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

Im in.
No more eating at "spoons" or McDonald's or whatever other crap. That soon mounts up. No new clothes i will wear what i have. Primark t shirts are crap. Shoes only if I really need them. I have shoes i haven't worn for years. No pointless crap for round the house. Im using cash when i go shopping for bread and milk now so i don't overspend. Any small change goes in a money box.

Cracked and bought myself a Nutella crepe today. It was wonderful though. NSD tomorrow, hopefully!

I went to Tesco today, the 1st shop I've been in since 1st January. I only bought a card and some breadcakes for tomorrow's pack-up.
I also bought a scratchcard and won £20! I could go mad but I think it'll get put in my petrol tank and save me a few quid ☑

Thank you for the welcome!

well I didn't buy any clothes today - wahay! Or even this year yet. (It's only 9th Jan though). So I'm doing very well.

No other spend either for that matter. At all. Well a £2.00 coffee, but it was in a proper cup. And it was just a black coffee. So no plastic.

Tomorrow's a new day.

Aldi £7.41 extra bits of food
Debenhams £34.49 for a new watch and purse for my birthday, I will get a 2% cashback on my CC for this although it was essentially free because of refund at Aldi of £34.99 for a Xmas gift that was returned.
KFC £20 birthday dinner.

Didn't take lunch into work so spent £5 on that, plus £8 on some toiletries. Also had to replace something that had broken, but managed to get it in Boots and use my points, so it was free!

I had my first NSD yesterday, yay!!!
Spent £2 at toddlers this morning...except I didn't really because I forgot my purse
Also spent £1.40 posting an eBay item but I'm not really counting that either because it's covered by the sale price. I've sold 3 items since NY that have all been on eBay for about 3 months!! Going to spend this weekend sorting out the eBay pile because it's taken me 3 days to find this most recent item to post
Saw a lady this morning with a really lovely dress on and when she said it was from primark (recently!) my first thought was when could I find time to pop there to buy it! I've now talked myself out of it even though I do have Christmas money that I could use. Definite progress

Just found this thread, can I join?! Trying desperately to reduce my spending as nursery fees are wiping us out. I've already decided not to buy new clothes unless I use a gift card (got loads for Christmas so saving them for throughout the year). No spending money on lunches at work, and only spending money for something pre planned e.g. haircut or birthday meal out, so no spontaneous spends. We need to rebuild our savings as we want to ttc baby no2 so this thread will keep me motivated!

Spent £1 on a chocolate bar as work is manic and soup alone just wasn't going to keep me going.

Hoping that will be it for the day.

Another NSD for me. Writing a shopping list for Aldi tomorrow. Must avoid the centre aisles and stick to the list. Well done everyone

I need to do a shopping list too but debating whether to do an online shop instead - more expensive than Aldi but saves quite a bit of time for me and also removes the temptation to deviate from the list! I'm thinking about doing a monthly shop, putting things in the freezer and just topping up as and when. I wonder if i'd save any money doing it that way

NSD

I went through everything in the freezer and cupboard and we seem to have a lot of frozen veg and vegetarian mince but not much else.

2 pounds spent on bread and apple pies at co op, both on special offer.😁

NSD today - whoop!

I'm counting today as a nsd since I only paid for sale bus fare/school lunch and dad's after school activity - in total £8.
Did a small food shop yesterday and am using up what we have at home in the freezer.
Hadn't realised until I tried this, just how much time I spend on the internet looking at stuff to buy!

Bloody autocorrect. Should read school bus fare and dd's activity. Dad can buy his own

Spent more than I intended this week but most has longer term benefits. £10 on annual renewal of a society membership plus £25 for the annual luncheon (but 3 courses in a great Italian restaurant), and £35 on an 18 month sub to a family history group which will give me free access to huge number of resources.

I also bought a cake from my local Portuguese shop reduced to £3.50 that is now mostly in the freezer.

Evening all.

That sounds intriguing @fourquenelles, can you say what sort of society it is without being too outing?

I've spent £5.86 today on more ad-hoc groceries and some shower gel for DS. I'm using bar soap now to try and save money and the world, but he can't get on with it so he's still on gel in a plastic bottle. I will convert him eventually.

I'm also about to pay out £25 for a ticket to do an escape room with a group of work colleagues. I figure this fits within the rules I set for myself at the start of the year. It's a new experience for me, it is sociable and I might even learn something!! Money well spent I reckon!

HoundOfTheBasketballs it's my town's Civic Society. My membership lowers the average age considerably despite me being in my 60s!

The escape room event sounds exciting. I hope you have a great time.

24.00 bus ticket for DD. Making food shopping list and sticking to it tomorrow!

Hit post too soon. What's everyone's favourite slow cooker dinner? Need to get back using mine.

I like doing rice pudding in mine clippity
Chilli con carne and spaghetti Bolognese are also favourites. I used to do a butter and garlic chicken recipe in it too. I haven't used it for ages actually, apart from for ham in coke.

£57 food shopping
This included £8 for a reduced massive piece of gammon ,tons of reduced seedy rolls and pancakes.
All stashed in the freezer .
It was like a ghost town in the supermarket

Will do a meal plan today and make some soup for lunch.
Otherwise no other spending

I'm having a "fuck it" day.

£7 on lunch and will be spending around £20 in KFC later for tea.

I'll be sitting out car insurance too but that's a bill so not counted.

Sorting out, not sitting out