Buy Nothing New - year in review

Okay,
So I kinda slipped on the whole blog thing. (I'm sure lots of you are now talking to the computer saying "THAT'S a bit of an understatement.") The Buy Nothing New challenge continued and went pretty well, but the blog updates were just nonexistent. For that, I apologise. I'm just not good at consistently writing things. This happened when I was little girl, and even later as a teenager, and kept trying to keep a diary. I'd get about 3 days into it, and get bored.

So now it's a bit of a recap. Here we go:

I DIDN'T BUY
I sucessfully did not buy anything new for myself. Any of my biggest vices: craft supplies (at least not new), kitchen gadgets, home accessories or storage options. I also didn't buy any CDs, new clothes or shoes (my sneakers have holes in the back of both feet.... it's fine unless it rains), socks or underwear (although Robin kept giving me pairs she got for free from Victoria's Secret), jewellery or accessories, and or anything else cute that I wanted to get "just because". In fact, not only did I not buy any craft supplies, but I also ended up giving some away on freecycle. Not buying things just because I had a half-formed project in my head forced me to really look at what I had and realise that I didn't need about 40 pairs of knitting needles... especially because I hadn't done any knitting ALL year. I BOUGHT: Used - quite a few clothes, a bunch of books, an Etch-a-Sketch (!!), a couple pairs of shoes off eBay (and NONE of them fit!), some pillowcases (for their cute printed fabric), a beautiful blue travel typewriter from Belgium (a bit like this one, but a deeper shade of blue AND the travel case matches in colour! ... oh, and some of the keys are different so it's almost a QWERTY ), a set of cute retro cups (a lot like these ones), and probably some other stuff I can't remember. It wasn't too much, but it certainly allowed me some random needless purchased, and alowed me to get some stuff I needed.

I also bought new some supplies to fix up our old flat (a new shower curtain and paint, rollers and brushes to cover marks on the walls), but those all got left at the flat. I'm sure I bought a couple light bulbs, but those were exempt because you can't buy them used. I think I may have bought one roll of tin foil ALL year, and no clingfilm. I started covering a lot of stuff with a baking sheet while cooking, and then we used a lot of random plastic tubs from takeaways, margarine, and yogurt instead of storing stuff with cling film.

Other new things were gifts for people (many were handmade, although not enough). I also got in the habit of buying postcards because they are like minigifts, but I could still support artists who'd made them and even keep them for a couple days. I bought some zines for The Art House to have as references, but I've been lazy and haven't yet taken them there. Oops. I bought a LOT of stuff at the Craft and Zine Fair that I organised.

Unfortunately, I failed constantly at not buying "convenience" food, I bought quite a few packs of crisps while at gigs (although that could be argued as an "experience"), and some tea/chai while out and about. Probably less than during 2008, but it still wasn't good.

I FIXED (Macgyver style or otherwise)
A pair of shoes that were wearing out by adding heel supports that I had sitting in a drawer
A couple tops by darning
Two pairs of trousers (I still need to fix three more) by taking in the waist. Up until I learned how to do this, I didn't have a single pair of trouers that fit me correctly--they all just sat on my hips, making the crotch of the trousers ridiculously low.

We also made do with our one-side-at-a-time toaster, glass roasting dishes doubling up as baking sheets, and I kept finding batteries and a never ending supply of dental floss sat around the house.

I LEARNED
- Take care of your stuff. There are a lot of things that I wish I'd paid more attention to them. I lost my stainless steel water bottle by leaving it behind at a conference--you aren't going to find that used. I misplaced other things, spilled stuff on clothes, and marked up our walls in the old flat so we had to buy paint and brushes. Not being able to buy new cured me of the disposable attitude we seem to have with our things.

- "A stitch in time saves nine" is actually fairly accurate. Mending and repairing has been key. I've successfully learned to darn things (although my attempts are a bit clumsy), so unless you stared at the back of my green cardigan, you'd never know that there was a little hole at the top of it. I'm sure with practice and a wider range of colours and shared of thread, I'll improve. I've thought about getting a darning mushroom, but I'm not entirely sure what you do with it.

