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

Not sure where I've posted up to so may repeat myself 🤪
Saturday was no spend as I stayed home all day. Was also good with using up food in the fridge and sticking to my SlimmingWorld plan.
Sunday I took some stuff back to Next and went shopping. Spent £66 in Morrisons which should see us through the week. Evening at a birthday event so spent £20 on a present and £24 on food and drinks. No spend today which is just as well as I got a text from the bank saying I was overdrawn. Good job I get paid tomorrow.
Did browse Amazon tonight as I'm looking for an acrylic storage jar for bath salts, but thought they were all too expensive. Also dodged buying the latest Liane Moriarty as I begrudge paying £9 for a book. Will see if the library stock it instead.
Loving the paperwork organisation ideas 🤓

End of month in sight! £3 on bus fares, £2 on marmite toast breakfast yesterday. Avoided the florist (but will probably visit on Friday). Pasta dinner with DH last night, made a lemon drizzle cake. Fish, mash and broccoli tonight. I need to go to the zero waste shop and top up on washing up liquid, laundry liquid and white vinegar. It's not a cheaper option but it's a small gesture away from plastic.

Today I"m going to start on decluttering DS' bedroom ahead of the great redecorate. This will involve expense at some point, but I can do a lot of it myself (famous last words). I have podcasts lined up to entertain me while I work.

This month I"ve managed to pay off £686 of debt, save £100, and I will have some left in my account and the joint account after all expenses dealt with. I will use any excess that remains on the 31st to get ahead of my debt repayment schedule, which is not the most exciting use of money, but probably wise.

My heads a whirlwind and I have no idea where I’m at!

I started my job sooner than planned! So I’ve been all over the place but I’m hoping I might get paid a little bit at the end of January!

I’m looking forward to my first full pay at the end of February! Have to keep being frugal though.

Oh here’s a frugal win! Concert mid 2020 pandemic was cancelled and I realised I didn’t get a refund so I emailed the theatre and they refunded me!! £104 which I had forgotten about and has gone to the credit card! Ideal. And can’t believe they hadn’t automatically issued refunds. Cheeky!!

Weekly shop now includes quicker meals, packed lunches and breakfasts to keep me going in my new job. So my shop came to £74! I normally use Sainsbury’s but this week I used Tesco and I’m shocked as they’re much more expensive! I always assumed Tesco was cheaper but they aren’t. (Not sure if this is a regional thing!)

I must add that the tickets to the concert were booked in 2019. Cannot believe they didn’t automatically issue my refund when it was cancelled in 2020

@Woodlandarchitect wow! That's a great win. How is the job going? I am in the throes of changing jobs - final interview next week, eeek! Scary as I have been in the same job for 10 years.

I spent £6 yesterday on some craft materials for the DC's term project. I am determined to get this done before half term as we usually leave it until the last minute.

Today I am going to a show at our local theatre - tickets booked two years ago and we finally get to go. Will have to pay for parking but I will take some water with me and avoid the interval snacks. My friends are meeting before for dinner but I am going to avoid it and save the £££.

Pay day on Friday and for the first time in over a year we are not scrabbling around for money. It feels good!

I think Tesco is only cheaper now if you have a club card - I hate the two tier pricing and so avoid Tesco.

@Creditcardshame it’s very daunting switching job but so worth it. I have a lot to learn (software is brand new) and I find it harder to learn new skills the older I get! But wow - I’m literally over joyed with my new job / hours and pay! And my new colleagues are so lovely.

It’ll definitely be the last time I shop at Tesco that’s for sure. Couldn’t believe it!

Nearly made it to the end of the month, frivolous spending for me so far totals £18 from an Avon order I made last month. That's it though, I'm so pleased with myself, no clothes, shoes or bits and bobs.

I think I'm going try and continue it through February too, I've sorted through loads of cupboards, repurposing things and finding clothes/shoes I'd forgotten about.

House and mind much clearer!

Glad the job is going well, new jobs are a bit nerve wracking.

