Sunday, November 01, 2009

Frugally Fun November Experiment

A few weeks ago, I commented to Mr. Fairy Bread that I would like to try living ultra frugally for a month to see how much more money we could save. We ramped up the frugality once before for a month and the amount of money we saved was quite astronomical.


If’ it’s not essential we can’t buy it. We need to look at what else we have that we can use that will do the job before we buy anything else. We need to consider every cent we spend on food, on day to day living, on entertainment, basically on everything. However, we still plan to have a life.

Today is the start of the experiment and ten hours in I already face my first challenge!

 

Scenario: Several days ago I found a vintage quilt top on an auction website that I really like. The idea of finishing something vintage instead of starting something new appeals to me. Mindful of my November deadline I email the seller about international postage costs.Nine hours and 20 minutes into November I get a response. Postage is an excellent price and if I had received this yesterday I would have been hitting the “Buy it Now” button immediately. What to do?


Possible response: Say “Bugger it. I’m buying it anyway –it's not my fault the seller  didn’t get back to me before I started this stupid experiment!”
Or : “It’s not November in America yet so technically I’m not breaking the pact I set for myself “ ( I actually quite liked this one and almost made it work for me)


Actual Solution: I suggested Mr. Fairy Bread buy me the quilt top for Christmas thereby killing many birds with one stone. 1) He doesn’t have to stress about what to buy me. 2) The total price comes in at less than we agreed to spend on one another 3) I get something I really want. 4) I get to feel smug and virtuous



I’m doing the happy dance here!



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