No spend January

[ivykaty44]

anyone up for a no spend January?

just the normal utilities, food shopping and transport costs

then put the purse/wallet away and don't spend till February

a good way to rebalance the balance after xmas

Arghh now I fancy fish and chips too! I've got an ancient battered haddock in the freezer and a tin of mushy peas - if I cut up my own chips it'll have to do!

Selling: people by fitness stuff in January! Thinking of putting my Tacx smart trainer on ebay . . .

At what point do I cut my losses and donate my unwanted clothes to charity? I have listed some on ebay and vinted but the whole process overwhelms me. Its the the quite literally coming face to face with my out of hand spending habit I am committed to a no buy year re clothes but just struggling with all the photographing, uploading and listing?

Sorry to be a moan!

I've got loads of stuff in the freezer but the only fishy things I have is a packet of Sainsburys Taste the Difference chunky fish fingers. Maybe fish finger sandwich for lunch? The torrential rain is controlling my urge to go and buy fish.

@HoulYourWhist

At what point do I cut my losses and donate my unwanted clothes to charity? I have listed some on ebay and vinted but the whole process overwhelms me. Its the the quite literally coming face to face with my out of hand spending habit I am committed to a no buy year re clothes but just struggling with all the photographing, uploading and listing?

Sorry to be a moan!

Maybe hold on and see how the sales go? I found it very motivating to see the money mounting up when we had a big clear out. It was overwhelming but DH is a hoarder and I made £10k in a year and cleared some stuff. We really need to do it again but he is so unmotivated that it is hard to do much.

@HoulYourWhist

At what point do I cut my losses and donate my unwanted clothes to charity? I have listed some on ebay and vinted but the whole process overwhelms me. Its the the quite literally coming face to face with my out of hand spending habit I am committed to a no buy year re clothes but just struggling with all the photographing, uploading and listing?

Sorry to be a moan!

I am the same. We moved last year and we had a huge clear out. I gave myself a deadline - if I hadn't listed it within 2 weeks I would just get rid. Then once listed if it didn't go in two weeks I took it down and gave it to charity. I made enough to pay the removal company!

Can anyone help you with it? I did all the listing but my DH was charged with packaging and posting as I have a mental block with that.

Sometimes though it is just too much hard work and the benefit of getting rid is greater than the extra cash.

@HoulYourWhist

At what point do I cut my losses and donate my unwanted clothes to charity? I have listed some on ebay and vinted but the whole process overwhelms me. Its the the quite literally coming face to face with my out of hand spending habit I am committed to a no buy year re clothes but just struggling with all the photographing, uploading and listing?

Sorry to be a moan!

I would just try and sell a few special items that are in really good nick and would catch someone's eye: nice dresses, coats, good shoes/boots.

Give all the other stuff (plain clothes, jumpers, jeans etc) to charity and get if off your hands and off your mind. Think of it as donating money to that charity.

If you really need to make a bit of money back take it to a 'cash for clothes' cabin that buys by weight for reasonable quality things. Just google 'cash for clothes'. They usually operate in car parks/recycling centres.

Then just make a resolution not to buy any clothes unless you really really need it! Lesson learned, job done.

(I bought £140 worth of reduced dresses from Topshop last Jan then they went into liquidation. Not one dress of the 12 dresses fits me - I'm going to donate as I can't bear the photgraphing, packaging, posting, feedback etc either - I just don't have time!)

I think deadlines for listing/selling/donating/recycling work well. There's a thread I'm watching at present - Stuff is too hard to get rid of - with lots of motivating posts.

Sorting and decluttering your possessions is apparently strongly linked with reducing spending. It's something to do with knowing what you already have (so you don't buy unnecessarily, and duplicate) and appreciating it (so you don't buy for emotional reasons, to satisfy an itch of some kind).

Anyway, £8 on sourdough bread for the freezer this morning. £2.50 on butter and milk. £8 on a brow mascara thingy - arguably not essential, but I have been eking out the last one for weeks. Was hoping to pick up some navy mending wool to fix a jumper that's been on the to-do rail for ages, but the shop was shut. Paid the final balance on my 20-21 tax bill and have transferred my first deposit of the year to my emergency fund account.

Thames Water have reduced our monthly payments from £30 to...£29! Princely! But we began 2021 with a monthly charge of £37, so it's not a bad change when compared with 12 months ago. The benign neglect of watering the garden this year has paid off.

