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No spend January?

999 replies

corinewmoon · 27/12/2011 11:43

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. ?

OP posts:
dinkystinky · 17/01/2012 13:46

You can ring their landline on Skype (its what we do for the technophobes in our family) - for free!

BoffinMum · 17/01/2012 15:52

Well, I paid £21.20 to find out that the hamster didn't have a rectal prolapse, but that he was in fact somewhat sexually aroused and was all boy, so to speak.

I think I need extra biology lessons. Blush

dinkystinky · 17/01/2012 15:58

Grin BoffinMum - that's hilarious! Wonder what had happened to get Mr Hamster so excited all of a sudden Confused

Mackrelmint · 17/01/2012 16:28

Grin at the sexually aroused hamster!!! And very glad he hasn't got a life-threatening illness. £21.20 probably good value for the relief of having a healthy pet after all and the amusement of your fellow no-spenders!

Off the wagon day for me today... aah, I can't even tell you how much I spent in Pret for my lunch, because I forgot to bring lunch and then had to go to a client meeting at short notice so didn't get a chance to buy cheapo supermarket bread roll and a bit of cheese lunch, and because of going to said meeting, I got food panic and overbought (I am 27wks pregnant and get suddenly VERY hungry and feel like i NEED to eat all day so constantly have food around...)

And I spent £6 on tights in the morning, but that was probably justified as even though I do washing every few days I only had green ones left today, and they weren't really appropriate... I have been evicting too holey/laddered ones from the cupboard and turns out there aren't that many decent ones left...

Back on the straight and narrow tomorrow, I swear. It is meal planning day for me today and will do online shop tomorrow, so am going to go for a week of austerity meals and using stuff up.

reckoner · 17/01/2012 17:06

Bought milk, wraps and salsa.

BoffinMum · 17/01/2012 17:10

I think the hamster fancies me, actually. He sniffs me a lot and gives me special looks. I thought it was platonic up until now. Grin

duchesse · 17/01/2012 17:10

Grin at boffinmum being pushed off the waggon by a randy hamster...

BoffinMum · 17/01/2012 17:11

I have reconfigured his rotastak cage so he has a bit more to do, to take his mind off the older woman.

spewgloriousspew · 17/01/2012 17:52

18 packs of wipes for £7? Good work, Leilandri!

roguepixie · 17/01/2012 17:53

Boffin - are you remotely furry, by chance??? Grin. I must admit that I came close to peeing myself when I read that Grin.

Hello and welcome to all the newbies and lurkers. It's brilliant to have so many people on the thread.

Spent approx. £2.60 on bus fares today. Very lovely new client gave me a lift home because they were heading into the West End Smile. Spent £3.80 in a local shop when I collected DS from his train - £1.74 on potatoes (why have I become mildly obsessed in having enough potatoes Confused) and the rest of chocolate ... I know . It was for DS (if that's any excuse whatsoever) but a villainous Yorkie threw itself at me as well...well, I had to bite it's head off GrinGrinGrin. That' my treat for the week.

So, mashed potatoes (from my 'stash'), chicken escalopes and veggies for dinner. Probably have ice cream with scrunched up amaretto biscuits over it for dessert.

Do have to get back to planning meals - I did it last week and it was a godsend. Must do one every week.

BlackCatLookingForwardToSpring · 17/01/2012 21:09

Grin at Boffin

I bought: cat food, bread 2 x milk and a card so spent £7.40.
(all essentials Wink)

LadyHarrietDeSpook · 17/01/2012 22:08

Well, it looks like I am getting some FREE EGGS this weekend from my lovely mate who keeps urban chickens!!

Her story is great: Rescued three, two died, one remained. Got two more for her bday last year...turns out the one from the original lot is A COCKEREL and has been shagging the other two ALL DAY. Chicken porn, kids seeing the lot.

There is clearly something in the air, in the animal world. (Looking outside for full moon!)

So...she is excited about the poss of having chicks. Off to see if I can find her an incubator on freecycle...

