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[jufonuk]

Hello GAF.

after a random two years with the Pandemic and what not. I've decided to set my self a challenge of limiting my spending/buying, due to all these things spending nearly got out of control.
I've been in debt before and do not wish to go back. so instead of continuing down that road I am going to do something about it.

but I am not going to live of nothing, so onto the rules

Disregarding Bills or expenses for medical issues (dentist/Glasses am in Europe so won't have costs for everything)

for as long as possible I can

Only Buy/pay for Food,Travel, accomodation.

If I want to say get a new shiny object, I must either do trade ins or anything earned outside of wages. maybe birthday money given to me or some gift cards type situation, I did manage to earn some money doing online surveys but they take flipping ages

any issues with clothes I must first try to repair them (sowing or patching something)

any other clothes Charity shops

under wear,sock and shoes are ok to buy new but must be best quality I can afford but not stupid expensive

hobby wise etc I can only use what I have an not buy needless Items.

I think I'm doing this challenge to try and limit any needless spending and the pandemic just made me think of money being wasted

it may be a waste of time and I will crumble at the first hurdle.

I will try and be more mindful of what I have that I can use and not buy for the sake of it.

basically try and find a different way of doing things.


thank you for coming to my TED talk or something....

but I hope there are like minded GAFers and we can encourage each other or something.

 

[nush]

I've lived that life, not by choice but it's definitely an achievable goal.

Let's pick one that requires some investment, transport. Do you have a bike? If you don't get one, which may require you spending money to get one but it does not need to be a new one.

 

[jufonuk]

I've lived that life, not by choice but it's definitely an achievable goal.

Let's pick one that requires some investment, transport. Do you have a bike? If you don't get one, which may require you spending money to get one but it does not need to be a new one.

I do have a bike and should start using it more.

 

[nush]

I do have a bike and will start using it more.

Corrected.

Next one, can you cook? Time to learn, just basic stuff not things to show off.

 

[jufonuk]

Corrected.

Next one, can you cook? Time to learn, just basic stuff not things to show off.

I can do basics, so will stick to that.

 

[nush]

I can do basics, so will stick to that.

It's a good skill base to build from. Now you need to know what to buy and where to buy it from. Vegetables are actually cheaper from local markets than from supermarkets. The loud and proud "Cheapest" supermarket probably isn't. You need to use all of the supermarkets and know what each one tends to discount and clear-out compared to the others.

Basically do not shop in one place and I know it takes time but you are filing your time with something that is saving you money. Once you see how these different places work and the push pull economy of them, then you win.

 

[IDKFA]

I can do basics, so will stick to that.

No. Build on the basics. Before you know you'll never buy junk, take out/fast food again, will be healthier, see improvement of cognitive abilities and overall, save money.

 

[AJUMP23]

Best wishes on your endeavors.

 

[haxan7]

I’m avoiding all unnecessary expenses but I’m not going that extreme. This inflation can kiss my butt.

 

[12Goblins]

it's pretty easy when you realize that all the best things in life are free, and the key to happiness is appreciation

 

[jufonuk]

I’m avoiding all unnecessary expenses but I’m not going that extreme. This inflation can kiss my butt.

it's fucking mental the inflation, wonder how much a freddo costs?

 

[Scotty W]

Have you always found it difficult to save money?

 

[teezzy]

it's pretty easy when you realize that all the best things in life are free, and the key to happiness is appreciation

Lol the best thing in life is Xbox and it a Series X isn't free

 

[haxan7]

Lol the best thing in life is Xbox and it a Series X isn't free

 

[Winter John]

This shit rarely works because people set so many goals on their lists it quickly becomes unrealistic, especially when they're used to a certain standard of living. Take a good look at that list, cut it down to 2 things you can comfortably reduce spending on. Once you got used to that then go back and add something else on, then another and so on.

 

[nush]

This shit rarely works because people set so many goals on their lists it quickly becomes unrealistic, especially when they're used to a certain standard of living. Take a good look at that list, cut it down to 2 things you can comfortably reduce spending on. Once you got used to that then go back and add something else on, then another and so on.

