No-Spend November Round-Up

Remember how I went on about documenting my 'No-Spend November' and then got really busy with uni? 

Well, I'm finally writing my roundup on the whole thing.

Overall, I'm happy to have taken part in No-Spend November. I made sure everyone knew so that people could hold me accountable. I genuinely believe that if I hadn't of been more conscious of my spending, I would've struggled to pay rent, etc., after paying for my car insurance in full. 

I did struggle in the first few days, I didn't realise how often I go to shops websites, or just quickly pop into my local Tesco to buy food when I'm too lazy to cook lunch. However, once I got into the habit of thinking about no-spending and remembering the boundaries I set out for myself - it became straightforward. A new top doesn't come under bills, uni, or car expenses - don't buy it then. 

I did worry about putting fuel in my car because I still wanted to drive frequently after passing my test - but I didn't want to be spending vast amounts of money on fuel. At the start of the month, I filled my car up and was able to make that last the whole month to take me to and fro from work. One day I didn't have any food for a packed lunch, and I had to leave before 7am, so I did end up buying one meal out of my No-Spending. I kept it cheap and made sure not to continue spending money afterward. Another way I got around buying myself the odd treat, was using tip money, from work, to by myself a donut or something after my shift. However, if I didn't make enough money in tips, I wasn't allowed a 'treat.' 

I did want to keep track of my spending/savings/income/outcome/etc., but I found it really difficult to remember and then a few days would pass and I would've forgotten how much I spent on something. If I were to do a No-Spend month again, I would work harder on finding a way to track my income and outcome. Also, along with the same lines, I would set myself a goal of how much money I can spend, and how much money I want to save. 

I am considering doing another No-Spending month soon, I'm thinking February. Logically, it should be an easy month for me to save money in. 

Have you ever considered setting yourself a spending ban? Or have you gone through with one? Let me know how you got on in the comments below.

- Kayleigh Bickle

No-Spend November - Week One

Week One, Day One:

I survived the first day. 

I was shocked by how often I thought about buying something or popping into a shop. I wrote a little list of times, I thought about spending money and managed not to:

• Halloween Films: I watched Megan Rhiannon's Youtube Video (here) and was listening to her film recommendations. The ones I thought about buying were Hocus Pocus and the Halloween Town collection.
• Wooly Jumper: I saw someone post a photo of a mustard, cozy knit on Instagram. I stopped myself before looking at one!
• Reduced Halloween Decorations: I was going to go to Poundland to see if they had any decorations reduced. I don't even need them for another year.
• Belinda's Cafe (here): An ex-coworker opened her own cafe today, but (thankfully) I left my purse at home and reminded myself that it would still be open after my No-Spending ban.
• Dog Halloween Costumes. This is almost a daily occurrence for me.

The money that I did spend: I paid my Roadtax (thrilling), and I spent 54p (from my tips money)(tips money doesn't count) to buy a donut after work. That's all. I'm pretty proud of that. 

Week One, Day Two:

Today was a lot easier. I had a home day, concentrating on my dissertation. I left the house to take the dog to the park, feed the ponies, and pop along to Tesco with Mum. In the next couple of days, I'm going to have to put some fuel in my car though!

Week One, Day Three:
Again, an easy day. Home days mean I don't go out and see anything I might consider buying. And constantly worrying about my dissertation, means I'm too busy to think of anything to buy.

Week One, Day Four:
Ah, I got caught out. We ran out of milk and orange juice, which I apparently can't go without on a Saturday morning.

Week One, Day Five:
Sunday. Rent day.

Overall, week one was easier then I expected. I have a feeling that this could be an anti-climatic challenge if it carries on this easily.

- KayleighBickle

Preparing for No-Spend November

Today is my start of No-Spending in November. Pray for me. Seriously.

Here is a list of things, that I did, to prepare myself:

1) Cancelled unnecessary subscriptions. (Netflix, Audible, Spotify, etc). I canceled these in advance so that they wouldn't take me by surprise in this month. If there are I've forgotten, I can contact them directly and (try to) get my money back.

2) Planned what I can and cannot buy. This way I won't be questioning whether or not I *need* another set of pastel highlights. [Answer is yes, but not this month.]

3) Tell EVERYONE. This way people will hold me accountable. Others will be watching me, waiting for me to fail.    (-.-)

4) Christmas Presents. It's November, it's inevitable the C word is going to come up on more than one occasion. If I see the ultimate Christmas present for someone, I will HAVE to wait until December - if I'm unable to find it again? They'll go without. Or receive it in January when I find it again.

5) Create a log in my bullet journal for writing down any money I do spend. This will be including necessary money. But, also, writing down where I save money. If I choose not to buy those pastel highlighters, I'll count it as a saving. Not only am I aiming to know how much money I have spent, but also the money I have saved.

Today is Day One. Hopefully, I have managed to not spend any money today. 

If you have any more tips, send them my way! Otherwise, keep your fingers crossed for me. 

- KayleighBickle

No-Spend November

I can already tell that I'm going to regret this idea. 

But, I'm going to be doing a no spend November. 

My plan is that every week I will write down where I saved money, where I failed and spent money, and have some sort of running total. 

My self-made rules:

• I CAN spend money on my bills (although I will be cancelling unnecessary subscriptions - looking at you Netflix), rent (my Mum is my landlord, it isn't worth the stress), university-related 'things' - bus tickets, sketchbooks, etc - I will have to draw the line at another packet of pastel highlighters this month. I'm undecided about fuel. I have recently passed my driving test so I want to drive as much as possible to get more confident, but it would save a lot of money. I dunno. 
• No stationary
• No food - no eating out, no buying snacks when I'm peckish. Although I will allow myself to buy a bottle of water if I forget to pick one up.
• Every week I'm going to write a log - I would aim for daily but that's a commitment that I haven't got time for.
• I, also, want to try and keep track of what I've not bought and how much money I've saved from unnecessary purchases.
• I will NOT be buying any Christmas presents this month. If I miss out on an amazing present for my brother, he'll have to wait until after Christmas and settle with a card. 
• I get paid in cash every week, so my other rule is to take the money I need out of my pay and IMMEDIATELY put the rest into the bank. I treat cash like its toy money and spend it for fun. 
• Why am I punishing myself into a No-Spend November? I just paid my Car Insurance in FULL for the WHOLE YEAR and need to build my savings back up again. 

The blog posts will be going up on the Wednesday's after the week and Sunday's will continue to be my regular blog post day!

- KayleighBickle

Side Note: I recently changed my domain to 'kayleighbickle.blogspot.com', and forgot to change this across Bloglovin' etc.