- Take stock of what you already have (and use it). There were lots of times where I'd tell myself that I "needed" something which wasn't actually the case. I didn't really need more tops or jumpers, as I already had stacks at home. A lot of my craft supplies got used up because I actually paid attention to what I had already, instead of buying things when I saw them. As a result, I have two sets of really adorable bunting made with floral prints I'd had for YEARS and hadn't done anything with held up by some of the ribbon I'd bought ages ago without any real purpose intended.

- If you're going to buy something, go for quality. I really wish that I'd taken that advice when I bought the shoes that now have holes in them, or the baking sheets and cake pans that keep having the non-stick flake off. My mother has had the same baking sheets for almost my whole life. I need ones like that--I've gone through three sets in four years. With the money I'd spent, I could have bought really nice ones and saved myself a lot of hassle. The next pairs of shoes or boots that I buy are going to be ones I can get resoled by a cobbler. No more disposable shoes for me. I'm hoping to upgrade some of our freecycled furniture piece by piece to good quality antiques (or almost antiques)....or at least once we figure out which country we're going to live in.

- Avoid temptation and gain some perspective. I didn't walk into West Quay for months on end last year. When I did, I tended not to look in the shop windows. I'm a bit better now, having actually gone into TopShop, H&M, Principles and Debenhams to look at what's in style so I can see what I already have and what I might try to pick up used. But it was a lot easier not to walk into the kitchen supply shop in Winchester than it would have been to have to debate with myself why I should not buy something. I feel like I am much more aware of the act of shopping now, though, so I don't feel as tempted to buy things. I'd bet that going for a couple months without shopping would do the same--you'd think about the process a bit more, consider whether or not you want something as much as you initially thought.

WOULD I DO IT AGAIN?
Absolutely. It wasn't that difficult, but I'd try to get ALL gifts for people as handmade (by me or others) or secondhand if I did it again. I don't feel like I suffered through the year, and most of the time I didn't even think about the challenge.

Weekend away in Brighton

Yes, I know I haven't updated in two weeks plus. I am rubbish. In fact, I am SO rubbish that I've failed at my buy nothing new (I have bought a couple food things in addition to my horrible Snickers) AND I'm almost out of a month's worth of £74.65 and it's six days into the month (I started on the 2nd).

I suck. But, I'm leaving HSBC as a customer for the Cooperative Bank (hooray for banks that let you vote on their ethical policies!) rather than have my money and accounts split between the two. VERY good news. Also, I was away for the weekend and didn't actually spend that much money.

I went to Brighton for the weekend, mostly to see volcano! play an ejectorseat night (they only played three UK dates on this tour and one of them was for Ejectorseat!), but also to hang out with Andy, give him his Christmas present and see some Transition-related stuff.

Andy's Christmas present was that I was going to go to his flat for a weekend and make it a home. This meant cooking from-scratch meals, making him blueberry pancakes, and tidying up. I think I succeeded on all three counts! I arrived on Friday but hadn't told Andy what time I would arrive, so I had an hour and a bit to kill while he bought beer for the Freebutt, the venue where he works (this was an ongoing mission over the weekend).

I spent my time wandering around the laines, and ended up spending £2.30 on old snapshots from a box full of photos in Snoopers' Paradise. When leaving there, I bumped into our former couchsurfers, James and Becky who have been wondering around the world for the past few months. That day they were wandering around Brighton and had just purchased some fudge. We talked briefly about their involvement in Climate Camp in London as legal observers, what they'd been doing in Brighton, and my plans for the evening (I didn't have any). I left them to look for a pie plate as mine has gone missing, but couldn't find one. I was a bit upset that I couldn’t find a pie plate, but a trip to the (stony) beach and my fortune told by a lady who looked a little bit like this:

cured me. She told me to be wary of men with beards. I think that's extremely good advice.

