Pay off mortgage and start having even more fun 😁

LadyWithAPlan

A clothing challenge sounds fun. Maybe a look through to see what you actually need eg i know I need some smart work day wear flat black knee high boots as my old ones are looking v tired .. so I am refusing to look at any other shoes or boots (even though I am currently in the US with sales one...) until I find and buy the one thing I do need.

I have a clothing pot I put monthly amounts in However I do love decent vintage

Cornish_mum

Dear NG,

I completely sympathises about your PJ and bedlinen have habit. I too love both (and homeware of any kind). I found I absolutely had to avoid shops with nice things (virtual or online), lifestyle magazines and clicking on advertising emails to stop spending money. I am the same with chocolate and biscuits; only way for me to control myself is not having it in the house. I follow frugalwoods too and found the “art of frugal substitution” very useful. So I swapped home and garden magazines for reading frugal home making blogs and insta; etc etc. My core want - was to make my home pretty and nice - so I found ways to do that which didn’t involve spending any money. CM

themadvix

newgirly said:

😆 Thanks for the words of encouragement guys, I will now remove nightwear from the essential list!  Xmas bed clothes wise, I’m actually way ahead of you, I got them all out and washed them ready for December and have enough for a different set every week 😁 ☃️ 

Daisy I’m in a slightly cold sweat at the thought of not going in my favourite shop anymore 😢 ours even has a lovely little Disney waffle cafe in it, I think that must make it ok still to visit 😬 

Southcoast, giving up nightwear? No, I think I’d rather never clear the mortgage, there’s a line and thats firmly it for me , as is no buying any clothes for a year 😱 weirdly I 

As for the wearing out of pyjamas, dh has ones that are worn out, he doesn’t notice or care I’m pretty sure. Weirdly I read one of frugalwoods’s no buying clothes articles, not that one a different one, I shall take a look though.

Dh has taken my car to work to drop it for a while you wait mot as it’s cheap and round the corner from work, fingers crossed as the budget is zero as I emptied it for the car and home ins last week as it was sooooo much dearer. I’ve got £30 to go in the pot from nov and last year it was £35. 

Yesterday I went to help best friend get a huge golf trolley for her dh birthday from Costco, and what did I find ( while looking at the clothes I wasn’t going to buy) but some waterproof ski type trousers for £17.98 including vat, much nicer than the huge thick ones I had bought for £39.99 from decathlon, so i bought them and then returned the others! I’ve taken the £22.01 and put it into my clothes pot along with this months £20 taken from my £100 pm personal spending budget. 

Very impressed at your organisation with the bedclothes, although I could never be persuaded to give so much house space to things that only come out for a month (max!) a year!

I think you need to have a reframe of the purpose of shopping NG - then it won't be so painful not going! I may be wrong, but I think you do it as a way to fill your time - which having a job would solve.... or another hobby. Shopping shouldn't be a hobby!

I'm sure you could find another nice (independent?) cafe that does waffles that comes without the temptation 😉

Fingers crossed for the MOT. And great result on the ski trousers!

earthgirl2

Well done with the ski trousers! 

I used to do more shopping but I got what I needed and then just kept saying to myself thst I didn't need anything, so I dint even go in. 

I replaced underwear and a couple of pairs of leggings this summer, a new swimming costume and I think that's all I've bought this year new. My cs does amazing £1 sales, where I bought 3 dresses for weddings, shoes, a clutch bag and an most new next winter jacket that I love. 

I think I've spent about £40 -£50 this year. 

I took an old but ok looking nightie to my wee break away and realised that I'd had it for about 20 years 😬 

South_coast

newgirly said:

Southcoast, giving up nightwear? No, I think I’d rather never clear the mortgage

LOL 🤣! I've not had any since I was a teenager and genuinely didn't realise so many people still did! 

LadyWithAPlan

I am also a no nightwear person - though I did buy in my favourite  French charity shop a gorgeous leopardskin Lise Charmel silk nightie with tags still on  that I feel just so glam in.  (I have just looked up online and they $300!  - I paid about 30 euros)  Sorry I am not trying to encourage you to shop but the higher the quality the less you need, it looks better and it lasts.

I also have some v lovely bedlinen which has lasted decades... so I sympathise there.. 

Primarni fishnet tights, fake eyelashes are however brilliant but I dont see them on your list! Their jewelled flipflops are great as well, They dont last beyond 2 summers but what flipflops do and seems pointless to spend loads on things you wear on the sand and get wet.

