Fiscal Fast

[fitfrugalfab]

My DH and I picked up on doing Fiscal Fast from the TV show cheapskates. Basically for 1 week every month we don't spend money on anything (the only expectation being bills if the pay period happens to fall on the week we chose). Some people do a food cleanse, we do a spending cleanse. It definite makes cooking interesting since I have to get creative with whatever is in our cabinets.
 
Our week starts today. Join me and get creative for the weekend. 

[forummm]

Why just do a week?

http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/savetember/

[fitfrugalfab]

I like your idea of the whole month and will probably try that in the future. Where you and I differ is that for the week I don't even purchase food or fuel. For that week I don't prepare for the fiscal fast (ei: bulking up on food, topping off when I only used 1/5 of a tank, etc.). I wouldn't be able to last a whole month not purchasing those:)

[Cassie]

One thing that helps us to save $ is to only do a major grocery shop 1x/month. Then in-between we just pick up eggs, fruit, milk etc. However, we don't look around-just a quick get what we need & get out. Also every once in awhile we go longer then a month to completely eat down the freezer & pantry.

[forummm]

I like your idea of the whole month and will probably try that in the future. Where you and I differ is that for the week I don't even purchase food or fuel. For that week I don't prepare for the fiscal fast (ei: bulking up on food, topping off when I only used 1/5 of a tank, etc.). I wouldn't be able to last a whole month not purchasing those:)

If you look at the July account of my spending, you'll see that I do spend money on food and utilities, but the idea is to spend the least while still living a great life. Obviously you have to eat. And we want to eat well. But we can do that for $200/mo or so. What we essentially did was to not spend unnecessary money. We didn't buy random stuff or eat out. It makes no difference to my wallet in the long run whether I buy a lot of food in advance and don't buy food for a week, vs buying food whenever as long as that food is a good value. Even if you aren't consciously stocking up on food in advance, you clearly have enough food at home to be able to live on. It may be less efficient to use it all up instead of buying what's on sale this week. YMMV.
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/no-buy-july/
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/august-august/

Your idea is still a good one. Just providing another idea to consider trying at some point if you want to.

[fitfrugalfab]

I will definitely try the whole month in the near future. My DH will be more than on board to try it. It is also just the two of us in our home so we really don't have an excuse not to try it.

[Cassie]

WE did save $ & it was great not to have to shop every week. We shop at Winco because they have the lowest prices overall (we have checked) so we don't worry about trying to hit sales. If you have a family you would have to shop 2x/month which I did when the kids were home. Now there are only 2 of us. Anything is worth a try to see if it works.