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

So I needed a shop yesterday, have managed most of the month on milk/bread type top ups. I spent £40 and a few pence in M&S and paid with a giftcard, then went and spent money in Sainsburys, £17.11.

So this month other than Topcashback giftcards and Prolific money and normal direct debits I have spent:

£85 on annual breakdown cover
£40 A level school stuff for GS
£60 (I think) on petrol
and £17 Sainsbury's shop

GS had a half day at school yesterday due to teachers having a meeting or something so I still haven't topped up his school dinner account. I will have to do it on Monday but that is OK as my pension goes in on Monday so that will come out of February's money.

So only just broke the £200 barrier. Next month should be good as I won't need the petrol, breakdown cover or Council tax and I still have £85 in giftcards. I won't have much from Prolific by the look of it as my studies have dried up.

I'm going to try and talk to DH about Sky TV, I don't think we need it, I watch netflix and amazon but for some reason he likes to have Sky and they have just bumped it up £9 a month and I think it needs to stop.

I will hopefully be transferring £400 to a savings account on Monday and leaving a bit in the current account, actually I can't add £250 to that as I don't have council tax to pay on Tuesday so it will be nice to see £650 going into savings after Christmas spending.

thank you for the congratulation - its my first grandchild so very exciting. Rushed out to Cribbs Causeway to buy baby blue boy clothing, blue balloons, flowers & champagne as gender was a surprise on birth.

I won’t be able to do the tax thingy but it sounds really good!!

This thread has definitely kept me on the straight and narrow ish.

We were £900 down in January due to my hours being cut at work. And we haven’t even gone into overdraft yet. We have £125 at the moment to last until Monday and I’m absolutely bloody overjoyed that we managed it.

Which now makes me realise I’ve pissed £900 + up a wall every month for the last few years and I’m now going to be much more aware of our finances.

My new aim is to pay off half our credit card debt in 6 months! So I’m going to maintain frugality

I don’t even get paid until the end of February so I’m definitely keen for a super frugal February

Nice savings @ancientgran!
I have just been to M&S and spent £36 on ready-made/oven ready food - a chicken curry, two kinds of dahl (will do our own rice and use up yoghurt, breads and cucumber for sides); a slow-cooked beef (add potatoes, broccoli and carrots); a slow-cooked lamb shoulder (ditto); a couple of tubs of Thai chicken soup; a 3 for £7 on deli ham and chicken; naice biscuits. This is very rare for me to do, but December and January seem to have been a never-ending stream of food prep and I need a break! this will get us through to Feb 1st/2nd. Plenty in the cupboards in terms of pasta, rice, tins. Joint account now close to empty - enough for the weekend FT. But we shouldn't need to spend anything now until the next month's contributions go in.

I haven't totted up all food expenditure yet - I will do this and see where I can make savings without people feeling too deprived or me having to work hard every day on cooking. But I am pleased that I've kept enough of an eye on everything that we've been able to pay for the boiler service, the house insurance renewal, the dog's anal glands, one takeaway, and a few little bits for the house on top of our usual bills.

And yes, another vote here for a frugal February and another thread. I need to find train fares to Devon out of my personal account and I have all sorts of plans for the (as yet unrealised) savings I am going to find out of the joint account!!

@Woodlandarchitect - that's really brilliant insight into your spending. A great way to end the month!

Thank you @BigSkies22

Well after years of saying Sky was a waste of money DH suddenly agreed today. I was a bit taken aback, then spend 30 minutes on hold to Sky and got through to a very helpful young man and it is cancelled in 31 days. I have a payment to make in Feb but only a small payment as I only paid last week. That will be £600 a year saving for no effort at all. Really pleased as it will help with the increase in gas/electric in April.

One thing I've realised is I've put nothing in the foodbank collection this month, mainly because I've barely been in the supermarket. So in February I do intend to buy a few bits for them every week. I know there are people worse off than I am.

Roll on frugal Feb.

I thoroughly failed my no spend Jan - definitely need a February thread!! Will be reporting back much more frequently to keep me accountable.

I did ok, if I had to score myself I'd give 6/10.
Would definitely like todo better in February!

I’m trying to persuade my DH to give up sky too @ancientgran! We haven’t been using it recently, only Netflix and Prime and to be honest, we don’t even get time with 2 small DC to watch half of what we fancy!

My budget runs 20th - 20th which is a bit annoying. So far it’s not going toooooo badly this month and the vast majority of spends really have been essential. We did buy 18 bottles of our fave wine because it was on offer and then for every 6 bottles you buy you get another 5% off - arguably non-essential……!

Fingercrossed for you @hughfurrywit. I actually feel so pleased to have stopped that waste. Not like changing money but it just irritated me.

