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.
