No Spend 19 - join us!

[NoSpend19]

Hi all

So yet another name change for the No Spend 19 thread some of us have been discussing (not a TAAT - juts a spin off)

The aim is to reduce the unnecessary spending on "stuff". We're almost at the end of the year and so 2019 is a good time to start.

It would be great if as many people as possible thought it was feasible for them so there are no hard and fast rules but to give you an idea my rules are as follows:

Food and drink purchases are permitted (although personally I will also be trying to grow as much as possible myself, reduce air miles and reduce single use plastics in the food we buy. In addition I will be avoiding being tempted to pay extra for brands. Meals out and takeaways are also on our no spend list)

Essential household products and toiletries are permitted. So it is ok to buy washing powder but personally I will be avoiding buying six different types of stain remover, fabric conditioner, ironing water and all the other stuff we are told we need to do to clean a load of washing . Likewise we will be buying soap, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo as essentials but will not be buying hair masks, face masks, make up, face cream, serums, body sprays, nail varnish, showergels, body scrubs etc. Perfectly acceptable to use up everything you have though.

essential clothing etc is permitted. DH and I won't be buying anything unless absolutely unavoidable but DC are growing and will need shoes, trousers etc. We will aim to keep this to a minimum though.

Fuel and other travel costs are permitted

Normal household bills are permitted of course

stuff is not permitted. So toys, books (library is fine), magazines, CDs, DVDs, random household items like cushions, candles, stationery etc are all on the aim not to buy list. This Christmas will be prior to the experiment starting but we are already asking for experience presents for the DC eg cinema tickets.

We are just feeling a bit like consumerism has gone mad and so we think we can probably do this. In our household it is me, DH DS1 (13) and DS2 (11, nearly 12). Anyone up for joining? We start at the beginning of 2019

Disclaimer: before we decided to do this we had already booked and paid for our holiday for next year. It is a bit of a cheat but I don't want to delay this just because we'd already done that.

I may need significant to get me through

@grannycake I spent a happy half hour 'shopping' the online Very catalogue yesterday. I chose 3 dresses, a pair of sparkly shoes, a nice bag, a jacket, some smart exercise wear, fluffy slippers and new PJ's - none of which I need but all of which I want - then I emptied my basket instead of clicking 'proceed to payment.' It's daft

Today I spent £6.22 in Aldi on basic groceries - no wine, no gin, nothing from the special buy aisle. Yay!

Bills aren't included right?

Other than car tax (£190) it's another NSD.

Thought I was having a NSD but needed to use Oyster card. No gratuitous spend anyway.

Good news. I didn't starve to death!

I got through on oatcakes and hummus.

And this means I've managed my first NSD!

I think I've manged a nsd...hang on I did spend a bit on ebay, about £18 (beads for knitted toys I will sell) but that comes from my paypal, from selling things on ebay.

Nsd from my bank account. Both the tax credits and maintenance from my ex has landed in my account today. So today is the first day I'm not overdrawn this year.

We had freezer dip for tea. So, two lots of bolognaise sauce turned out to be chilli and pasta bake! Dp mixed them together, stuck in the left over motzarella and served it with rice. Was surprisingly delicious, and ready on the table when I got home from work.

Well I thought I would try a no spend January so far I've split from my shite of a partner bought three books and a jacket (I used his coat so the jacket is sort of justifiable?) My cars broke down my work has dropped off I want to buy chocolate

Trying again in the morning I know I'm an emotional shopper

Oh abbs I hope things improve for you soon.

@abbsisspartacus you deserve chocolate!

Sounds like a rough start to the year @abbsisspartacus.
I hope things start looking up for you soon. I think chocolate probably counts as an essential purchase given the circumstances.

We've bought our weekly shopping yesterday and today, which came to roughly £60 altogether, but I haven't bought anything else at all.

I was going to go & get a few things from Tesco the other day for a piece of art I was planning but checked my bank account and it quietly told me not to bother! Instead I used something I already had in the house.

So far this year, apart from the Frankie & Benny's disaster on New Year's Day, I haven't had any chocolate or crisps or other junk food, any cafe or coffee shop visits, any takeaways and I haven't bought anything for my hobby because I know I can't afford to and can't justify spending anything on something that isn't essential and doesn't benefit all of us. In fact, I didn't even bother going last night because the scheduled speaker is a mysoginistic, sexist prick not my cup of tea so I saved my £3.

I'm working on Thursday so have to save my petrol to get there and back (it's a day's work and is about 30 miles away!) so I'll take a pack-up (not margarine though ) rather than going to a nearby Co-Op.