Met up with Andy, but we didn't have time to get ice cream (everywhere was closed!) and I made soup instead. I also did the first of MANY dish washing sessions. I managed to go to bed at 11pm despite the club on the same floor as Andy's flat being open until 1. This meant that I woke up at about 8:15, so I started cleaning. I attacked his kitchen, part of the bathroom (it wasn't that messy), and was washing the kitchen floor when Andy woke up. We had french toast with a syrup I made out of heating raspberry jam and adding a bit of water. I did more dishes.

I had considered going to one or two community farms in Brighton on Sunday to work, but I was still so tired that I thought it wouldn’t be very enjoyable. Hopefully in a couple weeks I’ll head back to see Casiotone for the Painfully Alone and will bring gardening clothes to work then. I think I should also plan to bring cupcakes or something to woo them and convince them to play the Freebutt EVERY time they come to the UK.

Insetead, I also helped Andy start to get rid of all the piles of paper that were needlessly filling his office—mostly on the floor. Nic arrived and (after thanking me for helping Andy clear away so much crap), we took a BUNCH of stuff out to recycle. We picked up postcards and food for the band, (including Tofutti cream cheese—boy was Aaron happy!) tried to buy alcohol except Nic didn’t have any idea and could have been under 18. So Andy bought weird beer from LIDL instead while we stood in line buying other things and pretending we didn’t know each other just in case. We also managed to buy toilet paper, trash bags, tin foil, AND a trash can all for Andy’s flat.

We also got Mexican…. Glorious wonderful Mexican cooked by a really nice Lebanese guy with prices, portions, and quality to rival El Volcan back home. (That’s a SERIOUS compliment)

Getting back, Nic decided cleaning wasn’t sufficient, so she started rearranging things. All of a sudden boxes were unpacked, CDs were stacked and/or put away, shelving was put up, and Andy has a home!!! I wish we had before and after pictures. I made soup and did more dishes. We all ate it, and I did more dishes.

Mac ended up not being able to make a decent train to get to Brighton, so I acted as the better half of Ejectorseat for the evening. I sat on the door, swapping with Andy so I could see Esben and the Witch and Hind Ear (formerly Revenge of Shinobi) and volcano!. I also had to stay on the door while Andy went out again and bought more beer for the venue as they were running out. I thoroughly enjoyed it, although standing in front of one of the speakers was probably not the best idea.

As an aside, here is the story of Esben and the Witch. I loved reading the color fairy tale books (pink, yellow, etc)

The next day I made volcano! the vegan pancakes they specifically had mentioned in their e-mail (thus securing ejectorseat’s position as one of their favourite UK promoters. We had also managed to get just about everything mentioned in their rider, including postcards)

I called Cookability!, a programme that is running in Brighton where people learn to cook—often disadvantaged people. I want to come along to one of their sessions and would LOVE to have something like this running in Southampton—come on council or Primary Care Trust—get your preventative heads on! I thought I might be able to stop by their office or meet up for a coffee to chat about how it works, but she just talked to me on the phone for the next 20 min about it instead. I then had lots more time to help Andy tidy and do little tasks while we waited for gas to arrive so they could have beer on tap in the venue (FINALLY!) and for a guy to look at his hot water heater and proclaim that it was way more expensive than he thought and would take a while. . . . . But then we forgot the troubles of the freebut in a big bowl of frozen yogurt. It was delicious!!! We also went to Ransoms, a wonderful shop that should be an essential in every town—the kind that will cut your keys, or sell you paint, dish towels, hammers, or cake tins. They did not, however, have the right kind of pie plate, despite their selection of about 20 different kind of cake and tart and quiche tins. Oh well.

Monday evening I went to the Sustainability Partnership meeting because I’m weird. Why else would I go to a meeting of councillors, representatives of businesses and other “partners” of the council to listen to them talk about what they are doing in Brighton and Hove? Actually, it was pretty interesting. I learned all about the Sustainable Communities Act (I don’t really understand how this is going to benefit people in practice—it’s a bizarre piece of legislation that will make proposals go on and on for about 2 years) and the new assessment procedures for local authorities. Okay, I found it interesting—I guess it doesn’t translate well into a short summary.

