We are also saving like mad to buy a camper van for touring round Europe in 2010. Hopefully going to spend at least a year on the road, and it should be a once in a lifetime kinda gig. There is a motorhome dealership a few miles away from our new home, and we have already tried and tested a few. Exciting times.

Well we have been living the good life since moving up to Scotland over a week ago. Walks on the beach in the evening, and even strawberry picking this morning. Love it. Checkout the pictures below for a taster of our latest shenanigans.

well what have I been upto. On Friday we where in Manchester to see the Defenders of the Faith II tour and one of my favourite bands Lamb Of God. It was an amazing night, but a punch in the guts in many respects. For one, the train cost a fortune. As we couldnt get a return to manchester from St Helens (go figure) we essentially had to get 4 single tickets. This cost us £30 for a 30 mile journey. To put it in perspective to go 30 miles in the other direction to liverpool would have cost us £7 return. After going days and days without spending a single penny, this cost was excessive, and almost enough for me to write it off and come home without going to the gig, but hell, we work hard we deserve a night out.

So into Manchester, and what a shock. It was like venturing into a parallel universe as opposed to the city we lived in for 7 years. The people where all about the fashion, it was so overcrowded, and the money being spent was insane.

The cost of everything got to me that day, the cost of a 2 minute taxi ride and entry into a club to meet our friends £10, a light snack £4, a pint of beer £3. The cost of city living has skyrocketed and it’s only when you step back and away from it you realise how absurd the whole thing is. We both hated the city for that day we spent there, we have either outgrown it or it has outgrown us! The only saving graces where that the bands where great, and Lee & Rachel where awesome, and their appartment was superb. Lee also grabbed us meal deal vouchers for Pizza Express so we all had starters, main courses and beer, and the total bill came to £40 for 4 people. Awesome.

I’m still not spending, and now I’m 41 days in give or take, it feels no different. I was almost tempted at the prospect of building a media centre PC. I resisted, dug out my old xboxs, and a few old Hard Drives and set them all up with XBMC. So now I have 3 working Media Centres, all networked and ready to go. Result & recycling!

I’ll start posting again properly for the next few weeks, just been a crazy busy time of late.

Thursday saw us taking a train to Liverpool to see some ‘capital of culture’ culture. When we lived in St Helens when I was younger and more handsome we would take the train to Liverpool all the time, but since moving to Scotland & Manchester for the better part of 7 years Liverpool fell out of favour with our more ‘Cosmopolitan’ tastes in cities. Vicki & I both remarked on the train that it must be 6 years since we took the train to liverpool, which is a long time for someone who used to spend every day in the city.

We where pretty shocked that the train fare hadn’t chaged in all these years, and was still £3.60 return which is excellent. On arrival at Liverpool lime Street we quickly moved out of the cold and into the Walker Art Gallery. I was really impressed with the collection they have, but can’t help feeling a lot of the stuff in there has been sent to bolster the collection for the capital of culture crap. Anyways we saw the really famous painting of Henry VIII which was a highlight to me as I always remember that iconic image from History texts. They had some pretty good sculptures in there too.

Next we moved onto the Liverpool Museum which was amazing. All the time Vicki lived & went to University in Liverpool, the museum was behind a shroud of scaffold and wood. It has now re-opened with a pretty amazing collection and an equally impressive building. Notable parts of the museum where the aquarium and the insect house. All in all it was a good museum and on par with anything we have seen in London r New York.

After the museum Vicki treated me to a chicken ramen at a noodle bar. She has a chicked curry and we had a great meal and a nice relax before jumping on the train and heading home. The whole day including the meal cost us £25 between the two of us. We took our own snacks and a ton of water in our Sigga bottles which saved us a fortune on the usual expensive snacks.

Today, my friend Steven Almond drove me upto his workshop. The workshop is a couple of miles from where we live and is located on a working farm. The workshop is looking pretty damn impressive with a terrific array of machinery and materials. Ste is starting a furniture restoration & manifacturing business, so it was great to see where everything will be made. I feel a website coming on! Anyway the trip out was good, and it was nice to relax in a tranquil agricultural setting for a while. Check out the pictures below, taken on the iPhone so not the highest resolution, but still good. That was another free trip and made a nice change.

