One year of saving up

I’ve been living in London since 2004 and it’s never been a cheap place but I used to be able to live somewhere relatively close to the city centre and not pay an extortionate amount of money. I won’t discuss the “if you want to live there you have to pay the price” argument as I have a lot to say on the matter but since reading last year’s news that London overtook Hong Kong as world’s most expensive city I started considering whether it’s worth staying or if I should move onto cheaper pastures…

I have to say that at the moment I have a love-hate relationship with London, but I’ve decided to give it another chance… By doing things differently.

I’ve never been one to do New Year resolutions, however, this January unwillingly became a month of reflection where I’ve come up with a few necessary and achievable goals, one of which is to save money.

I then began thinking there should be a time frame to help me get organised and be able to achieve something noticeable. The idea of one year appealed to me, people seem to make it work to the idea of the YEAR, with it's 12 months (monthly: long term), 52 weeks (weekly: mid term) and 365 days (daily: short term).
Last year I started reading a book called The Happiness Project, which I really recommend by the way. The author decided she would dedicate a year to feeling happier. She divided her project in 12 goals, accumulating each new goal as she went along.
A couple of years ago, one of my good friends decided she would go one year without buying new clothes. She would just wear what she already had in her wardrobe and would get creative in cutting and sewing (items she no longer liked nor wore) if she wanted a wardrobe refresh. She stuck to it and felt really happy whilst celebrating the end of that one year as she not only saved a lot of money but she also brought out a creative side she didn’t normally express.
The last person I will mention is a friend of a friend. I met her just as she was starting her project of living off exchanges for one whole year. She was quite successful and now hosts a facebook page where people swap things and has even written a book about her experience and life after that initial year.

So here I go, one year of actively, consciously saving money.