Crazy Lent idea... I must be crazy for doing this!

[greeneyedlulu]

No wine
No chocolate
No spending....
For Lent I usually give something up.... this year I'm combining a few elements of my life that need a damn good shake up!!
I'm a drinker, not rolling around in gutter drunk every night, just I can easily drink most of a bottle each night without realising it, cheeky glass whilst cooking, top up to sit down for dinner... you know how it goes!

The chocolate tends to be a daily treat at the end of the day once my little boy is finally tucked up in bed asleep and I've done my daily chores and my bum finally hits the sofa, with a glass of wine in hand (the rest of the above bottle) and the other reaching for the remote control to watch some crappy tv show..... yes that includes eastenders but I love it!!

As for the spending..... well as you can imagine the above mentioned products set me back a bit! So that added to the cost of the mortgage, council tax, nursery fees and blah blah blah!!! Everyone has these costs! I know I'm not special but my God, it's just so overwhelming sometimes being a single mum and having so many outgoings! And I know I'm wasting money by buying lunches and coffee and wine and chocolate each day!

My fridge broke down in January (you know... the month we're all swimming in cash) so that cleared out my little bit of rainy day funds and this month, I'm struggling and I refuse to carry on like this and be so worried about money every day so I sat down and worked out my finances and I'm pretty ashamed by the difference on how much I should have left over and how much I actually do!! Eek!!

So Lent starts tomorrow and I've been paid today, all the bills go out tomorrow and I'll update as I go along on how I'm doing as I really want to give everything a shake up so the way I see it is that

1. If I give up wine and chocolate I will save money and lose weight
2. If I'm making lunches then that will help to towards the weight loss and I'm saving money
3. If I stop spending money on non essentials, I can save and get those few irksome jobs that need doing around the house that are beyond my DIY skills that 'I can't afford'!

I want to make this work and figure if I put it out there that I'm doing it then I will more likely stick to it!

Wish me luck!!

PS. Anyone else who is giving up something for Lent you are welcome to share your plight and pain along side me as I will probably need the support too x

Yay that's so good greeneyed. Go you!!

DP bought lots of sweet stuff yesterday to take with him when he goes away on business today. Given that I've given up sugar I so wanted to have some especially as he ate some of it last night in front of me! Managed to stay away from it though which I'm pleased about.

Well done sadandanxious!!

Resisted buying a coffee this morning so i haven't spent any money today but my necklace broke at work so I will have to get that fixed and that will cost £10 at the jewellers!! So annoyed about that!!

Second morning of decaf tea.... it's really not quite the same
I have alcohol free beer for the weekend so still on track.
Hope everyone else is still keeping on. Not long until Easter

All doing great . Family had some cream cake last night . Husband asked could he finish it . I nearly shoved it down his neck . i really think I'm going to do this. I'm out tonight so might have a diet7 up and bag of crisps though . Am off bread and all sweets and chocs .

I think I ought to give up looking at my phone when I am with DH or DC. I feel like I am becoming a bit addicted to it and can sometimes neglect them!

My plan for Lent is almost the same as OP.

Give up sugary treats and snacks, give up wine, and be more careful with money.

So far so good.

My plan is to not buy sweets for my girls, if they want sweets they can buy them with their pocket money.

I will probably have a small bottle of beer instead of 3/4s bottle of wine on weekend nights. Or maybe I'll stick with tea!
On the money side, stay away from eBay! And only buy what is actually needed. That's where I'm most likely to fail!

Tonight's a tester!! My folks look after my soname whilst I work, just called them and they've eaten as they went out this afternoon so normally on days like this I'd spend money on a takeaway and wine.....

Must power through!!

*son...

I think it's a tough target you've set yourself.
I think it's better to stick to giving up one thing only.

I'm giving up biscuits.
Sweet and savory.

Ugh, I forgot about Lent this year!!!

It's not too late.
I started a day late - I'm sure nobody is keeping tabs.