I've had my hair cut and coloured this morning so feeling quite good about that. I'm hoping to have a NSD otherwise and if I can manage it I won't be spending anything tomorrow, I'm passing M&S and Thursday so plan to go in and spend some of my giftcard money and buy some nice food for the weekend as we have visitors and I'm really trying to get through to 1st Feb without actually touching any of my pension/wages money. Slight problem as I just checked GSs school account and I looks like I will have to top that up before the 1st Feb but as there is half term in February I think a normal top up a few days early will still get him through the whole of February so I will try to ignore that one. I could just put £5 to get to the 1st but I think I might as well just do the Feb top up a couple of days early.

Congratulations @BigSkies22, that is a brilliant result you must be so happy with paying so much off.

@Woodlandarchitect - great start to new job, fantastic! can you say what kind of practice it is/sort of clients or is that too outing? Anyway, hope it continues well. Aldi is where you can save ££s on your supermarket shop! give it a whirl if one is convenient. I can't believe how much I save by shopping there.

@ancientgran - enjoy your lovely hair and M&S food. Yes, I am happy to making inroads on the debt. It's all at 0% and it wasn't incurred in pursuit of anything frivolous, but I shall be pleased to get shot of it all.

Thanks everyone!

@BigSkies22 i can say it’s more agricultural than new builds and I love it because it suits my style (as per my name!) haha

Started strong and then spiralled into lots and lots of clothes spending(!). But I've written down every single purchase in my bullet journal, and have sold half my wardrobe and balanced out the money spent/items owned. It's kicked me up the butt to do a proper no spend February and stick to budgeted areas of spend for the rest of the year. Hopefully this month has got it out my system!

Overall January hasn't been too bad. Could really do with frugal February to be honest so hopefully will manage that still have some January salary left which is positive.

A few NSD here, just money on the commute. We have almost finished eating all the odds and ends in the freezer- yesterday I accidentally had gravy for lunch rather than soup

February will be officially frugal for our household, DH and I have decided it’s high time we learnt to drive so any spare money will go towards lessons!

@PigeonPigPie - full of admiration for your ability to balance off expenditure and revenue in the same month. Guess you've done this before??

Guess I will have to continue with my frugal ways into next month and beyond. My anticipated expenditure next month (everything - contribution to household expenses, DS rent, debt repayment, all essentials including contact lenses, prescriptions, haircut, unavoidable travel costs) will come to 95% of my income, leaving me £117 for the whole month. Nae problem! After that it drops to around 92%. So tight pursestrings for a good few months but things will ease a bit in April and then by September/October I should have more headroom.

Bring. It. On.

Have painted my nails while watching an episode of Ozark tonight. Am taking the dog to get his anal glands sorted out tomorrow, £20 for the nurse. Decluttered a bookshelf in DS' bedroom today, so the bookshelf can be repurposed/freecycled and the alcove where it was standing can be redecorated and - eventually - used for additional clothes storage.

@BigSkies22 Never! I've been terrible with money since my teens but my approaching mat leave (on rubbish maternity allowance) has spurred me on to start bringing in some extra cash. Was meant to be going into savings but has essentially balanced out my spending instead, which I suppose isn't a complete failure

I thought I had posted on here this morning but I can't see it now!

The theatre was just ok last night, the understudy was on instead of the main person and I don't think they were that well rehearsed. It was nice to see my friends though.
I was good and drove but I parked in the theatre car park - never again!- £10!! The council car park down the road would only have been £2.60 (but not a nice walk at night). I also bought a hot drink because it was so cold in there - perhaps because of ventilation? I had to keep my coat on the whole time.

I have £2.72 left out of my £20 budget for the week and I am determined not to spend more even though I have some extra tucked away. February is such an expensive month for me (4 family birthdays and half term).

