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 was feeling better there for a minutes until you mentioned the 21p on an onion thing, Jezabelle!

You will all notice the time of this post. I have been putting stuff onto Ebay for hours and all the baby stuff is up there now, all the stuff I could reach in the loft, that is. I will do the electronics tomorrow.

Very determined to stay on track now and tackle finance.

Ladyharriet £100 gas monthly direct debit because DS1 has complex health needs and house (well at least his bedroom and living room) needs to be heated to hospital level.

Well, I have back to school costs of zero (apart from DS1's season ticket), as I have managed to let down his trousers, find all his socks and equipment, and to repair his blazer.

I do have to buy his season ticket though. The nasty LEA doesn't pay for his transport even though there is no school in the local area. They do give bus passes to pupils from this village to the nearest secondary school, but they basically refused to give us the cash equivalent towards transport for the state school he goes to for his special needs, which requires a train journey, on the grounds that giving us the money to spend on him like this is an efficient use of public funds . Still, I refused to send him to a school where the statemented kids are allowed to sit around bullshitting all day rather than go into lessons (saw some dreadful things on the tour).

If you use an electric carving knife you can cut the home made bread more thinly. An electric rotary carver is also an option, as is a Black and Decker band saw

I've managed not to spend anything since Monday, but I have to go into town today with dd1.

I am determined to get some car parking money from OH and not spend much else. She wants to open a new bank account so I can avoid the shops but dd2 needs a present for a party on Saturday and if I see any offers on spreadable butter, milk or bread rolls I shall get them.

Well, painful three figure cost of season ticket has been slightly offset by free booty haul from station. The stationmistress has set up an informal lending library where people take in their old books and you can borrow or adopt them. I found five (mostly) recently published literary novels and the new Adrian Mole in hardback. It's like Christmas all over again!!!

Trip into town cancelled as we got hardly any sleep due to the wind (and DS). Should only need to buy bread today.

Narrow escape this morning. Was really hungry and had no breakfast stuff in the house that I actually liked the look of so was tempted to stop at Co-op in the village near work to get a pastry, which would have led to a salad pot for lunch, and so on. But I grabbed a tupperware of soup out of the freezer and remembered that I have a cereal box in my desk drawer and I'd be in early enough to use the office tea club milk on my cereal without having to explain myself to someone. I justify this because I drink a lot less tea/coffee than most other people do.

I am going to start baking a batch of muffins on a Sunday afternoon so I have an easily pick-up-able breakfast. I leave the house at 6.45 and haven't enough brain engaged at that point to pour cereal / butter toast etc.

And the first day of DS doing toilet training at nursery went... BRILLIANTLY! He had one accident quite early on in the morning, and after that remembered to ask to go every single time. He even did a #2 in the evening at home - WOOHOO!

So, expenditure this week: Stayed in Sunday, Monday: 2x£1 cups of tea in the park, £25 lunch at a restaurant, £20 a new sweater for DH, £15 in Tesco on Milk, teabags, DS slippers and baby wipes (all of which I'd intended to get), £78 Ocado which is only a week's food but a month's stock of drinks. Tuesday - nothing, Wednesday - £5 office tea club, Thursday - can't see anything I need to buy, Friday - will be stuck at home.

lexillious some good ideas there regarding breakfast. And well done on the toilet training success. (Remember, they have ups and downs though!)

DH bought bread and muffins: £2.95

Total spend is now £130.14
of which only £2.99 on a Sudoku book was frivolous. The rest was groceries and archery lesson.

I ordered Amazon vouchers through Nectar on Sunday to get my free new blender to make soup, but it took 3 days for it to come through by which time the one I wanted had gone up from £25 to £45. Grr. On the upside though, DPs aunt and uncle randomly sent us £30 of Amazon vouchers for Christmas/birthdays yesterday so that's nice. Does spending vouchers count as not spending? It does in my mind anyway, my bank balance is staying the same!

Have also sent back a CD that I'd bought for my Mum for Christmas that she'd
already got, so that's another £8 coming my way at some point. Have still managed to not buy any groceries this year, but DP did come home with £60 worth of 'naice ham' (a whole leg) for £1.50 last night. He is a meat/fish specialist at a supermarket beginning with W - these are the perks of the job! We've got a freezer full of lamb, steak and beef so maybe our meat-free January will have to be a meat-free February instead, in the interest of using up what we've got.

Today will be my first frivolous expenditure of the year - I'm meeting a friend for lunch at Starbucks, but have got about £9 cash in my purse and will try and have change from that.

I think vouchers don't count, nor does taking stuff back for a refund and spending that money instead.

Ah but selling stuff on ebay would count as making money, wouldn't it - and if that money is then spent, it's just like taking things for a refund and replacing/buying something else!

I am hoping to be able to bank the Ebay profits though, and put them towards debt repayment (still got a debt hangover from maternity leave!)

I was feeling all pleased with myself - on course for my 4th day of not spending money. Then I get an e-mail telling me now that DD has dropped a year group, she has to wear a blazer. Sigh. A trip to the shops against the elements, and £23 spent. She's not even there today as she's not up to it.

I'm thinking of becoming a babysitter. I'm not very nice though.

Have just spent £80 on non essential stuff

£38 in boots in town on Nitty Gritty Comb (grrr), Pregnancy Tests (wishfull thinking, no luck again this month, but thats a whole other thread......), shampoo etc.

£32 on weight watchers online membership (double ) Need to regain control of expanding waist

I just dont know how I can do it - lower my food bills that is

I buy fresh veg and fruit and try and buy organic when I can (live in a small village) and cook from scratch most nights.

My food bills are still big for 4 of us....ok, so it includes toiletries, cleaning stuff and nappies for ds2 but its still far too much per month. Both dh and ds1 need stuff for pack up every day too.

When you add in birthdays and anniversaries etc I find it v v difficult to budget.

I get an online gorcery delivery every week (its saves me money as I dont tramp around the aisles buying stuff I dont need and I dont use any petrol!) and I then get stuff from the local co-op during the week (bread, milk etc)

Any tips?

My online shop can be anything from £55-105 per week depending on what I need that week - so for example the first shop of the month will be a big one as I get all the nappies, wipes, etc and cleaning stuff.

I also try to buy stuff on offer - like dishwasher tabs, nappies etc

Help!

I'm going to do Paul Mckenna (not like that ladies, behave ) once I've chomped my way through the Christmas chocolate. There's bugger all chance of me making a good go of any diet whilst there are rogue mince pies around.

Have wondered about trying that kinky. Luckily I am feeling sick of all the christmas stuff. There is still alot of choc lying around, but I have boxed it up and given to dh to take into work

morecoffee pg tests are cheap in Wilkinsons if you have one near you, and Superdrug are also cheaper than Boots I think.

Wilkos are great for cleaning products/toiletries esp own brand dw tabs, own brand washing up liquid, surcare fabric softener is usually half price, own brand wipes were 1.50 for 2 pkts of 80 each and just as good as Johnsons IMO, loads of stuff. I buy pretty much all my cleaning stuff there now.

Becaroooo Do you menu plan?

Plan out breakfasts, lunches and dinners as much as possible with what you already have at home. Then you only have to buy a few things when you do your shop. I have decided that I want to get to a point where I do a weekly shop and my fridge, freezer, main cupboards are empty (with the exception of herbs etc that are always stocked up)