Great thread. Steve, when you say that you fast between sunrise and sunset, do you literally mean nil by mouth? I was shocked to learn that my muslim friend didn't drink anything in the day during Ramadam. How's it going? I find it appealing, but don't think I could manage it.

Gotta to try littlepigs as I'm fed with the way things are the moment, always skint, eating crappy food, drinking too much!
I'm not torturing myself just trying to do myself some good and it's not bad.
I am really missing my morning coffee at the station but for 3 days of not buying coffee, lunch, chocolate and wine I've probably saved £25..... not too shabby!!!
I would liked to have seen a lb or 2 drop on the scales but that's still early days!!!

Positive thinking!!

For lent I've given up Facebook. I've been thinking for a while I check it to much when my little man is around. I'm a single mum and my family live a while away and I often use that as an excuse. I didn't trust my ability to resist so deleted it off my phone.
It's made me feel a bit lonely, but also means I've reached out to people by phone and text rather than snooping on fb.
Good luck to everyone doing lent!!!

Got home to my folks house and they had ordered Chinese as they'd only had a sandwich whilst out this afternoon so I got a free takeaway

Now at home, little one is in bed, and it turns out the thing to drink in my house when there is no white wine is water

I find having the ritual of making a little pot of tea in the evenings works quite well for me. Also, as a veteran of many a dry January I recommend becks blue or brewdog nanny state for alcohol free beer. Sainsbury's alcohol free fizz is nice too.
I still have a headache from caffeine withdrawal- I clearly really do drink too much of it!

i am giving up cake, but might add biscuits and crisps,

I've given up 'sugar' (though not that strictly). No cake/biscuits/sweets/ice cream/chocolate etc. Basically nothing sweet. Have had 1 sweetener in coffee but going to try and wean myself off that too. Also had a Diet Pepsi last night.

It's only been 3 days but so far I've been ok. I'm still having fruit for some sweetness after my evening meal. I am however finishing myself stuffing myself with savoury snacks (had takeaway pizza last night) so that I'm so full I don't get cravings for anything sweet. Not sure how sustainable this is!

I have given up biscuits and crisps. I have also decided to try and do a Bible study session each day. Biscuits and crisps going well, have stuck to that so far. Bible study got off to a slow start, didn't start till yesterday, but did manage three sessions yesterday.

I'm giving up sex,just got to run it past dh..

Morning all

I know it's early days still but I was thinking to myself about my finances and I looked at my bank account and totalled up all the little unnecessary transactions for the same period last month..... in 4 days I'd spent £68.73 not including £2 a day for coffee that comes out of the change floating around my handbag!!!

This month I've spent £2.59 getting stuff for dad from the co-op which came out of the change in my bag rather than the emergency £20 in have in my purse!!

Incentive or what????

Vegan I could never give up sex!! Lol

I've given up sugar, so that will reduce my spending too! I've already lost 1.7kg since Wednesday

I haven't went this long without alcohol, since I lost my husband, two years ago. I'm stupidly proud of myself. It was usually just one or two glasses a night, but it was nearly every night. I realised last night that I've been replacing the alcohol with coke (don't panic, the drink not powder). I'm going to stop with the fizzy stuff and stick to water today.

Povertypain sorry to hear you lost your husband . Good you feel able now to drop the alcohol .

Well I did super yesterday , really pleased with myself . This will be day 4 . No chocolate , cake , biscuits , bread , wraps , sweets . I'm having a little pack of crackers and low cal cheese if I need a pick up but only had once so far . And I had the crisps and diet soda last night . This is mega for me as I turn to chocolate ice cream and sweets for comfort a lot . I am not standing in the scales yet maybe next Wednesday . My money pot is growing and my colleague is putting me in contact with someone who does food bank collection.

Thank you 'Sad'. I'm seriously impressed by your willpower. I never used to eat sweet stuff, really didn't fancy it, but now I'm always craving junk. I do want to get back to my previous healthy diet and weight. I'm a ridiculously unhealthy vegan. 😳