Spending, Earning, Giving

Some friends did Stop-tober last month [no drinking or smoking] but others are doing No-Spend November. Sue in Suffolk is already doing some some great posts about this. Do check out her excellent blog. 

The idea is that you cut out all non essential spending. So you're allowed basics like

• mortgage/rent/utility bills
• fuel and transport 
• food
• childcare costs
• medical/dental charges
• regular commitments & subscriptions
• emergency repairs
• tithes or charity giving 

But avoid

• new clothes 
• meals out
• socialising with friends
• books and magazines
• pointless purchasing of ephemera

Which is great - and in Normal Times I've been totally on board with this. But this year, everything is different. In lockdown there is no opportunity for  "social excursions, the meal with friends, and possibly a new outfit". "Cutting back on spending" has been forced on us in ways we never expected. The original aim of NSN was to help people save for Christmas. Sue reminded us of the project back in April 2013, when the £1 coin was 30 years old. Moneysupermarket.com would send you £30 if you sent in a list of thirty ways to save £1 [mine is here] Thrift is a way of life for me - not a one month in the year activity.

 

I'm continuing to declutter and downsize, so November is going to be a month of trying to sell things. The Charity Shops are closed, but I am using the local Facebook Groups to try and get rid of stuff. This is having interesting spinoffs. I put a huge box of random craft supplies on sale for £10- and on Monday was able to deliver them to someone who normally runs a Kids' Club, but currently is taking out bags of craft activities to the children once a week instead. Because she let me know why she wanted them, I decided to do a second bag of items to go in with the original box.  Then Bob and I sorted out our paper trimmers. All four of them! We only need one - so again they went onto marketplace, along with a comb binder. 

A lady contacted me immediately, she wanted the two-for-a-fiver deal. After she'd taken the trimmers and given me the cash, I asked if she was keen on crafts. She runs a Beavers' Group, and needs these  "to prepare the weekly bags of craft projects being delivered each Friday". I've taken her name and address, and promised her a box of craft stuff too. She's working in an area where there's a lot of need, and the parents of her children aren't well placed to buy things for them. I have no immediate need for these items, they might as well go and bless somebody else. If I find myself doing crafts with children's groups when I retire, then I'll buy more pipe-cleaners as necessary.

I think I may be failing here in any attempts to raise money - but I don't actually care! John Wesley's financial advice remains good.