Two weeks left!!!

AUGH!

I haven't blogged in a week because our phone company decided to give our number to someone else. Before that, I was just being lazy.

I had a worried moment on Sunday when Mac and I both looked at our wallets (he decided to join me, albeit loosely, on this goal) and realised we had no money. Well, he had 10 that he found on the floor of a bar(!!!!!) (which cancels out the 10 he took out from the ATM) and I had a fiver.... but considering we have two weeks left, that's not much. We started talking about how this has made us reflect on what we buy, but that I still found it difficult to account for all my money. That's when I found the 20 that was still in my wallet, and Mac said that he hated me. HAH!

So I have 25 left. Not bad for two weeks, but I have bought stupid little things that have added up. And now our iron decided to break, so I have to go buy one of those out of the money I have left. As Mac said, it's not an essential--we could go to work with wrinkly clothes.

I will write more about what I've done with the vast amounts of money I had. VAST amounts. VAAAAAAST. Also, what I did for no money!!

Stupid food!!!

I knew that food would be one of my biggest temptations. I eat so much food and get hungry a lot, and then my willpower just fades away. So yesterday I bought tomato soup at my new work's canteen so I could fit in because I didn't know how many people brought their lunch (I also had a sandwich, so I ate both). Caving in to soup because of peer pressure.... actually, IMAGINED peer pressure! Horrible! Luckily, it only cost 35p (the canteen is subsidised by the company) but STILL--it's the point of it.

So then I wanted to get some cereal and ingredients for granola bars on the way home, so I stopped at the little mini-Sainsburys.... then I decided I didn't know exactly what I needed for cereal bars, and the prices were probably higher here, so I should wait and buy them later....... except I bought a Twix because I was hungry again (this is at 5:20ish). So that was another 45p.

That's almost a pound being spent on little things that I didn't need and didn't even really want! And I've only been doing this experiment for 4 days. Ugh. Maybe I shouldn't have said I wanted it to be hard!!

So that's:

62.30
- 0.35 for soup
- 0.45 for stupid Twix

61.50 with 25 more days to go in this "month"

Easy vs. Hard?

I just spent an easy non-buying weekend up in London. I already said that my transportation wouldn't count this time because I had planned for it ages ago, but it wasn't too bad. I had to spend 4 quid each time I took the Underground (which sucks!) but only 18.50 for my train ticket because a woman gave me her ticket on the way up. I was really impressed by her generosity..... which I forgot to keep going when I bought a single instead of a return ticket (10p difference) so I didn't have a way to give a ticket to someone else.... d'oh!

Other than my transportation, I didn't spend a single penny! Of course, we stayed in this house for the retreat the whole time, apart from one trip to a pub. If we'd gone to some sustainable market where they sold cute wool and biodegradable plant pots or something, I might have caved in. The retreat itself was wonderful and got me really excited about doing this group. It was a weekend for local groups of WEN (Women's Environmental Network, but it's not as militant as it sounds.... most of the women weren't even vegetarian!) I'm going to be starting up a group which will probably take a lot of my time.

I said earlier that I hope this will be easy. Actually, I kinda want this to be hard. I would like it to challenge me, to force me to change some of the silly little things I buy. Plus the blog will be more exciting if it's hard.

1st Day

Ok, so I spent 6 in order to get down to 74, but what else was I supposed to do? They don't give change at ATMs! Actually, I spent it on a meal at The Art House that they probably would have given me for free (I was volunteering there to set up a database) and then I donated the 1.10 that was left over to bring me down to the correct amount. So I guess it wasn't really cheating.

Then last night we went to Bournemouth to see a band play. That was 6.75 for the train and then 5.00 for entry. It was a great show, a Club Anenome night where they have reverse raffles (you just take a number and the item, and leave a matching number on the table) and they gave out party bags. Turns out it was Club Anenome's 1st birthday!! So we went out in between bands and bought a birthday card for 1.20. Mac and I both paid 60p. Anyway, if you want to check out the bands, they are Pictish Trail (he had a really lovely Scottish accent) Rozi Plain (she had stop motion videos she'd made to go along with it!!) Art Pedro (who did really great songs) Expedition Guide (who is one half of Dutch Husband, another great band) and Hardsparrow, who is the guy who puts on the Club nights.

I'm a little ticked off that the transportation cost more than the show itself, but I don't go to Bournemouth THAT often, and it was worth going.

What I didn't buy was any CDs of either Pictish Trail or Rozi Plain, or any food at the gas station or the train station. I also drank water the whole time at the bar, but that's pretty normal.

Running Total:

74.65
- 6.75
- 5.00
- 0.60

62.30

I'm off to London for the whole weekend, but I've been planning that for more than a month and it's for this environmental group that I'm joining so I'm going to ignore the transportation costs. I'm hoping that all the meals are included, and that they keep us really busy. I'm going to avoid buying tea/cakes/etc. either on the way there or back or in between. Luckily, the train/Tube people haven't realised that they'd get me to spend a whole lot more money if they had independent coffee shops in their stations so I'm probably safe.

