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

£20 on clothes for our honeymoon. I got a lot for my money because it was all second hand.

I will up date in a few days and do a month over view of my aims I set out as I'm having a few (planned) spending days I've got a spread sheet in action.

payday today and I'm pleased to have a decent amount left over for Jan I am excited for February as it's my first full month as I only started a bit into January.

NSD today.

Tomorrow though, £5 for ds's school trip
£27 food shop. ( Trying to use up everything I already have is an eye opener. Didn't realise I had so much in)

Last couple of planned spends for the new camper - another storage bag, a set of adhesive hooks and a set of American cup measures. Hoping to get to Northumberland and Scotland for a week or so at Easter so need to keep frugal to pay for fuel and campsites. £89 refund from gas/electric for year and direct debit reduced by £11. Also no council tax to pay in Feb/March so that's another £135 a month.

NSD today.

5.19 on mcdonalds yesterday 😳
£30 the day before in tesco - Got some proper bargains!

@grannycake I'm planning on transferring the money I won't be paying in council tax straight into my savings account on the same day the council tax will come out.

Today was supposed to be low spend, but I've had a bit of a disaster!!

£1.98 in Pret while I was waiting to meet a client for work.
£91 for getting my hair done! is forgotten I'd had an appointment today. But my hairdresser is amazing. She told me if I can make an appointment during the day rather than the evening I get 25% off so I've booked my next appointment for 12noon!
£6.99 on a birthday present for my nephew.
£7.99 on a top in Zara to wear out on Saturday night. I can't justify this at all!!
£11 on groceries.

Tomorrow should definitely be a NSD as I am going on a school trip with DS as a parent helper and there isn't even anywhere there to buy food!

Good idea Hound You're a very brave person going on a school trip - I remember one to Bristol Zoo which still makes me shudder. Good luck!

Aw, hound, sorry to hear your news ...I think a new top to cheer yourself up is perfectly reasonable!

I had a NSD yesterday but quite a spendy weekend and the next month is going to be very spendy. However, by mid-March, I predict I will be back on track

My bank balance is looking very pitiful as only 1 out of 10 invoices have been paid so far (I only sent them Friday so can't really complain yet!!).

Granny - well done on the fuel refund/reduced payments. Mine went up £15 last month, the highest it's ever been so I really need to work on reducing that. I've always been a bit mean with the heating and would rather put an extra layer on than turn the thermostat up but am fed up of everyone moaning that my house is cold !!

Giggage - it's quite an eye opener, isn't it, when you make a conscious effort to use up supplies. I reckon I could survive months on the random stuff in my house!!

Chakira - what kind of things did you get? I love a bargain

TheClitterati - wow! That's a great result!!

Just - I'd love to do a spreadsheet but two things stop me - 1) I'm not organised enough to keep it updated 2) despite having an IT gcse, I don't know how to do spreadsheets

I'm aiming for another NSD today but have already transferred £60 to a friend for part of a holiday we're going on next month. I wonder if I can exclude that as it's part of a pre-arranged spend...hmm.

Hound, I bet your hair looks beee-yyoouuu-tifull!

Clutter, lots of reduced, easy to prepare food. £1.50 bol pots, reduced from £3. They're healthy ready meals, and given that I've been so darn busy working all hours, they've been lunch and dinner sorted for a few days, and a blessed relief that I am getting vegetables (and a good variety of them too) inside me! They also had reduced tins of cream of tomato soup, and recently I've had a real hankering after them, (must be the cold weather) so stocked up! And some pot noodle-ish gluten free pots, more easy lunch foods that I can stash at work for when I have a packed lunch fail 😁

I must say chakira, I am rather pleased with the result! 💇🏻‍♀️

I might have underestimated the excitement of the children on this trip grannycake, we are going to the O2 where the children are singing in something called Young Voices.
Rumours are abound on the bus that they're all going to meet Little Mix!

We don't get back to school until 10:30pm. It's safe to say it's going to be a very long day. But hopefully a no-spend one!

Young voices should be amazing! Hope you'll be able to enjoy it as well as doing your job :)

I think you're a saint for agreeing to go Hound and I say that as a former teacher

Ooh, chakira, I love those Bol pots. Might take a trip to tesco.

Hounds - hope the trip is going well - I'm normally super-hard but children singing always makes me cry

@clutter they were reduced as in going out of date, so don't go especially 😳

Ah, ok, maybe not then. They are tasty though!! I like the Mediterranean veg microwave one best and some of the soups.

I made minestrone soup yesterday (well, my very own version of ) and it was very tasty but didn't work out the calories so will probably have to keep that for non-fasting days.

I spent HUNDREDS today! 🙈

On my tax return bill. Which was less than I thought it would be - yay!

Ooh, nice that it was less than you were expecting...and with a day to spare

I'm supposed to be getting earlier ... managed to be a few days earlier every year so far... This is the latest I've ever been and I don't want a repeat performance 😂

NSD yesterday at the Young Voices. It was an amazing day. I didn't realise when I volunteered that I would actually be singing in the choir with the children! It was an incredible experience.

And only spent £8.29 on groceries today, happy with that.

this weeks update - looks very spendy as ive been on holiday i already had most of my euros though left over from other holidays

wednesday :- no spend

thursday :- illness brought on a bit of spending at work dont mind though had i not made it in no wages.
£3.55 Costa £1.40 lunch

friday:-
£2.60 lunch

£40 hair budgeted though well in advance.

saturday

£7 50 Costa on way to holiday

proud that instead of spending money on a rubbish travel lodge meal i took some nachos and salsa with me diet wise not good but saved at least £25 by spending £5 collectively on dh and i.

sunday:-

£11.50 airport food -

£4.70 in boots on medicines i had spent.

sunday afternoon/monday/tuesday i am counting £42 as that was all the money i swapped to euros as already had plenty.

wednesday: £15 supermarket - we normally get takeaway but this got about 3 days food.

total spends

£93.27

aiming for thursday friday no spends

Where did you go on holiday @JustanotherCHRISTMASuser01?

I need to think about booking mine and DS summer holiday, so costly.

Joining the thread!

We're setting a budget of £100 a week outside bills. That's for a family of 4, including food shop and petrol.

@ChickiePeaPie thatll be some strict budgetting - any tips!?

i know this is off track kind of - any recommendations for favourite slow cooker meals?

we went over to spain @HoundOfTheBasketballs we find city breaks a lot cheaper than seaside destinations.

We've managed for 4 weeks! The big one is coffees and lunches. I make instant coffee at work and either take lunch or buy a salad from somewhere.

We're shopping at Lidl instead of anywhere else, and we're keeping the fridge quite empty. Because I finish an hour before DH, we tend to get the ingredients for our evening meal on the same day.

Not sure how much help that is!