Andy paid for both the Mexican lunch and the frozen yogurt, so apart from buying a pasty so that I didn't die of hunger on my way home, I didn't buy a whole lot of food over the weekend that I didn't make from scratch. This does make me wonder where all my money went, though. I resisted fudge and buying CDs, spent £2.50 that first afternoon, and didn't buy any drinks or even a ticket at the gig. . . . Hmmm...

Anyway, that’s my boring and incredibly long recap of my lovely weekend away. I kinda wish I had taken photos, but I’m rubbish with that.

Food I miss......

Bananas.
Oranges/clementines.
Apples whenever I want them (not when I have a spare 13p).
Cereal with milk and raisins.
Granola.
Yogurt.
Cheese.
Bagels with cream cheese.
English muffins.
Apple muffins from the Art House.
Eggs for breakfast on the weekends.
Spinach (even though I know it's not in season).
Real toppings on pizza (although carmeslised onions ARE delicious).
Nuts.
Piling on peanut butter and jam instead of being stingy.
Bread and butter with dinner.
Eating more than 2 cookies if I feel like it.
MORE cheese.... cheese and eggs in dishes.
Dishes that use cream.
Chocolate every once-in-a-while.
Pastries.

Snacks in general. I rarely snack anymore....

Going out to restaurants
Takeaway pizza
Chips



AUGH!

This IS like being on a diet.

Day 27 - another tempting weekend

I think it's harder on the weekend because if you're at home you have your cupboards and fridge right there, daring you to eat from them. Definitely not fair. So far I've managed to resist.

Mac didn't really have any lunch. I didn't either until about 3pm when I finally got out of bed (I was hanging out in bed doing stupid blog updates (AAAAAARGH) and other stuff) and made myself a mushroom sandwich. I was absolutely ridiculous and used 100g for the one.... mmmm.... At £6 a kg, that means it was 60p just for the mushrooms. I think I may have gone WELL over my limit. Oops. Plus 15g of butter (8p) for cooking the mushrooms and two slices of bread (12p). I then added a thin layer of ginger preserves that we got given for Christmas by Jim and Mars.

This is an exhorbitant lunch at 80p!!! Oh no! I hate to think how much I went over today. . . . ugh.

RIght, so dinner was stirfry, using up the rest of the mushrooms (I picked them out of my portion because I knew I'd spent a lot already--I figured I would eat them the next day), pak choi and carrots from the Riverford box, some ginger and garlic, soy sauce, and a TON of rice. Mac wanted to add an egg again, but I convinced him to add some of the cheap broken cashews we bought from the World Food shop (3.50 a kilo instead of 6 for whole ones!)

Another Stirfry Combination
(this time without a recipe)

Sesame seeds (2T - 7p)
1/2 inch of fresh ginger (2p)
(O) 2 cloves garlic (15p)
1T soy sauce (9p)
(O) Pak Choi (RIVERFORD)
(O) Carrots (RIVERFORD
100g mushrooms (60p)
2 onions? (8p)
2 tsp rice vinegar (4p)
2c Rice (WAY too much) (45p ish- I'm guessing because I'm at work and can't measure a cup of rice)
About 70g cashews (broken ones!! 25p)

As for directions, I have no clue. I know that Mac marinaded the ginger and garlic in soy sauce and possibly rice vinegar.
He also roasted onions in the oven and added them at the very last step.

Apart from that, I don't know. I'll have to ask. Sorry!

Breakfast - Mac had (O) porridge - 8p with 1/2 T (O) jam (he thought it was too little) 12p. I had (O) half a portion of porridge 4p with (O) 1T milk 5p. I also had a slice of toast with peanut butter and a bit of (O) jam (9p + 5p +4p) And we both had (O) tea with (O) milk - 4p That's one organic-filled breakfast. (Breakfast total: Mac - 16p, Megan - 23p)

Lunch - Megan - 80p Mac must have eaten something during the day, but I don't know what....

