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. ?

reckoner- :)

My name is Bossy and I spent £5 on a bottle of red wine last night.... as a chum was coming over for supper.

However the roofer's just finished the repairs to my leaky roof and as he got the lead cheaper than he quoted I got £20 knocked off the bill ....RESULT!

alemci I'm putting my DD's on PAYG when their contracts expire. They're pretty good at keeping within their tariff but if they do go over its expensive. I will put £10 each on a month and they'll have to pay the rest out of babysitting money. At 15 & 17 I reckon its good practice.

Who are your DD's with? Try a different tariff bundle to up whichever area it is they go over on. One of my DD's uses her internet allowance more the other is a texter!

They are on contract with Vodaphone and O2. I noticed YD's suddenly rocketed when she started going out with her BF and ED the same. They both have unlimited texts.

I will make them give me some money this month.

Yes to Feb thread! This is really helping me check impulse buys, but now I need some proper firm targets for spending to try to stick to (and maybe I will think up some nice rewards for if I hit them!) and need to work out what we need to save for and how much we need. Am already tracking all our spend in spreadsheet so quite easy to see how well we are doing.

dlamis good going on the cash - I took out £100 at the beginning of the month too and only have a fiver left. But that is pretty good for me, and also includes £40 on kids music sessions that will last over this month and next. Last month frittered away £350 in cash, so was restricting myself to £200 this month - so far so good...

Definitely...let's keep this going. 'Find a Bargain Feb' would be great. It is indeed like weight-watchers for spending . I have found this thread to be brilliant - usually I do a lot of unconscious spending but have really focussed on what I need to buy rather than what I want to buy.

My DSIS came over yesterday and we have agreed to make this "Saving 2012". We will help each other to stop spending unnecessarily - kind of like AA - emergency phone calls and the like ..."step away from the Prada"

This thread has really made me think about what is important - how spending without thinking is not only dangerous for our finances but also irresponsible and childish. I would love for us all to keep this going on future threads - it has really hit home .

I have also been thinking about presents for the coming year - not only Christmas. On MN before Christmas there were a few threads about having a 'homemade Christmas' - making gifts of all types etc and it has got me thinking about the meaning of presents and special days - it used to be the case that a homemade present was received with happiness and joy as it showed that the 'giver' had invested themselves in a thoughtful gift. It was often, as well, a cheaper option - which made sense for a community/country recovering from a war (yes, I am thinking about the post-war years). Now, I don't for a minute think that I want to tan my legs with Bisto or that my DS (or any of his friends) would be happy with a pair of knitted swimming trunks but I think that with thought, care and judicious purchases I could make quite a few gifts (especially foodie ones as I am a passionate baker) that would be gratefully received. I can also knit so scraves and cushion covers (with chunky wooden buttons) would be good Christmas presents for 2012???

Sorry to ramble...and sorry to be talking about next Christmas in January but it just makes sense to keep this going - to make this the way we are ALL the time rather than the way we are in reaction to debt/over-spending etc.

As you were ladies ... Anyone for the WI???

I was thinking about presents too roguepixie For Easter we always buy Easter eggs for everyone. 12 people, only 4 of which are children. Last year it cost me about £50, it's bonkers. This year I am going to bake something. I can't justify the dozen Easter eggs. It's the same as Christmas, shouldn't it be more for the kids? MIL does an Easter hunt in the garden and the kids have a big basket full to take home.
What is everyone planning to do for the first few celebrations? Valentine's day, Mother's Day and Easter. I am not quite ready to think about Christmas, roguepixie, but I will keep an eye out for presents and keep them in a box.

Well and truly fallen off the wagon as spent £600 on a new dining table and carpet. My dining room desperately needed overhauling and we've been meaning to do it since we moved in 3 years ago. But to be fair, this week I have sold my daughters icandy pram for £300, and then used money I had saved in my e-saver through been very good since xmas and my £200 xmas money from my parents so I haven't actually spent anything I shouldn't and it will look lovely for when the baby comes in 11 days time :) Back on track now, although I still have a few bits I need to buy to finish off the house in preparation

I think a "homemade" Christmas sounds lovely rogue I always keep my jam jars etc for a chum who makes her own. She keeps the chunky "naice"ones and although she spends a fortune in Lakeland buying pretty covers & bits it actually works out to pence per unit.

As you say a present made with love is a real Christmas present. I love the sound of your cushions!

I was on the Home made Christmas thread - all the gifts I made were very gratefully received and I had a lot of fun making them. I need to start earlier this year - so many ideas I didn't get a chance to make.

Exactly ladies. Easter eggs are extortionate in price and they are mostly cardboard! I made little chocolate discs this Christmas (some with chlli, others with pistachios and some white) and they were lovely - I think DS might get a nice box of those this Easter? Valentine's Day, for us, has long been a nice meal at home with a good bottle of wine - I hate the hike in flower prices that goes on and refuse to let DH buy any at that time. Anniversary - the same really (I think I am beginning to sound a bit sad here ). Birthdays are often celebrated with a meal out, except DS of course, although this year he might want a smaller get together with his close friends??? We shall see ...

