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

@Quamora thank you, that sounds lovely- I think we have some felt too, just need to remember where…
No spend day today, although an eBay purchase arrived which reminded me that I spent £13 last week on a cookbook bundle. Definitely a bargain though, one of the books I have been after for a while costs £20 second hand as it’s out of print.

Was on January thread briefly. NSD yesterday so a good point to rejoin

Sainsbury shopping today, literally just a top up to get through the weekend £16

Not going out again today as the weather is atrocious. Tomorrow I have another job on and Sunday, so some extra to balance the books which will be nice.

enjoyed the spa this morning and met up with friends which was great

Haven't managed any NSDs, or barely any, but most expenditure is budgeted for, and I have about £80 in each account - personal and joint - to get through to the end of the month. Spent £50 in Aldi the day before yesterday, and about £6 in Sainsbury's, £3.50 on Mutti tinned tomatoes from the greengrocers because yes, they are worth it.

Where money has been 'splurged' this month:
£29 on.a takeaway.
£23 on wine
£115 on dog medicine
£100 on a deposit towards reupholstering one sofa. THe final cost will be around £1500, which is much cheaper than any other quote I've had, so good - but it won't be done until next January! Had to get in the queue though, hence the deposit.
About £180 on paint and paint samples for DS' bedroom. Unfortunately, despite using samples, the result is horrible, and I'm going to have to start again. So that £170 includes 4 more fucking samples purchased today. What is so annoying is that the colour I wanted, but allowed myself to be overruled on by DH and DS, is still the best one for the job, even when compared to the new samples! The joys of home renovation, eh?

BigSkies22

you've had a few expenses this month haven't you!

March is just round the corner

Indeed we have Ivy! But sometimes, you gotta get it wrong in order to get it right, and I know what I need to do with the decorating in that room now!

Oh, fingers crossed - no further sighting of the mouse, and I got a definite whiff of mouse carcase when I was in the cellar last week, so think DH's home remedies have worked. So hopefully no need for expenditure on professional anti-vermin services!

Hope everyone made it through the storm without damage last night.

NSD. Mainly as at work

I've had 3 NSDs in a row but had to spend £7 today. I'm a bit depressed as it looks like the car is going to cost me £500 next month. I keep thinking I've made such an effort to save money and it will all be gone but I know that is mad as I'd still have to pay the car even if I hadn't saved the money. Doesn't make me feel any better.

£500 to fix a car is cheaper than a £2k loan to buy a different car and pay interest on the loan

The money saved this month and last would surely go some way to seeing you not so out of pocket?

Yes what I've saved will pay it, I just feel disappointed that my saving will be gone. As I said I know if I hadn't saved the money I'd still have to find the money for the repair but I think it is OK to feel a bit sad that instead of an extra £500 in my savings it will be gone.

Sorry to hear about your car @ancientgran, it’s definitely ok to feel sad about the savings gone. On the other side at least you don’t have to panic about where the money will come from.

Thanks to this thread I am going to set up a monzo account. The saving pots are just what I need to put aside for clothes for DD and shoes for me (every year I say I can get one more year out of my sandals and winter boots but both are about to give up the ghost!)
Only spent on the commute today and £1.70 on paracetamol and chocolate biscuits (I have a rotten cold so they were essential!)

Thanks @CheeseMaiden, yes I'm glad I've got the money it's just a bit discouraging but thankfully I got that £260 refund so that is half of it straightaway.

im waiting for my car to be MOTed this morning....

February is nearly over and March is another month!

I have fallen off the wagon.
The wheels have come off the budget altogether - broken dishwasher (now repaired but £100), broken fence that needed to be repaired because next door have dogs - £300 and DH broke his glasses (whilst trying to repair the dishwasher himself).

Ugh. I thought we would end the month £500 up but it wasn't to be. Plus I thought our buildings insurance was in next month's budget but it isn't. I forgot we had to insure from exchange of contracts not completion.

Roll on Friday- payday!

If all goes to plan i.e. I only do make the two journeys in my diary, and there are no other payments due, I have £20 'spare' in my personal account until next payday (1st). Ooh, plus about £3 in change in my wallet!

I've paid off £564 in debt this month, set aside £100 in emergency fund savings, met all my regular commitments and managed to find money for reupholstering a chair, train tickets to visit Aged Parents, and two cheap date nights with DH. Oh and get my hair done. So I'm feeling quite pleased on that front, since it's been possible to be careful and keep pursuing my financial goals without feeling too deprived. If I still have some spare in my account on the 28th, I might treat myself to a new lipstick.

The joint account has £26 left between now and 28th. I am trying to eat the larder and freezer empty before topping up, but we do need fruit, which I'll buy today, and I can do an Aldi run tomorrow to top up on dairy. Unexpected dog vet expenses, an expensive paint experiment, and a deposit on the sofa reupholster project is where the extra costs have arisen this month. Oh, and £46 on wine and £29 on a takeaway. Bad week at work for DH, some emergency action required!

mixed result for people this month!

