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. ?

For those with LOs in nappies or pull-ups can I just say that Lidl has THE BEST nappies. We have been using them since 2004 when we lived in Germany. DD2 still in night pants at age 5 but slowly getting there and is getting herslef up in the night to wee now (fingers crossed)

They do not do the newborn size BTW but all other sizes and their pull-up pants are excellent.

Hello all

tsc I am not a very loyal shopper I am afraid I go where the deals are! After having tried many online grocery retailers I always go back to sainsburys or ocado. I know people think ocado is really expensive but IME its not any more expensive than tesco and I buy lots of basics/everyday stuff too (and its all really nice stuff!)

Dont have a lidl near me but there is an aldi and tbh I have not been that impressed (am I allowed to say that on MN??? ) Their cleaning stuff is good but dont like their meat or nappies - they gave ds2 a rash

Also, I get the pull ups from asda (sorry should have said) so they are probably one of the cheapest there is.

I use co op brand non bio washing stuff and softner (have to - dh and ds1 with excema) In fact the only "branded" stuff I have is Heinz soup, tomato sauce and beans and hellmans mayo!

Have just started having a cooked bfast every morning and it really does fill you up...eggs and beans are fab protein too.

Will be totting up what I have spent in Jan at the end of the month and if its more than £300 I will be v upset!

royal - there are also only 2 of us and a dog in our household.

I have just done a meal plan for the next 2 weeks until my OH gets paid and it cost £55 including the delivery charge.
Don't know what kind of things you like to eat but I am doing things like fish pie, stew & dumplings, burger and homemade wedges, jacket potatoes, pasta dishes.

If I stick to my meal plan religiously the only extra that I will need to go to the shop for is dog food. I get this from Tesco as the type I have is on offer at the moment.

Have you tried mysupermarket.co.uk? I have started using it and save a lot of money this way.

Usually just by switching brands and getting Sainsburys own brand or value stuff there is a big difference in price.

This month is not ideal for me as I've just renewed my house contents insurance - 82.00 (no pound sign, foreign keyboard) for the year but got them down from 120.00 by threatening to go elsewhere. Also just booked return flights to the UK for 156.00 for the 3 of us, although as we are nowhere near Tesco or Lidl and we are without a car at the moment over here my spending has been radically cut. Cupboards are getting a tad empty though!

Oh, and I paid 29.00 on Amazon for the Babyliss BigHair which is waiting for me back home - MNs fault

Back home I've got a freezer full of stuff, so hopefully the end of Jan and throughout Feb won't be too heavy on the wallet

Signed up for the Weight Watchers for 3 months for £1.95 through Quidco. This means I'm going to have to frame myself and do it. I'm bloody massive so it's about time.

Looks with longing at Hotel Chocolat Sleekster box, unopened and smiling from the cupboard... perhaps should eat them all tonight and get it out of the way? They're the boozy ones though.

Kinky, I really would like to help you out there. It'll be a struggle, but it's the least I can do for you. I'll be able to struggle those chocs down between zumba sessions. No, really, don't thank me!!

You'll have to fight DH for them . I suspect he secretly buys them for himself. He gets really antsy when I turn down the offer of one of his chocolates, and I know it's because if I eat some of his, he can then eat mine.

Ok - turkey burgers:

1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
pack of turkey mince
1 egg
handful of breadcrumbs (optional, I make my own form stale bread)
finely grated cheese (optional)

mix all ingredients together and form into patties, shallow fry or you can oven bake (although this will make them drier).

You can make the burger with turkey mince, chicken mince, pork, beef or lamb - the results are great on all options.

On another note - have spent nothing today...not a bean so feeling very virtuous. Am avoiding the shopping centre and the on-line sales as I know it just opens the door to buying stuff I neither want or need.

Am on ebay as well, putting items on for sale.

Have aso just watched a programme I had taped from the tv about Ration Book Britain - what an eye-opener. Not saying I want to stain my legs with gravy browning but it really makes you think about what is necessary and what is just frittering money away. They really had to learn to make the most out of what they had, making and re-making clothes etc. It was inspirational ... as is this thread.