I am thinking a pair of pjs may finally go on my xmas list just for the warmth.. but never worn any so..

daisy_1571

newgirly said:

😆 Thanks for the words of encouragement guys, I will now remove nightwear from the essential list!  Xmas bed clothes wise, I’m actually way ahead of you, I got them all out and washed them ready for December and have enough for a different set every week 😁 ☃️ 

Daisy I’m in a slightly cold sweat at the thought of not going in my favourite shop anymore 😢 ours even has a lovely little Disney waffle cafe in it, I think that must make it ok still to visit 😬 

Southcoast, giving up nightwear? No, I think I’d rather never clear the mortgage, there’s a line and thats firmly it for me , as is no buying any clothes for a year 😱 weirdly I 

As for the wearing out of pyjamas, dh has ones that are worn out, he doesn’t notice or care I’m pretty sure. Weirdly I read one of frugalwoods’s no buying clothes articles, not that one a different one, I shall take a look though.

Dh has taken my car to work to drop it for a while you wait mot as it’s cheap and round the corner from work, fingers crossed as the budget is zero as I emptied it for the car and home ins last week as it was sooooo much dearer. I’ve got £30 to go in the pot from nov and last year it was £35. 

Yesterday I went to help best friend get a huge golf trolley for her dh birthday from Costco, and what did I find ( while looking at the clothes I wasn’t going to buy) but some waterproof ski type trousers for £17.98 including vat, much nicer than the huge thick ones I had bought for £39.99 from decathlon, so i bought them and then returned the others! I’ve taken the £22.01 and put it into my clothes pot along with this months £20 taken from my £100 pm personal spending budget. 

In light of all the save more spend less wisdom I read this on frugalwoods yesterday ... 

7) DONT BUY STUFF
No seriously, just don’t buy things. 99% of our success with our savings rate, and the fact that we spent circa $13,000 in 2014 (sans mortgage), is attributed to the fact that we don’t buy things. You can’t really hack your way to frugal. You can and should take advantage of discounts, coupons, rewards points, and the like. But at the end of the day, the only way to truly save money is to not buy stuff. Money doesn’t walk out of your wallet on its own 

I saw this quote on lady with a plans diary.  I found it an interesting juxtaposition of the 2 thoughts.  Thats why the money journey is so interesting and why I love reading the diaries.   We don't tend to talk about money in real life but all the chat and ideas here is like discussing.   Sometimes it makes us decide what is important and we won't compromise on, like ng with her clothes, other times somebodies idea resonates and it makes us realise actually something we've been doing for years isn't helping us and we're going to change, like lwap after reading the frugalwood site.  I think I'm going to track the frugalwood site down and have a read.   

Daisy xxxx

newgirly

Thanks everyone it’s been really interesting reading everyone’s comments, things sometimes take a while to settle in and work their way through into a fully formed way of life. A bit like when I gave up drinking (5 years last week 😱) I’d had a few breaks over the years as I’d felt like it and read a few books on it, but it took a while to realise I actually wanted to not drink and then more time to realise I was a non drinker even though I’d stopped completely for ages, I thought maybe I would start again if this makes sense, I think things sometimes take me time 😆

I don’t want to go too extreme with the frugality in any way really, unless circumstances change and we have to, but mindful spending is something that’s helpful so you can spend on what makes a difference 🙂 for me that’s going out for a coffee which friends and going away with dh plus the odd things with the kids. I can defiantly reduce what I spend on clothes, home not so much as I don’t really spend on that (the Xmas duvets are many years old 😬) 

Daisy I read that article this week! I’ve only just started re reading frugalwoods, I think I read it years ago and must have forgotten about it at some point along the way. 

All packed and we have a LOT of luggage, usually we travel very light but not this time as it’s so cold so everything takes up a lot of space plus I’m taking long life lactose free milk, whiskey for dh, refillable coffee and water bottles so we can take our own from the cabin if we want 🙂 

 Not much else to report, I did get a survey through today- first one, I shall sign up to more when I get back from being away. 

themadvix

Have a fantastic time NG!!

(Totally get the things taking time to settle in - and reshape your identity too. For a long time after I gave up meat it was something I thought of as being ‘for now’ (I was 11 at the time). Now, of course, I’d never go back and it’s part of my identity - like you being a non-drinker (and veggie).

South_coast

Wow, five years sober. I had no idea it had been that long. That's amazing, NG 👍👍👍!

Have an amazing trip x