I collect my jam jars as well so I could, if I prepared properly, make chilli jam and preserves etc. Like you bitter, I need to get in gear early so that as much as possible is done in advance. . Bossy - left over think/chunky yarn on big needles in a variety of easy stitches knitted slightly bigger than a cushion insert (under £5 in John Lewis) and some spare buttons and there you go - pressie for under a £10-er ... and you could make it in a complementary colour for whoever's living room???

I once cross-stitched a cushion for my Mum and made a cross-stitched lavender pad for my Dad to put under his pillow at night (he was battling a serious illness at the time and wasn't sleeping well and lavender is relaxing) - both of which went down really well. It's all in the planning, I suppose.

sarahken - your new furniture sounds lovely and you have worked it out that, with all monies taken into account, it hasn't cost you anything. Well done on a good purchase.

I went through the bathroom cupboards and took stock of what toiletries we already have. I thought I needed moisturiser but found a few Clinique testers so will use those up first. DH has 5 bottles of deodorant. Will do the same with the cleaning stuff.

I'm of those of you who can take out extra money each month. I'm single and only one income, and barely any income right now as I've had to take several days and a whole week off work for pregnancy appointments in the last 3 months, I have barely any cashflow. Have just lost my job as well due to the pregnancy so will be another 2-4 weeks before I bring in another paycheck, so glad I managed to get the food shop yesterday.

Sorry did not mean this to be a 'poor me' post at all! Just goes to show we all have different budgets and saving within those budgets is of course wonderful no matter what they are. I would really apperciate any cheap tips for clothing as I really, really need new maternity clothes but they are outrageously expensive here.

Making a lovely chicken and rice casserole today to cheer myself up and get on with the meal planning. Made chili-type mince last night and ate on baps, have plenty left over for extra sandwiches and mixing with jacket potatoes.

fishpond sorry to hear about your situation and that you lost your job. It sounds really rough. I found bumpbands were a good way to make normal tops last a lot longer. I only bought a few maternity items and wore them and washed them a lot.
DH lost his job in the summer. I worked 6 weeks over Christmas but that job is now finished and we are digging into savings. Without the savings we would be stuffed. We lived in massive debt for years and cleared it all last year so I am determined not to go to that again. I vividly remember the hard times we had, counting pennies all the time. I must admit this No Spend Jan is becoming a bit of an obsession. DH is a bit fed up of hearing me ramble on about it, but he knows we have to do it.

Fishpond that's awful! There's so little protection for employees in the US. My brother seems to get the sack at a moment's notice repeatedly (he tends to work in sales, where falling figures mean out on your ear inst). Re cheap maternity clothes- if you don't have to look too smart for work, cheap leggings in a bigger size than you need usually teamed with a tunic or dress that still goes over the bump will look fine. I just got mine in Sainsbury's at £6 a pair. It depends how big you get out front really- you may get away with the baggiest things already in your wardrobe. Otherwise, there's ebay for finding little-worn stuff.

Fishpond, I'd be inclined to do as much cash in hand babysitting as possible in your position. In terms of maternity things, Freecycle is a brilliant place to get this sorted.

reckoner - I did this with my toiletries about a month ago and was absolutely horrified to see how much stuff I had ... doubles of items, three or four different types of body lotion...I mean...what was I doing???!!! I have vowed not to buy any toiletries until I have used up all my spares.

fishpond - am sorry to hear that you have lost your job - is there no protection for you? Surely they can't sack you because you are pregnant? Boffins suggestion is a good one - can you babysit? It's cash in hand and you usually get tea/coffee thrown in?? Do you have any friends that need any nannying services?

Oops, bit of a blip today. Bought a second hand camera for £150. I have no excuse really and I hang my head in shame.

Other than that I've done really well this month for impulse buys. In fact, I have impulse-bought nothing else.

Would love to see this thread continue as I think it has helped keep my spending in check. Well, apart from today.

On the plus side, have sold a brand new Rapidough game on ebay for at least £17 (+£5 postage). Much more than I thought we'd get for it. I've got a list of other stuff to flog next free-listing weekend, too. Including my wedding shoes. My feet have gone up a size since having the small person, so no way I'm getting into them again. Plus a Cath Kidston Sew book. Bought it last year as it looked pretty, but it's not really me. Another mumsnetter pointed me in the direction of pinterest and have found loads of craft projects on there.

Has anyone used the For Sale thread on here? I have a load of 6-9 month trousers that just won't sell on ebay (nothing wrong with them) and thought I'd give it a try.

I hope everyone is able to put their feet up with a of some description tonight - it's SHERLOCK!

fishie I'm like you (well not PG!) just lost one of my part-time jobs so no cash to draw on either, but thankfully I've got a few more bits lined up so hopefully things will be Ok in a few weeks.

