living frugally

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15355864.post-38166493755691898252007-04-10T15:05:00.000Z2007-04-10T15:58:20.243Zliving frugallySo due to an unforeseen tax bill and a general lax attitude towards budgeting, I have been left the past week with virtually no money in the whole wide world. Which meant that I had to get by on virtually nothing for 5 days. Oh what an eye-opener it has been! Over the past 5 days, I have realised that (a) I have gotten into some really wasteful spending habits since I moved to London, and (b) you can actually survive on very little money, even in London. Which is good news really, since my financial situation isn't going to get any better for the next 1.5 years or probably even longer than that. It was a bit of a financial epiphany really, and so I have made a list of things I'm going to do/not do in order to get my finances back in order, and my spending more in line with both my finances and my moral abhorrence of wasteful spending. Funnily enough, bessie L in Oz has also been giving herself a bit of a financial going-over: <blockquote>Starting today, <a href="http://lynkemma.livejournal.com/">lynkemma</a> and I are trying to limit our spending to things we really need. We're doing it for a month; my aims are to a) get a grip on my finances again and b) remind myself of the difference between need and want. Over the past few years I've got into a lot of bad habits with money. That means no clothes, music (wah!), unscheduled book purchases, newspapers and magazines, and I'm also cutting down on my coffee shop habit. (quoted from L's 'secret' blog) </blockquote>All those things L mentioned are my very own spending bugbears. So here's my list of financial restrictions. If I put them in writing, perhaps I'll manage to keep them! Clothes: the wardrobes are overspilling - there is really no need for me to ever go shopping for clothes again in the next 5 years, unless I suddenly gain or lose lots of weight, and my weight since I started running has become much more stable (after the initial huge weight loss). I have what seems like hundreds of t-shirts (due in no small part to my addiction to <a href="http://www.threadless.com/">threadless</a>). I also have an addiction to running clothes, shoes, books and gadgets. I really don't need any more of any of those for a good while, and anyway, I think I actually now own all the books in print that are worth anything about the art of running. I also have so many pairs of jeans it's not even funny. Though some of you might think - but won't your clothes go out of style? -- Well, anyone who knows me well knows that this is unlikely to ever be an issue. I *so* don't do fashion, and the older I get, the less fashionable I get too. In fact, most of the time I look like a scruffy student, and since I am a student, why not be scruffy too and live up to the stereotype?? Also, I find that I wear the same small sample of clothes time and time again, and nine time out of ten it's an item I bought 5/7/10 years ago in a thrift store in the US and I'm still wearing it and people still like it. So... the purchase of 1 item of clothing per month is allowed, and 1 pair of running shoes every 4-5 months (500 miles). Next: books. Ah, this is a toughie. And granted, I'm already quite good in this regard - as soon as I became a student again, I got my 5% discount on amazon, and I stopped buying loads of books at bookstores and starting scouring charity shops instead. However, it has to be said that due to my charityshopbook addiction, I have piles and piles of books in my room that I haven't got anywhere near around to reading yet. I could not buy another book in the next year and still not get through all the unread books I have on my shelves. And to be honest, though I love to keep books, there really isn't any good reason for me not to just borrow from the local library up the road in Homerton. So... the purchase of 2 books from a charity shop per month is allowed, OR the purchase of one new book every other month. All other books will come and go from Homerton library. Food: Now this is a tough one, because I do like to buy organic/fairtrade/free-range/happy animals, and so that costs more than buying Tesco value. I am also morally opposed to mass supermarket shopping, especially at Asda or Tesco, both of which are unfortunately my closest and the least expensive of all the supermarkets. Another bad habit I've gotten into is getting ready meals from M&S, takeout from the proliferation of takeaways close to my flat, and I'd got a bit lazy about making food from scratch, and about using up all the food I actually had in my cupboards. But Stoke Newington on Saturdays has a local farmer's market at which you can buy lots of stuff for just as cheap as in the supermarket, if not cheaper, and not in plastic bags. There's also a proper butchers not too far away, and these past 5 days, I' discovered that I really don't need all the biscuits/sweets/cakes/gum/cans of diet coke etc that I wind up buying at extra high rates from the corner shop downstairs when I feel peckish. A nice cup of tea works just as well. So... I will make one weekly shop per week, give myself a spending limit, and make a list before I go and stick to it. Will also take a trip to the farmers market for veggies and fruit on a Saturday. I will search around for the value versions of products, try to limit my supermarket spending to as little as possible, and spend more time making food at home, doing what I do best - big hotpots full of thick chunky soups, stews and chilis that I can freeze and they last for weeks, and are cheap as chips to make aswell. And I will *not* throw money at Nero/Costa/Tinderbox on soya lattes. I have a coffee maker at home with a steamer attachment, so I can make them at home. I shall also invest in a flask and take fresh coffee to work with me so I don't feel deprived of good coffee. OK there is definitely more to come, but I'm mid poster-production so I need to get back to work. So part II awaits anon... Kelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08538537552757410441noreply@blogger.com