Thursday 4 August 2011

Thrifty August: Part 1




You see those words over in that sidebar?


Under 'About Me'? Yep, you know the ones I'm taking about. Those words. 'Weapon of massive consumption'.

I wrote that as a joke y'see. Tongue in cheek, as it were. However, given the state of my bank balance, it would appear that never a truer word has been spoken.

To be honest, I'm fairly ashamed of how much money I've spent over the past year. Losing weight seemed to trigger something inside me and, all of a sudden, I thought nothing of spending £100 on a jumper. WTF. SRSLY. ASOS after ASOS order would arrive, without me so much as even flinching. I thought spending £80 in Topshop at lunchtime was reasonable. I thought that, just because I could finally fit in a size 12, I needed to buy as many clothes in that size as possible. To prove something to myself? Who knows.

Well, I've had a shock. A big financial shock. And, as a result, this weapon of massive consumption is hanging up her shopping bags.

To combat my dire financial situation I've deemed August the month of thriftiness. Aside from a few mandatory social engagements, and fruit anf vegetables, I will not be spending a penny. In fact, I've spent nothing since Tuesday morning. That may not seem like a long time but, for me, it really is.

The Plan:

I bought a Kindle last month and intend to spend August and beyond reading classic novels. Because they are FREE. Free education. YES.

My bargain-loving friend D gave me a voucher for a free LoveFilm trial (plus a £20 Amazon voucher included). So I'm watching films that I never got round to seeing at the cinema. FOR FREE.

I have enough food in my cupboards to last me for about a month, bar fresh ingredients, so I'll be bringing my lunch to work every day. I just need to be organised of an evening. Coupled with that, I'm cooking from scratch every night instead of ordering takeaways or eating rubbish.

I'm going to wear the clothes I already own, instead of endlessly buying new ones that I do not need. The key here is recognising the difference between NEED and WANT. I want many things. I need very very few.


So, what does this mean for the blog? Nothing really. Other than I'll hopefully be able to start posting as regularly as I used to. Being time rich and cash poor and all that. Outfit posts will resume as soon as I am over the cold that has been plaguing me for the past five days. More house posts will be incoming shortly (plus some exciting news). Plus, recipes, photographs, snippets of my life. The usual.

Oh, and in my next post there'll be less words and more pictures. Promise.