tempted to buy a second bra that was on sale today which was very pretty, but not as good a fit as my normal one. It was so helpful to have "no choice" and "This isn't on the plan" to keep me on track.
- had a couple of spends I hadn't anticipated today - my share of a parking ticket from the holiday that I had forgotten we needed to pay today - and an item I was buying for my partner while in town being 25c over the money he had given me. It is a credit here because I am proud of the fact that I stopped and thought these through - it would have been stingy for me not to cover these things so it was the right call to pay them - but it is good that spending money that was unplanned is not something I was relaxed about.
- said "no choice" to lots of little bits of unnecessary stuff that caught my eye at the shops today

I went window shopping today in a dress shop which is home of my ultimate reward for my weightless journey - it was very affirming and motivating to think that not only am I on track to being able to fit into one of them one day but that I am also on track to being able to afford when I get there!

My checklist (in brief)
1. ARC - yes 2. other response cards - yes 3. transactions in YNAB before spending and savoured purchases - yes 4. Credits - All the time 5. Spent wisely - yes 6. tolerated compulsive urges - all the time 7. spending plan - yes

mizmir

Day 5 = ARC read. Credits - today I protected my work time. I did not let some gratis work I am doing (which is directly linked to my business) get extended into more work that is not. Instead I offered to do the extra for a fee. Best case is they come back and I get paid work. Worst case - that I end up doing lots of extra work for free - is averted! I find charging and asking for money really hard so this is progress!

So Day 5 - mindful spending. This is a little different for me than day 3. That was about planning and making the most of purchases. This is about giving real thought to what I buy. So instead of just buying the first thing that I see I will ask - can I get it for less? Is there a way of making do with something I already have? Would it be available on Freecycle/eBay/charity shops? It is also about being mindful over "bargains" - something is only a bargain if it is cheap AND you would buy it or something similar anyway. If it makes you buy something extra it is not a bargain. So I will think carefully at the Yellow sticker shelf to make sure what I am choosing is something we actually need. Buying up ready meals when we are trying to cook from scratch is not a bargain - even if they are yellow stickered!

chanie

Day 9 - choosing a living cheaply plan

The focus for me at the moment is cutting down on my personal spending, which is the biggest area of concern. I may then look at our household expenses at a later date and see how I do there.



Sabotaging thoughts:
its a bargain - is it really, or is it sneaky tactics on behalf of the shop.

It will sell out if I don't buy it now - the world won't end if I don't get this bargain, there will be others that come along

I don't know when I will next go to this shop - you can always find another bargain.

Buy it, in case you need it later - I can't prepare for everything, its okay to go with the flow.

It will only cost me XXXX - think of the children's future!!!!

I NEED it - Don't go for the first option, there may be a better one out there. Do I have the space for it at home?


I guess its not just about cutting down on spending the money I have, but also about using the items I have more productively.
I want to focus on the following things this year, as the first step towards having a more frugal life:
Growing my own veg
Buying shopping from local shops
Cooking more from scratch
Baking
Use vouchers and discounts more
Planning fun, frugal activities with the children

I think I really need to add to this list and I will do so.

Credits for today
A big one today - I've earned £40, doing online surveys. I've put the money into my savings account!!!

chanie

pause, plan, pay
This is my new mantra, pause, plan, pay.
I need new heads for my electric toothbrush and they are £10+ for 2. A quick amazon search shows I can get a generic brand (which fits) So, instead of £5 each, I can get them for £1 each. I wouldn't have known this if I had just walked into the supermarket and bought the named brand.

I have written a list of items we need to buy. These are things we genuinely need like a new house phone (ours is broken, so we can't make or receive calls on the house phone) and a car seat (next size up for Ds). The list is smaller than I thought so it isn't so overwhelming. Pause, plan, pay means I can hunt for the best price.

I am going to use the pause to incorporate mizmars questions: is this a want or need, is this the best possible price, do I have something else I already have, that I can use, will this end up as clutter?

I will then consider my sabotaging thoughts.

StressedSteph

chanie wrote: »

pause, plan, pay
This is my new mantra, pause, plan, pay.
I need new heads for my electric toothbrush and they are £10+ for 2. A quick amazon search shows I can get a generic brand (which fits) So, instead of £5 each, I can get them for £1 each. I wouldn't have known this if I had just walked into the supermarket and bought the named brand.

I have written a list of items we need to buy. These are things we genuinely need like a new house phone (ours is broken, so we can't make or receive calls on the house phone) and a car seat (next size up for Ds). The list is smaller than I thought so it isn't so overwhelming. Pause, plan, pay means I can hunt for the best price.

I am going to use the pause to incorporate mizmars questions: is this a want or need, is this the best possible price, do I have something else I already have, that I can use, will this end up as clutter?

I will then consider my sabotaging thoughts.

If you don't mind Chanie, I think I will borrow this idea as well.

Impulse spending is our budgets weakest point. When I look back on our past bank statements there are way too many Ebay & Amazon purchases that really add up to alot of money.

I will definately used the pause, plan, pay method. Its sounds perfect for me.

