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. ?

Thanks loving

Yes I went through freezer and am running it down too kinky

Anyone who didnt start well today dont get down about it and dont use it as a reason to give the whole thing up !

kinky we call that "eaty-uppies" amazing what you can make out of mysterious pots of sauce from the bottom/back of the freezer with a bit of store cupboard pasta!!

Tonight we're having emergency sausages (always have one in the freezer from BOGOFS) I discovered hiding, plus mash using all the slightly soft tatties in the fridge & a tin of Aldi baked beans.

Regarding homemade soups- worth checking the reduced section as they have cheaper-about-to-go-off stuff that's great for chucking in soup. I also get any fresh herbs on offer. You can snip them into ice cube trays & bag/pot them them up when frozen & they lift the taste of any casserole or soup!

Sausage mash and beans Bossy? That is yum.

Good filling stodge,Sparkers Have also got some quorn out of the freezer.

DD2 is veggie & last time I did a bolognese sauce, really long & slow in te slo-cooker with loads of veggeis & passata we all thought it as nice if not nicer than the meat one. Usually tastes like cotton wool to me!
It all mushed down to a tomato-y sauce which was nice.

Made pancakes and maple syrup for brunch
I have meal planned up until a week Wednesday - total cost £45 planned around the freezer.
Took the DC and dog for a massive walk today then came back via the playground
We have just had roast pork from the freezer (reduced joint - £1.45)

Total spend today - £0

I have lots of frozen veg in the freezer. All I can think of doing is veggie curries w patak-type sauces. Any better ideas?

Going well. Had haircut yesterday but have spurned the semi-permanent colour I normally have and changed hairdresser - only £20 compared to £60 - and next time will be £12 because I know now to wash my hair first and avoid the £8 charge!
Beach again today with friends and back to ours for lunch. Was a weird lunch - leftover (from freezer) Christmas canapes and cherry tomatoes but still no money spent on cafe lunches which has to be good.

Total spend yesterday £20
Total spend today £0

For anyone needing to reduce the price of their landline/internet - I looked online and talk talk were offering the same package that I am on with BT but cheaper - I didn't really want to change as I couldn't be arsed with it so I rang BT and told them if they couldn't price match I would flounce cancel. Surprise surprise they matched it saving me 13.00 per month

I always do the same with my car and house insurance, it's worth shopping around for sure.

No slip ups here so far. Had to buy a few bits of food but kept my spending down.

The real test will come this week when I'm back at work.

3.4yo DD has finally cracked potty training so that's saved a few quid. She'll need them for night-time for some time yet but 7 a week is better than 5 a day.

Evening all - well, not the best start to the New Year, as DH's pay hasn't gone in

It had better clear on Tues otherwise we're going to be overdeawn due to direct debits going out. It's too late for me to transfer money from savings accounts too as that won't clear in time, so we'll have to hope for the best. On the plus side we have some money left in there, not enough to cover the DD's but enough for me to go shopping tomorrow.

I'm going to Ikea to buy a highchair - the cheapy Antilop one. I have one already but need another for my twins. Can I make it round Ikea and only come out with a highchair? Now there's a challenge!

Daily spend today £1 something on milk. We've had a sociable couple of days but I fed my NYE guests on turkey curry, and today's guests on left over buffet stuff from Xmas, plus a turkey flan. Turkey Pie for tea tonight - can you spot the common theme here?

Wish me luck for Ikea tomorrow - I WILL stay strong!

Resisted urge for fish and chips for tea tonight and did home madies from the freezer instead. Cost £5.99 box of M&S haddock and the price of 3 spuds and a couple of handfuls of Tesco mixed veg rather than £12 at the (rather posh) chippy. Put £5.00 in the holiday cash tin and think that's not a bad start to the year. To the poor poster with freezer trouble, can you claim on the house insurance for wrecked food? Will do meal plan for next week tomorrow. Determined to only spend on fresh stuff. Luckily only DH birthday in Jan (covered). Good luck all!

I'm in. Aiming to use up ALL the food in the freezer this month. It's packed! IThere's been loads of bargains at Tescos over Christmas and I have been bulk buying! The thing is, there's no room for any more so I'm going to concentrate on eating it now. Have meal planned this week and don't need a trip to the supermarket at all.

RidingITMB that 0845 thing is a great tip, thanks! I'll definately use that website.

riding re your excess veg.....veggie chilli? Vegetable soup?

I was making veg curry the other day & also (while oven was on) making soup. Put a spoonful of tikka masala paste in the butternut & sweet potato mix.......yummmy!! Will do that again.

Am impressed by others efforts, well done all,you're very inspiring!

Jojay bummer about your husbands pay you should be able to transfer up to £250 by instant transfer tonight (to go first thing tomorrow) from any other account you have. Might just stop you going overdrawn? Hope it goes in tomorrow. If not see if his work will pay the charges if it's their fault!

Bossybritches - done that already It won't be enough though, unfortunately.

Yes, I was thinking about asking his employer to cough up if necessary - we'll see

Damn, sorry just a thought......bloody right ask for his charges to be reimbursed.

Thump the bosses desk & say " fuckit this is a MN No-Spend January we CAN'T go overdrawn"

He will quake & write a cheque. Sorted.

JoJay, I went to Ikea once and spent something like £3

I knew what I wanted - some of their plastic cutlery for kids - and just treated it like a normal shop. Was AMAZED at my self-control

Secondcoming, you have made me think about the whole idea of shopping elsewhere agian. I tend to do the main bulk of my shop in Tesco. There is an Iceland in my local town though. I know they do lots of really cheap deals, (like the Frubes one you mentioned). My nearest Aldi is a 20 minute drive away so I have to consider petrol too. But, DH has to drive there on the way home from work. He hates food shopping, but needs must! I could get him to stop off once a week for fresh stuff.

One reason I like using Tesco is that I rely quite heavily on Clubcard points. Is this a faulse economy? We're going to France with friends in the Summer (first proper holiday for some time) and I was thinking of using clubcard points for the Eurostar. Maybe about £60 in clubcard points as opposed to £240 cash. Seems like a fab saving, but would I be better off shopping elsewhere and just saving the spare cash?

Jezabelle, me too. I dont have an Aldi near me, so rely a lot on Tesco and really value my points. But, having read this thread, I've booked an online shop from Asda. Will see how much cheaper it works out. I will miss the points - it's worth using them for petrol, though.

Excellent plan Bossy - I shall start perfecting the desk thump right away

CJ - glad to know it can be done. I'll report back later

Jojay - tell yourself you're beating the system

Marking my place too

Thing is about IKEA you can be all hard hearted & just go straight past all the furniture & bigger bits to,say, the kiddies dept for cutlery. But the feckers get me at the Market Place bit on the way out where there is ALWAYS something that is just what you need for x,y,z. Blinkers are needed!!

That said, last time I went to IKEA I was how much things had gone up so even those useful little storage boxes are not the bargain they once were! I think I got away with less than a £20 spend.

Luckily it's a good hour away so I can't justify the petrol so that's out for now.

I need to join in with this because my daily trips to the supermarket are costing me a fortune.
I had my sainsbury's order delivered on Saturday morning and with a top up next weekend it should provide meals for two weeks.
DD2 needs new school shoes today and we need some more bread rolls but that is it. I didn't spend anything yesterday because I didn't leave the house.