SOCIAL LIFE
‘My bank statements from the year before showed I spent £1,570 per year in the pub and £1,100 on eating out! It would have been easy to not spend any money by sitting inside for a year, but the aim was to see if I could still live my life. The truth is, the first four months were frustrating; I kept ending up at the pub, drinking my pint of tap water. Then something clicked and I realised that I’d been trying to live my old life but without any money – a plan doomed to failure. I made the decision to embrace the new life that having no budget presented me with.’
What I learnt
◆ Going for a bike ride or a walk is a fantastic way to spend time with friends, get fit and see some beautiful countryside. I even took up an offer to go wild swimming with a colleague.
◆ We still had people round for dinner two or three times a month. When they asked us round, I took cake instead of wine or offered to do all the washing-up.
◆ I realised just how many free events there are. The Audience Club (£5 charity
donation) and My Box Office (£15 annual membership) offer tickets to plays for a nominal fee or donation to charity. TV audience company SRO Audiences and most TV channels offer places in the audiences for TV shows. Free-to-join website Free Movies UK (fmuk.org.uk) has a forum where members post links to free films.
◆ The website eventbrite. co.uk allows you to search for free events by location and type, such as plays, film screenings or classes.
How much I used to spend: £2,670 A YEAR During the challenge: £1.95 on a bag of chips, when all the local shop on holiday had was a pork pie (I’m vegetarian!)