I'd second doing the babysitting, not sure as you're in the US what the rules are for cash in hand work-do you get any benefits? Here at least you can't get sacked for being pregnant and we do have maternity pay.

Are you creative at all? People do pay for well made clothes or knits?

Or if you are home more for a bit offer to Ebay stuff for busy chums-split the profits 50/50?

I know spew ... I am getting the ready for 9pm. Am watching Hellboy at the moment with DS ... it's quite fun in its' awfulness

I haven't used the 'for sale' section here but I have noticed that perfectly good childrens clothes sometimes just don't sell on Ebay...so weird.

Feel good today...took my DS to a class today and usually I go to Waitrose and do a unnecessary mini shop. Today I sat and watched the class and didn't spend a bean . For the third weekend in a row I haven't bought a paper - usually only buy a paper on Sunday but have foregone even that, so am feeling fairly virtuous .

yes i have loads of toiletries and cleaning products to use up too. why am i such a sucker

rogue - I have been thinking about Christmas too. Mostly because I was so crap last year at getting people presents/cards on time for Christmas and birthdays and I am determined to get organised this year, plan in advance and do some homemade stuff.

I have made a list, with dates for when I need to start thinking about stuff, made a card for the first birthday of the year and started on knitting a hat for one xmas present. We've never done anything for Valentines day or Easter, or Mothers day so nothing to think about there.

Spend for this weekend:

• £1.60 on newspaper (not necessary at all but was quite nice to relax and read a bit with last night - I never find anything I want to watch on TV)
• £20.70 on photobook for ILs (didn't get them much of a xmas present in time!) - found a voucher code online (myvouchercode.co.uk I think) to get 50% off so saved £16.70 on what it would have been.

Not bad. And I have leftovers in the fridge to take for lunch tomorrow.

Definitely on for continuing this thread for the rest of the year as its really making me think twice about things. Personally, I'll need it more as the year goes on as I'll be on mat leave.

I spent £93 in Sainsburys today. As I put it through the till, I was expecting it to be more as, having eaten store cupboard & freezer meals for the past few weeks, the cupboards were bare! We needed pasta, lentils, rice etc. I also spent £16 was on nappies as they had a 1/3 off even the mega boxes so I stocked up. I also spent £6 on lunch out with DD as, the way the day panned out, I knew we'd have to have lunch out. Usually, we'd go to Starbucks or possible Pizza Express but due to having to report to you lot, I thought we'd try the Sainsburys cafe & the food was fine, certainly good enough for a quick lunch with a toddler. DP picked up a few treats in M&S yesterday but I'm ignoring him for the purposes of the no spend thing. He works in a business park so rarely goes to the shops, never goes to the supermarket as I usually go mid week & generally doesn't actually buy much so I can forgive him a few treats.

Fishie - I worked for a US company when I was pregnant with DD and there was much aggro between the US and UK employees as we got treated so much better. Have you got any friends who have had babies recently who you can borrow from? With baby stuff, I have lost all of my pride & just ask. Both maternity clothes & early month baby stuff & clothes are used for such a short amount of time that people are often happy to lend it & you can pretty confident that you can return it in decent nick as you yourself will only use it for such a short time. Otherwise, what about eBay? It may be worth checking if JoJo Maman ship internationally as their sale is on at the moment and a lot of stuff is down to £5.

For those of you with birthdays for children coming up, I recommend checking out Play.Com as they sometimes have ridiculously good offers & there's no delivery charge. I've just bought a Peppa Pig backpack for £2.99 which should have been £9.99 and will do for the 3yr old whose birthday party we're going to at the end of the month.

haven't been on this thread for a while - too busy saving/making money! - but wanted to report some money saving things I been inspired to do: changed mobile provider (from virgin to 3) as we get crap signal here for virgin so i can never use up my minutes and hopefully can use up every single minute, did this via moneysavingexperts mobile checker to find best deal and then got it via quidco. So I have new contract with brand new phone, £66.67 cashback from quidco to come AND have got great price for my old handset (around £50 for a phone i've had 3 years)! Very pleased.

Then I called BT after checking landline/broadband best buys to end my contract so I could change provider. They gave me a good deal that saves almost £260 a year!

And then, signed up for 14 free trial with LOVEFILM and got £18 cashback via quidco just for that! So over one weekend I have saved myself £345.

Please everyone use the cashback sites to earn yourself money on those essential things you have to buy. I just got £30 from moneysupermarket for changing fuel supplier in November too, it does take a while to come through but it is worth it - but make sure via moneysavingexpert that you are buying the best deal and don't just go for the highest cashback figure!

Add to that the 4 new students I now have and I am earning an extra £80 a week from tutoring and have just been offered 4 extra hours at school.

still totally broke though, as it takes a while for the actual income to trickle in. Took my last £25 to tesco today to try to buy food for the week - hopefully have enough food to get through until child benefit comes in this week.....