Day 7

A whole week has gone by and I am actually already thinking about what I can buy in December. Mostly I really need a freakin' haircut. Its too long and a pain in the arse. Aside from that, no urges to spend.

Day 6 - its MY own challenge people

This "Buy nothing for a month challenge" is mine, I've set the rules. I decided to do it just to see if I could change my way of thinking and maybe some of my habits. There is no judge watching over me, no panel or peers deciding what I can still pay for and what I can't.

I had to explain this to a workmate today,

Him "So you're not buy petrol then"

Me "nope, I'm catching the bus"

Him "Ah! so you're buying bus tickets! and what about electricity huh??"

Me "Don't be a wanker"

Everyone else "ooooooooooooo"

Its not an all or nothing challenge, those are always (like diets) doomed to fail. I am challenging myself to purchase nothing. Electricity although not absolutely necessary for my survival does make for my comfort and I don't think I can be called a blatant consumerist for paying my electricity bill.

This challenge is more about what I do with my discretionary income. Each pay day I pay all my bills (I don't want no collection agency hounding my ass! That would be mental) and then don't spend whats leftover. I think a month is a good amount of time to try something out. I could have said to myself "Oh god, I am fed up with buying so much crap, I'm never ever buying anything again!" Its so unrealistic I would go out and buy something within three days because I know its impossible for me to never buy anything. So I think its way cooler and groovier to say "OH GOD, I am so fed up with buying so much crap, I'm going a month without buying anything" and presto, a goal! Which is achievable and just lengthy enough to feel worthwhile

So far I haven't bought anything. Just my groceries, once a week, so I don't starve.

Day 5 - Birth of the Mini manti!

All your mantis are belong to us

Well another day of catching the bus and spending no money.

Lucky for me I have a fairy grandmother who reads my blog and takes pity on my soul and decides to drop a few essentials. (essential = wine) So I wont be thoroughly deprived over the next few weeks. And now I know at least someone out there is reading my blog. Despite it lapsing into a day by day account of me doing nothing.

Tonight I am eating my first home grown lettuce, and its not as bitter as the last time I ripped a leaf off on my way past the planter. So there maybe hope for good eating yet. Speaking of good eating, heres what I'm having for dinner tonight. Its beans, of the cannelini kind, mixed with diced red onions, red peppers, celery, cracked pepper and lemon juice. Slapped on top is a tasty piece of unsustainable hoki. I best eat as much as I can before its on the endangered list. Anyway this is wrapped in tin foil and baked in the oven for about 10-12 minutes until tasty. Squeeze a bit of lemon juice on top and serve with a salad you just picked yourself from the garden.


And why not end this evenings post with an extreme close up of the little blighters. Just think in a few weeks they'll be big enough to fall in love, get married and bit each others heads off.








The one on the right looks like shes thinking about it already! run little man mantis RUN!

Day 4 - Is it just me or is time going slowly?

Hey I still haven't bought anything. Thrills huh.

Anyway I made pumpkin soup for lunch, pumpkin, kumura, cauliflower, onion, garlic and one potato. Very tasty. And I used some celery, carrot, garlic and noodles to make a chicken noodle soup for he boys as they are not big fans of pumpkin.

So its the end of the week and all the grocery shopping is used up. When you decide you are only going to visit the supermarket once a week you tend to plan pretty well. But its quite tedious all the planning ahead, every dinner lunch and breakfast.

The Golden Compass

I just watched the trailer this morning. Actually it looks quite good, and very well cast. Besides any movie that some religos get all uppity about is bound to be good.

You can also get your own Daemon. You just have to take a short personality test (20 questions) and they match you up with your most likely daemon. A neat feature is that you can put it on your blog and your friends can answer some questions about you to make sure you didn't cheat on the personality test. You daemon will change if their answer are not similar to your own.

Buses or Bikes People.

Day 3 - Still Not Spending Anything

This could become a very boring blog. Yep, day three and I've already forgotten what my wallet looks like.

I was feeling good about spending nothing and then Natalie points out that I must somehow get her a birthday present. Never fear! I am the luckiest person I know. I will sort something out. I must admit these are challenges I didn't even consider when I began this month of frugality.
In other news I have successfully grown lettuce. Some fancy kind. Tastes terrible mmmmm bitter. But it grew didn't it?!!!!!!!! Yeah bask in my awesome gardening skills.


"My lettuce, let me show you it."


Other fun things to do on the weekends include organising your book collection by colour! Although its kinda flip I think it looks much better than the general mishmash that it was before.

Day 2 - Friday is PUB DAY

Most Fridays we start early at work so we can finish by lunch time and head down to the pub for lunch and a couple of beers. And today is no exception. I imagine theres not much fun to be had spending no money at the pub, except of course for the delightful company of my co-workers.

I also had to drive to work today, the buses don't really start running early enough, and I'm not about to walk to work at 5am in the morning. So Fridays have to be my concession. At least its a day off from busing it with the kids. Oh The pain of finishing work at 3:30.

And a big thank you to my dear Nina, who continues to surprise me. Today I came home to a mystery package and to my delight it contained a lost book of my childhood. I must have told that trauma story one too many times. So with my weekend reading sorted, family fed, the very last smidgen of Sav blanc drunk I think I will sit down for a gaming session. I'm only one level away from getting giant ram for my dwarf to ride around on y'know.

Whedon Geeks ahoy! Good news!

Joss Whedon has a new TV series in the works, its called Dollhouse and stars Eliza Dushku.
Read more here, including interviews with Eliza and Joss.

Day One - It all seems so easy

Just by chance, the first day of this little experiment happens to be my pay day. Its usually a day when I treat my self to a bought lunch and a bottle of wine on the way home, but no such luxury today.

So I hopped online and paid all my bills this morning. Mortgage, rates, power, phone, insurance, life insurance etc. I have $100 left. So I cant say I was really living the extravagant life before. Thats $100 disposable income which would get spent on alcohol, going out, petrol and other rubbish. So I wacked it all in my savings account (except for enough to buy a bus ticket for the fortnight) and sighed as my current account balance now reads zero.

I caught the bus to work, which was quite pleasant (Took my mp3 player for a bit of soundtrack to life music). I had to get up a little earlier, but thats no trouble. I even got off two stops early to save on bus fare (1 stage fare is only $1.60 two stages is probably twice as much, I wouldn't know). And the walk to work was relaxing and it put me in a good mood for work.

So far so good.

My work has blocked acess to flickr. Everyday more and more websites are added to the block list. I fear it wont be long before blogger is banned.