I’m sure a few of you probably saw this coming. In my everlasting goal to save money, I’m going to take up the one pound per day challenge. I have seen variations across the blogosphere (Thrifty Lesley and One Pound Per Day, to name a couple) and have been truly inspired. I like the structure that comes along with this form of spending.
I have thought of a way to tailor this challenge to suit me personally. I will have £1 to spend each day that will go in my purse that morning. Any change left over can be carried across to the next day, but I cannot “borrow” from the future. I will accept free food, because I always have done! But I will not use the challenge to take advantage of generosity.
The £1 budget will include:
All food.
All drink.
All non-essential items.
All entertainment.
The £1 budget will not include:
Travel expenses to see the Chap or my family.
Medicine, if I ever need it.
Occasional nights out with friends/Chap (still keeping to a low budget though!)
Essential toiletries.
I plan on using every inch of my store cupboard. I think it will really teach me the value of the stock I’ve built up over time. I’m looking forward to testing my creative cooking skills. I think this particular challenge will work better than previous rationing challenges, because I can buy what I want, as long as I’m within budget. I think this will help me sustain the challenge, instead of feeling deprived. We shall have to wait and see.
I decided to start the challenge immediately, so I would have no chance to fill the shelves, consciously or unconsciously. After the November NaBloPoMo is up, I shall update my progress on this challenge every Monday. My motivation for attempting this challenge is to save money for my future. I’m more than willing to have a lean year, so that I can stand on my own two feet when I leave the sanctuary of University. I think it’s a goal worth fighting for.
So far today, I have spent 52p on 500ml of semi-skimmed milk. At least then, no matter what happens with actual food, I can always have a nice cup of tea.
The Domestic Storyteller 
One Pound Per Day is a brilliant Blog, totally inspiring, even down to making noodles at the end of the Live Below the Line Challenge 🙂
That’s how I felt when reading it too! I’m going to give it my best shot 🙂 Hope everything is going well with the moving!
Good luck with your new challenge, although I expect you would find it easier if you spend say £5 in one go at the supermarket, then you would have more ‘stock’ in your cupboard. Of course, you can adjust it as you go along. I will be eating more frugally this week as my husband is working on a late shift (yay, fairly regular work!!) and I don’t tend to eat such ‘traditional’ meals when just cooking for myself, so I am looking forward to more variety and stretching the budget next week.
Good luck! I look forward to seeing how you do! 🙂
I’m not doing too badly so far, but it’s easy to say that two days in! Let’s see how I’m doing in a couple of weeks time 😛 Thank you for the luck!
Oh wow that sounds difficult! :O rather you than me! Good luck 🙂 xx
It’s not going to be easy, but I think it should be possible 🙂 Thank you for the luck, I’m going to need it 😛 xx