Over the last few months my spending has been going through the roof. This has mainly been spending on clothes and I have been using the excuse of losing weight and having no clothes that fit to justify my spending. To be honest, most of this spending was justified and losing weight to fit into fab new clothes was one of my main motivations for losing weight in the first place so I feel like I deserved to treat myself!
However, now the time has come to try and start to reign things in a bit. I’m setting myself a challenge: for the months of July, August and September spending is OUT. With the exception of planned holidays and special days like my birthday which have already been budgeted for, I won’t be buying any more new clothes, accessories, DVD’s, books, stuff for the house, nights out and I will be sticking to a stricter food budget.
By completing this challenge I aim to -
- Save money (to pay off some of my credit card)
- Be more environmentally friendly (by not throwing so much away, re using and recycling)
- Get more creative (having less money will force me to be more creative with what I have)
The Rules -
- No new clothes or accessories
- No new DVD’s, CD’s or books
- No new things for the flat
- No nights out
- Maximum of one magazine a month
- Stick to my grocery budget
- No other unnecessary spending
Exceptions -
- £50 a month pocket money budget – but this can only be spent on second hand / vintage clothes, materials for making / customising things, essential toiletries, my one magazine a month, and gifts for others.
- Planned holidays (I have a week off in July and August) and special days (i.e. my birthday). These will have their own budget and anything can be bought (including clothes etc) but MUST be within the budget I’ve set.
- Paint, DIY and gardening materials from mine and the Hubby’s joint budget (as we are planning on doing a few things around the flat)
- The wedding and engagement parties I have been invited to
To help me cope during the challenge I will be -
- Using my local library for books
- Making and customising things myself
- Checking out ebay and charity shops for second hand and vintage clothes
- Lending clothes and accessories from my Sister and friends
- Having nights in rather than nights out
- Reading websites and blogs instead of magazines and newspapers
I wanted to do this on the blog as I know that writing the blog keeps me very focused. Hopefully you will all find this challenge an interesting read!
During the three months I’ll be researching money saving tips and ideas for healthy living and staying stylish, posting any money saving projects I do and at the end of the challenge will be a giveaway!
My first tasks this weekend will be reviewing my existing wardrobe so I’m making sure I’m getting the best out of the clothes and accessories I have, and doing a stock check of my kitchen cupboards to see what I can use up.
What are your top money saving tips? Do you have any advice or ideas to help me stick to my challenge?
I’ve also ordered all the things that I had on my wish list to get before the challenge started. I’m working late again tonight :-( so I’ll do a double post of my eats and exercise tomorrow. Nearly the weekend though, yey!
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
great post – good luck with the challenge, how about ebay selling, sell anything that isnt nailed down, anything that you dont love or havent used for 6 months and use the money you make to buy new stuff! i do this alot and its very useful whilst saving for the wedding, when i dont have much spare cash, it means i can partake in guilt free shopping! i do it alot and sometimes sell stuff that i quite like, but i dont use it/wear it regularly, it goes then i can replace it with something i do love! which is bought off ebay of course! x
great post – good luck with the challenge, something i do is i sell everything that isnt nailed down, dont love or havent used/worn for 6 months, on ebay and buy new/second hand from ebay with the money, i do this alot so there can tend to be a high turnaround of clothes etc in my house, but it works well, stops me getting bored of what i’ve got and i get to shop when i dont actually have the spare cash for it!
I need to do this challenge. Im really bad with money. When it’s pay day, I put some on me & boyfriend’s joint account and some on my saving account. Then the rest is for my bills and once that’s gone, I can spend the little…very little rest.
The good thing with me is I dont have a credit card so I can only spend what I have. My fingers would be burning all the time if I had one!
Luckily boyfriend’s here to help me stay focus and help save my money. As we want to buy a flat, we have to be really careful.
I’m so bad with money, so I should do this challenge too! I look forward to seeing all your posts about this :)
Great post, I’m doing something similar but just for July and I’m ‘only’ banning myself from buying any clothes or beauty products. A few suggestions: Check to see if your library has magazines, I’ve spotted the current Vogue in mine before. Sell things on ebay/ car boot sales/ swap sites like makeupandbeauty.ie/ Music Magpie for CDs and DVDs. Use MoneySavingExpert for vouchers etc. Good luck!
Good on you! I can highly recommend getting clothes you really like that are now too big for you, taken in by a tailor (unless you can do it yourself, of course! I’m too cack-handed for that, so I always assume everyone else is too ;o)). It’s not all that expensive and gets lots more life out of clothes you love.
Wishing you success with your challenge (and I’m sort of joining you having spent way too much on the weekend away so I’ve had to stop spending on non-essentials for over a month already and there’s another month to go)!
sorry for the double comment! i keep commenting on blogs, and then it doesnt show up ao i have to comment again, this is the first time both have shown up later! strange blogger glitch!
I’m awful at budgeting! I really should join in this challenge! It’s nice food my money seems to dissappear on though, why is healthy stuff so much more expensive!
p.s. I just caught up on your holiday post, looks like you had an amazing time and you were looking amazing in your pictures :-)
Hi Neenie – I’m definitely going to have to give ebay a go! Don’t worry about the double posts, its sometimes happens to me too, usually after I’ve written a really long thoughtful comment!
Helene – My credit card is my down fall, its the first thing that is going to be removed from my purse and hidden away from me!
Glad your looking forward to future posts Anne!
Thanks for those tips Becky I will definitely be checking them out, I would be over the moon if my library stocked a few magazines!
TOTkat – There a good seamstress up the road from where I work, I might see what they can do with a couple of my favourite dresses!
I know exactly what you mean about healthy food, I spend far too much on it but I have to say I think its worth it sometimes! I wish the government would increase tax on unhealthy food and make healthy food cheaper but we’ll be waiting a while for that to happen me thinks!
I love your budgeting rules. i think I’m going to write them down to follow them too! I need to pay off a couple bills and these rules will definitely help.