On your mark......

Ok. I'm going to have a go starting now. I could wait until my first paycheck, or until the end of the month, but I figure there is no sense in putting this off.

So we'll start today. Since there are only so many things I can buy with 74.65, I figure it should be fairly easy to keep track of what I buy..... what I choose NOT to buy, however, I guess I won't be writing down as I go. We'll see what I remember when I start to type a new post.

Essentials?

I don't know what I should do about "essentials". Do I count Lush products as "essential" hygiene items? They fit with my values (natural, low on packaging, no testing on animals) so maybe it's worth it? What about medicine? I probably have a stock of cold/cough medicine to get me through a nuclear war, but just in case... should I count it? Only certain kinds? I was thinking about buying an old-fashioned safety razor and blades... I need to shave my legs, but I still have a razor. So can I justify that as part of my hygiene budget? It's to buy less plastic, if that counts.

What about new sheets? We have a pair that are in pretty bad shape.... actually, we have a couple pairs of faded sheets. And only two other pairs of non-horrible ones. But there's no holes or anything in them. I guess I'm falling into the trap of consumerism, where I believe that everything I buy is something I need.

Where do I draw the line with food? Will I have to pay cash for some purchases? Cake? Innocent smoothies? Cream cheese? (they now have organic cream cheese at ASDA!) At what point does it stop being groceries and start being a luxury?

On reflection

I've been reading a lot lately about people who have cut down their spending. One woman did it to stop buying plastic (including anything with plastic packaging). She's been doing that for over two years. She still buys a lot, but she thinks more about what she purchases. (See her website linked on the left)

I just finished a book called Not Buying It that follows a woman and her partner through one year of not buying ANYTHING apart from "essentials" (turns out she gives in to clothes a couple times, and buys super expensive fish as a "necessary" addition to their dinner party). It's a great read, although she does interject lots and lots of quotes by other people who have written about marketing, consumption, consumerism, and "simplicity" which doesn't always make it the easiest read at 11:30pm.

Despite her ramblings, her interesting look at the emotional reasons why we buy, and the associations we have with "freedom" when we spend, the main thing I took away from this book was her sense of mindfuless.



My friend Nina has decided that she must be living on £1.00 most days. Seriously? Of course, her food, rent, and bills are included in the place where she lives so that makes a massive difference... but that still means that most days she spends NO money on anything else!

I am a bit of a loser, and I try to keep track of my money on Quicken. I make charts of spending, I look at percentages of savings; the whole nine yards. But the thing that gets me is cash. For example, this year I stopped keeping it up to date at the beginning of July (I go through lazy periods) , and for the year to date I had taken out £950 in cash. Almost all of that I can't account for. I started to keep track by writing down on a piece of paper in my wallet every cash purchase and keeping receipts, but little things add up and I kept forgetting. Laziness, again. That is sooooo much money that seems to have disappeared into the ether.

So I think I should be a bit more mindful. I should pay more attention to what I buy, and its effect on me, and the world around me. In The Omnivore's Dilemma, another book I just finished (I don't have a job at the moment so I'm reading a LOT) where it also talks about mindfulness in terms of thinking about how what we eat affects so much of the world (pesticides? oil industry? subsidies? farmers' livelihoods? 2,000 mile journey? animal welfare?). I do that to an extent, but I get lazy and buy a lot of things anyway.

So here's the plan:
When I had to apply for my spouse visa (oh, what fun!), I submitted a spreadsheet showing that, if necessary, we could live on Mac's salary alone. I proved, using averages of our bills, rent, and groceries, that we would have £149.30 left over each month. I don't think that Mac is willing to take on this challenge yet (or maybe ever), so I thought it would only be fair to halve it to get my portion: £74.65 a month (sorry about the £ sign...it's not on my American laptop so I'm pasting it in).

I'm going to take out that amount in cash and try to make it last a month. I'm not going to count groceries or hygiene stuff, it'll be anything else. From bus fares and train tickets (that means one trip to London in 2-3 months!!) to having lunch, buying clothes, etc. I'm going to try to make that 75 quid last as long as I can. My cards should only be used at the grocery store.

I'm hoping it's easy. With a new job starting on Monday, plus the volunteer work I'm doing, I should be sufficiently busy to not spend money. I think that's part of Nina's success-she's so busy that she couldn't spend money if she wanted to.... well, that plus she just doesn't HAVE any money. I'll invite friends over for dinner more (I've been meaning to do that for a while) and maybe check out more free stuff. I need to start thinking about how I'm going to budget in presents........ hmmmm.... This is going to be hard.

Let's hope this is the start of a more mindful me.