I’m a little late to the party but counting myself in as well. Like others, we spent a fortune in the few months before and including Christmas. We were having renovations done so spent a fortune on convenience food or eating out. Really need to get back in an even keel if we’ve any hope of putting money into savings. I work part time but on a low wage.

I think for me it’s about not buying anything which I already have some alternative for. I went to the supermarket this morning and mindlessly picked up some Brie (yum) £2.25, walked off down the next aisle and realised we’ve still plenty of cheese left over from Christmas. Actually made myself put it back, as no need for it.

So I’ll be saving as much as possible by always using up things we already have.

Good luck to everyone for a low spent month!

@ivykaty44 good point!

I have a spreadsheet and I have sorted out my budget, food shopping tomorrow and I aim to spend no more than £70. I shop at Aldi so I'm sure it's doable.

Freezer is going down nicely and I'm having some extremely random things for lunches

We're nearly a third through the month that's what I've convinced myself and I'm really positive we can do it.

My freezer is full to bursting and I have very well stocked cupboards and no January birthdays so I am up for the challenge.

Making home made veg soup and eating with a French stick. Helps me lose a few lbs in weight too.

I’ve gone and spent £6.10, dd2 and I went for coffee after a 4 mile walk 🙈

Need to change the dollars I have left from US trip I had, found those this morning on an app I have.

NSD today here. Taking down Christmas decs with dds with DDs, and watching films whilst enjoying delicious 'leftover' soup: half a cabbage abd half an onion sauteed in butter with 2 chopped rashers of streaky bacon, 2 diced potatoes, white pepper, mustard powder, a tin of butter beans, 2 pints of stock from the Christmas turkey, and half a pint of milk. Blitzed with the stick blender till velvety smooth. Delicious - DDs even asked for seconds

Just found a cheque for £16 from last year! So I hope I can still cash it in!

Definitely going into town tomorrow. Free shopping and cashing in cheques!! What’s there not to like?

woodlandarchitect

What date is on the cheque?

With my bank I just photographed checks on the banking app on my phone, no need to go to the bank to deposit

Good work here. £60 essential lidl weekly shop. £9 on pet supplies but I used a 30% off voucher and it will last ages.

Total January spend so far £27.15 not including food and utilities

@BigSkies22 I am going to take a leaf out of your book and sort my wardrobe this weekend.
When we moved I just shoved everything into the wardrobe and I know I am missing some items which I assume have made it into the loft. I will find that box as I know it has some winter clothes in that I really need now it is so cold. I have been tempted by some new jumpers recently but I know I have more somewhere.
Plus I am going to start wearing thermals when WFH to reduce the energy bill.

Many thanks for all your helpful advice re selling decluttering clothes. I'm going to take a bit of everyone's advice and set a 2 week deadline for listing and selling. Focus on the nicer stuff and take the rest to charity. I like the idea of viewing that as a donation to charity rather than beating myself up on "wasting" money. So thank you all.

In other news, today was my first NSD (the torrential rain helped! )

Better day today - no spend except for a prescription charge for my inhaler.

@BigSkies22, the play was Rattigan’s While the Sun Shines. Wife of Willesden sounds really interesting though!

@DrRamsesEmerson do you use the perception subscription? it can work out cheaper if you get a few prescriptions over the year

NSD here as expected but I’ve spent most of the afternoon in hospital as I collapsed and there was a worry about having a stroke.

I’m 35 getting better now. Wasn’t a stroke thankfully.

But I feel really low about my health and career.

@Creditcardshame - well, the insight into the link between decluttering and spending isn't mine (Tara Button's book A Life Less Throwaway is good on this, and very practical on how to declutter too - but there are many blogs, videos, books out there) but if you are motivated by it, I'm happy!

We're coming up to our 9th anniversary in this house, which is the longest I've spent anywhere since I turned 18. Even though I don't think in terms of 'forever homes', I suppose I finally feel very settled here, and that does something in terms of feeling confident about possessions - 'this I can keep, I love it and use it. This I can safely get rid of, if I need it again in future, I can buy it, I can take care of that need if and when it arises.'

Sorry, didn't mean to get all woo. It's funny where thoughts of money, saving, spending take you!

Jeez @Woodlandarchitect - just read your post after posting mine. So sorry, that must be such a worry. I do hope you feel better soon. Can you talk to a personal coach about your career? would your professional association be able to put you in contact with anyone? and are you getting support for your health?

Anyway, best wishes.

Get well soon @Woolandarchitect