Dinner - Megan - 29p (I picked out all my mushrooms and put them in the leftovers because I knew I couldn't afford them) Mac - 44p

Riverford - 75p

Totals: Mac £1.35 + whatever else he ate that day, Megan £2.07.

I went over. Again. That's what I get for eating a MASSIVELY expensive lunch. I would totally eat it again, though. Just not during this challenge. And 80p isn't so bad when you aren't trying to get it to add up to £2.00 every day.

Day 26 - I cheat and Mac makes me feel guilty

I cheated. I had lunch out with my friend Dave. I felt bad, but it was my last Friday lunch to have with him (he's leaving his job) so we went out. Last time we went out and I just watched him eat (except he bought me a hot chocolate) but this time I bought a cranberry & brie baguette and a side of chips. I felt even worse when I got home and Mac told me how hungry he was because he didn't have anything for lunch because we didn't have leftovers (because we cheated the night before) I'm a jerk. Especially because we could totally have had a nice dinner the night before.

Hopefully Mac has forgiven me after I made him nice eggplant dinner!

Melizanes Me Lathi (Aubergines with Olive Oil)
The recipe is mostly taken from this, except I tried to get it to look and taste like the AMAZING melizanes they have at the Fat Fig, a wonderful low-key and very tasty Greek restaurant on Bedford Place. They manage to make these lovely eggplant slices (they call them "medallions" in the menu) that have a crispy skin and melt in your mouth. They are incredible). I want their secret!

In the meantime, here's my version of the recipe.

Served 3 - 5p excluding eggplant (but then Mac ate the third portion when he got home last night). There's a bit of tomato sauce left over. (Tomato sauce: served 4, 1.13, 28p per serving)

(O) 1 eggplant, sliced thickly (RIVERFORD)
(O) 1 tin tomatoes (79p)
1T tomato paste (4p)
(O) 4 cloves garlic (30p)
1/2 tsp sugar (less than 1p)
pinch of salt and pepper (nil)
3T veg oil (6p)
1T olive oil (10p)
3T water

For eggplant:
Heat a pan on medium-high heat. Add veg oil, olive oil AND water.
Slice eggplant thickly.
Once hot, stir oil and water together quickly and then immediately add slices. Turn about 20 sec after adding so both sides are covered with oil. After that, turn every 2-4 min or so, and move around in the pan because most stoves don't heat evenly. You want them to brown on both sides. The eggplant skin will turn brown, which is your first indication that they are cooking. Add a bit of salt and pepper.
Once browned on both sides and cooked fairly well through, put in oven at about 160C (350F or so) to finish cooking.

When you first add the slices to the pan, that's when you should start your tomato sauce. It's VERY easy.
Put a can of tomatoes in the pan. Put on medium heat
Mash up the garlic in a mortar and pestle, or mince. Put in with tomatoes.
Add tomato paste.
Once it reaches boiling, turn down heat (you can be more precise if you use gas, but I'm forever turning things up and down with an electric stove) and allow to simmer for 20min+. I usually keep the lid on half the time. You don't want it to reduce too much.
About halfway through, add 1/2 tsp sugar and a pinch of salt.

Spoon some tomato sauce directly on top of eggplant slices when serving. You could make loads of this and freeze it, or save it for an Italian dish or Mexican dish later in the week. Just add some herbs or chili later on to give it another feel. If I had a freezer that wasn't the size of a very small breadbox, I would consider doing exactly that.

Jamie Oliver's Spicy Cous Cous recipe
(I make this ALL the time) It's from his Naked Chef book. I don't own the book (or any celebrity chef books) but Helen does, and I called her up years ago and wrote down the recipe on an envelope. It's been treasured ever since.