Bossybritches22 · 17/01/2012 22:36

Grin PMSL @ the somewhat aroused hamnster & VERY arousec cockerel...is it a full moon??

reshape & anyone with very young DC's, you can get generic Calpol (paracetemol) & Nurofen( Ibuprofen) on prescription & it's free! They only give out small bottles but if you pop in & see the practice nurse every time they get a cold & get some it soon stockpiles! Grin

Bossybritches22 · 17/01/2012 22:37

see, tired finger typos.....

Fishpond · 17/01/2012 23:32

Equally Grin at Boffin's hamster!! Hilarious.

No spend day, didn't get half the stuff done I needed to though as had to go sit with grandma at the hospital while she got fluids most of the day then drive her back.

Made chicken fajitas with onions, green and red peppers from my shop on Sunday. Delicious! And still have 1 red pepper and half a green left for to fry up for another meal like this early next week. Lunch was leftover chili mix on baps.

So proud of myself for sticking to meal plan Smile Tomorrow I'll have to buy petrol - had I not needed to go 2 hrs away each way TWICE this month for specialist baby appointments i would be way richer Sad

As it is, deposited very last paycheck today, a mere $176 due to only working 3 days that week. sigh

roguepixie · 18/01/2012 08:33

Morning Everyone.

Your fajitas sound delicious fishy - I must do some myself this week, it would make a nice change.

Have car today and tomorrow so will be able to pop down to collect DS from train in the car - still a small spend but it is a luxury for me as DH usually has the car for work - he's just working from home for the next 2 days. Smile

Dinner tonight is homemade chilli - from the industrial batch I made last week. Might do rice but may do baked potatoes instead...oooooh the dilemma Grin.

spewgloriousspew · 18/01/2012 08:46

And good morning from a gloomy Oxford! Not planning on spending on non-essentials today.

A group of friends and I (all with similar-ish age children) have just started up a mutual babysitting group. This means that babysitting will be FREE! Basically, when we do a spot of sitting, we'll earn credit to redeem against more sitting for ourselves. My sister normally babysits, but she does have her own life so can't do it all the time (not that we're out more than once a month). The group all live locally, too. So we won't need to spend loads on transport. Just an idea, if anyone else is in the same boat.

Also just spotted a couple of potential cash-earners on a local website (proof reading an essay & mystery shopping), so might get a bit back :-)

And, rogue, jackpots trump rice any day!

BoffinMum · 18/01/2012 08:55

DS1 (age 14) looked at me when I told him the hamster story and said, "Mum, I hope you aren't considering bashing me on the head with a spade now my balls have dropped".

He has a point. Grin

Lexilicious · 18/01/2012 10:35

Hi, back after a week's ski holiday and a disorganised first few days back. No-spend is not going well Blush

We'll just gloss over the holiday, I think. A few unnecessary spends crept in here and there, but I tried to have yummy bread and cheese from the supermarket rather than on-piste lunches usually. Will possibly achieve some savings back from the holiday - have a complaint to put in about the travel which I hope they might offer a bit of a refund for, and I'm (ahem) adding to my ebay stash a now superseded pair of ski boots.

Got back and had a mountain of washing to do, and DH and DS were living in a moderate pigsty so I spent my first day back stemming the tide of laundry, clutter and such like. Took DS out to let DH catch up with work Sunday so had £10 lunch out, £2.20 parking, and then as he napped in his buggy I hit the end-of-sale rails in John Lewis and Monsoon. (£250 - four great day dresses for work and a leather jacket. Going to mainly rely on dresses for work now because being short they suit me so much better than separates, also will jazz up with jewellery, and try to get round to wearing make-up once in a while.)

My cleaner has bought us washing liquid and conditioner from Costco - at least three months worth I estimate, for £15. And I got a call last night from my friend who has found a home for some rock-climbing stuff and the person wants to give me £50 for it - fantastic!

I have failed to meal plan this week but I knew there was a good range of stuff in the order which arrived yesterday evening. However yesterday afternoon DH still took it upon himself to go to Waitrose by the station on the way to pick up DS and bought more stuff to make, of all things, sushi.

I think this is my main problem at the moment, I can't control the "domestic accounts" while DH is also taking a full part in cooking and so on. I wouldn't at all want to change his attitude, it's great, but I can only ever meal-plan for about 4/5 days of the week as he just won't listen to "tonight it's chicken stew with that that and that veg" - he'll feel overly constrained.

