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

DrRamsesEmerson

My dd brought home the best smoked salmon ever - buts it’s a whole one & im using it up every day!

Spent £7 on parsley, milk, a newspaper and some apples. Plus some unplanned hot cross buns (DD was with me). Hope that's it for today!

[quote Creditcardshame]@TabithaTittlemouse oh no! I have never tried Lidl. Is Aldi similar? We have one of those reasonably nearby. Do they really save you that much money?[/quote]
I’m not sure as we don’t have an Aldi near us.
I do spend less in Lidl but I do have to top up in Morrisons for free from food occasionally (although I normally just do without!).

I want to join in too. Our household fritters away way too much money. It's not been a problem as we have a very healthy income but I'd like to prioritise saving this year and wasting less, living more ethically.

DP and I had gotten into a habit of having take away coffees each day when working from home with was nearly £8 a go (fancy Starbucks drinks). In November/December I set myself the challenge of not having any take away coffees for 30 days and it was very easy. I want to carry on with that.

I'm trying to have a no spend year I think.

Only buying what we need and seeing if I can get it for free/used first.
Sticking to a food budget. Only having take aways for birthdays of chosen by the birthday child and on holiday.

I want us to start using the library instead of buying books.

A biggie for me is making sure I take packed lunches and snacks into work when not working from home.

I have cancelled all our unused subscriptions I think. At least the ones going out of my account.

I will see if I can get cheaper car insurance.

DC have their birthdays in January/February so I will need to spend some money on that but for DC2 the party, cake, most presents and party bags are already paid for. DC1 just wants a sleep over with a few friends and Dominoes so quite a budget friendly option.

I'm also aiming to use up all the food we have at home first before buying any more.

Should be a NS day today.

Please can I join too? I've got into the habit of (over)spending as DP always says "oh stick it on the credit card" when he wants something... well, sadly the credit card bill has to be paid

A few spends today so far: joined Walk 1000 Miles as part of a fitness challenge, paid for the DC's holiday club as I'm back at work before school starts again, and bought new sticky labels for uniform/ school stuff. The last was of course after having to buy the new uniform and school stuff in the first place. It never stops...

If you are (or intend to be) a regular Lidl customer I have a few tips!

Download (and actually use!) the Lidl plus app. If you spend £100 in a month you receive a £2 coupon, spend £200 (so another £100) and you get a £10 coupon.

Every Thursday there are new coupons for money off various products. At the moment they are quite random but there are plans to improve the app to target the coupons for products that customers buy regularly.

After every shop there is a scratch card game on the app that you can win money off from.

All receipts are stored on the app.

A couple of things to remember.
You have to activate the coupons.

The money off ones only last seven days so you have to spend them quickly.

Spend a minute before you go into the store checking that you've activated everything rather than pissing about with it when it comes time to pay.

Ask the cashier to split your shopping if needs be. For example

You're up to £175 on your Lidl plus and have £50 worth of shopping. Scan and pay for half of it to get your Lidl plus to £200.
Activate the £10 coupon then use that on the rest of the shopping.

Newspapers often have vouchers eg £10 off a £40 spend. MSE are usually quite good for letting you know when these will be.

Reductions tend to be made first thing in the morning, especially on meat and fresh food.

Off topic slightly but if you buy bulky items (dog food, packs of bottled water etc) and it has a big yellow number on it, for the love of god please leave it in the trolley! That's what the numbers are for so that we don't have to risk a hernia dragging them across the scanner.

Fantastic @AlexCabot

I dont celebrate christmas so no lack of cash here but I need to jack up my savings so I think it's going to be a no spend six months.

Day 1 spends
£10 booking for trampoline park tomorrow

Have been busy cleaning, putting Christmas stuff away, had two long walks and am cooking a shepherd's pie tonight. Not tempted to shop online on the sales.

Completely blew the budget yesterday on taking the kids ice skating and on to lunch.

But, I've not spent a penny today (going for pre-booked with voucher) dinner tonight.

And I've finally got round to comparing mobile phone and broadband tarrifs. 3 out-of-contract phones switched to sim-only, one cancelled altogether, broadband renegotiated, in Feb when all the DDs sort themselves out I'll be £95 better off!

1st Jan = £0 no spend day

I'll be £95 better off! is that £95 total or each month?

@Shehasadiamondinthesky

I dont celebrate christmas so no lack of cash here but I need to jack up my savings so I think it's going to be a no spend six months.

Do you do something else instead?

Spent nothing today! Long walk with the dogs on the beach, home made soup for lunch and about to cook a roast dinner. Should be lots of left overs for tomorrow.

No spend day for me too.
I’ve not left the sofa though (no hangover just lazy!).