Usually serves 4, this served 3 for 24p

Ingredients:

• 425 ml stock or water (I made slightly less- 325 L of stock - I used 1 tsp bouillon -2p)
  
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped (Mac's super cheap ones--about 4p)
  
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (I used veg - 2p)
  
• knobs of butter (I skipped this)
  
• 1 level teaspoon cumin seeds (1p)
  
• 1 heaped teaspoon coriander seeds (1p)
  
• 1 heaped teaspoon fennel seeds (8p)

[a HUGE difference in pricebetween supermarket small amounts and in bulk from ethnic food shops TIP: Buy in bulk and share with friends! Why pay more unless it's organic/fair trade]

• 1/2 small dried chili, or to taste (I used a shake of chili flakes-- 4p)
  
• 1 teaspoon salt (less than 1p)
  
• 1 bay leaf (I forgot)
  
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped (I left this out because of the tomato sauce)
  
• (O) 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar (4p)
  
• 1 teaspoon sugar (1p)
  
• (O) 255g couscous (I only used 200g - 44p)

Directions:

1. Bring the stock to the boil. In a thick-bottomed, deepish pan slowly fry the onion with the olive oil and half the butter, without colouring.
2. In a pestle and mortar smash up the cumin, coriander, fennel, chili and salt.
3. Add the spices, bay leaf and garlic to the onions and continue to fry - they should look and feel like marmalade, but not be coloured or burnt. Add the vinegar and sugar and reduce to a syrup.
4. Add the couscous and stir. Add the hot stock and simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Fork through the rest of the butter to lighten.

Breakfast - (O) porridge - 8p, Mac had a bowl of (O) porridge with (O) 1T jam (17p)
Lunch - Mac had nothing, I cheated and ate out with Dave.
At work - I had (O) 1 cup of tea 4p, Mac had (O) 1 cup 3p and a free muffin
Dinner - Mac was starving, so he had 4 pieces of bread with (O) pate (24p + 12p?) as soon as he got home. Actual dinner was (O) eggplant (5p) with a tomato sauce (28p) and Jamie Oliver's spicy cous cous recipe (24p)
Riverford - 75p (Always Organic!)
Mac then had the third portion of the eggplant and cous cous when he got home. greedy. (29p)

Megan: 1.44 (but I cheated on lunch. If I make up lunch, I'll be able to eat a feast for 56p!!)
Mac: 2.17 He shouldn't have eaten an extra portion of dinner. OR should have waited after work for me to make him something. OR we shouldn't have cheated Thursday night and had leftovers!

Day 25 - We kinda cheat.

Right...
So we kinda cheated. Thursday was a WEN meeting at 7:30 AND supposed to be a coordinator's meeting for the Art House at 6 AND Mac was meeting this woman from Listed (a local listings magazine) at 5. So I didn't think we had time for dinner. I suggested that we eat at the Art House. Which we did. We got given the soup, but I paid full price (3.25) for the pasty. Which means we cheated. Of course, I cheated more on Friday, but that's still to come.

I'm tempted to find out the per-portion cost of the food at the Art House and work it out--after all, they buy their veg from Riverford.... so shouldn't that count as part of our 75p per person per day? Probably not.

I think we're just going to make up this meal after our 30 days (we thought doing this in February during the shortest month of the year was kinda cheating.

Breakfast: Megan: (12p) a bowl of oatmeal (O) (I still have no raisins) 8p, cup of tea 4p (O), Mac: Toast (O) w/ marmite & butter (O) : 15p + 4p (19p)
Lunch - leftover pasta and broccoli 29p. Plus, Nina at the Art House kept giving me loads of food--I got given a small bowl of soup (O) AND some bread (O) AND a piece of stale staff cake (mostly O) . It was freaking awesome! I think Mac got 2 free donuts as well (those were certainly NOT organic).
At work - Megan had (O) 1cup of tea - 4p, Mac had (O) 2 - 6p
Dinner - (O) 1/2 pasty at Art House and a (O) small bowl of soup and Mac had a sandwich before he came to the Art House (probably about 20p?)
Riverford - 75p

TOTAL (excluding dinner) 1.20, Mac 1.49
Shame we didn't eat at home that night. We could have TOTALLY made dinner that day and had dessert. Oh well.

