Anyone who follows me on Instagram will see that I LOVE shopping. In fact, it’s safe to say i’ve got a bit of an addiction to ‘retail therapy’ & I don’t even show you guys everything I buy.
It’s got to the point where I actually don’t tell Joe if i’ve bought something as he usually gives me a lecture. Finances have got to crisis point, so, I decided to set myself (& the husband is doing it too for moral support) a target of….no spend September.
Sure it’s going to be absolutely rubbish for everyone involved, but, it’ll show us how much money we spend on quite frankly, nothing.
If you look at Joe’s bank account, after the usual monthly payments, the only thing he spends his money on is food. We are constantly popping to co-op for bits even though I do a £70 Aldi shop every week, & love our takeaways which is the main downfall in terms of money & our ever expanding waistlines. He doesn’t spend a single penny on himself apart from having his hair cut, which is pretty necessary.
My bank statement is just page after page of purchases for the house, which I deem as ‘necessary’. We’ve all had the experience of ‘Nothing haunts us like the things we didn’t buy’ so I make sure I don’t subject myself to that awful feeling. Also, it’s totally an investment…right? Probably not.
So, from tomorrow, Tuesday 1st of September until Thursday 1st October I vow to all of you lovely readers that I will not spend a single PENNY. I’m also going to blog about my experience on this spending ‘detox’ at the end of the month (if I haven’t jumped off a cliff in the process).
The ONLY exceptions for both of us are as follows – utilities (gas, electric, water, sewerage, council tax, TV license), mortgage, life insurance, Elsa’s nursery fee’s, Sky, Netflix, petrol, grocery shopping (ONLY Aldi – no other supermarkets allowed) PLUS it’s our 1 year wedding anniversary on 8th September so have booked a stay at The Pig which i’ll be blogging about so we’ll be paying for dinner & breakfast as part of this stay.
Does anybody have any tips for frugal living?
Wish me luck!
Love, Charlotte x
Love this idea but possibly not a good idea to have a picture of your bank cards online?
Wow your brave! I take pictures of things I want to buy and then review them every few days and if I no longer want it I delete the picture. If the picture is still there a month later I can buy it. I've found it really works for me! Good luck!
Also we've stayed at The Pig in the forest and it was brilliant. Hope you have a wonderful time xx
Aah good luck. I did this in February – wS brilliant. Really made me realise what rubbish I spent my money on. Try a week of making meals with what's left in your cupboards, fridge and freezer rather than doing a shop. Get the essentials – bread ad, milk, etc but try and do without the other stuff. That's a great exercise too! xx
I've blurred the photo so you can't see any of my details 🙂 I don't have any money for anyone to steal anyway! x
Oh gosh, I definitely couldn't do that as i'd be so worried things would sell out. I'm also a massively impulsive/spontaneous type of person! I will definitely try with bigger purchases though x
Ahh I will definitely still need to do a weekly Aldi shop but it's all the other bits I buy that really add up…housey bits, random tat, lunches out with friends, bits of the kids etc! I'm hoping it opens my eyes to how much we could save £££ x
I try planning the weeks meals and buy what we need to make those meals. We've basically just done this as we had no money but I think we'll just carry on this month