Life is so full of time savers and conveniences now that putting in a little extra work feels a lot harder that it actually is. It's like people going out to buy lunch during the work day, it looks cheap buy you can make your own lunchbox with much more in it for a fraction of the cost. You just need to go out and buy the components up front and prep them each day.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Living within a budget is much easier.

 

[Gankthenew]

Stop receiving discount messages and only turn on shopping apps (including the game store) when you need them, and you'll eliminate a lot of meaningless and useless things from your home

 

[InterMusketeer]

This'll be the third year I spend nothing but my holiday allowance (sum of money you get from your employer in May, don't know if this is common) on hobbies and entertainment for the entire year. I keep note of how much I have left, and every purchase is deducted from the total. If I sell something I add that amount as a reward.

Additionally I spend only about 15 to 20 euros a week on groceries. All money left over at the end of the month is put a in savings account.

I've been able to save a decent sum of money this way. It means you have to be frugal, but it feels good to have a safety net, and to be able to support family members when they need it.

 

[jufonuk]

The holiday allowance thing sounds cool.

I’m going to use any money I get from trade ins and anything I get besides my wages.

Otherwise I can’t spend it.

 

[jufonuk]

Have you always found it difficult to save money?

In the past I found it difficult to live within my means and when I got paid I would spend it all and end up in over draft. Over time and meeting my GF (now wife) I got out of debt and toned my spending way down and kept off debt. I have savings just I want to keep them. Maybe increase them. But at the same time be able to do things.
Travel, see shows or once in a while go somewhere nice to eat.
So far I have been doing that but during the pandemic all that stopped and I started to slide into spending unnecessarily. On the most random things.

Food, random Amazon or online items that used rarely that stay in the cupboard.


I’m not Into side hustle culture etc. I want to use my free time spending it with family. Not create other revenue streams etc or work two jobs.

I will look into maybe investing some savings. Who knows.

But for now. I just want to stay away from spending randomly. As it all adds up. I thought I wasn’t doing too bad and looking back it did add up and I got too comfortable doing it. Old habits were starting to happen again.

usually it would lead to buying something then not being satisfied but another thing. If that makes sense.

Coming towards the end of the pandemic I can see that I’ve been doing this. So this plus the insane price rise in food is making money last less. So need to get a handle on it before it goes wrong.

TLDR Basically I am in a much better position financially than I was in the past. I don’t want to decide oh because I have savings I can afford this or this. Then over time burn through them. Because I’ve been spending like crazy.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

it's pretty easy when you realize that all the best things in life are free, and the key to happiness is appreciation

Where you get free blowies?

 

[nush]

Where you get free blowies?

Public toilet gloryholes.

 

[Ellery]

I'd still consider clothes or other things that improve "yourself" for a better appearance somewhat necessary. Especially when your old clothes have holes in them. Don't need to be 500$ Adidas Yeezys (just being used here as a symbol of hype, fomo and capitalistic consuming), but you always need/want to have decent clothes in your life.

Not giving in to consumerism is great though. Good luck on the journey. I have had my fair share of impulse purchases and spending money on things I don't need. I am pretty mild though and don't take on credit or debt to fund massive purchases.

I hope you get success on your journey, but remember that some sort of spending can also be considered investment and when done right those things will have a better end result compared to just "hoarding" money somewhere.

 

[Scotty W]

In the past I found it difficult to live within my means and when I got paid I would spend it all and end up in over draft

I don’t know if my experiences are informative to you but I will share a bit. I don’t really have any advice, but it might be good to see someone else’s attitude toward money.

I have had a fairly good habit of saving my whole life. But one of my close friends is terrible with money and so I have spent a bit of time thinking about why.

The main factor I think is our parent’s attitude to money. I mentioned my money habits are only ‘fairly’ good. I save just over 1/3 of my paycheque, but I feel like spend so much. For example, I could have stayed home today and saved, but instead I went out and bought a bunch of yerba mate, got an Indian buffet and bought an old Sega Saturn game. This is a ridiculous amount of money, yet it pales in comparison to my friend. It is just impossible to imagine spending much more than this.