After someone mentioned 'eaty-uppies' earlier in the thread I'm going hardcore and doing 'random desk food eaty-uppies' tomorrow. I'm not taking lunch and just going to eat what I have, a mash potato pot thingy, left over chocs, miso soup sachets, choc coffee beans .

I'm fed up opening my drawer and looking at it. Shouldn't kill me to finish it off on a friday and will save making anything or buying lunch.

Exactly what roguepixie said! Haven't opened my purse today and feel v. happy. Next move is to sort out the card making stuff and get the kids cracking ready for glut of family birthdays etc. between now and Easter. Meals all planned for over the weekend (chicken curry tomorrow and Saturday, leftover Christmas beef from the freezer for Sunday lunch and soup on Monday. Should only need to buy milk.

I'm thinking that we have enough shit meat and pulses lying around in cupboards and freezers not to need to even shop for food for the next month. So apart from milk and veg delivery am not planning on buying anything. Should reduce our grocery bill somewhat. Am planning on being model of resilience when faced with intractable problem of nothing to eat but lentils and cabbage and no tinned tomatoes or cheese to make a sauce for the lentils. Will cross that particular culinary bridge when I get to it.

oh, and fruit. But our fruit bill alone is pretty much nearly £20 a week, which means that basic foodstuffs- just fruit, veg and milk for 4.5 of us costs nearly £50 a week. Scary stuff.

Has anyone else seen that the price of a four pack of tinned tomatoes has gone through the roof again?

A FIVER!

In Tescos...

LadyHarriet, get the value ones- they're 30p ish a tin.

No Wine January is hard enough for me.

DH bought a 10kg tub of washing powder for £10! I'm thinking it should last for about 3 months, maybe more?? Then I'll send him there again!

Need to catch up on posts but out tonight, (a meeting, so free except for a pound or 2 on petrol). But will pour over thread for an hour or so tomorrow and check out the links.

I went to the library and got two books on... saving money. So any good tips I will share.

Currently cooking dinner and using up all the veg I can before it goes off. Carrots, green beans etc all in the steamer. I have lots of eggs so making a big omelet and I am using up the apples by making a crumble, served with icecream.

I managed to spend £45 in sainsbury's today but that does include a birthday present/card/wrapping paper and laundry detergent and fabric softener.

I also bought DD1 a new school bag from Primark for £10.
I got £20 cash back and that's all I have to spend until next week so if we don't have it then we will have to do without.

I have spent some more money ... £3 for 12 Tom Smith crackers, so good quality and 25% of what they normally cost. £3 on a load of Christmas ribbon for next year, half price. £3 on some reduced decorations that match the ones I have already got on the stairs but which didn't quite make it all the way up as I didn't have enough, half price. £8.99 for BIL's next Christmas present (marked down from £24.99), and a play phone for DC4's birthday at £1.99.

I feel very prepared for next Xmas now as I have all my cards, wrap, ribbon and some presents as well for under £30, but I am not sure whether this really counts as no-spend January, even though it is stuff that would have been bought sooner or later anyway, like my SIL's teapot! I also found a load of cream silk ribbon in little pieces in the craft box, and I have made about 25 gift tags for next year by choosing the smallest cards from those we received which also had central patterns or motifs, cutting around the pattern, putting a hole in the corner with a hole punch and then threading the silk ribbon through. It is the first time I have managed to do this with them actually looking half way decent, and the ribbon seems to make all the difference.

In terms of food, it is a week since I did my infamous Aldi asset stripping and we are raiding the freezer now, although we have a lot of fresh food left. Nobody has starved, which is good. Chicken thighs and vegetables tonight, with mango yoghurt and white chocolate for pudding (recipe in the Family Meal book again).

Duchesse
I have not seen any that cheap in stores near us.

£4 in starbucks. Bad Wah. €