Cutting out to Save up - Diary

toastking

Hey there guys - I've decided to keep a 1 month diary as a form of mini-blog and to track my progress over the next month.

We assign ourselves £250 each per month to spend on bits and bobs, going out, having fun etc. and I am always looking at ways to cut down my spend and save as much as I can (to add to my own savings pot which will then either be used for a small business and/or treats and/or eventually just be added to the mortgage saving fund).

I have picked up some bad habits that I am going to cut out, 5 days per week I head out and pick up an energy drink at minimum. I have a bad heart (despite being only 28) and so energy drinks are about 3 times as bad for me as a normal person according to my Doctor - even if thats a scare tactic, I've got to start paying attention!

1) Energy drinks - 1 per day at £1 per time
2) Scratch cards - 2 per week £5-10 pw
3) Bought lunches - £10 pw

As such I am going to cut out these three things for a month and see how much I come out of the month with. As a bench mark last month I saved £50 despite buying £100 worth of gardening tools, plants etc to grow my own veg.

Working on a low estimate of £20pw I should in theory save £80+ over the course of the month. £80 a month is £960 a year!

Feel free to join in with a 'Cutting Out to Save' approach for a month and maybe we can do another challenge next month

Day 0 - lets roll!

toastking

Day 1/2 - The weekend - this was relatively easy as I spent a lot of the time becoming old before my time and gardening. The temptation isn't there so much at the weekends and so I've managed to completely avoid any of the three areas.

Day 3 - Monday - this was a different story - temptation was everywhere, especially in terms of food and energy drinks. I had to travel via train to Loughborough for a meeting and it was during train travel and early mornings that I started on the energy drinks.

However I took my cool bag that is a posh one and used it, ate and drank healthy and no scratch cards still.

Day 4 - Tuesday - although mega stressful and no sleep last night, I've managed it again. My OH has 3 members of the family in hospital and is unwell herself having spent approx. 2 weeks in bed and barely even working from home more than say 1/2 a day in that entire time. Its a common stress but I am working on not letting work and home stress convert into bad food and drink and money wasting. Combine all this with a mystery bug around the office and I am not a happy bunny today - starting to feel ill.

Day 5 - Wednesday - the day it all went wrong. A mega early start at work and I snapped to buy an energy drink. I needed the energy to kick start me and it worked as it helped me get going. Stayed in work till about 3pm when everyone else went home due to bug and so I had to follow suit for health and safety reasons (only one in the building).

What this usually would mean is completely reverting back to drinking, eating and scratch cards but I am keeping on going for the month. If nothing else, it'll help me track results and determine some new rules to live by long-term.

JennyRowling

Do you realize that if the energy drinks cause some serious heart problems, it's possible that you'll have to give all your savings so far for medication?

You should really work on stopping them as fast as possible. But don't replace them with coffee. If you need energy for work, invest time in a good night sleep (22:00 - 02:00 - the healthiest hours for sleeping) and start running, or swimming regularly. Movement gives a natural rush.

toastking

Thanks I completely forgot about this.

The energy drinks thing - I've only had one or two of these since I started and epically failed at this diary effort. I stuck to the idea till the end of the month, I just didn't stick to the writing about it!

Unfortunately work have just shut down my office so I'll be a home worker soon, I think I need to implement a strict regime of running and a sleeping schedule so that I build up my energy. But really its illness responsible for energy issues so sometimes thats tough.

Thanks for your input as eating healthily and exercising regularly will definitely help I just need to get into it.

whiteslice

All three of the things you've decided to cut out are solid choices, imho. Energy drinks damage your health, scratchcards are lottery, otherwise known as 'a tax on stupidity' (no offence meant, I've played too in my time) and bought lunches are not necessary (although I think it is quite impressive how you'd been managing to spend only a tenner a week on them - I used to spend £25).

I've noticed that sometimes low energy levels are a temporary affliction. For example, I feel low on energy to the point of being nauseous at 11am, must eat chocolate, resist the temptation, end up feeling fine by 11:30am (and really smug too).
Try carrying with you a refillable bottle of water (flavour it with juice if you find it too plain) - it might be that a big part of your addiction to energy drinks is to do with the hand-mouth fixation, where you just need to keep something in your hand and to sip of it. I've had this problem with beer - couldn't go for a walk without a can of the stuff.

Finally, don't beat yourself up over those slip-ups. Sometimes a long lasting change has to be a gradual one. And good luck!