Stoptober - Week One

I am now one week into Stoptober, where I am attempting to stop any unnecessary spending for the month of October, and things aren't going too badly.  I've managed to (virtually) only spend money on necessary food or household goods/toiletries thus far. 

I have to admit that I've been finding food shopping quite stressful recently, as every time I visit Lidl lately, I can hardly get a parking space in the car park, so popular has the store become in recent months.  In addition, even with every till manned, there are often long queues and this week several things on my regular shopping list were not even in stock, which is a first.  In fairness, I think this was in part due to Diwalli and Eid occurring in close proximity this year, but notwithstanding, I'm fast coming to the conclusion that it is most definitely becoming a victim of it's own success.  I haven't given up on them yet, but am feeling the strain as a consequence of their increased popularity.

Anyway, the only exceptions to spending on only food and household items so far, came as a consequence of the need to buy Little Bird some new school shoes, as her previous ones had started to come apart after just 4 weeks.  They were swiftly returned to the shop and a refund given, so strictly I didn't outlay much money over and above what I'd previously spent on the original ones.  I did also buy her an umbrella for the walk to school, now that we're getting quite a bit more rainfall, but I class this as necessary expenditure and it was something that I had meant to buy her before now, but had got away with not buying, as it hadn't really rained. 

Going to the mall to buy these items on Saturday was an experience in itself and not an altogether pleasant one at that.  It was a rainy, miserable day outside, so the mall was packed to the rafters with people.  Anyone would have thought it was Christmas, in fact, I haven't actually seen it so busy since Christmas last year.   Needless to say we didn't hang around for long.  We were in and out within the hour and very happy to be too.

I've really been trying hard to occupy myself with anything but shopping or spending money this week.  Instead, I've made a pair of curtains, visited and done some work at the allotment, worked on a couple of quilting projects, caught up with ironing and washing and knuckled down to work. I haven't particularly felt inclined to dash out and spend money or treat myself, which is unusual for me at the beginning of the month, when there is money in my account.  In fact, now the weather has turned colder, I'm quite enjoying staying closer to home and reacquainting myself with projects left untouched for months and all my old autumn/winter clothes, which all feel new to me at the moment, so long it is since I've seen or worked on them.

We've got lots of food in the cupboards and thus far I must admit I haven't made serious inroads into using a lot of it, so I really do need to start delving into the cupboards and making do a bit more with what is in there, rather than buying any more food.  I think this is going to be my aim this week.  I'll let you know how I get on in my next Stoptober update.