I've got a new job starting 1st Feb so I needed new clothes in December as thought best to get in the sales. All my office wear was too big I wore prior to lock down. But I've been good and only bought things I need and in the sales. I've got plenty now. Sons bday in January and I've got a night booked away. I'll have extra pay In January with the new/old job cross over so planning on adding that to my savings pot. My weekly shop isn't too bad. I go to the butcher and get 14 items for £40 so it goes miles and practically no fat. I do a store cupboard shop every 3 months for stuff like sauces, pasta, noodles, rice. My cleaning stuff I have on Amazon subscribe and save as I find it cheaper. A huuuuge box of surf was £8.45 the other day. I just cancelled my subscription straight after. We are out the door with toiletries after Xmas! I do meal plan and OH is away for 3 weeks at a time so that helps 😂 packed lunches are the devil though and my kids are pretty much 5 days a week on those 🙄

@ivykaty44

I'll be £95 better off! is that £95 total or each month?

It's per month.

Was paying 2x £45 plus £28 and £11 for the phones in contract.

Swapped one of the £45 phones and the £28 one for £12 contracts (with better data and unlimited calls/texts), cancelled the other £45 altogether (as son has taken a phone in his own name) and the £11 one has renegotiated down to £8 with more data!
The broadband is also out of contract so saved a fiver on the exact same t&cs.

Mental. Why didn't I do this 2 months ago when they all came out if contract?!?

Next stop energy supplier and life insurances.

good luck with the energy suppliers. I checked last night and couldn't find anything cheaper than im on - which is 19p per unit for electric and 4p gas excluding daily charges.

to go to a fixed rate was looking at 27p for electric and gas 9p and that was with the same company im with

Fuuuukit before doing anything with your energy account at the moment make sure you read Martin Lewis. Current advice at the moment is to do nothing

t's per month.

well done - now put that £95 on a standing order at the same time it used to come out, into a savings account. then come next December you'll have over £1k to spend on xmas

@AlexCabot

If you are (or intend to be) a regular Lidl customer I have a few tips!

Download (and actually use!) the Lidl plus app. If you spend £100 in a month you receive a £2 coupon, spend £200 (so another £100) and you get a £10 coupon.

Every Thursday there are new coupons for money off various products. At the moment they are quite random but there are plans to improve the app to target the coupons for products that customers buy regularly.

After every shop there is a scratch card game on the app that you can win money off from.

All receipts are stored on the app.

A couple of things to remember.
You have to activate the coupons.

The money off ones only last seven days so you have to spend them quickly.

Spend a minute before you go into the store checking that you've activated everything rather than pissing about with it when it comes time to pay.

Ask the cashier to split your shopping if needs be. For example

You're up to £175 on your Lidl plus and have £50 worth of shopping. Scan and pay for half of it to get your Lidl plus to £200.
Activate the £10 coupon then use that on the rest of the shopping.

Newspapers often have vouchers eg £10 off a £40 spend. MSE are usually quite good for letting you know when these will be.

Reductions tend to be made first thing in the morning, especially on meat and fresh food.

Off topic slightly but if you buy bulky items (dog food, packs of bottled water etc) and it has a big yellow number on it, for the love of god please leave it in the trolley! That's what the numbers are for so that we don't have to risk a hernia dragging them across the scanner.

Hi, as my name suggests I'm getting on a bit. I use the computer, obviously I'm on here, and I use my phone but I've never got into aps. I've thought about downloading the Lidl app as it is my nearest supermarket and I do use it.

Is the app hard to use? I don't normally have data switched on so would I put that on and open the app and then show it at the checkout?

Sorry if that sounds stupid but I've just never done it.

No spend day for me, I've been sorting out cupboards as I want to save on food shopping as well. The general spends are likely to be easy as DH is mid 70s and vulnerable so we are going to go into a bit of a lockdown for 2 or 3 weeks and hope numbers drop. No going in shops is no temptation.

I was tempted to buy a lottery ticket today, starting the New Year with a big win would be nice but I know the reality is that I'd just be wasting my money so I will wait for my premium bonds to come up next week.

Teenage GS lives with me and is planning a day out with friends tomorrow, normally I'd give him some money but I thought he has had such alot at Christmas that I'd let him pay for himself. He had £50 arrive from one of his uncles today so I'm not feeling too guilty about that.

I tried to cancel my kindle unlimited subscription but they cunningly offers me the next 3 months for 99p. I must remember to cancel it when it goes back up. I also need to phone virgin to reduce our extortion broadband and tv bill.

@AgathaQuiztee I received a £50 Amazon voucher for Christmas and thought great, I'll use that to treat myself to a Kindle Unlimited subscription. Except you can't, because Amazon don't let you spend vouchers on that. Grrrr

Ugh. Thought I was being clever spending 1.5 hours batch cooking shepherd's pie. All ingredients from Lidl so cheap. DS suddenly announced as I dished it up that he's not eating lamb anymore. DD decided 2 weeks ago to give up beef after a school lesson on climate change. I said, eat the mash and veg.