Skier31
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I am sure that I could. I like the mint format. I have tried other tracking methods and in all honesty, just have not had the discipline to use them properly. It is my own laziness.
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My Year of Going Without.
- Thread starter ski diva
- Start date
I am sure that I could. I like the mint format. I have tried other tracking methods and in all honesty, just have not had the discipline to use them properly. It is my own laziness.
bounceswoosh
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I find that a lot of my expenses are food - both groceries and restaurant. Wendy, are you doing anything different in those areas?
Jenny
Angel Diva
It's absolutely the laziness factor that keeps me from doing this with what I've already got (an old version of Microsoft Money, for the checkbook).
geargrrl
Angel Diva
I can see I've got the habit. Since I have to keep books on my business, I already have the discipline to enter every expense. It's the same routing, different set of books with the house.
Money and spending is definitely a personal issue. There's individual incomes, which is nobody's business, but then there are also the attitudes and emotions attached to spending/not spending.
Money and spending is definitely a personal issue. There's individual incomes, which is nobody's business, but then there are also the attitudes and emotions attached to spending/not spending.
No, I'm not doing anything different. I'm a pretty careful grocery shopper. And restaurants, well, we're not high livers, though we do go out from time to time. But that's not included, either. It's only about things I would buy for myself. Basically, it covers discretionary personal spending.
SkiBam
Angel Diva
Very interesting discussion. Overall in my life right now, I'm trying to get rid of stuff - I keep thinking I don't want my kids to have to come in and sort out all my junk (endless fleeces, etc. etc.). I have to say I don't regret any money spent on travel (and I'm trying to do as much of that as I can while I can) and art. Though haven't spent much on the latter since I took up painting and my walls are covered with my own works. But I suppose I don't regret any expenditures at the art supply store. (And believe me, those can mount up fast!)
bounceswoosh
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
It's funny how one part of me genuinely wants to get rid of all the non-essentials and have less stuff. And the other part of me is like "Ooooh I could really use that thing I don't own yet - *click*."
alicie
Angel Diva
I don't buy too much, mainly because I don't have too much in the first place (I live off my student loan) but the things I do buy just seem to eat up my money. Certain things are necessities but are really expensive, two new bras have just cost me £70, and shoes are about £50 though I do wear the shoes into the ground. I don't think I could go a year without buying anything for me. Are you including telly in this, like I pay for NHL live (which is a reasonable amount of money over the year) but I couldn't go without it, I stopped paying for Netflix though. It just wouldn't work, I honestly don't know how you could do that. Though I am glad I hate shopping and makeup and all that jazz as I think I would be completely skint.
bounceswoosh
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
OMG. Bras, good bras, are RIDICULOUS. Shoes, too.
Our town is getting this crazy fast fiberoptic internet setup, and once that's available for our house, DH plans to cancel cable, which is where we're currently also sourcing our internet. I gather that will save us $100/month. I'm curious to see how this goes - he has sports on TV all the time, even when he's not actively watching (imagine how "happy" I am with DH in the upstairs office and the main floor TV on, creating noise pollution) - he can walk over to the balcony and see the replay after he hears the commotion. So it could be very good for me. When I first got out of college, well before any sort of streaming TV service was even possible with the bandwidth most people had, I had no TV for several years. I didn't miss it except when sick. We also use Comcast pay per view a lot, but it's getting annoying now because there's no way to filter "BUY" listings from the two-night rentals. (Where "buy" means that you can watch it as much as you like - as long as you're subscribed to Comcast, of course.) We'll still be able to watch HBO I think with their streaming service, but not sure what to do about other shows. It will be a learning experience.
DeweySki
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Interesting and timely thread. Abstaining for the sake of abstaining, or perhaps to reset a baseline, is popular these days. My friend and her husband just did month (okay 28 days) without alcohol, and they will do a no TV month soon. She also wants to try a Vegan month. All "just because," to see if they can do it, and to see if maybe they'll want less on the other end.
I have a monthly "Purchases for self" list that I keep track of in Google Keep. I have a $$ cap in my head, but nothing set in stone. It's interesting to see it ebb and flow. In January I bought myself the ski camp at Whistler, February was a low month, and then March had a new pair of skis (+ bindings + mount). May has been a surprisingly expensive month, in part, I think, because of ski season ending and spending money out of boredom/lamentation.
The one thing I still don't know if I should include in "Purchases for self" are my kind-of-expensive hair cuts and color. On one hand a necessity, but on the other, a luxury?
I have a monthly "Purchases for self" list that I keep track of in Google Keep. I have a $$ cap in my head, but nothing set in stone. It's interesting to see it ebb and flow. In January I bought myself the ski camp at Whistler, February was a low month, and then March had a new pair of skis (+ bindings + mount). May has been a surprisingly expensive month, in part, I think, because of ski season ending and spending money out of boredom/lamentation.
The one thing I still don't know if I should include in "Purchases for self" are my kind-of-expensive hair cuts and color. On one hand a necessity, but on the other, a luxury?
Hair cut & color = necessity. For me, anyway, and not included in my resolution.
alicie
Angel Diva
I buy the slightly cheaper good bras (because they fit better) there's ones for £50 each (I am so glad they did not fit the best).
His set up sounds quite good (obviously not for you but for watching sports in the background), though when I watch sports I tend to just watch them as I pick and choose which games. We have all the sky packages apart from the extra sports as thankfully skiing is on the included sports channels otherwise that'd be another 5/10 quid a month.
bounceswoosh
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
LOL. Yes, definitely. He gets frustrated when his teams aren't doing well, so this way he doesn't have to stew quite as badly watching them flail.
alicie
Angel Diva
Haircuts are a necessity. The colour bit isn't for me as my hair is a strange colour anyway (gingery/red/brown), I'm not sure my hair dresser would let me anyway even if I wanted to. Though my hair needs cut every 6-8 weeks, I get very few split ends but I have so much hair and it has ringlets but is very wild (often it can look like I've been dragged through a hedge backwards).
alicie
Angel Diva
I often shout at the telly, I think the dog must think I'm a nutter, I also shout just as much when I'm playing my video game (I don't really play video games but I love NHL 14). It's probably a good thing I live alone.
lynseyf
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
@alicie Brastop is great for discounted bras, I think they do ship internationally for US Divas and they have offers on every now and again where you get free shipping if you spend over a certain amount. Other than that I buy old styles that I know fit me from Ebay, you can usually get these for £10-20 a bra.
MissySki
Angel Diva
The only sport I watch is Football, and then only when my team is playing. There is usually some amount of shouting coming out of me (DH not nearly as much, but it depends) and when it gets especially loud or if there is jumping around involved for celebrating
my dog has no clue what's going on and usually starts joining into the ruckus by barking and running around lol.
alicie
Angel Diva
The only sport I watch is Football, and then only when my team is playing. There is usually some amount of shouting coming out of me (DH not nearly as much, but it depends) and when it gets especially loud or if there is jumping around involved for celebrating
I shout at normal TV shows too (usually crime dramas). The dog looks up at me from its bed and then turns it head and puts it back down, like it's going if I can't see her maybe she's not shouting and I can just sleep.
