Adventures in not spending money

At the beginning of January I paid off the credit card I had been using to make purchases during the final (unfunded) year of my PhD. While the credit helped me through what has been the toughest year of my life, reality is now here and I have no income other than a monthly transfer of £80 from mine and Jon's joint account. (For the first time in my life I am not earning and paying my way which I am finding HARD).

This is a perfectly reasonable amount of spending money in most cases, but as I am trying to set up a business without getting into debt, and am due to get my sewing machine fixed (which will cost £80) things are a bit tight. No more actual money for me until March.

But I like a challenge.

Reading "How I lived a year on a pound a day" definitely helped get me into the right mindset. If Kath Kelly can do a pound a day for food, travel and recreation, I can certainly do £80 a month for recreation. I am, however, now painfully aware of how often I just spent money on things I didn't need. Coffee? Yeah, why not! Bus into town? No problem! A few items in a charity shop? Bargain!

But when I only have a few pounds jingling in my wallet and I know I have a sewing machine to fix, a website to register, sole trader status to sort, visits to friends to arrange... suddenly those impulsive purchases make me stop and think. And £2.40 for the bus feels like a lot of money.

If I buy those pretty scarves in the charity shop, I can't afford to go out with my friend. If I buy some new BB cream, it's going to eat into my ability to pursue the career I've been dreaming of these past years. If I let my library books go overdue it's just wasted money I could use for something (anything!) more worthwhile.

The graveyard

So this week I resisted temptation and made do with my existing scarves, decided to root out an old bottle of foundation from my makeup graveyard, and took my books back to the library on time (thanks to the wonders of the internet it's pretty easy to make sure I do this. They send me a reminder email and everything).

Yes, yes, yes, I know this isn't exactly a massive achievement, but it was hard. I am just so used to frittering my money away each month because I'm busy, stressed and I like shiny new things. It's what I've been taught to do.

So - total money spent this past fortnight: £0. Insight into what I really need in life: growing exponentially. And the weird thing is I don't feel deprived, I feel empowered. Whether/ how I keep it up will be interesting.

TTFN, Bee x