Just the PAUSE bit will probably do me good, but I need to get out of the habit of instant gratification, and learn the joy of saving up for something I want, instead of making a mess of everything with impulse purchases.

Thanks Chanie xx

mizmir

Love the Pause, Plan, Pay idea. And it all comes down to moving away from impulse spending to thoughtful spending. Good idea to list the things you need and look for the best way to get them. I'm finding this thread so useful.

ForMyGirls

I think most of us are doing this step already - but I will still talk about it because I think it is worth thinking about why it is important and what we can gain from it - and it might also be helpful if other folk join this thread later on and aren't in the habit of monitoring their spending.

If you have been doing a step of this program each day - and if you have waited the recommended two weeks to start living on a budget - then today will be the beginning of living on a budget. If you haven't already done so, today is also the day to do your financial stocktake - so that you will know the financial position you are starting from and be able to track your progress.

Once you have done that it is time to learn about monitoring your spending. In the Beck Diet Solution Beck talks about monitoring what you eat and comparing it to your planned eating. She recommends doing it straight after every meal or snack so that you don't forget things!

This is very easy to adapt to the world of finances - basically write down everything you spend straight after you spend it:)

Beck lists a bunch of benefits of doing this - I will put them straight into adapted financial form:

1. It gives you a chance to give yourself credit and thereby increase your motivation and confidence whenever you have stuck to your plan;

2. It gives you the chance to work out what led you astray when you didn't follow your plan, work out why that happened and create response cards for the sabotaging thoughts so that next time you will be able to respond to them effectively.

3. It keeps you accountable - it is much harder for money to just "disappear" when you are monitoring it all the time.

4. Seeing that you have stuck to a plan builds your confidence that you can do this - you can stick to a budget - it is possible!

The checklist for Day 15 is a bit longer - it includes some 'big steps' from the first 14 days of the program, which are important foundations that will make it possible to stay on track. These big steps are:

1. Have you chosen two budgeting systems (a primary and a backup)?
2. Have you created time in your schedule and prepared your house and work environments?
3. Are you consulting your budgeting coach regularly?

Today's daily checklist has two extras. This is the full list:
1. Read my ARC?
2. Read my other response cards as needed?
3. Used my strategy for avoiding impulsive spending and savouring the fruits of my expenditure? (All the time, most of the time, some of the time, none of the time)
4. Gave myself credit when I engaged in helpful spending behaviours (all the time? Most of the time? Some of the time? Not at all?)
5. Used my 'spending wisely' strategies?
6. Tolerated and resisted compulsive urges to spend rather than giving in (all the time? Most of the time? Some of the time? Not at all?)
7. Wrote out a spending plan for tomorrow
8. Monitored everything I spent today
9. Did a financial stocktake and recorded my financial position

ForMyGirls

Hello coaches,

Mizmir - congratulations on protecting your time for work. I empathise with your challenge in charging for your time so I can imagine how hard this would have been - and know how very important it is if you are establishing a business. I also really loved your take on mindful spending - it is similar to a post from Chanie a while ago about asking questions before spending but I hadn't made the connection that it was an equivalent to mindful eating. (Apologies Chanie if you actually said that and I didn't take it in at the time!)

Chanie - I also love "pause, plan, pay" and shall be adopting it. Catchy phrases really work for me so this will be especially helpful. I loved hearing all your sabotaging thoughts and responses too.

Stressed Steph - I think you have nailed it with the phrase "instant gratification". I was pondering recently why it might be that there appear to be so many people who, like me, are overweight and overspent and I think instant gratification might be a big part of both behaviours.

There has been a lot of great thinking today!

A cool thing to share - I spent some time this morning trying on clothes wearing my much anticipated new bra and discovered that a whole lot of "almost the right size" clothes that I pulled out of a box a month or so ago now fit (on account of my anatomy now being in the right position!) Amongst them is a navy blue linen dress that I last wore in my early 20's. I am an 'anti-hoarder' so keeping a too small frock for nearly 20 years is a sign of great adoration. I have been wearing it all day with a great big grin on my face

Credits for my day:
- I rode my bike / bus into town today for lunch with my friend to save money on parking and petrol
- When I ended up with time to spare I chose not to go window shopping in the Apple shop because I realised it would lead to a desire to spend, so why put myself through the pain!
- I stuck to my spending plan for the day

My checklist (in brief)
1. ARC - yes 2. other response cards - yes 3. transactions in YNAB before spending and savoured purchases - sort of 4. Credits - all the time 5. Spent wisely - yes 6. tolerated compulsive urges - all the time 7. spending plan - yes 8. Monitored my spending - yes

StressedSteph

Morning FMG


Big well done for fitting into the lovely blue dress. With the good bra and your diet plan, it looks like you are well on your way. :T

Well done for riding the bike to meet your friend. I guess the weather is nice in Oz so makes the thought of a long bike ride abit more appealing than the foggy frosty morning we have here in the UK. .

I have never mastered the art of window shopping. My hubby can surf for hours on the Ebay shop, "Just looking". but I can't do that. I log in, find it, buy it. .
I doubt I will ever have the will power to window shop, just not my nature. Well done for side stepping the Apple shop, that would be torture......


xxx