Thursday 3 January 2013

Losing weight AND saving money

This year, I plan to do exciting things. As well as losing weight, I intend to:

  • Travel more, both with my long-suffering travel buddy who has to deal with my aeroplane freakouts (Boyfriend), and my friends on cool cosmopolitan city breaks etc
  • Learn to drive (I'm starting tomorrow. I could write a whole post about how the very idea of this is utterly terrifying and sick making, but that's not what this blog is about so I won't. Yet)
  • Possibly get a car (?!??!)
  • 'Save' money for 'the future'

For all of these things I need money. However, I find saving money fairly difficult due to my extreme love for both clothes and make up. I also am a complete make up snob and have acquired a very expensive taste in make up which does not help. SO. I have decided that as well as lose weight, I am going to save money....

SO.

On Monday 7th January Weigh In, the weight lost count over there on the right is reset to 'zero'. 

I will display how many weeks have gone, how much weight I have lost, and how much weight there is left to lose. This will help be a motivator. AND...

From now, this very second, all money spent on clothes and make up is BANNED. 
Money for non-essential things/ social life (morning coffees, magazines, iTunes, Kindle, meals out, drinks etc) is reduced to £25 PER WEEK basic budget. 

And the following rules are now in place....


1. For every 0.1lb lost each week, £1 is added to the socialising/non-essentials budget. 
So e.g. if on a week I lost 1.3 lbs I would have £13 more pounds for basic socialising budget, so £38 overall.
On some weeks I end up doing nothing and may not spend this socialising budget - any leftover can go into the savings account.

2. For every 0.1lb gained, ever, £1 is added to my savings account.
Also, this savings account is not to be touched for anything except for the above 4 mentioned things (Travel, Driving Lessons, Car, The Future). 
Even if the weight is later lost, the money stays in the savings account and does not come out.

3. An item of make up may be purchased for every 5lbs lost.
I am counting all make up here inc. nail varnish. However, things such as make up remover, face wipes, etc don't count and come under essentials. I coincide that sometimes it can take a very long time to lose 5lbs and I cannot go through my life without the most basic make up item of foundation, so my ONE concession will be is that if I literally run STONE COLD OUT of foundation, I can go and buy the VERY CHEAPEST foundation that is in Boots (er, hello Miss Sporty?...)

4. An item of clothing may be purchased for every 7lbs lost. 
I'm counting shoes and bags here as clothing. Tights don't count as I am forever laddering them and needing more, but 'basic' tights count as essential items, not 'special' tights.
If something literally tragic happens with a pretty essential item such as the handle on my main handbag breaks or my trusty pair of black flats gets a hole in, I am allowed to replace them, but again, it's off to Primark for me in this case. 
The clothing can be for anything - casual, work, going out, etc... but there will be no exceptions. I already have enough clothes to open my own charity emporium and do not NEED more, just WANT more. 

5. For every stone lost, £140 is added to the non-essentials budget.
Unlike the normal non-essentials budget, this £140 (the equivalent of a bonus £1 for every 0.1lbs) can be carried over week to week. I may have changed my mind but I'm basically envisaging this will be spent on the 'bigger' non-essentials, as in I quite fancy getting a new camera at some point etc.



So hopefully because of these rules I will end the year:
  • Amazingly slim
  • With only a few 'key timeless pieces' of clothes
  • Having been on a few breaks/holidays
  • Knowing how to drive
  • And with actual savings!


Please - help me to be strict!

2 comments:

  1. Great idea :)! Nothing would motivate me more than spending haha x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sounds like a great plan, saving is my plan too!

    ReplyDelete