Hello Dear Reader,

Whilst in a reflective mood today and I wondered how I became such a tightwad. I worked out that I save in excess of my household costs. So, that’s 40% living costs and 60% savings. It didn’t happen overnight. 

Those of you who’ve read for years know that we went deeply frugal in 2009 to clear our massive debts and kept being frugal to pay down our mortgage. You see, I’ve always got a goal and reasons to keep my purse firmly shut. And when I say shut, I mean it. I don’t purposefully buy few clothes, beauty products but I just don’t need much. There are many many experiences that I’m looking forward to and that I experience right now that costs nothing or next to nothing. 

Whether it’s cynicism or maybe contentment but most of what I see for sale just doesn’t interest me. Fads, fashions and on trends just don’t do anything for me and instead of saying just no, I also think, who on earth would want this rubbish? The world and all its marketing tries very hard to part with my money but some how, the likes of you and me can just see it for the gawdy meaningless tripe it is.

So where am I going with all this? To begin with, I started with no spend days. You see, I used to keep money on my person and there was always something that could be bought even if a bag of salad. I made up my mind that I would pick a day on which I wouldn’t spend any money. I kept at that until it became a habit. I then moved on to more than one day and then just kept going.

It’s reached the point where, on the first of the month, I can pay everything by direct debit, leave £200 to pay for a month’s groceries and then move every penny to a savings account. Currently, 75% of that is transferred to our French bank account to pay for the woodstove installation and the building work we need done. The other 25% pays for anything we need here but once there’s enough in the account we transfer what we don’t need to the mortgage capital. My no spend days are now six days a week and sometimes I don’t ‘get the shopping in’ every week.

Living a debt free thrifty life isn’t for everyone. I know some of you like the theatre, cinema, eating out, having nice up to date clothes and if you enjoy that then carry on. For us, it’s trips to France and now to our other home in France so that’s my version of a ‘night out’. Those of us who save up for the experiences that are important to us happily have no spend days so we can afford to do so.

Now my lovvies, over to you. Are you part of the ‘no spend’ fraternity? If not, would you like to be? (I’ll get back to the how many steps tomorrow) What motivates you not to spend. I like our little end of the blog chit chat and look forward to hearing from you.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx