No spend or low spend February

[ivykaty44]

Here is a thread to keep check of spends in February

the idea is to have No Spends Days, weeks or clusters of days

im also going to be keeping my supermarket shopping low, eating what I have in the cupboards, to keep febs spends low.

Would anyone like to pledge an amount? and see if they can keep under that amount of money for the 28 days?

I pledge £200 for fuel, shopping and spending

I am in! I miscalculated how much of my bonus I would actually receive and sent more money than I should have done to my Moneybox accounts and have left myself with £110 for personal spending and travel and £200 for food shopping for the month. Everything else is allocated to bills or saving.

To be honest, we have a very quiet January and I worked from home throughout which will mainly be the same this month and I managed to spend barely anything so hoping to continue that.

Looking through my cupboards, I have the ingredients to make

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/slow-cooker_bean_chilli_31597 bean chilli

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/slow_cooker_split_pea_93320 dal

I can make double and freeze half for later in the month

ive found a packet of pearl barely int he cupboard and I ave mushrooms in the fridge, found this for the slow cooker

foodnetwork.co.uk/recipes/slow-cooker-mushroom-barley-risotto/?utm_source=foodnetwork.com&utm_medium=domestic

might sub frozen mixed vegetables instead of the carrots

that should work?

I'm in my budget for travel to and from work and food is £300 for the month. I normally spend about £150 on travel to and from work so have £150 for food for me and ds. I'm going to try and not spend any money on anything else this month other than a train ticket to my mums as I really need to save money for an upcoming divorce and house move.

I've just spent £60.10 on an online food shop with Tescos. I normally do a real life weekly food shop in Aldi and spend about £35 but I've got covid so I'm isolating so can't do that this week. I've taken the opportunity to order a few bulky items that I wouldn't normally get, but it goes to show how much money I save in Aldi. I won't be spending money on anything next week as I now have to save money for the time I'm having of work.

ive cooked the bean chilli and the dal recipe, so have those in the fridge ready for next week. Made mushroom pasta today from anchovies, mushrooms and onions I had lurking in the fridge - it was delicious and I have enough for tomorrow.

so from the cupboards ive managed to find and make 4 meals for 2 and have just found another recipe to use up more food without shopping www.abelandcole.co.uk/recipes/jamaican-jerk-jackfruit-beans-with-rice

I do though need milk and laundry powder, but can just pop in and get those items.

hoping to get until Thursday/Friday before needing to shop

I'm in! And hoping for a more successful February...
Spent ~£70 today in Aldi, two weeks worth of food, toiletries and cleaning products, should only need to top up bread and milk.

We use joint account pots for groceries, car etc. so that's already budgeted. I've set a budget for my personal spending this month with the intention of having lots of NSDs and not going over in any of the categories:
Phone bill £10
Experiences/events £30
Clothes £0 (I spent a lot of time and money on Vinted rehauling my wardrobe last month... do not need!)
Travel/days out (WFH + doesn't include car) £40
Books £5
Coffee shop with friends £20
Gifts £10
Saving £50 minimum
Hair £5
Health £10
Credit card £20 (total balance)

Wish me luck!! Will report back - hopefully with successes

I am trying to do a none essential spending ban, so no takeaways, random shopping trips, stuff we don’t need. Sick of getting to the end of each month with no money left!!

Jan was OK here but lots of birthdays & dds party also...hoping for frugal February.. I shopped in Lidl for the first time this month & couldn't get over the savings I made...

Hello again. Just posted on January thread with expenditure on food, basic toiletries and cleaning materials for the month. So my aim is to reduce this spend (from £455) for February. Not least because I want to make room, in the joint account, for some nice-to-have-and-overdue-but-arguably-inessential expenditure on the house. And to pay off a chunk of the energy bill that has accumulated over the winter.

I've spent £20.04 on ebay on some jumpers for next winter today. I did bid on these before I decided to join the thread though, and I am in desperate need of new jumpers. I normally buy my clothes second hand in charity shops or ebay etc so save quite a bit of money. I had a no spend day yesterday and I have one more thing that is ending on ebay today so once that is paid for I won't be spending any more money. I'm quite happy that I managed not to spend any money yesterday even though I did have the urge to.

I’m in! Started January £500 in overdraft. February not in overdraft.
It’s online bits and bobs, the killer that is Amazon, ebay, click links on instagram. Waste so much money on this shite!
I’ve also been meal planning and getting my Tesco shop delivered to reduce impulse spends and search aldi price match products.
I’ve got a few thousand on a cc, interest free, but will be applied middle of September so hoping to get that paid.

Oh yes I’m in because I need inspiration to cut down. I have two DC (13 and 11). Two of us are veggies, (11yo and me) and the other DC is very fussy. It makes meals a nightmare.

We have a decent income but DH has been screwed over by his employers and switched to a commission based salary in a struggling environment. Result? 60% drop in pay. He’s job hunting but it won’t be instant. I’m keeping the family afloat with a big mortgage which eats my salary.

So my aim is to spend under £100 a week on the main food shop and a small top up shop. You may laugh as that sounds so much but honestly, some weeks it’s over £140. That’s 3 meals a day, 7 days a week for 4 people.

