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 seem to have spent £337.87. This is really not going very well at all. How can this happen when other people are satisfied with just an onion for the week?

It feels like some sort of pantomime scenario ... goodness me, perhaps I could sell a cow and get some magic beans in return?

Went to ALDI and spent £51 for the week.....

I got

salad and fruit
tins beans and tomatoes
bottle prosecco
mince
whole chicken
biscuits
24 packs crisps for £1.99

Meal plan is

pizza and salad
frozen tuna steaks with veg
roast chicken
spag bol
seabass with prawns
fishfingers,chips and beans
omelette

Got enough bread in the freezer for lunches so should not need to shop for another week. Got loads of milk too.

Not spent anything since Tuesday.

Am doing well.

Collision, what do you have for breakfast and lunch?

DS1 has cereal which he chose from ALDI

DS2 has porridge which we already have at home

DH eats fruit

I eat ALDI weetabix

Porridge is a good breakfast. Our problemis that we eat shedloads of fruit and try for organic.

For lunch I have

homemade soup or salad

The boys have

sandwiches
salad
yoghurt
fruit

DH doesn't do lunch or eats for free at work.

I didnt post my entire shopping list as I thought it might get boring to read!

Just been to Lidl tinned toms were 41p

All I have bought this month is petrol, for a 4-hour round trip to specialist doctor appt. Will have to spend the same on Monday to go back

My aunt bought cat food so I don't have to, hurrah! I should have enough food for meal plan for 4-ish days before needing to go back to shop, although I desperately need milk and bread.

Would love a nice lunch bag for work...have resisted so far. Don't think I should need to spend anything apart from oil change for car next week. Doing very well for myself, not a single bottled water or pack of gum bought

I've been lurking on this for a few day & am loving some of the tips. We're OK at the moment but I'm conscious that money seems to "disappear" and things I don't really need so I'm trying to think much more before buying things - whether its biscuits in the supermarket, a Starbucks or something for me - particularly as I'm off on mat leave in a few months and so will have a lot less money then. And something else is bound to go wrong with our house...

Boffin - where are you still able to find reduced wrapping, decorations etc. I didn't go shopping straight after Xmas and now can't find any but wat to stock up for next year.

LadyHarriet - "posh" tinned tomatoes (can't remember the brand but its Napolenta or something) are 50p a tin in ASDA at the moment. I bought about 12 cans when I was in there in the week.

Thanks for the tip about the Merlin Pass. We were going to get one this year so may as we're close to a lot of attractions so I may as well get it now.

How far is it worth travelling to get to ALDI or Lidl? There's a huge ASDA 2 miles from me where I normally shop. The nearest ALDI is 15 miles away & Lidl is 9. Neither of them are in places I'd usually go to so can't combine it with a trip somewhere else. Is it worth going given the distance?

Im buying a big glossy bright white 4x4 and donning some oversized sunglasses, life is so good. Ok Im not, anyway only chods drive big glossy white cars.

I caved and bought some slippers today. I have had my eye on them since about September and they are now half price in the sale. That combined with the fact that my tax rebate has cleared tipped me over the edge

My thinking is that I'm more likely to put the heating on if my feet are cold aso I am actually saving money, yes?

Quite possible not, LadyH, they do regional pricing ESP on fast moving items like economy tinned toms. They'll mark them down hard where they are near to competition. Used to be a buyer for Slavesburys back in the days when I still had brain cells.

Been reading thread with great interest- some great tips...here's mine: If you want to cut out the wipes then use a little toilet paper and then warm damp flannels to clean bottoms (cut them in half if you prefer smaller)- you can buy bulk packs from tesco or Ikea (prob cost more or less what a pack of wipes cost) and are reusable. or buy a metre of bamboo terry (bamboo terry is amazing!) from ebay, cut to size required and zigzag the edges on a sewing machine. actually far more effective than wipes and very friendly to sensitive skin (no nasty chemicals). just fling the used flannels in the washing machine with rest of wash (you can use a lidded old ice cream tub/bucket/tupperware to put dirty wipes in till you do the wash). Put a drop of tea tree oil in tub if you like. sounds complicated but really really easy. also flannels for cleaning faces/ hands etc rather than using wipes all the time.

For anyone who wants to trim a bit off their energy bills. See if your library has energy monitors for hire.

I used one several years ago and I'm lethal when it comes to turning off lights and not boiling too much water in the kettle. Those things go through the roof when you boil a kettle . I prefer to batch cook and re-heat in the microwave too, the cooker uses loads of energy compared to a 3 min burst in the microwave.

Do you think MN-ers are going to cause a crash in the supermarket business?

Ok got the man to fix the leaky roof AT LAST, well he patched it to stop further damage & is coming back. Will ring with quote tomorrow but if I can persuade him to make it an insurance job then that'll be covered!!

Expert DIY- friend has fixed my broken strip light (new unit £27) & sink (new bottle trap £5) so that saved a fortune in call out labour/fees.

Car Insurance renewal (with 20%) only cost £232 with legal cover & replacement car cover. Reduced Green Flag cover included. However got a quote for when DD1 starts driving at the end of the month £565 £50 for her provisional licence takes this weeks spend to just over £400 with a tank of petrol how not to do a no-spend January dammit.

Bless her she's agreed to pay her own driving lesson costs out of her babysitting money. I'm hoping all my family & Ex DH's will put money towards them. I've said she needs to lean on him more for donations. I can't for her he think I spend all the maintainence on partying as it is

Should be better after Feb as all our birthdays are Jan/Feb

My DH has a system whereby we put aside a set amount from our income each month for annual bills like car insurance, holidays, Christmas etc so that when the big bills come in we already have the money to pay for it. Just add up the total cost of each category and divide by 12! There is no reason that January should be a 'no spend' month - it's miserable enough already! You just need a geeky DH like mine to manage your money!! Hmm... maybe I should hire him out ;)

I've just remembered a tip from a friend of mine. I once commented on how lovely her 'hand-cream' smelt. She happily told me that it was a E45 type cream/aqueous cream that she added essential oils to and decanted into smaller pots. It cost a fraction of the £'s most hand-creams cost did smell absolutely lovely. It has the added advantage of you being able to really customise your hand-cream with those oils that combat any particular problems you might have/smell the way you want them to.

Tinned tomatoes were 33p in ALDI!!!!

oh BOSSY maybe Branson can give her a few hours' tutoring for free!

collision
they are so pricey now and I rely on them.

have just seen the other tom comments.

DH is having a whole 2-3 person Haggis to himself tonight. (wants to 'practice his technique before Burns Night)

Has told me he won't eat the turkey burgers. The girls and I will tho.

I have managed to make my dinner from in house supplies.

Boffin - I loved your 1910 household piece.

Great thread with great tips.
One of the things I intend to do this month is eat stuff that has been lingering in the freezer for months. Perfectly good ok stuff, just odd bits and bobs that dont obviously make a meal. When thats done I shall defrost it :)
I've got the same conundrum as Murtette over trips to Lidl.

Collusion I thought you said the toms were UP 33p.

No, NOT UP 33p. They were 33p per tin which is 8p cheaper than LIDL.