Let's go! Weeks begin on Friday for the purpose of this experiment, because I get paid on a Friday.
Friday, 22nd:
Income + £776.75
ALDI, £2.83
- Grape energy drink, 69p
- bread 75p
- microwave burger £1.39
Not much to say here. I had food in, apart from some bread. The burger was a laziness, and the grape energy drink was just because I really like it. To be honest, the flavour isn't hitting as hard anymore, I might as well buy a 2L of something else instead of a single can of this.
Saturday:
B&M £5.45
10% staff discounts applies:
- 3 for £1 biscuits (cost me 91p)
- irn bru can 60p (cost me 54p)
20% staff discount applies (one weekend only):
- 10M tape measure, £5 (cost me £4)
My work threw up a three day double discount weekend for the "brown box" (non-consumables, i.e no food, hygiene products etc) departments. Rather than waste money on some electronics that would break in three weeks I bought a big tape measure, which I'll need for measuring my new council flat.
I love irn bru and biscuits.
Sunday:
Mall trip: Tim Hortons + onebeyond £6.43
- Chicken Sandwich, waffle fries and hot chocolate £5.74
- can of dr pepper 69p
I treated myself to Tim Hortons as a one off thing. the good doctor was the cold drink I desperately needed because the hot chocolate took like twenty minutes to get down to a drinkable temperature.
Monday
Income (Crowdfunded): + £48.91
ALDI £7.44
- 3 Litres of blackcurrant squash (like kool aid. several weeks supply) £1.90
- 2 Litres of lemonade 49p
- ice cream £1.49
- two packs of bacon £2.79
- biscuits 77p
This breaks down to £4.69 food / £2.75 junk
Tuesday
ALDI £4.98
- box of four "chicken steaks". you know the thing in a chicken sandwich? that. £1.69
- bread 75p
- 6x ready salted crisps (sandwich accessory) 85p
- chocolate chip cookies 59p
- 2x packs of disposable ass wipes
Gonna call that £3.29 food, £1.10 personal hygiene, 59p junk
Wednesday
B&M £2.34 (all after 10% off)
- 3x biscuits 91p
- Nissin Soba Noodle cup £1.43
Running total over 6 days: £29.47
Maximum allowed spend over 6 days: £55.80
Thursday
McDonalds, £3.38
- happy meal on discount, £1.99
- mayo chicken (mayo removed) £1.38
i swore i wouldn’t go to mcdonald’s this week but i spent all day calling the housing benefit office and the housing association, and i’d ran out of bread so i had no time to buy groceries and cook.
B&M £ 1.35 ( after 10% discount)
- Microwave kebab
Total spend over 7 days: £34.20
maximum allowed spend over 7 days: £65.10
Amount saved this week: £30.90
End of week one conclusion:
I think I’ve been very lucky this week. No major expenses have sprung up. No disasters, i haven’t had to buy new brakes, found a hole in my shoe or anything. I've not had to buy any soap, deodorant, shampoo, toilet paper etc either, so this might be an unusually cheap week.
There's still financial waste though. I could've not gone to tim hortons. McDonalds was down to me not accurately predicting how fast i'd run out of bread.
I think between November and now I’ve actually managed to get all the stuff i need to use in daily life, for the moment, so i haven’t been buying new stuff everyday like i was for months.
This will inevitably change in a couple weeks when i get my new flat. Social housing doesn’t come with kitchen appliances or flooring, or even curtain rails. i’m going to be living shitty and expensive for a while.