No spend January?

[corinewmoon]

After he festive blowout and considering ive got some big bills in January, (MOT, car tax, insurance) I have decided to try a no frivlous spending month. There is nothing i really need to buy, (apart from new school jumper and coat for DS) .
So I will be taking my lunch to work every day,
I will avoid costas,
and i will limit my self to one bottle of wine per week
I will aim to spend £200.00 on food shop for the month
I will not go for leisurely stroll to the shops during my lunch break.

Any one else want to join in. ?

I'm in too.

So far I have bought some e-cloths and the HomeRoutines app (blame the ladies on the Flying threads) to fulfill my other NYR of getting the house clean and tidy and decluttered.

Dh is in charge of menu-planning and Ocado shopping. We have the free delivery thingy and get 95% of our food needs and all other households stuff like washing powder,toilet roll etc from there. We have another £10-£15 per week in hard cash to pay for a couple of school dinners and stock up on the odd bottle of milk, loaf of bread etc that we run out of between shops, then thats it for the week.

Both ds's have parties to go to this weekend so need to look for some pressies for them, and I have to pay my car-tax (ouch) then that should be it for the month.

Looking forward to council tax free months :o

See the comments at the bottom about how the lice survive in sheets and pyjamas all day

Dorito, I was just worried about where the crisps would go

I second the link for moneysavingexpert, that site is invaluable and has many forums re saving money, being frugal, links to printable coupons etc. On New Year's Eve I got a couple of bargains as Tesco's were getting rid of stock before closing for New Year's Day. I got 300g of smoked salmon reduced from £12 to £4 which will do 3 meals for DD and I and a Beef Joint reduced to £3.50 which will do 2 meals so these have both gone in the freezer.
I haven't spent any money at all this year as I haven't been at work so haven't been out of the house.
That will change today as I need to get eggs, milk and bananas.

A couple of my tips :

1. Get to know your local supermarket staff so that they will tell you when the nearly out of date stuff is marked down. You can either cook it straight away or put in the freezer to use at a later date.
2. Sign up for Lidl's newsletter which comes out on a Monday and a Thursday, I use this to meal plan using the special offers. The weekend offers usually include a meat, before Xmas they had pork chops for £1.24 for three in a pack.
3. If you have a local market sometimes you may find that near the end of the day they reduce fruit and veg. I have had some really good bargains, with the fruit I puree them then put them in ice cube trays in the freezer to make smoothies and the veg I use to make soup.

I was thinking the same thing! I did order some things from the Next sale for my daughter as she needed a few bit. She really did need them too. I am aiming to not go to any sales and buy any clothes or shoes etc. I have everything I need now. I do have a few things to take back to the shops for a refund.

I would like to reduce my supermarket buying. I too pop in for bread and come out with 2 bags of food and my cupboards have enough food for weeks if I get more organised.

I also love this site for getting organised.
organizedhome.com/kitchen-tips/menu-planning-save-time-kitchen
It has printable charts for meal planning, organising your freezer and store cupboards etc and also budgeting

One thing I found really helps us with budgeting/big bills.

We worked out our estimated annual costs of big/one off bills/possible unexpected/irregular expenses throughout the year Eg TV licence, car insurance/tax, expected spending on birthdays/christmas presents, possible house repairs, childrens clothes/shoes etc.

Then divided the total by 12 to get a monthly amount, set up a separate bank account and transfer that amount over each month. I have a spreadsheet with columns for each expense and how much money is allocated to that expense.

We pay all the above expenses out of this account and when we spend anything I adjust the amount on the spreadsheet. It makes big bills like the car tax due this month fairly painless as the money has already been put aside

Kinky loving the dressing up idea! of course I know what u mean! We will be revisiting our adult evenings again, starting this Friday. Will see what I can create for a lovely diiner without spending much. We still have lots of left from christmas so thats one less thing to buy.

Boffinmum thanks for the tip re getting the bug zapping stuff from gp, will try that in future. Will also be boiling the bedding etc if we have another outbreak!

I spent £16 yesterday. The dogs needed fed,but luckily they eat Bakers and it was on offer for £5 for 3 kilos yesterday (normally £6.79).

I also got rolls and reduced tins of soup (cos they were bashed)
Soap powder and fabric conditioner.
A mop head
Onions
2 tins of tomatoes
bag of spuds.

Should be sorted till weekend anyway.

Payday Monday

Just thought of something that I decided to try-to save going clothes shopping (I am a terrible clothesaholic)

I decided to relook at my wardrobe and instead of buying new stuff, decided to mix and match with different things I have, and experiment more with belts,scarves,necklaces etc.

So have managed to give old outfits, new leases of life, instead of wearing the same old boring stuff.