This, “I cannot go farther than this” I think, is instinct. Somehow, I think both my frugality and my wastefulness come from my parents. It is very difficult to change our instincts.

One more thing about instinct is the feeling of being debt. I have been several hundred dollars in debt twice, and it makes me really anxious. My friend is always in debt but not bothered by it

Also, I have spent a lot of time travelling, which implies saving for travels. Having a savings goal helps so much, but you have to choose your goal carefully, because it is too easy to abandon a goal you don’t really care about.

The final enemy is boredom. We spend money when we are bored and to avoid being bored. I am lucky to have a book reading addiction.

Hope something in there is useful.

 

[SafeOrAlone]

I have gotten so much better at this over the last couple years.
Pandemic may have helped but I also probably grew up and reached a point where I realized the things I could afford to waste money on weren’t going to make me much happier.

I used to give myself an entertainment budget whenever I got paid, but I realized that would become an excuse for me to spend money. There’d be a compulsion to use up that allowance.
Either approach will snowball quickly. Once I’m in penny-pincher mode for a few weeks, it gets harder to splurge. Everything becomes about saving. Obviously, it’s good to find a balance but this has been good for me as of late. I’m now at a point where I could lose my job and still get by for a year. Hoping to keep building that.

I’ve also become a bit of a minimalist at home, which helps. I don’t like having a lot of stuff, even if it’s cool stuff.
I find myself thinking before every purchase: “is this something I want to have to literally carry around next time I move?” A few more purchases along the same lines, and I’ve got a whole other box to lug around on moving day. Mileage will very, base on living situation, but even if I had a mansion, I think I’d tend to get overwhelmed by having a lot of stuff. Some say “the less you have, the more you can appreciate it.”

I like the idea of us encouraging each other on here though.

 

[jufonuk]

I don’t know if my experiences are informative to you but I will share a bit. I don’t really have any advice, but it might be good to see someone else’s attitude toward money.

I have had a fairly good habit of saving my whole life. But one of my close friends is terrible with money and so I have spent a bit of time thinking about why.

The main factor I think is our parent’s attitude to money. I mentioned my money habits are only ‘fairly’ good. I save just over 1/3 of my paycheque, but I feel like spend so much. For example, I could have stayed home today and saved, but instead I went out and bought a bunch of yerba mate, got an Indian buffet and bought an old Sega Saturn game. This is a ridiculous amount of money, yet it pales in comparison to my friend. It is just impossible to imagine spending much more than this.

This, “I cannot go farther than this” I think, is instinct. Somehow, I think both my frugality and my wastefulness come from my parents. It is very difficult to change our instincts.

One more thing about instinct is the feeling of being debt. I have been several hundred dollars in debt twice, and it makes me really anxious. My friend is always in debt but not bothered by it

Also, I have spent a lot of time travelling, which implies saving for travels. Having a savings goal helps so much, but you have to choose your goal carefully, because it is too easy to abandon a goal you don’t really care about.

The final enemy is boredom. We spend money when we are bored and to avoid being bored. I am lucky to have a book reading addiction.

Hope something in there is useful.

this can be true also in the fact during pandemic with lockdowns I just felt as if spending was a way to look forward to something certain instead of uncertain.

see my parents attitude towards money wasn't taught to me, I saw my dad spend randomly, my mum was frugal but still didn't have loads (they split when I was young), my dad supported us and paid towards us all. but he worked in good job had good money but had the attitude of can't spend it when you are dead. in school we weren't taugh about money, growing up you had the keep up with everyone attitude.

I got into the habit of spending but trying to buy bargains etc but didn't budget so it went out of control. oh I started work lets spend a shit load of my pay on DVD's

I stayed at home got myself into a situation thought I didn't have enough to move out. kept living in overdraft. then had credit cards.
met my missus she showed me the way. I took a really hard year to save money, while my brothers and sisters were spending silly (takeaways all the time) random expenses. I was cutting it all down. packed lunches etc etc. yeah I know poor me others are worse off.

sold a lot of crap I had hoarded and over a year had a nice bank balance, managed to finally move out

I'm worried I am slowly sliding into old ways. i don't want to go oh I got cash in the bank let's silly spend the savings will take care of it. so I need to change my ways

 

[SafeOrAlone]

Think of money as power and it might help. Sounds lame, but it’s true, even if it’s simply the power to not work someday or take shit from an asshole boss.

