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.
Category: Frugality & Organisation
My attempts to cut back, reuse & reduce!
A Year Without Spending – Day 20 – Free Magazines thanks to a good 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.
A Year Without Spending – Day 17/18/19 – Still not spending & trying to entertain
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 🙂
A Year Without Spending – Day 16 – God Damn Consumer Electronics
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.
A Year Without Spending – Day 14/15 – Feeling Better & Still not spending
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.
A Year Without Spending – Day 13 – Almost Human

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.
A Year Without Spending – Day 10 & 11 – Illness
Hi Guys. Just a super quick post to let you know why i didn't post yesterday or today. I've been struck down with round two of this illness and the cold seems to have developed into a chesty cough and sinus pain. I'll spare you the details but safe to say I'm not in the frame of mind for sitting in front of the computer and typing an entry. Hopefully all we be well tomorrow and normal service can resume.
A Year Without Spending – Day 9 – Home Entertainment
During this next year I'm determined not to buy books. I'm heading down to St. Helens library this week to re-activate my youth Library membership, in the hope that I can find stuff in there which is relevant and not out of date. We also have an abundance of books on our bookshelves as Vicki is a hard core readist (I would say reader, but she is a little more hardcore than a reader, so a new word has been coined to describe her). I'm going to raid the bookshelves for inspiration. I already have my eye on the copy of George Orwell's 1984, and may even give some of the Penguins Banned Books selection a go.
A Year Without Spending – Day 8 – Shoes & Views
One of my big worries for this year was running out of shoes. Seeing as though I'm a 25 year old guy, and I tend not to wear the type of shoes that can be easily repaied (I wear skate shoes as they are tough as old boots, but still look modern and young), so keeping my feet in shoes for the year was going to be a real headache. Repairing old shoes is out of the question, and sourcing cast offs from family and friends would be almost impossible as nobody I know is a size 10.
A Year Without Spending – Day 7 – One week in & Recycling
The less we fill our giant brown wheely bin, the less we must be consuming and the more we must be recycling & reusing. What a terrific indicator of consumerism, I must come up with a name for this measure, perhaps the trash-O-meter or the dustbin bloat count... Any suggestions?
A Year Without Spending – Day 6 – A Quiet Day
Well today has been a quiet day on the ‘year without spending’. I’ve almost finished my first week of the project and I’m suprised how fast the week has flown by. It seems like only yesterday I was considering this project. Not a lot to report today. With the exception of sorting out the house (more importantly the office) and selecting items to keep/trash/charity/sell on eBay, it has been a very quiet day indeed.
I’m really suprised at how much time I seem to have at the moment. This could be thoroughly unrelated to the ‘year without spending’, however I beleive it is directly related. I’m not seeking out things to buy, I’m not even entertaining the idea of going into the city to browse and I feel somewhat content at the moment. I wonder how long it will take the contentment to turn into despair and angst? Anyway, I said I would post an entry to this blog everyday, not matter how dull. Hopefully I will have something more to report tomorrow 🙂
A Year Without Spending – Day 5 – Recycled Jiffy Bags & eBay
So to distract myself from not buying, I am selling and sorting, and saving Jiffy Bags - Gosh do I sound like the saddest 25 year old on the planet? Saving Jiffy Bags!
A Year Without Spending – Day 4 – Virgin Media & Asda
Well I'm into day 4 of my 'year without spending' and I'm yet to feel even the slightest pinch (well OK I admit I was tempted by a 2GB Flash Drive for 99p from Aria, and a 500GB External HD from Tesco, but I managed to resist). So today two major challenges, one was to downgrade my Virgin Media cable package, and the other one was to go grocery shopping without spending any more money than necessary.
3 Books on Frugality to start the New Year
Well at last my three New Years purchases arrived. I ordered these around a week ago from Amazon to start the new year off right. Vicki & I have been talking for ages about consumerism and how we feel we have been sucked into the whole “I buy to feel happy” movement. What with the impending Financial meltdown, and the fact we are now home workers, it only seems right that we take the time to learn how to avoid consumerism. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a rant about capitalism, after all our economy is built on capitalism. it is however an effort to cut out frivolous spending and to enjoy the things we do get.