Day 4: What a load of gas

No real spending today... so time to start on the the 'fixed' costs.

First up, energy. 

In the last year I've increased the consumption of gas by 17% and of electricity by 25%.

If I can reduce my energy use back to 2009 levels (fingers crossed we don't have a cold snap), that would be start.

But given part of the increase in electricity was due to cooking at home more last year, this may be difficult to reduce massively.  So, what do the price comparison sites say?

Current supplier, British Gas' site gives an error message when I try and enter my details and moneysupermarket doesn't carry any listings for my postcode.

USwitch was the only site that would actually give me any results, but suggested that if I swapped I would end up paying at least £172 a year MORE!

Think I'll give British Gas a call tomorrow and see if there's anything I can do...

But as for savings today: 0.

Day 3: A Chicken Based Triumph

A major victory today.

Apart from my compulsory TfL spending, I've had a frugal day.

Only expenditure has been on dinner. Should I buy the free range Chicken fillets and cook them quickly in some breadcrumbs, or something (£5) OR the £2 for 4 Southern Fried Chicken.  Well, no contest really - processed chicken it was.

Add to that the £1.50 for 2 sweetcorn and my dinner cost just £2.50. A 60% saving.

The only downside is that I couldn't help but read the label.  9% of the cheap chicken was actually water.  And the meat was the 'produce of Britain and Brazil'.  So let's face it, these chickens won't have had a happy life.

So, here's the ethical dilemma. Fuck chicken welfare and keep with the cuts or spend more and try and ensure an ethical treatment of the animals I eat.

I know what the government would want me to do...

Day 2: The tragedy of a Baked Camembert

Today was meant to be a day of triumph. 

Oh how I was going gloat on my successes of having friends round for dinner and thus saving them and me money.  "40% a doddle" or "cuts are simples" may have even been the headline.

But then I failed to go to Sainsbury's (note the Morrison's option is not being deployed yet) and so had hungry friends sat expectantly on the couch, pining for food.

So off to the Oxford.  And, avoiding the £17 steak (is inflation now running at 6.3% as compared to the other week?), I went for a £12 lamb (saving 29.4%) and a couple of pints of Deuchars IPA (VERY ring-fenced).

This is a problem as that saving is nowhere near where I want to be... 


In fact, it is obscene. Waste if you will.  Why should such fancy goods be allowed.  We must get tough and abolish all excessive consumption.


So, I will have to go to the lowest cost item on the menu at these Gastropubs.  Today that would have been a Baked Camembert at £10 (oh those poor PRs having to make do on Camembert, I hear you cry)... well it would have been a 41% saving based on a steak.

And while there are no real savings today, there is a new pledge... At all gastropubs only the cheapest item on the mains menu may be purchased. And no more than two trips a week to such establishments.

The Rules and Pledges

The log of all the pledges and cuts I make during this experiment.

The original challenge is here.

04.10: No more bottled water, saving £3.60 a week. Make own lunch, saving upto £15 a week. All snacks abolished.


03.10: No bread and olives to be purchased in pubs. No roasts to be consumed costing more than a tenner.

01.10: Don't sponge off people excessively.  But take from those who are giving (i.e. the Big Society rule).


30.09: Reduce energy consumption back to 2009 levels in real terms.


29.09: Ignore animal welfare.  Spending on meat cut 60%



28.09: Excessive food spending abolished. Only lowest price meals in Gastropubs may be purchased. A 41% cut on what could be purchased.


28.09: No more than two Gastropub meals a week

27.09: Cutting breakfast and coffee by £19.25 a week. 100% cut.

27.09: All spending on real ale ring fenced. It's like the NHS.

27.09: All spending on TfL ring fenced. It's like DfID.

Day 1: The Coffee Chronicles

So day one of my cuts challenge is here.

It's not been a good day to be fair.

100% of my voluntary spending has been on coffee and alcohol.

First off £3.85 for breakfast: One Soya Latte (yes, yes, very PR I know) and one pain au raisin.

Then £2.00 for a Nero's during a meeting.

Frankly, I think this caffeinated extravagance should be cut.  

This, really, is similar to the axing of 'think pods' or slashing the pot plants budget of mid sized government department.

So from tomorrow, I will eat toast and honey and brew my own coffee in the morning. It just means having to get up 15 minutes earlier... I know this is a sacrifice, but that's the cutting business for you.

Obviously I feel sorry for the employees of Nero's who will see their takings reduce by at least £19.25 a week, but I imagine that other areas of the economy will replace this sad loss.

The alcohol consumption was £2.95 for a pint of Well's IPA.  I see no need to cut this as I have decided that spending on real ale is ring fenced. A sort of NHS I guess.

I also spent an involuntary c.£4 on tube fares.  This spending may also need to be ring fenced as I can't really cut TfL. I almost have an obligation to use it, so let's assume that has a DfID status.  Of course, it may get axed if things get really tough.

The countdown to cuts day

Nice pub, expensive steak

So time to explain the cuts challenge to a few colleagues and my partner. 


Colleagues are generally supportive if questioning of why I'd bother.


But they did start poking around on the 'what ifs'... So I'll probably need to set some rules.


My partner, was a little less certain.


Maybe I should have talked the plan through with him first.


I think he's grown accustomed to nice weekend pub lunches and doesn't want to trade the Oxford for the Wetherspoon's Ice Wharf.  I explained that he didn't need to... Say I would usually have the steak (Oxford price around £16 - extortion I know), all I need to do is have a lentil mousaka (nearer £9.50).


But of course that all depends on how it's going. If I don't make 40% on one thing, I'll need to save more on another... So by week 3 my Wetherwrap aversion may have to be overcome if I'm going to succeed.


At the end of the day though, he's on holiday for 2 weeks of the experiment, so if he comes back to me eating Tesco value baked beans and drinking special brew, I imagine he'll just find it funny.

The challenge

This may be a fools errand, or even a monumentally stupid idea.  I don't think I'll succeed at anyrate.  But, with any luck, this blog may at least be mildly entertaining for the next 4 weeks.

Back in July, the government ordered all departments to find 40% of cuts in spending.

In my industry, public relations, we've seen this become a reality - and on my other blog you can read more about what I feel about that.

But can I do this in my own life?

Well, we'll soon find out... Starting on Monday 27th September, this blog will track my progress as I try and spend 4 weeks cutting 40% from my own outgoings.

At worst I'll fail. At best I may save some extra cash and get some new clothes or a holiday or something.