Day 19 - mushroom and leek bake and NO cookies during the day

Mac has just made leek and mushroom bake from this recipe here. I don't know what he's making them with.... I wish we'd started some pearl barley as soon as Mac got home because that would be DELICIOUS. Instead I think we're having potatoes.

Here's the recipe for those of you who don't want to watch the whole video over and over again.

Mushroom and Leek Bake
Served 3ish - 25p per portion

Ingredients:
30g butter (Mac used oil instead 6p)
5 leeks, trimmed & sliced (RIVERFORD)
250g mushrooms sliced (RIVERFORD)
1 clove garlic, crushed (8p)
100mL veg stock (1 tsp stock - 2p)
150mL cream (we used milk) (19p)
1tsp thyme (3p?)
30g grated parmesan (Mac only used 10g - 17p)
salt & pepper

served with 400g potatoes (20p)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 180C
Chop leeks and mushrooms, and mince garlic. Heat butter (oil) over medium heat and then add sliced leeks Gently fry 2-3 min, stirring often so they don't brown Add mushrooms, salt, pepper and thyme and minced garlic.
Cook another 4 min.
Add chicken stock and cream (milk--cook a bit longer if using milk)
Stir and bring to the boil for 1 min.
Bake in the oven for 20min.
Take out and sprinkle the top with parmesan.
Return to oven for 5 min or until most liquid has reduced.
Serve immediately


Breakfast: Mac - oatmeal (happy, Robin??) with jam - 17p, Megan - oatmeal with 20g raisins - 13p (I ran out of time for a cup of tea)

At work: Megan - 2 cups of tea - 8p, Mac - one cookie and one cup of tea - 8p

During work: Megan also had her cup of tea and hot chocolate because she's bad.r Lunch: leftover stirfry - 43p

Dinner: 25p (it only really made three portions)

Riverford: 75p

Megan 1.64 + 2 cookies + pistachios - 2.00
Mac 1.68 + 42g of pistachios for 2.00

Ok, I have a confession to make. I accepted two hot beverages today--paid for by other people. I'm a cheat.

Dave bought me a hot chocolate at lunch. I think he felt bad for me. Rob, my boss, bought me a tea (and bought another guy a tea) when we went up to the canteen for a meeting in the morning.

Dave had actually offered to buy me lunch, but I told him that wouldn't count. He also kept asking if I wanted cake or something. I think it was a bit mean meeting up with him when I wasn't going to be eating (I ate my stirfry beforehand so I wouldn't be so tempted). BUT I really like hanging out with Dave and I didn't think my challenge should get in the way. I guess this means I go over? I don't know. I'm not very good with enforcing my own interpretation of the rules.

Mac got cakes for free at work. Lucky. He had three mini muffins, two mini flapjacks and a mini caramel thing AND a satsuma. WHAT THE CRAPOLA?!? I guess I get loads of free cakes and cookies and stuff at meetings. But that's not during the work day when I'm HUNGRY.

in which our heroine narrowly avoids defeat and questions her rules.

I’ve told a couple people about my challenge. One has asked me about batteries, and the other wanted to know about buying pants.

Apparently no one thinks it’s odd that I’m going to try to go a year without buying food, DVDs, music, etc, but they are concerned that I’ll reach my breaking point when it comes to getting new underwear.

I almost had a problem yesterday when I thought I was going to need both lunch and dinner away from home. I ended up going to ASDA, and bought a baguette, a block of cheese, a thing of caramelised onion hummus, and a bag of oranges. I figured every single one of those would be consumed as groceries after I had eaten my lunch, so they still counted as just general “food” rather than “goods”.

I just realised that I need to cancel my eMusic subscription AND I’m not sure about the status of lovefilm. Is it an experience to rent DVDs? I don’t keep them when I’m finished. I would get them out from the library, but even they charge £1 or £2 per film. I would probably count going to the movies as an “experience”, but that involves going out of the house. Any thoughts?

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"