What can I spend money on this year that will really benefit me and isn’t more stuff?

[GravityFalls]

I’m a single parent on a budget but I do have money that I could spend on myself - only it’s hard to know what to spend it on. So instead of spending maybe £50 a month on one thing that could bring me joy and enhance my life, I fritter it away and buy cheap clothes and wine mostly.

I’m always interested in subscription things but I worry they’re too expensive for what you get, and I’m not interested in accumulating stuff at all. I keep seeing offers for things like online guitar lessons/language courses etc and I wonder if that’s the sort of thing I need to really make me stick to a hobby and get enjoyment from it.

Gym membership would be great but the single parent/work full time thing is just not conducive to anything that needs me to leave the house. So evening classes or anything are pretty difficult for me to set up.

I’ve had beauty boxes and liked them but ended up with too much stuff to use. I enjoy clothes but I think that would end up the same way as I already have a packed wardrobe.

I like to draw and paint and I have a guitar and keyboard. I’d like to lose a bit of weight and get fitter too. I’m already a confident cook and savvy supermarket shopper so the food boxes don’t appeal to me. I don’t like magazines much any more and get free electronic copies from the library anyway otherwise a magazine sub would be the perfect sort of idea. I do enjoy cryptic crosswords but weirdly I only really like prize ones even though I never complete them. It’s the challenge aspect I enjoy most.

Really I want someone to send me something that I can do or use, that will be out of the ordinary (for me), and ideally make me think. Anyone found anything along those (very very vague) lines?

Probably not much help but I get a flower subscription (it makes me happy) and a tea one

A good sports bra and proper running trainers.

Plus C25K app and Parkrun (both free).

If you really can't get 30 mins to yourself 3x a week, could you get a treadmill?

A tea or coffee subscription.
Cross stitch kit.
Research into your family tree, so some sort of geneaology (?!) kit.
Jigsaws.

I have a treadmill and all the running gear I could ever need otherwise that would be great! I dislike running inside though I’m going to start using it more often. I used to run a lot and that would be the thing that would make most difference to my life, it’s just that my lifestyle is totally unsuited to it (early starts, never home when it’s light at the moment, 2 DC not old enough to be left alone etc).

There are free online courses from Roehampton University on their Future Learn platform. I did one advertised on Suzannah Lipscomb's fb page.

Would that stretch to a cleaner once a fortnight in your area? That’s how I’d spend it.

I second the flower subscription

A class for enjoyment so you learn a new skill and then potentially have a new hobby, there's loads from jewellery making to joinery to music etc

Or a cleaner or something that frees up time for you to do something else.

Maybe you could just save it instead, for a bit of financial security.

I did a couple of Perfume Society boxes in their sale. They were good.

Join something to meet new people and fuel and interest? like a book group and use the money to get the book each month. Maybe join a charity like Rotary in your area, it is an annual subscription.

I have savings set up so that’s not an issue. It’s just looking over my finances during the year I’ve tended to spend a small amount on myself every month and can afford it, but end up with little to show for it.

A cleaner is a good idea. I used to have one back in my respectable married days but not sure how I’d find a decent one now. Might look into it.

I can’t do evening classes as I don’t have reliable babysitters. I have a partner but he doesn’t live with me and often works evenings himself so I really can’t make plans that rely on being able to do something every week.

Also you might like this thread

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_classics/2298704-Staying-sharp-academically-without-sudoku

an Ancestry annual subscription for family history research, then use your spare cash to buy copies of certificates as you need them. It's addictive!

If you have old family photos, or can get copies from relatives, you could start to record what you find out. This might take the form of "1 photo and the facts and figures" on each page, or you might get hooked on the more arty-crafty aspect of recording your family history - or even your own current life - and venture into the wold of scrapbooking. That could swallow up £50 per month

Get a bullet journal.

www.flowmagazine.com/shop/a-book-that-takes-time

It’s on Amazon as well, quite a bit cheaper. I used to have a subscription to their magazine, but it got a bit too much for my budget. I love anything from Flow. They’re Dutch, but they have English versions too.

Why do you feel the NEED to spend it?

Why not just save it until there’s something you genuinely want?

wine club membership - every quarter

look at Sunday times or laithwaites (same thing really)

That’s a great thread! I do already read a lot and request books from the library often. My DP is arty so we talk about art and go to galleries and museums when we can. I listen to Radio 4 and podcasts and do puzzles a lot. I hate the idea of a book group as I’m picky and also an English teacher so I think I’d just be biting my tongue a lot! I already speak another language fluently and have picked up bits of lots more on Duolingo. I taught myself to crochet and knit.

I guess I’d love something that made me do something! I get very tired and just want to read twitter and MN in the evening but that’s not very productive. I’d love to write or take a Master’s but I don’t seem to have the mental energy or the time with a busy job and two children.

Is there something where they send you an art project or similar to do? That isn’t basic and rubbish?

I have a laithwaite’s subscription!

I don’t need to spend it. But when I scrimp and spend nothing on myself (which I find easy to do) I do feel a bit flat and unimportant. I work hard and I’d like to spend some of that on nourishing my mind and enriching my life a bit.

£50 a month?
I'd spend it on:
online 1-2-1 guitar lessons by skype. You can get them for about £15 for half an hour with good teachers, so you could have 3 a month.

Or to pay for a baby sitter and class fees for two hot yoga sessions a month - really cleansing and energising)

Or I'd spend it each month on a different aspect of self improvement. One month a box set of classic films. Another month a stack of classic novels. Then a month's worth of good quality beauty products. Another month some notebooks and self-help books on topics that interest you. Then on a language course and set of CDs.

Or save up two month's worth to buy better quality things: a beautiful cashmere sweater or pair of boots etc.

Find a hobby, something you can get better at over time. I think there's nothing more fulfilling than mastering something over the years.

I don't buy much for myself, my spare money goes on hobbies. They make me want to get up in the morning and be productive. I have 3 main hobbies, which I rotate whenever I start to get a bit bored or I need time to think about how I can improve, they all compliment each other.

Someone to come to house & teach you how to play an instrument.

Cleaner.

Babysitter so you can go to gym.

Flower subscription.

A night away each month for you & DC in Travelodge.

We have a Foodini subscription; they send all the non perishable items and are mainly aimed at a child cooking with an adult but I find I make more interesting things outside my comfort zone when they are sending the unusual ingredients rather than having to buy large quantities that I probably won’t use again. This month was leek and lentil pasties and a currant bread crown.

On an evening I’m learning french myself alongside my 4 year old. I use Duolingo which is a subscription app and she has a subscription to one third stories which is a french bedtime story that comes in the post once a month. I’m really learning in order to help her with languages as she enjoys it and will need someone to converse with

Pay for a babysitter and go for a run and a coffee alone.