Monday 16 March 2015

Reflections on a £10 note

Tenner week surprised me.

One surprise was just how long I went without any personal spending.  I finally succumbed on Saturday night and blew the whole tenner on flowers for church but I had actually gone nine days without any personal spending.  To be honest I wasn't too surprised that it was something to give away which was the cause of my failure- I love giving things away and whilst I make most gifts, some things just have to be bought.

The second surprise was just how often I was tempted by a quick coffee whilst I am out.  On Friday I had one because I had to wait for photoprinting.  Yes, it was bought by someone else but it would be difficult to spend an hour wandering around a supermarket without spending anything so the coffee would probably have been the cheapest option.  On all other occasions I resisted.

I didn't do much about the activities which are suggested for tenner week.  These include menu planning, finding things to sell and selling them,getting a better deal on a bill, using freebies and coupons, spending gift cards or loyalty points and enjoying the great outdoors.  The selling of surplus stuff is part of the general decluttering which is going on anyway and I really didn't want to spend gift cards or loyalty points for the sake of it.  

So, as with all these sort of things, the real benefit is not in how I spent the tenner but in what I learnt by being so conscious of not spending the tenner.  And what I learnt is priceless

5 comments:

  1. I was once advised to write down every penny that I spent for a month, that exercise was invaluable, by the second half my spending was minimal, a lesson that has stayed with me. All I need now is to transfer it to food consumed......I have done this a few times, it is very revealing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't know if I'll do a tenner week again but the exercise in discipline was interesting. I guess if I truly had only 10 or less, it would help keep me from charging unneccessary purchases.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It sounds like it's been an interesting exercise. Nine days was an impressive amount of time to go without any personal spending! Jx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very cool!

    It took me well over a year to kick the quick coffee out habit... wait, have I kicked that habit? Hm, yes I have. But I do still get tempted by it and do sometimes treat myself. coffee out is such an easy spend but it can add up SO fast.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well done on the tenner week - it really opened our eyes to what we can do if we put our minds to it!

    ReplyDelete