OK, so my targets for the rest of Jan are:
:: find that template someone mentioned to catalogue what's in the freezer/cupboards. Make a rolling meal plan with DH so he's agreed how much of it he will stick to.
:: put up my 'ebay stash' for sale (will then freecycle if they don't sell).
:: set up that Sunday baking slot so I regain control of breakfast
:: Go for a run twice a week at work at lunchtime, do each of my fitness videos one other night of the week, go swimming all together at the weekend.
:: No takeaways.
:: Wine on Fridays only.

Recap of wins:
:: have saved lots of reusable wrapping paper and gift bags and they are in an easily accessible place.
:: kept a few things back from Christmas for re-gifting
:: still have good soups in the freezer
:: have started chitting potatoes so looking ahead to potentially being self-sufficient from about May-August.
:: will almost certainly be self-sufficient in garlic and shallots (haven't had to buy any since July, and what I have left that I grew will last until the next crop comes up!)
:: potty training DS is sort of working - he's now seeming to have accidents for attention. Negligible savings so far because nappies included in nursery fees.

Mackrelmint · 18/01/2012 10:39

Grin at the DS boffinmum!

spew - mums in my postnatal group suggested setting up babysitting circle like this; unfortunatley I've moved away a bit now, and as I don't drive, I probably wouldn't want to be doing 40min train/bus journeys at night, and wouldn't expect them to come out to me either so sadly can't take part. It's a great idea - I remember my Mum having lots of little tokens in a bowl for their babysitting circle when I was little (although the others probably thought they'd picked the short straw when coming to ours as no TV!). Hopefully will meet some more local mums round here after DC2 is born.

Today going well - brought leftover noodles and veg for lunch and had to buy some baby wipes but had enough advantage cards point to cover it so no cash changed hands there.

Oh, meant to mention as well to whoever was considering the cookbook purchase, found this thread - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/food/1380553-Do-you-make-cakes-cookies-treats-etc-instead-of-getting-shop-bought-stuff-If-so-can-you-inspire-me-with-ideas - great for baking inspiration - I've copied a load of recipes off it and printed out and planning on some baking this weekend.

roguepixie · 18/01/2012 13:27

Major giggles at miniboffin Grin

Lexi - how does that saying go "fail to plan and you plan to fail"...or some such statement. I found it really helped me last week. Having a baking day works as well - banana bread, pies etc. It helps to offset the time spent cooking like a loonie in the evening.

No spend yet today. Will use the tiniest bit of petrol today so not too worried about that. The 'girls' Hmm at work were moaning about shopping and how much they spent on clothes etc...I listened and asked them "well, why do you go in the first place?" You would have thought I'd asked them to explain the Theory of Relativity Confused. As the month has progressed I have come to realise the sheer number of hours I have wasted 'window shopping' - an event that generally means active shopping and therefore spending.

Dlamis · 18/01/2012 16:26

rofl at Boffin's hamster

So.......yesterday
spent
£40 on the food shop yesterday
£2 s1's school lunch
£45 on repair to wall and rehanging of curtain rail.

Today
£40 on unexpected roof repair (yesterday discovered huge lump of roof concrete about to fall out of one corner next to pavement and potentially kill someoneShock )

Might hide tomorrow as it's the boiler/plumbing repair day.

So much for not spending!

roguepixie · 18/01/2012 19:18

Please... someone stop me buying potatoes...collected DS again and bought 3 large baking potatoes (for the chilli - I totally agree spew - baked potatoes beat rice EVERY time). Argh!!!!!

Other than that, no spend though.

More Ebay sales to post out tomorrow but that's ok as postage covered by sale.

roguepixie · 18/01/2012 19:19

By the way, boffin, I think I need a brain-bleach ... have very disturbing mental image of an aroused hamster burnt into my mind ... Shock

BoffinMum · 18/01/2012 19:46

Well, in the vernacular of DS1, "We don't have much luck with hamsters, do we mum? The first one was a gay rapist hamster attacking the other one all the time, and the new hamster has massive bollocks."