Right enough for today. i’m still not buying stuff, and its actually getting easier. If I hit any bmps int he road you readers will be the first to know. Now the pictures.

Faerie Glen Scotland - Magical Countryside

Sorry it has been a few days since I last posted on the ‘year without spending’ project, it has been a busy weekend meeting up with old friends and then recovering from the meet up. Our good friends Lee & Rachel from Manchester came over on Friday night, and we ended up in the local pub until we got kicked out. It was a heavy night for Vicki & I who aren’t used to having a few drinks any more and got quite intoxicated. It was a really fun night, and we paid the price for it on Saturday. Mostly staying in our pyjamas for the day and watching crap TV from under a blanket, we couldn’t go out like that on a regular basis any more.

With regards the not spending, I’m on day 24 of the project now and I’m still enjoying the whole thing. We discussed it the other night in the pub, and my close friends seem to have cut their spending along with me. We couldn’t work out if this was in sympathy for me and my not spending, or if it was because they felt inspired or compelled to cut back, either way it was great to hear.

Now that I’m 100% healthy again, the spending on medicine has stopped, and fingers crossed I’ll stay healthy for the rest of the year as I’m rarely ill. This leaves my only expenses as food & drink, Housing costs and utility bills. These things alone seem to cost a fortune, but the not spending (which has rubbed off on Vicki, although not to the extent I’m cutting back) seems to be having a positive effect on my outlook on life, my stress levels and ultimately my bank balance! I’m managing to pay a lot extra off my Credit Cards which is great, and I hope to have the wretched things paid off by the summer.

We are also packing our belongings into storage this summer, and as of the 4th July we are off on the road. We are going to get rid of our house and use Vicki’s mums house in Dundee as a base to tour Scotland and the Scottish Islands. This will be the first time I’ve been free from the shackles of rent & bills since I was 17, and it will be a welcome relief to live free for a couple of months. I’m really looking forward to the trip and the not having any responsibilities, and coupled with the not spending and paying off debt it will be a perfect solution to get rid of the lot. I’ve already started selling stuff on eBay to lighten the load. At the moment I feel like I don’t own my belongings, but they own me, and hang like a big anchor on my legs holding me in one place. Time to cut away the excess and simplify (which I will also blog about here).

The blog is getting hard to write at the moment, as I ten to stay home or do things for free, so spending isn’t really an issue unless something breaks (like the DVD remote). I’ll keep you all updated with the progress.

Mini Magazine & Mini World - Kindly Donated by a friend

Today’s entry is a thank you to my friend Steven Almond as much as an update on the no spending front. Ste had been trying to sell these Mini magazine online, and when the buyer didn’t pay for the items he kindly drove them to my house and donated them to me. This has been a real life saver, as there are around 40 magazines of varying age from the Mini Magazine & Mini World varieties. I love Mini’s and always have. I’ve owned three of them, a 1275GT Clubman that competed in Lombard rallies, and 850cc Mini auto which was really cute, and a de-seamed & modified Mini 1000. The reading material donated will satisfy my Magazine lust for at least the next year if I limit myself to a new magazine from the pile each week.

This is a really good idea, and I’m going to suggest to friends even after the year without spending is up, to buy different magazines and trade them between each other. Magazines are a real expense for me as I like to buy Mini World & Mini Magazine, along with Land Rover magazine and Custom PC. It can end up costing a small fortune month on month. So thanks Mr Almond for passing on these magazines, it is really appreciated.

With regards to not spending, I’ve encountered various dilhemas over the past few days. Concert tickets being one of them. I love live music, always have done, and really enjoy going to live gigs. The bands I like are pretty obscure, which means if a favourite band is playing, I’ve got to go along incase it’s the last time I get to see them. Luckilly I racked up a few tickets last year for gigs this year which has tided me over nicely, however there are tons of gigs I want to buy tickets for, such as the summer festivals, which I’m trying my hardest to resist buying. More than the goods I’m not buying, the events I’m not attending are really killing me.

Oh well, I can live without extra gigs for a year, just like I can live without new magazines & books for a year. Lets just see what the rest of the year brings. I’m still waiting on the enlightenment that should surely come from not spending!!!

