June - live like a monk month.

In my quest to not owe money any more and - of course - to fight the evil of capitalism and other higher aims (actually, just to get out of debt - it's purely selfish) I am declaring June to be "live like a monk month".

At the start of the month I'm taking a wodge of cash out of my bank account and then handing my debit card and credit card over to my dad. If I need something which is outside my budget, I need to make a case for it with dad. If he's not convinced, I don't get the money. Obviously, some things I'll have to pay for - the MOT's due on the Midget and I need to get that done before I sell it, and I'll have to pay to advertise it, too.

I hope I don't alienate my friends. If they ask if I want to go out and the week's budget is nearly gone, I'll have to say no. Certainly at the start of the month I'll be saying no to everything, and I'll be more likely to treat myself at the end.

It's been inspired by lots of things, really. The Motley Fool is the main one, with lots of stories from people who've saved loads and are now financially far safer (not necessarily rich, but sorted). Alvin Hall's book Money for Life, which I got from the library, is another one. But mostly it's because I have to sell my baby and that sucks, and it's my own damn fault for spending money on things.

It's also going to mean I'll be out less, which means more time on business set-up. Which is good.

It'll be an interesting experiment and one I'll blog relentlessly.

EDIT - I've just had a look at Moneysavingexpert.com and - as well as the advice being good, the copy writing is brilliant. Design isn't great, but the use of headlines, call-out boxes and so on makes it easy to read. Plus the language used is nicely colloquial, simple and structured.

Pity it's so FireFox unfriendly though.