What do we think about buying bargains for next Christmas and putting them away? I am tempted to stock up on cheap cards and wrapping paper, etc, but I am wondering if this counts as breaking my spending fast, so to speak.

I bought 4 boxes of christmas cards and 2 huge rolls of wropping paper yesterday. It was all reduced to pennies and I couldnt resist. I did not buy cheap cards etc after christmas 2010 as I thought it could be a false economy, But I regretted this this christmas as had to pay full price . Plus the wrapping paper I bought was plain colourful stripes, not a christmasy design so can use for all the birthdays this year :)

I have to go into town later so might have a look.

BTW very cheap mag subscriptions on the WHSmith website if anyone is interested.

Here

Dorito, I was just worried about where the crisps would go Where wouldn't they go BoffinMum ?!!!!!!!

I will caution against moneysavingexpert. Especially the old style board. You go on there, sign up, and get sucked in, then spend ALL DAY bouncing between fabulous MN and fabulous MSE and get bugger all done...

I like how they change it to !!!! when I write arse.

Yes please :)

I am so skint at the moment and have to save as I am going to holiday in February and need spending money.

Online clothes sales do not make saving easy :( Luckily my fat waist line from Christmas is making me not buy anything as I want to lose weight first :P

I'm going to do this too (feeling virtuous). I seem to fritter away massive wodges of cash on nothing so really need to start the year as I mean to go on. Days off with DD are my problem as we always go out for coffee. In fact coffees out are my main problem full stop ! Also when at work I usually waste spend about £4 on lunch. I can go from yesterday's spending.

Tuesday
£1 on 4 buttons for DD's new grandma-knitted cardigan
£5.05 on coffee & slice of cake and teacake for DD in cafe

Today
£1 on two cans of coke from the tuckshop. I have made my first packed lunch in months

Dlamis, that is a great idea and I was thinking of doing something similar myself for Christmas, holidays, car servicing, insurance etc.

Joining a little late - already been spending in January, but only on two cardigans (v cheap and desperately needed - nothing warm and decent enough to wear to work) and some tupperware boxes - one to put homemade muesli in and one to put bread dough in for 5 minute bread ( see www.foodess.com/2009/03/artisan-bread-in-five-minutes/ ), which I am finding really good and easy to do - must be saving some pennies making my own, albeit sporadically.

Was already banning myself from Pret lunches (which became a bit of an outrageously-expensive habit before xmas). Now, really need to keep food and household bill down and curtail any frivolous spending...

Tempted by the magazine subscriptions linked to above though - can't decide whether that's excess spending or a good economy - I probably buy one every couple of months, so £18-25ish a year; paying £12 now would mean I would have no excuse to buy any for rest of year, but maybe should just be strict and buy none anyway (less clutter and waste as well)...

we tried to set a food budget of £320 a month for the three of us (including wine). So far each month on average we spend £420. have changed to Internet shopping and we dont buy ready made dinners but still really struggling to hit that £320. Not drinking would help of course.
Re the one bottle of wine a week limit - no chance.

No spend today.

• DH and I both went to the dentist but get free treatment atm.
• I talked to the DC about school dinners and both said they would try it.
• DS ate the jacket spud!
• I am knitting a Kindle cover at the moment rather than buying one.
• Our homephone wasn't charging anymore so instead of buying a new one (very tempted) I put in new rechargable batteries we already had in the house.
• I am going to declutter a bit and see if there is anything I can sell.
• I do need to sort out money for DD's archery lessons £18 for 6 lessons.

kinky regarding treats... I use Boots points or Nectar points (Blockbuster for a dvd rental for example). We have date nights. One of us cooks our fav meal which we eat by candlelight and snuggle on the sofa to watch a film or whatever. We both have some money we were given at Christmas and if there is something we'd like we can use that. I bake. I borrow cooking and baking books from the library.

susannelinder Love the wardrobe idea. Make the most of what you have! Also make a list of basic items everyone needs and what size. Put it in your purse so that when you do find yourself browsing through clothes in the shops you know what you need.

Can I join too? Is it too late?

I need to seriously downsize my monthly expenditure...under frivolous in the dictionary is a picture of ... me!

Therefore:

-I will buy my fruit and veggies from the excellent grocers stall
-I will buy meat from Costco and the local butcher
-I will exercise at home or in the park ... not at expensive gyms
-I will not 'treat' myself with expensive foodie treats or 'shit' I don't need
-I will declutter, room by room, and will ebay what I can
-I will continue recycling other stuff to charity shops
-I will not buy cookery books but will look up stuff on-line
-I will look for a better paid part-time job

Love all the tips on here

Does anyone buy or use Turkey mince? (it seems quite cheap)

What recipes is it good for?