I was lucky with my MOT as it was just wipers needed replacing so £67, but I have a car, insurance and MOT pocket/envelop I save into each month - so the money come straight from there to cover that expense

Only 5 days left until March

with my extra work and prudent spending Im certainly up on the month, so going to roll it over for next month and go again

Thought I would be ending up with a small surplus this month but we have somehow cracked the glass on our stove, so that’s a £75-£100 repair job that needs to happen soon 😢
Fingers crossed for better luck in March!

Only spend this week is groceries, £84-ish.

So, food expenditure this month came to about £375, which included wine and a takeaway. DH also paid for some extras like tea and cake in a cafe, and some more wine which was not funded from the 'housekeeping' in the joint account. He will also have spent money on lunches on the days he is working at the office, again not from the joint account.

That's an average of £6.60 per person, per day (based on the expenditure I can account for). That doesn't seem excessive, tbh. In fact, I think we' haven't spent enough this month, because there have been days when we've eaten frozen fish fillets, oven chips and cheese toasties because there's not been a good selection of good healthy food to hand i.e. fresh prepared plant/vegetable-based meals and snacks plus lean proteins. Partly this is because I am the one doing most of the food prep and shopping, and I run out of ideas and energy.

I’ve been rubbish at posting but to finish off the month:
£20 diy bits
£60 dd party
£23.80 dentist
71.30 groceries
£18.50 clothes for dd, pants for me
£18.44 clothes for ds1 (he had covid over half term and emerged from his room 1.5 inches taller which means that all of his trousers that were already getting a bit short are now ridiculously short!)
£65.47 d of e stuff. Got scammed on ebay for first pair of walking boots so had to buy another pair. Hoping ebay will rule in my favour and refund me for the first pair which would be £20 back.
£20 gym equipment for dp
£6.50 birthday present
£97.93 groceries.

So the totals for February are
£1168.92
£610.44 on food which sounds a huge amount but is only £3.63 per person per day…

I knew it was going to be an expensive month, hoping March is MUCH less!

BigSkies22

that sounds really good

ive ended up quids up and so am please

Yes, I'm pleased I've kept costs down, but I do need to find more imaginative and healthy ways of cooking on a budget. We both want to lose a couple of kilos (at our age, a long weekend of wine and cheese goes straight to the midriff!) so I need to make sure there's always salads/veg/lean proteins on hand, and these tend to cost more than pasta, Aldi haddock fillets and baked potato-based meals.

I've worked out my personal account budget this month and after everything, I shall be left with £30 a week to play with. So it's another month of cheap thrills for me. I'm not moaning (well, I am, a bit) because this year was always going to be a belt-tightening one, but I am itching to spend - I keep visiting The Poster Club and various lighting and furniture shops online. The drooling is becoming undignified!

Is there a March thread yet or shall we carry on with this one as it doesn’t have many posts?

Just popping my spends on here so I don’t lose track

1/3 £87.59 groceries
£8.19 trousers for ds

4/3 £19.99 veg box

I was a little alarmed when doing my shopping to see lots of things have gone up by 5-10 p again. This is a problem with online shopping is that I have a rough idea how much they are but mostly just go through my usuals and add them to the trolley without checking the price. Then I go to the actual supermarket and realise that butter is 5p more than I thought it was etc.

My teenage dd has an eating disorder and there are lots of things I have to buy for her but recently she’s been wasting a lot again and I’m getting really angry about it (which is the wrong way to go about it but I’m trying so hard to cut back but buying £10 of stuff just for her that’s then being wasted)

@CheeseMaiden I often find when I know I have to be careful there are lots of things I want and it’s harder to resist buying things. When I can easily afford things the same need isn’t there 🤷🏻‍♀️

So sorry that was for @BigSkies22 not @CheeseMaiden 🤦🏻‍♀️

ain't that the truth Quamora! I've just spent £34 on a total ad blocker because I am so sick of pop-ups populating my screen. It's a year's subscription and it applies to YouTube (which I use daily for exercise) as well. I've also just spent £90 on make-up and skincare products (I know it sounds a lot, but I am just replacing like for like and they will last me months), which I'm paying for with Paypal Pay in 3. So I now have £85 left for this month after all my foreseeable expenses, or £3.26 a day. So it's going to be a long month, but at least I shall be well-moisturised.

I've put away £100 in savings. And I got 2 books out of the library yesterday, so I am being frugal where I can.

Today I will be painting the bedroom, again - thankfully, the new paint looks good, so finally I am getting some reward for my work - and avoiding more spending, apart from the FT. Did a big shop in Aldi this week and spent £76. £7.70 on coffee from Sainsbury's.

On the joint account front, more dog vet expenses (£293 on the last visit, plus the bus fares, and another visit next week, god knows what that will cost), some of which will be covered by insurance, but no idea when we'll be reimbursed. And we'll have to pay the excess on a repair carried out under the house insurance. I would drown my frustrations in drink, but I'm off the sauce again. Maybe I'll raid the dog Valium.