I am fine with changing jobs, I don't hate what I do but I have been the same grade (civil service) for years and I need to progress now, my DC are that bit older and I need to focus on me a bit more. Plus the extra money will be handy - I swear everything has gone up in price recently and our previously comfortable budget is looking a bit tight now.

so I had a blip as new baby gs arrived and spent near on £100

but apart from that, ive still been on track, though distracted,

its the 27th and ive not dipped into savings and overall haven't spent much this month

Total £149.22 total spend January

• £100 on baby presents etc

anyone fancy a tax when you spend February?

so each time you spend (on anything but supermarket or fuel) you have to pop £2 in a separate account, see how much we have by the end of the month

Congratulations on the new arrival @ivykaty44! A completely justified expense.

I am not sure I will be able to afford the tax February- payday tomorrow and I have gone through our planned expenses and they leave things quite tight.

Still got my £2.72!

Dog's glands cost £22 plus bus fares. And the vet recommended some dietary supplements to help with,er, evacuation, so will see what I can find on Amazon tonight.

£9 in Sainsbury's yesterday on chicken thighs fruit and veg. Very disappointing chicken thigh dinner. Hoping for better tonight with Spanish omelette and big green salad.

Took three pictures to the framing shop today, but it took so long to work through the line of customers that I didn't manage to get to a decision. I will ring back tomorrow - it's gonna be spendy, always is. However, DH has offered to take on the last 2 payments on something, so that will bring me an extra £280 through Feb and March. So that should go a good way towards this particular project.

Did a free livestream ballet class this afternoon. I am going to feel it everywhere tomorrow.

Treat food from M&S tomorrow, methinks. A couple of those pulled pork type things. I have had enough of cooking this week.

@ivykaty44 congrats!! How exciting!

I had to buy a new backpack and waterproof fleece today for work because I’m literally the coldest mortal on site visits! £40!

I’m losing it with being frugal

@ivykaty44 - lovely news! and also - incredible low spend. Is that all your essentials this month?

@ivykaty44 congratulations on the new arrival! I'm in for a taxing February!

Congratulations @ivykaty44 such lovely news!

I don’t think I have the spare funds for a February tax, I got paid today and only had £2.97 left in my account on Thursday (although a win for me as I didn’t go into my overdraft this month and managed to pay off my credit card)

Definitely up for a Frugal February though

@Creditcardshame I’m going to follow your lead and go through next month’s planned expenses. Do you find it helps keep on track?

@CheeseMaiden well, we only started doing it this month but, yes, it has definitely stopped the frittering. Christmas was an eye opener for us.

On paper we have plenty of money and we shouldn't be scrabbling around at the end of the month but we just weren't being honest with ourselves with what we spend.
Between us we have £750 a month spending money (on paper!) but often we would run out because something unexpected cropped up and we hadn't budgeted properly. Also the way we split our money wasn't working as I ended up bearing more of the cost of DC than DH.

We now have a spreadsheet for the year with planned expenses on so we can see what we will need and when - for example we have half term this month and the DC will need to go to holiday club - that's £300 for the week. Then we have 4 family birthdays, usually I would think "oh I need £100 for those" but the reality it I would overspend by £20, then have to get cards and wrapping paper and wouldn't it be nice to take a cake to MIL... before I knew it I would have spent £150.
Even down to haircuts and shoes are on the spreadsheet now.

We have started pots for different expenses, all on the spreadsheet.

In reality we have about £200 a month for unplanned spends, which is absolutely fine, but we need to keep an eye on those little spends - I usually get a coffee and a pastry after school run on a Friday, £4 a week, drinks and snacks after swimming £5 and so on. We each have £100 a month to spend on whatever we want for ourselves which I think is fine.
I have my £2.72 still (out of the £60 I had at the beginning of the month) and get paid today but my new budget starts Monday and so I am going to try to have NSDs this weekend - we are visiting MIL (her birthday is next week) and so we shouldn't have any unplanned spends - we have got her a small present from the DC (DH doesn't do presents with his family) and we are baking a cake to take with us but other than that we shouldn't need to spend anything else.

Our joint account is looking healthy for once, we had £200 left over last month just by cutting back on our food shopping.
We even have a small savings pot this month for future planned spending.

Just got to stick to it now!!