Just a quick post today - to go
through my first three items on my Extreme Budgeting List
- No spend days - This one should be fairly self-explanatory.
It's all about getting out of the habit of spending on an ad hoc basis.
I'll be making packed lunches; ensuring to take a water bottle out and
about; investigating where I can park free of charge (a little walk never
did me any harm); and such like. This is one of Froogs' solutions for
living cheaply, but I think I first heard of the concept on the Holly
Is Stopping Shopping blog. I was going to recommend you have a look at
Holly's blog (I read about her year's challenge start-to-finish over the
course of about a week) but it appears she's closed the site down now :^(...
I might even start leaving my purse at home. This one could well help my
waistline too, as it'll preclude my buying chocolate willy nilly!
- Make it / freecycle it / swap it - A bit of a googling around usually reveals
that someone somewhere has had a go at making most things. Stuff I've
already got on my DIY to do/try list include: pencil skirts from t-shirt
fabric; greetings cards; a new wash kit bag. Alternatively, is it the sort
of thing that comes up on Freecycle? I've joined my local Freecycle group
via the Trash Nothing website. I've signed up
for their Daily Digest email. Free things I've scored from
there already are: a mini fan heater (for a friend to take the
winter chill off her conservatory) and a named brand yoga mat, block and
bag kit. The only real criterion is that the recipient must collect at the
donor's convenience. For that reason Freecycle is also good for getting
shot of stuff without too much hassle. I've offloaded a perfectly good
(but surplus to requirements) washing machine. Lastly, if no-one seems
willing to part with it for nowt, will they enter into swapsies with you?
You might be able to offer a service - maybe babysitting, or car washing,
in return for your required thing.
- Calculate journey costs on Google Maps - I noticed recently that the journey planner
thingamabob on Google Maps estimates your journey's cost (scroll down to
the bottom of the blurb on the left hand side of the page to see it). You
can tailor it to your car: vehicle type - compact/standard/high
consumption; fuel type: petrol/diesel; and fuel price (per litre). Now I
can keep tabs on how much driving about actually costs me, rather than
bimbling about the countryside fooling myself that it's free! Next time I
empty and refill my tank I'm going to keep a proper tally to see how
accurate it is in comparison to what I paid at the pumps... I'll let you
know the results.
So how's them apples? Anything of any use to you?
TTFN,
Z x
TTFN,
Z x
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