Happy new year, all. Great thread, can I join? I have some non-negotiable expenses, mostly related to DS who is in his first year at university (hall fees, helping him pay off purchase of an e-bike) and a 0% credit card balance to pay off by October. My goal is to clear the debts and build up an emergency fund of at least £1k by September, and, separately, put away extra money for DS' second year rent. So - to kick off my good intentions, this is how January is shaping up so far.
Dry January for both me and DH (I'm actually having a dry year, and hoping to persuade DH to do at least 100 days, but January makes it sound more manageable).
Noting down all food and cleaning supplies expenditure and making every effort to use stuff up. Already shop at Aldi, butcher, greengrocer, cook from scratch, freeze, meal plan - but this did go awry somewhat last year, so recommitting to being hyper-vigilant again this year.
Managed to cut house insurance costs when I renewed today - £299 for building and contents, plus some specified items away from the home, plus legal cover and home breakdown. Pet insurance will go up by £2 per month this month, but I've searched and this one is the best I can find for the level of cover we want.
I ditched the gym membership during the first lockdown and have managed to stick to walking and home workouts. Managed a no-buy year on clothes last year, and am going to try again this year (though really tempted by the Cos sale today! Nice shirt at half-price and I would wear it a lot. Sigh.)
Last year I joined ShowFilmFirst, which gives you free or very discounted tickets to theatre, film, music, talks. Will keep an eye on that - and make more use of free entry exhibitions. We're in London and made a start by visiting the Turners at Tate Britain today. Paid for transport obviously but swerved the tea room. We've got theatre tickets for Saturday, but those were paid for last year.
No new books but read/reread what we have and use the library.
I switched banks to Santander last year, and so should get £130 reward in February. I joined Prolific and TopCashBack last year so got a bit extra there.
My real weakness is stuff for the house - we're decorating, I'm very interiors-obsessed right now, and Pinterest is brimming with lovely things. I'm going to try and satisfy that urge by using up paint supplies where I can, and repurposing picture frames and making things look better with cleaning and decluttering and generally pimping what we have!