Is it just me, but there’s always something expensive coming up. A wedding, birthday, Christmas, dinner with friends… well for me, the list is endless.
Since about April, I have had something very expensive to go to (I’m not saying I’ve not brought it on myself a lot of the time by the way!) and July wiped me out, with my mother, sister’s 30th and boyfriend’s birthday.
All this has come at a point where I’m not very financially stable, so can’t quite get on top of my credit card debt, and I’ve not started saving money this year – even though I have cash coming in.
So I’ve decided I need to do something a bit different. I need to make a strict temporary change. I’m back from the last wedding of the year (it was a bloody brilliant one too), and pretty sure I have nothing on for the next two weeks.
No spend fortnight
So it’s not complicated or anything but from today (Monday) I’m not going to spend a penny (apart from necessary tube travel).
I spend the majority of my money on food, so am going to just have to eat what is in the cupboards (I have a thousand tins of tomatoes and porridge oats).
I do have a couple of Iceland vouchers (£50 I think, going to have to search for them), which should get me fruit and veg and essentials.
A money detox
I’m not expecting anything spectacular to happen, but I’m hoping I’ll be able to not only somewhat get back in control of my finances (it’s not awful, but I’m not where I want to be), but also give myself a kick up the arse – because I’m spending more than I have. A money detox you may say.
I also have a few things I can flog on eBay, maybe £300 worth of stuff. It’s mind numbing work, but it’s always worth it once it’s done.
I fully expect to hate every single day of this, because I love spending money (and eating nice food). But here goes. Wish me luck! Who knows, maybe I’ll do a whole month next time.
Have you ever spent more than a week on a spending ban? Oh, want to join me on this one? Let me know in the comments and we can keep in contact.
I don’t have a spending ban, but each month I take out £20 per week to spend. I don’t allow myself any additional cash withdrawals, so when it’s gone, it’s gone. Really helps me stop and think before spending. I sometimes have money over which is good. I think especially since contactless payment has come in it’s “too easy” to spend willy nilly. Good luck with the ban, you’ll do it xxx
Ok I’m in from now
Yes!!! We had to save up within 2 months to fit to Australia for a wedding. I made an excel spreadsheet on a daily breakdown detailing of every bit of money due in and every day that a bill was due out. We shopped at lidl instead of Sainsbury’s and over halved our shopping bill. No more coffees. No more impulse trips to Superdrug after work. No lunches. It became like a competition on who could save the most! I anal sent an apology in advance to my friends. Knowing it was temporary made it easier, and also remembering the days I was on JSA and a quid felt like a fortune. And I survived that, and more so – was happy! And I thought what 21 year old me would have done if I handed her my current salary. It would have felt like winning the lottery. That’s when I realised how bloated and useless a lot of my current spending was which made it easier to cut back.
Good luck! A fortnight is a long time to not spend any money! I’m not sure we could do it with 3 children but I’m sure you can power through! Organisation has got to be the key I guess 🙂
Good luck!
Good luck!! I’ve tried and failed at many no spends before and I just can never stick to it! In fact putting myself on a no spend seems to make me spend a lot more because I’m like a spring and the tighter I try and restrict I go off like a ricochet!
Charlotte | http://www.shoestringchic.co.uk
Wow that’s a decent typo from me in my comment #anal
Good luck! You can nail this if you put your mind to it. I’ve found keeping a spending diary really helpful when money is tight. No reason you can’t cook some fab food at home if you fancy it – let me know if you need any inspiration for particular ingredients!
I can do ‘no spend’ as long as I have a purpose or goal. For example, I would love to be able to buy lunch out each day but I don’t. I take lunch from home as we love to travel and we like to save as much as we can to enable us to travel. So when I am sitting at work with my homemade sandwich and everyone else in the office has ‘popped out’ for their lunch, I picture us sitting in a restaurant on our latest holiday.
Good luck. Hope it’s going well.
Ah I remember no spend days! Seriously though I need to get back to it. With teenagers off school it is difficult but I have managed one day this week! Thanks for the inspiration to keep trying.
Just popping over from #monemakingmadnesslinky.
Elf x http://www.elfeelgoodsvintage.uk
No spending for 2 weeks, that’s tough.
My wife and I budget monthly, but we spend weekly. Therefore we usually go at least a week without spending. Lunches and fuel are paid for on the weekend before the start of the week.
The last time I went 2 weeks or more without spending was probably as a student, when I rarely had enough to buy a tin of baked beans and a loaf of bread!
Either way, good on you.