I've made a couple of changes for our January pay cheques.
Currently, we pay into a 'food pot' (which is basically our joint expenses we don't put bills through this) I've increased each of our contributions slightly to allow for our dogs monthly groom cost and our weekly cleaner (not frugal but my god helpful to my MH and I'm positive I spend less because of how much nicer the house feels)

Then I'm drawing £100 a week out, which is everything we can spend. I am aiming for £60/£70 and putting the £40/£30 to one side weekly. I'm pregnant and going onto maternity allowance in July so I will put the £30/£40 back into the account at this stage and hopefully it'll take the stress of of us slightly when we're pretty much single income. I think this will increase accountability for us both, we do have the money for top ups takeaways etc but I want to get more into the mindset of you can only spend each £ once.

Im also going to draw out my 'treat money' and manage on cash for that, maybe not permanent but to allow for accountability in that too. Anything I don't spend out of this pot again put to one side to go back in before baby this will allow for treats once baby has arrived / an increase in times the cleaner comes perhaps if need be.

@hughfurrywit - maybe put that discount on wine into a savings account? make sure you really see it and don't spend it?

You've all done really well 👏🏻👏🏻
I've had some additional spends this week - bought some medication dispensers as I keep forgetting to take my meds at the right time. Also went to a sports event last night and had to spend 3.20 on parking as my usual free one was full. And I had my hair cut yesterday- £28, plus a fiver tip as I was so pleased with it - slightly different style (now got a fringe!) but it's made me feel so much better.
I'm definitely up for continuing the frugality as I'm looking at dropping my hours at work.

A no spend day here today. £79 in Aldi yesterday which will last a week for the four of us. We went to get the kids measured for new shoes but no change so no need for new ones. Then a go on the playground and a walk which we all enjoyed. When the weather is like this it’s so tempting to say let’s go out for lunch instead but it can easily be £50+ for a meal for four now. Or if cheaper like McDonalds, it’s obviously not so healthy so only once in a while. It probably cost around £2 worth of Aldi ingredients to make a wrap each, crisps, fruit and some smarties left from Christmas!

Big food shop arriving tomorrow £120 (out of budget of £400 for the month) but full of staples which will be used all month.
Spent £8 on passport photos for DD as we are going to Spain for a week in May (MIL is paying!) and her passport expires in October- but she will need 6 months on it. All budgeted for though.

Well today was supposed to be a NSD but the GC wanted pancakes for breakfast and by the time I made them and thought about yorkshires for dinner I thought I had better get some milk when I dropped GS off at football. Well Lidl tempted me and I couldn't resist. GS who lives with me loves Peperamis, his go to snack after football or school but I think £2.75 for a pack of 5 is ridiculous so how could I resist when I see them at £1.49 for a pack. I bought 4 packs and I've hidden 3 at the back of the cupboard and they will be useful for half term when he snacks so much so I've spent £5.94 I didn't need to spend but it will save me £5.04 next month.

Overall very happy with the month and looking forward to February and seeing what I can put away.

Lots of really good results so I think we will be going into February with a spring in our steps.

Totted up food, basic toiletries and cleaning products spend for the month and it came to £455. That includes one takeaway, a 'convenience shop' at M&S, but excludes additional bits and pieces that DH and DS have spent on food when they had a yen for something from the local Caribbean takeaway or work lunches. Their money, their choice. Another £49 for food for the dog, but that will last into next month.

So it works out more or less as £5 per person per day (we had DS with us until 20 Jan and his girlfriend for the first week of the month). i could shave it a bit - buy less expensive bread for example, avoid the top-ups from Sainsbury's and go to Aldi instead. I will keep monitoring it.

In other frugal news, I began on the redecoration of DS' bedroom project this weekend. Still very much at the grunt work part of the task - filling and sanding, loads of dust, not much reward, ugh. I'm happy to be saving money on labour costs for decorating, and as renovation cost go, you don't get much cheaper than a pot of paint. (I will think about how to afford the new chest of drawers and curtains that I also have planned, later!)

Still on it, not bought anything unnecessary.
Feel good

Today is payday! 🙌🏻 we made it without going into overdraft - no idea how?!

Spends today are planned: £34 Primark
£15 Amazon, and £10 Co Op.

I think the rest of the week month will be NSD’s and our weekly shop will be back to usual £75ish as we need detergent, cleaning products and we’ve run the freezer / cupboard right down!

Yipppeeeee

Big Feb spends:
£30 on Dulux UPVC paint
£30 on self cleaning masonry paint

I may be an architect but I’m doing up my house and outbuildings on a budget. We can’t all have timber cladding, bespoke slate tiles and glass balustrades

Well done everyone! We have made it through January (which is an achievement itself!). Had a bit of a spendy Saturday and spent £20 on lunch for me and DH, that’s our treat for the month and we are back to the budgeting.

Happy new month!
New budget starts today. After budgeting for birthday presents I have £100 left to spend on non essentials this month.
My weakness is coffee shops. I did well last month and really, really reduced my spending there but it is so easy (and tempting!) to slip back.
I am taking my dad out next week and we will probably have lunch out - he will probably pay but I do need to be ready to pay for myself (he has dementia and can be funny about money). Other than that I am meeting two friends for coffee and cake next week which will be £10 max.
Half term is accounted for in joint essential spending.

I CAN DO THIS!