Money can’t buy happiness, but it allows a level of power and freedom. Stock up on enough, and you’ll be able to enjoy the trinkets you purchase later on, much more.

 

[Scotty W]

I just felt as if spending was a way to look forward to something certain instead of uncertain.

That sounds interesting. Can you expand on it a bit?

see my parents attitude towards money wasn't taught to me

I don’t think I was taught. Probably picked up by osmosis.

oh I started work lets spend a shit load of my pay on DVD's

I have 250 cds.

I'm worried I am slowly sliding into old ways. i don't want to go oh I got cash in the bank let's silly spend the savings will take care of it. so I need to change my ways

One strange feature of all humans, myself included, is that we are afraid of what our ways will do to us, even though it is us that control our ways.

 

[jufonuk]

That sounds interesting. Can you expand on it a bit?



I don’t think I was taught. Probably picked up by osmosis.

I have 250 cds.




One strange feature of all humans, myself included, is that we are afraid of what our ways will do to us, even though it is us that control our ways.

well we going through a pandemic, a lot of things are changing with regards to rules isolations etc, so the though of gettting something it comforting after a while you get used to buying.

i had a substantial collection of movies, it was a big collection this was years ago, first job out of college still living at home. decided to spend like mad, never made a budget. got into the habit of eating out and what not.

 

[jshackles]

OP it's good that you have this kind of self-reflection, a lot of people don't seem to be capable of that so kudos.

I've spent the last 10 years edging closer and closer to minimalism myself, I've been taking baby steps. For me things really accelerated when I was forced to move twice in an 8-month span. Having to lug all my shit from one house to another, then doing it all over again was not pleasant. And that was almost two years ago and even a lot of the stuff that I haven't gotten rid of yet is still in boxes and hasn't been unpacked. The biggest turnabout for me was realizing that I was holding on to a lot of things for sentimental reasons, rather than practical ones. Was I really going to dig out my NES and hook it up, so I could play my old cartridges? In a world where emulation offers a MUCH better experience with upscaling, shaders, and achievements the answer was always going to be no. I sold probably 2/3rds of my gaming collection before I had to move again, the rest of it (that wasn't PS4 or Switch games) is still packed up several years later. I'll eventually get around to selling them, but with the new IRS rules I might just donate them to charity.

The whole process made me think to myself "what do I actually need"? The answer is, not much. The things I do enjoy, I try to buy the best possible quality (TV, cell phone, PC, car, mattress, furniture, linens, clothes, etc.) so that they can last a long time without being replaced. I also look for things that are designed to be repaired when they're broken, rather than simply replaced. I've owned my same car now for 9 years, far longer than any other vehicle I've previously owned in my life, but it's a fantastic car and I love driving it every day. While my friends have been busy trading in their vehicles to keep up appearances, I've just been saving money like a madman. It's weird, because now I walk through stores and think "who buys this crap" when looking at things I would have, 10 years ago, been excited to purchase.

Good luck OP, pairing down your lifestyle is an art. It'll take time. I wish you the best.

 

[Scotty W]

well we going through a pandemic, a lot of things are changing with regards to rules isolations etc, so the though of gettting something it comforting after a while you get used to buying.

So because there is a kind of sameness everyday in the pandemic you like to get something new to break through the monotony?

 

[jufonuk]

So because there is a kind of sameness everyday in the pandemic you like to get something new to break through the monotony?

No it’s the uncertainty at times. Change to rules and isolation. Lockdowns quarantines, rising cases different waves. What if I get it while at work etc.
Supply chain issues.

After a while it gets too much. You end up focusing on other things.

 

[Tschumi]

I'm about to move house and I've got some ikea furniture to buy, and i want horizon forbidden west, but after those I'm up for trying