I need to prioritize self care this year. I can’t even type that without feeling selfish but I’ve been putting off doctor’s, dentist’s and optician’s appointments for months years so I’m trying to divert my comfort spending towards proper self care spending. Finally went to the dentist yesterday so that was expensive and definitely didn’t give me the same “hit” as a takeaway coffee, some chocolate or new boots but I’m trying to think in the long term I’m going to make an appointment for the optician next week and see if my glasses are causing me headaches.
The dentist is going to be expensive for a while though.
I’ve also stocked up the cupboards and freezer but that wasn’t as expensive as I’d anticipated once I made a careful list and stuck to it.
I have a list of things that I need to keep an eye out for, clothes for dc and me, etc in my phone so if I’m tempted to buy something and it’s not actually on my list I will resist. I try and get clothes second hand, but charity shops and boot sales are my kryptonite so having the list really helps me not buy stuff we don’t really need.

Nsd for me yesterday, which is handy cos the direct debits going out of the bank are leaving me with not much to spend!
Will try for another one today, but need a food shop tomorrow.

Hello, Can I join too?

I have decided to stop buying clothes - I have a ridiculous amount and can't even wear all of the clothes I have. I've been the same size now for a while so no excuse.

I do need new underwear as mine is falling apart.

I'm also feeding the family more sensibly - vegan a couple of times a week and trying to be better with plastics. I do need to furnish the house a little bit. All of this will help me as I'm no longer working and can't splurge in the same way as I used to.

Need to buy some of the kids some shoes this weekend but will be stopping buying them random bits because I want to!

This'll be hard for me - I love to buy new clothes. eek.

£8.80 on antibiotics. Resisted the shops, chocolate and anything else I thought I needed -then realised I really didn't need it

Another NSD. That's three in a row so pretty pleased. Will need to spend next week as pay the balance on the new camper and the upgraded insurance. Will also need a couple of things for it eg I can't reach the top cupboards so need a lightweight step and boiled the kettle dry in my old van so also need a new kettle. Should be good to go then

NSD

@grannycake what kind of camper are you getting? Very exciting

Well done to all the low and no spenders. Welcome to the thread @SuePerb 

The camper does sound very exciting @grannycake! Where will you be taking it?

I only spent £2.15 today. On some cheese to make a macaroni cheese for tea.

We've had a really old one for about three years and it's been great but we are retiring in a couple of years so we wanted to upgrade. We did it now because I lost a couple of friends this year so realised life is short and sometimes you need to spend some of the savings. Also we'd like to take GC away with us sometimes so needed more seat belts/beds so have gone for a 6 berth. It's an ex demo model with just 2000 miles so it's almost new but about £8000 less than new would have cost. I'm really excited. Bloody Brexit better not spoil my plans for a trip to Provence this summer.

@SuePerb

Welcome!

A NSD for me. Well, bought milk but that will come back to me on expenses. Ooh no tell a lie, I bought a can of Rio for £1! Because the water at work tastes disgusting and my pee was looking worryingly concentrated so I figured a cold drink as well as the coffees was a good plan. Need to get back into the habit of taking a bottle of tap water to work everywhere with me.

Sounds amazing granny! We have an old vw camper and love disappearing for weekends! I would love something more reliable. DH disagrees!

Littlechoc I have very fond memories of many weekends/weeks with 3 DC crammed in to a VW camper but we want to travel further afield and my DH is over tinkering with VW engines and dealing with blown fuses etc. My now adult children were with me over Xmas and one of their favourite childhood memories was being stuck in a muddy campsite - I got out to push, the wheels spun and I was covered from head to foot with thick mud. They rolled round laughing then and they were in fits of laughter at the memory. I hope you have as good a time as we had with ours.

Spent 10 in Asda.DD starts her first job tomorrow so had to buy her some bits for lunch,also,was a really cold day so bought some soup from Greggs for lunch.Getting shopping delivered tomorrow so I don’t get tempted by going into town!

@grannycake sounds familiar! I grew up with them so have many happy memories of being stuck in lay-bys or extending our holiday because the van was being ‘naughty’. My dc don’t find it as amusing! Dd craves a ‘normal’ holiday!

I hope you have lots of lovely adventures in your new van.

Quilt laundered 20.00. petrol, milk and irrisistable locally made hot cheese and onion pie for lunch another 24.00. Mad
because I could've made a sandwich at home but it saved me time. There will be some strange meals over the weekend as eating up what's in the freezer before going shopping.