What with that and the terrifying fuel bill hike ahead (we had a quote for when our fixed rate ends in March - currently £150, quoted £360 a month - I’m absolutely panicking). We just have to cut back. I need some at the end of the month so I can stash it for school uniforms and shoes later in the year.

I’ve just been paid and have £700 in my account with 2 big payments due to come tomorrow which will take me right back into my od. Things have to change.

So I’m feeling relatively good on this - appreciating technically today is day one, I got paid last week though and did a reasonably sized aldi shop.
Saturday spent £10 in the local farm shop on bread, milk and fruit
Sunday - no spend
Monday - no spend
today - I need something to go with the veg I have in the fridge (courgette, pepper, red onions) so I’ll roast the veg and mix it through rice, and serve with something like a chicken Kiev. I’ll pop to Lidl for that and only take a £5 note in with me (prevents temptation) but it’s enough for the kiev and potentially if they have one of their boxes of £1.50 bargain fruit and veg.
Tomorrow - no spend
Thursday - no spend
Friday I plan to do the weekly food shop which should be £80.
I have enough fuel in the car for another week but will need to fill then as I have two work trips to do. I can claim that back but it’ll take 2 weeks to come through.

Ok so I’m going to transfer £200 to one account and use that for the month, move other money into savings. Then I’ll know exactly how much I’ve got left, which means I can’t spend to much each week.

Hello everyone. I was so pleased with January but have had a terrible start to February. Elderly relative (even older than me!!!) is in a care home, I'm next of kin as she had no children and I got a message that it is end of life care so off I went on a 400 mile round trip with a sad/traumatic visit in the middle. Horrific day, motorway closed due to a fatal accident, awful diversions. Still closed 12 hrs later. In all it took 12 hrs from door to door. She is so unwell, it is very sad. It could be days or it could be weeks, she is just fading away.

I'm exhausted, sad and I've spent a small fortune on petrol, food on the go, coffee to keep me going and of course a gift for her. I got some nice creams and massaged her hands and arms, put some salve on her lips that were very dry. She told me she had no idea who I was which is sad as we were close.

Roll on March if this is February.

@ivykaty44 I’m using the ‘wallet’ app on my phone which allows me to put in an amount, then deduct spends. Prevents me from looking at my bank account where my small buffer of money is so I don’t get tempted to use it. Still check it for sanity and reality but the ‘wallet’ is like the digital pocket money.

I’m trying to make it so that the amount I have left in the bank is an aim to save goal not an amount to spend goal.

Thanks for the new thread!

Just did my online shop at Sainsbury’s and it was £76! Including lots of cupboardy / frozen / cleaning top ups!

I’m so sleepy from work, I’m trying to conjure up easy midweek meals! Any ideas? Jacket potatoes go down well so I’ve done that!

Hi , been reading round these threads for a while. We are ok for money but it’s the top up shops that get us. Nipping in for a loaf of bread and coming out with £30 of stuff.

I really want to end Feb in a good place.

@Woodlandarchitect one of my go to quick and easy meals is chicken pasta. Chicken, pasta sauce (homemade or bought), pasta and a 35p garlic bread from Aldi. Cheap and quick, even my 16 year old DS1 can make it!

Try chop chop from sainsbury?

Yesterday I spent £77 on my train ticket, I knew I was going to purchase this as had budgeted for it, it was cheaper than I expected so I'm happy. Other than that I didn't spend a penny yesterday and I haven't today either. I have no plans to spend any money today so should end the day on no spends. I will probably need to get some bread tomorrow but that is all I will need in terms of food for the rest of the week. Good luck with your low spend/no spend month everyone.

Checking in for a Frugal February!
So sorry to hear about your relative @ancientgran, that must have been such a difficult trip

DH and I are planning a frugal day out this weekend, have booked some advance train tickets with our rail card which cost £39.00 return rather than £59.00
My only frivolous spend so far was a children’s clothing pattern from Hobbycraft, it cost £4.30 (half price!) and will keep DD in summer clothes for a few years (if I ever get round to making them, my project turn over is much slower these days)

That sounds a very hard day, @ancientgran. But you can at least be comforted that you did your best for your relative. I hope you can relax at home and rest up a bit after your efforts.

Essential spends for Feb so far: (joint account)
£36 at the butcher yesterday, quite a bit in the freezer, should be able to make it stretch a while.
£10 on paint samples for redecoration project. I'm doing the work myself and using up paint where I can. I am determined not to haver endlessly between samples - one or other of the two I've selected will have to do!

Essentials (personal account):
Train ticket to visit parents - booked ahead so managed to get return for £59.
Have transferred £100 to savings.
Inessentials/nice to have (but budgeted for in personal account):
£120 on reupholstering a chair cushion - won't be paid for a couple of weeks. Fella is going to look at one of the sofas with a view to reupholstering it when he delivers. But that won't be until the end of the year, since he's booked out - lots of time to save up.

Thank you BigSkies & CheeseMaiden, do you know what made me cry? One of the carers is a lovely lady, she isn't British and she is here doing a hard job that isn't highly paid. I discovered that she buys my aunt a treat every week with her shopping. I asked her if she is getting reimbursed as I don't want her losing out. Her reply was, "Oh no I do that from my heart." I had a cry about it when I got home. There are good people out there but we don't always hear about them.