My mini on the left, our friend Scotts on the right

http://twitter.com/jodsclass

Its now day 19 of my ‘year without spending’ and I will admit it’s getting tougher. It’s quite boring not spending money on going to the Cinema, or going to buy a new gadget or gizmo to keep me entertained. I really need some DVDr’s for the business and for personal use. I may get Vicki to get them for the office and ‘borrow’ a couple to do my data backups. That one has been really hard, the whole not buying DVD media. I burn a lot of stuff from website and server backups, to backups of photos and documents from our array of computers. Tough.

Another thing that I’m finding tough is the feeling poor side of things. In truth i’ve probably got more free cash in the bank than at any time over the past few years, but because I’m not spending it, it feels like I’m being deprived. I guess thats the consumer mindset, and it’s what the marketing types in ‘the city’ have become so good at.

I’m also really feeling the pinch of not having a car. We had a terrific, economical, VW Polo. We owned it from new with 0 miles on the clock, however in our quest to be more frugal it had got to the point where we only used the car for the very rare journey, so we let it go. We are saving for a new car which we hope to buy in the next few months, but the whole not having a car does make you feel a tad trapped. I would love to drive into Manchester and go to the science museum, or for a walk down Castlefield. I would love to jump in and head over to Skipton for a day in the market town and some nice walks in the dales. I really do miss having the car, and I can’t wait to get our new one.

Well today brings much of the same, got quite a lot of things to get done. Unfortunately we both rediscovered Twitter and have since become addicted. I use the twitterific app on the iPhone and Vicki normally has her laptop glued to her in the evening. I’m following some of my favourite people including Robert Llewellyn, Jonathan Ross & Rik Mayall. Russell brand also started following me last night so there goes the neighbourhood

Right I’ll leave it there for today, going for a family cooked meal tonight and then the quiz which should be fun. It will be another day of not spending, and to be honest, after 3 weeks of this I’m quite used to the kind of day that brings.

Remote Control Woes

Well today it happened. The crap consumer stuff I buy finally decided it was time I owned a new DVD player for the office. This really is the most stupid device I’ve ever come across. It was a cheap £10 DVD player from Asda that I bought a few years ago for the sole use of watching DVD’s in the office. It has been used for around 30 DVD’s in that time, as I often watch movies on the big HDTV in the living room. So today I come to watch the last few episodes of Red Dwarf series 6, and god damn, the remote control has died.

Now you would think that this would be no more than a pain in the arse for me, I’d simply have to get out of my comfortable leather seat and control the DVD from the unit, but you would be wrong. This ingenious piece of consumer electronics has 3 buttons on the front, Play, Open and standby!!!!! By pressing play at the main menu of a DVD you can get the DVD to play, but you can’t skip forwards or backwards. This means I have watched the episode Psirens at least 4 times today as I’ve tried to watch the disk in various sittings!!! This is shocking. At first I thought it was the battery, and being a shoddy piece of consumer crap, this remote has tiny flat button batteries like in a watch. After searching high and low I found a working button battery, and tried it in the remote, but the damn remote seems to be faulty. This essentially renders this DVD player useless. I’m determined not to throw the unit away, and I’m currently drafting an email to Asda requesting a replacement remote control.

This whole debacle got me really angry though. Why is it seen as normal to throw stuff away because of the tiniest fault? I have a friend who is a product designer, and I once asked him why for instance my grans washing machine was still fine after 20 years, and why people go through the new ones in a matter of years. He told me that product designers are now asked and encouraged to design products with weak points, or developing flaws, to ensure that nothing lasts and that we keep on buying. He said, for instance, that a washing machine made of strong metal will have various plastic components, such as the high stress latch, which will be a designed weak point. The thought of this has always made me so cross. If I pay for a quality item, I want a quality item, and I will replace it when I’m good and ready.

This DVD remote is another example of how badly things are produced. For one thing, sourcing the CR2025 batteries is neither easy or cheap, so by placing these batteries in this remote, the manufacturer is basically selling a disposable product. The mentality behind this is that the DVD player is so cheap to begin with, why bother maintaining and caring for the product. Just bin the thing, get back to Asda and buy another one. I will not buy another and I will source a replacement remote. I may even disassemble the remote and try a home made fix. I certainly won’t be replacing the unit.

Right rant over. I’ll go back to watching these Red Dwarf epiosdes on the PC. Just to let you know, i got through another day without spending, no replacement batteries or DVD player, which has made me feel cross due to the fact that its broken, but happy with the fact that I’ve not already sought a cheap replacement. More news on the DVD debacle in the coming days, especially if Asda reply.

