Jaz Design

I don’t think I’ll have time to evaluate this tomorrow, so I’ll look at it now.

The two weeks of normal spending is pretty much up. It’s so easy to see the common places I waste money. There was also the near miss with Sonic & The Secret Rings (Wii) (would have been £17 as my boyfriend and I were going to split it, but in the end we completed it and returned it :S haha) and also I get so tempted by books but I’ve been really good with that for quite a while now.

Amazon used to be my worst thing, but I really tried to cut that out at the beginning of the Uni year. Although as a result my wishlist is triple it’s usual size :S (Or it was until I was really cruel with it yesterday and hacked it to pieces)

Looking at my old Amazon orders, I’ve only ordered myself one book since the end of August and it was a uni book. I did however blow £350 on a camcorder not long after that…

Anyway, looking at the spending… The totals for two weeks and the cost should I live like that for a year (which is unrealistic but it’s a nice shocktastic way to curb the spending)

Alcohol - £13.55
Cost – £352.30
I doubt I’ll be drinking again for a while anyway, considering the other night…

Chocolate – £8.29
Cost – £215.54
That’s really scary… although I did vow at the weekend to not buy myself chocolate

Other junk food – £9.42
Cost – £244.92

Total – £812.76

Not really surprisingly, since I already curbed the book/music/game outlet at the end of summer, it’s all foooood. Vending machines are definitely my downfall. I’ve been taking a bottle of water to uni to stop myself buying Ribena and I really have got to remember to eat before going to uni. I’m sure that would stop the vending machine snacking. As for supermarket bought snacks… I’m trying.

It’s definitely been interesting. The next two weeks are no doubt going to be difficult, I do so love my M&Ms

I’m contemplating keeping a food log in conjunction with this, although I’m really not sure I want to know what I’ve been eating. I’m sure if I have to blog it I’ll think twice before looking like a gluttonous heifer… so maybe it would be a good thing.

Tuesday 13th March

Celery £0.68
Butternut Squash Chunks £0.20 (oh yeah, how amazing is that!)
Red Pepper £0.78
Carrot £0.10
Cucumber £0.47
Coconut £0.10
Waffles £0.95
Printer Paper £2.24
Houmous £0.74
Wraps £0.79
Petrol £10
Pizza £0.88 (while I needed a meal this wasn’t necessarily the most healthy choice, and I could have made something out of all of the above without it)

Totals so far…
£114.13
Necessary £82.87 72.61%
Unnecessary £31.26 27.39%

So I’m sitting here in my boyfriend’s jeans (I spilt water on my skirt and I’m too lazy to change now I’m home), having eaten more pasta than ever before, again, wondering why one can never ever do anything with polystyrene without making a mess of giant proportions, thinking that it would be great if it really was 20:44 (as my clock says) because then my work would be done maybe and procrastinating about going to the shop because I know once I’ve done that I’ll have to do some work.

I am actually rather knackered.

Also, trying to remember my spending for Sunday’s gonna be difficult…

Sunday 11th March

Petrol £9.02
Alcohol £13.55 (I think)

Monday 12th March

Vegetable thingies £1.75
Misc £0.25

Totals so far…
£96.99
Necessary £66.61 68.68%
Unnecessary £30.38 31.32%

Friday 9th March

No spending! Woo.

Saturday 10th March

Groceries…
Red Pepper £0.89
Apple £0.24
Carrot £0.10
Banana £0.14
Broccoli £0.38
Cat Litter £2.49

Totals so far…
£72.42
Necessary £55.84 77.11%
Unnecessary £16.58 22.89%

Thursday 8th March

Chocolate 2.35

Totals so far…
£68.18
Necessary £51.60 75.68%
Unnecessary £16.58 24.32%

Wednesday 7th March

Groceries…
Crisps 0.79
Hula Hoops 1.05
MilkRoll 0.71
Parsnips 0.49
Smoothie 1.29
Chocolate Pudding 0.69
Organic Shop Stuff… (no receipt so just a total)
Cheezly Melty Cheese
Organic Soap
Organic Shampoo
Vegan Chocolate 1.41
Veggie Sausage Rolls
Organic Moisturiser
Total 16.71 (15.30 essential)

Totals so far…
£65.83
Necessary £51.60 78.38%
Unnecessary £14.23 21.62%

I guess I’m just feeling a bit down, so, M&Ms and their consistency of existence are keeping me going.

Tuesday 6th March

M&Ms £1 (yes, I got two bags, whilst at the library, vending machines are extortionate)
Art Supplies (2 paint brushes and a dipping ink pen plus nib) £2.50
Photocopies £0.60

Totals so far…
£44.10
Necessary £35.81 81.2%
Unnecessary £8.29 18.8%

That’s not that great really…

Monday (?) March 5th

Groceries…
Cucumber 0.85
Peppers 1.42
Brown Rolls 0.48
Houmous 0.80
Bounty (chocolate) 0.34
M&Ms 0.50

Totals
40
Necessary 32.71 81.78%
Unnecessary 7.29 18.22%

I tend to read a lot of things on how to not procrastinate, life stuff, but usually fail at actually implementing anything etc.

I love Zen Habits – I tend to use it to procrastinate with – haha, completely the opposite of it’s purpose, but you know, it’s interesting.

Anyway, the author of Zen Habits did this thing where he tracked his expenses for a month and worked out what percentage of them were necessary.

My boyfriend and I thought we’d try it, for funsies. I’m going to document mine here, just because it’s somewhere I always have access to. Although unlike Leo we’re doing two weeks of normal spending and then two weeks of trying to cut down on the unnecessary expenses and then comparing. I do think though that documenting it alone will affect the first two weeks simply because we’re more aware of what we’re spending and more likely to think it through.

Also I won’t be generalising food as groceries, otherwise I could buy eight packets of M&Ms and consider them necessary. I’m thinking healthy eating here – if I’m aware of how much money I spend on crap food I’m more likely to not spend it, and therefore it’s more healthy. Woo.

1st March
None

2nd March
Ribena £1.10 – U

3rd March
Train Ticket £10.65 – N
Cake and Crisps £2 – U
Groceries…
Carrots £0.23 – N
Flour £0.31 – N
Loo Roll £1.69 – N
Lettuce £0.49 – N
Quorn Burgers £1.79 – N
Goats Cheese £1.35 – U
Sweetcorn £1.99 – N
Broccoli £0.54 – N
Cucumber £0.47 – N
White Rolls £0.20 – N
M&Ms £2 – U
Red Pepper £0.78 – N

4th March
Petrol £10.02 – N

Totals so far…
£35.61
Necessary – £29.16 81.89%
Unnecessary – £6.45 18.11%