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

Have you been rolling everything up @BigSkies22? I'm getting rid of loads myself but not sure whether I can face the rolling up of what's left! I took 5 big bags of mine and DC's clothes and shoes to cash4clothes today and made £12 - spent £3.50 of it on some big knickers from M&S - it was an ESSSENTIAL buy, I've been dreaming of comfy knickers since I put on a stone in the last year and all mine now cut in loads. Best £3.50 I've spent in years I think!

So this month - £0.00 so far (except food, petrol and comfy knickers)

£11 on newsprint here (paper and two magazines), so a fail. On the other hand no expensive new glasses as the optician has cancelled my eye test and couldn’t fit me in till late February. I really need to find a new optician.

Thank you @Invasionofthegutsnatchers! We'll see how we go for the second half of NSJ..

No, @specialsauceI haven't folded and stacked, except for tights and socks, which already have their own boxes inside drawers. I hang jumpers, for easy access in winter, don't really own t-shirts, so I haven't followed MK in all respects. But her advice to have your items hanging heavy to lightweight, left to right in the wardrobe is oddly pleasing. Maybe it's just the change - I was doing it the other way round before.

DS a reluctant clothes declutterer, but he has agreed that I can sell the huge box of Lego in the storage cupboard. Does anyone know of a good platform/method? I assume I'll sell by weight.

Met a friend for a walk and hot chocolate today - money came out of my allotted 'coffee with friends' pot and was £5.95 for a medium hot choc and a pastry.

Total non-essential spend in 2022 so far is £43.05. £25 of this was Christmas money so sort of doesn't count...?

Also joined the make £10 a day thread today so am looking at bringing some more income in on the side too!

I've spent £5 today topping up my lottery account in the hope of a win
I've decided what I'm keeping from my next parcel and it's one pair of Chelsea boots at the moment for £44. However I forgot I'd ordered another pair for choice, they arrived after I'd taken the labels etc off the first pair and I prefer the second
I'll hang onto them for now. I have however decided to return a teddy coat I was very very tempted to keep which was £44 so I'm proud of that self control!

A no spend day! Yay 😀

DrRamsesEmerson I get free newspapers and magazines on my tablet through library digital app

Hello, good housekeeping, cycling weekly, bbc food and subscription newspapers all free

Haven't been totting it up as I go but I'm on track to break-even this month which is nothing short of a miracle!

(Jan is always a super-expensive month in our house - dregs of Christmas spending carrying over + DS son's birthday presents, birthday party and cake + DS's swimming lessons due, DS guitar lessons due and car MOT and service due.)

But barring emergencies - I'll still be in the black. Amazing!!

Thanks for the tip, ivykaty: unfortunately they're for three people so having them on the tablet isn't very practical - and it's the Economist and New Scientist, so not sure they'd be on the library app.

and it's the Economist and New Scientist, so not sure they'd be on the library app

Yeah there both on my library app, both free to read.

@ivykaty44 that app sounds great - what is it called?

Gemster19 You’ll need to find out from your own library, I don’t know which app your local library will use as there are more than one app and not all libraries use the same apps

Took ds out for payday dinner last night. Its a hard habit to break, especially as we've been on skint rations. My main course was a disaster so they halved the bill!!

Yesterday I was in the office so spent £8 on my commute, otherwise it as a no spend day. Our pastry supplier dropped round some surplus loaves of bread so we have free bread for the weekend!
Today will definitely be a nsd, dd was sick in the night and still not feeling her best. We have loads of laundry to catch up on now as we all ended up needing a change of pjs and bedding at around 3am

Hope your DD is OK @CheeseMaiden

Thank you @Invasionofthegutsnatchers, she’s feeling a bit sorry for herself but is definitely on the mend.
Spent £1 on chocolate biscuits as a reward for getting through the worst of the laundry

We had a no spend week! (Other than the weekly food shop)

However today we spend £8 on tulip bulbs because DS is desperate to grow them for his granny.

And £1 in a carpark. £5 in the shop on teabags and chocolate

We’re doing ok. But electricity is now costing us about £2 a day. It used to be about £1.30ish (only a few weeks ago!)

£16 in Sainsbury's today on food - mostly brands I can't buy in Aldi, and green lentils, which Aldi didn't have this week. £4.30 on the weekend FT.

DH bought 2 picture frames from Etsy this morning - £35 - for a little project we've had on the list for a while. I'm not counting it because it's neither my personal account nor the joint account and DH is not bought into the NSJ. Genius! I could just get him to buy the inessentials that I'm craving (I don't possess summer sandals - and summer will come - does that mean they could count as essentials?? ) and it wouldn't count! Not really!

Anyway, the frames should arrive in 10-14 days, so that gives me time to get the paintbrushes out and tidy up the wall on which the pictures, when framed, will hang. And perhaps this practical achievement will distract me from thoughts of New Stuff.

Thanks @ivykaty44 I didn't realise it was linked to your local library - I'll have to find out!

Tomorrow I'm planning to make a huge pot of healthy veg soup. Leek, potato, spinach, broccoli etc. Then freeze portions. I'll sit and chop at the kitchen table and it won't take too long to cook. I'm craving soup at the moment.

Veg soup made. Lots of extra portions for the freezer. The whole family liked it!

Another NSD

Dog walking and looking round the makers market. Now baking banana bread to go with coffee on our next walk

Hopefully tomorrow I can get a hat trick

Our local library doesn’t do the app .

NSD here, but £94 in the supermarket yesterday on food for the week and loo roll.

Well a fail for me today. Took GS and his girlfriend to football where GS was playing. It was freezing so on the way back we stopped and had McDonalds. So that was £23 I'm down.

Spent £3.30 all weekend - result! That was on a fancy loaf of bread from the farmers market to go with home made soup (I have also made a batch for the week). We had some real salted butter left from Christmas which needed to be used up too so a nice crusty loaf was required. YUM!
Food shop came on Saturday - £79.80 for the week, hoping we won't need to top up as I also got some part baked rolls which should see us through. I have a decently stocked pantry and all the cleaning products and loo roll I need for the month so it is a lot lower than usual.
If we keep this up I think we will have £250 left in the joint account at the end of the month - this is a rare thing!