Enough about that, I’m feeling better and you will be glad to hear I’m still not spending. As stated at the beginning of this experiment, I’m allowed to spend on food & drink, shelter and bills. I wish there was a way that I didn’t have to pay bills, as they see to be coming in thick and fast at the moment. The winter fuel bills are in, and they are phenomenal. I had no idea gas & electricity could cost so much, they certainly never have in the years I’ve been paying them.

For anyone who doesn’t know, Vicki & I moved into a much larger 3 bedroom Victorian house this year. It is at least twice the size of the largest of our previous homes, and is somewhat of a beast to heat. The funny thing is, we have a spare room upstairs set out as a guest room, then a spare spare room which we use for storage. Downstairs we have the office which is huge, and the living room which is massive. So we now have all this space we don’t use, which we paid a premium for, and to compound the problem, we have to heat the damn thing. We have come to the conclusion that the house is too big for the two of us, and intend to move to a smaller place in the summer. This will not only save us a fortune on bills, but will be a lot cheaper to aquire in the first place, which will be a double saving.

So to offset some of these huge bills, we have decided to barter skills and labour for meals. Now I never take money from family for doing odd jobs or favours, however I’ve asked that anyone who needs my assistance (people always ask me to do stuff for them, from DIY to PC repairs and everything in between) repay me with a home cooked meal and some good company. This is a great deal, and I love bartering skills with friends and family.

I always use this bartering when possible. For example when we moved house last time, I traded friends time and muscle and in return I built a website for a friends company. With regards family, I’m dog sitting this weekend, which means I get to use my Grans house whilst looking after the dog and even get a home cooked hot pot thrown into the mix. If you haven’t used bartering yet, give it a try. Perhaps trade a skill you have with a friend with a skill you need. We don’t need to monetise everything!

I’d love to say the not spending is getting to me, and making me angry and full of angst but it really isnt. the only thing I do miss is popping into town for a browse, but staying away from the town is the best way of avoiding temptation. I’m still trying to source a camera to do the year without spending podcast for the site, but it’s prooving harder than I thought. I need a minidv camera on loan from anyone, if anyone has one they don’t use please do let me know.

Well I can’t beleive I’m now two weeks in. Just 50 weeks to go

Epson Recycling stuff arrived in the post

Finally back to writing the blog, after what feels like a lifetime of sneezing and moaning and groaning. Things got so bad yesterday with the fever & temperature that I found myself in hospital (well the walk in centre) for an emergency appointment to find out what was kicking my ass. Apparently, after a pee test and various temperature measurements, it was decided that I’m suffering from a viral infection which cannot be treated directly. The order of the day is to stop myself overheating by keeping the layers of clothing off, and to take piles of paracetamol and ibuprofen to try and control the fever and aches. I must admit I feel a lot better than I did 24 hours ago.

In year without spending news, I must admit that I’ve been spending money on Medicines. These where excluded from the experiment for obvious reasons, however it has cost us a fortune in over the counter medicines. Between tissues, lemsip, painkillers, decongestants and various other drugs I’ve spent around £30 in a week. I can’t believe how much this has cost, but alas it is a vital expense.

The fact that I’ve been ill does mean that I’ve not had the opportunity to spend. I’ve realised a few potential problems with this experiment, such as how to relocate in July from St Helens to Dundee then ultimately down to Cornwall. I’m sure it can be done without consumer spending, and it will be fun finding out how I can cut corners and get things done.

Finally our epson cartridge recycling envelopes arrived in the post. We filled in the form online and Epson sent us out 4 self addressed postage paid recycle bags which will allow us to send our used cartridges back to epson for free recycling. This service was very quick, and its great to know that epson are taking this seriously and will, at cost to them, recycle our cartridges.

Well hopefully as I get better, I’ll have some more year without spending stories to write about. Keep checking back for daily updates. I might even run a tech-wtf twitter feed to keep people updated. Sound like a good idea?

Finally, congratulations to Barack Obama and the USA on the inauguration of President Obama yesterday. It really felt like we where watching history being made, and I watched the liver coverage of the whole event from early in the morning, right through to 6pm. What a momentous occasion.