Anyone want to join for a No spend January

[ivykaty44]

As done in other years, a no spend January

But also perhaps a budget cooking month, to really keep costs down

the idea is we only spend money on transport & food shopping - so those items don't count, but lets try and keep the shopping spends low

I shall be following the likes of cardiff mum and taming twins for budget ideas for food, especially using slow cooker and doubling up recipes.

I shall also be cooking some slow cooker recipes in January and doubling up, that way can cook for the first 2 weeks of January and freeze for the next two weeks

Purchasing birthday present for January on Black Friday next week, that way getting a good deal.

Its a reset on finances which will be especially needed in the household to curb some unnecessary spending and leave me with money in the bank on 31 January. I did this about 4 years ago and had an extra £110 in my account.

doing free things, , freecycle after Christmas, walks, cycling, library trips, free talks etc

Some take it into February

Managed to get through the day without spending anything,considering there are still 3 large blocks of cheese in the fridge plus cupboards and treat drawers straining at the seams,a full freezer and no desire to drink for ages, I shouldn't need to spend much on food shopping for the next couple of weeks.With enough shower gels,gift sets and sprays to restock Boots,at least we won't be running out of many toiletries either.

Day 1 went well - no spend day! Must buy a few things tomorrow as have run out of washing tabs, but still have some food in fridge and freezer so should be able to keep it low. Also found a few things to sell on gumtree!

When the kids go back on Tuesday,I am going to start going through each room,cupboard etc sorting through as I know there is a load of junk that I just want gone.I am itching to sort through my wardrobe and do a severe cull of unwanted clothes plus fingers crossed,make a pile of things to post on ebay.

I really want to do a no spend Jan but we have literally just bought our first house so there's little bits we need to buy, for example I needed to buy door hooks today from Amazon for the bedrooms and bathrooms.

I'm trying to figure out how to differentiate the needs from the wants considering there will be bits we need for the new house!

I've never been on TikTok, do I need to join or can you just watch?

Thanks for the tip by the way, GS can probably sort it for me.

@Yoyooo Congratulations on your first house, that is really exciting. Those bits and pieces for a new house can certainly add up, maybe you could have a separate budget for them and have your main budget being the one you try not to spend. That sounds a bit back to front but hope you get what I mean.

A low spend day today - taxi to the childminders, and I scored a Too Good to Go bag for £3 so that should hopefully cover groceries until the end of the week, augmented by freezer goodies. Tomorrow will be a no spend day!

I did the online food shop today. £45 which is a lot less than normal! I’ve also spent £35 on protein shakes but that is 36 breakfasts so I’m quite happy with that.

I'm trying to think what to add to my online shop. Dd has asked if we have any decent food in that isn't pasta. I'm hoping she will think of something that fills her criteria of decent. I'm going to make a big batch of marinara sauce and mashed potatoes along with mushroom, Wensleydale and white wine soup. They probably won't like the soup.

How about curry/dahl/chilli all with rice? We have leftovers in thermos for lunches too.

Our Friday night easy dinner is usually jacket potatoes, beans and cheese. Cheap but filling. Sometimes we mix it up with sweet potatoes and feta cheese.

We are going to do either fajitas or tacos this week. I've got quorn pieces in the freezer and quorn mince.

We also have puff pastry so I'm going to cover in pesto, roasted veg and feta one night for dinner.

Another night we will have roasted veg and couscous. DD1 and I might have some chicken with it if I can find some yellow label!

They won't eat anything like that. It's a sensory thing and very tricky to figure out what to do for dinner each day.

ancientgran Get your gs to sort you out with TikTok

Day 2 ,good luck everyone x

Morning. Can't see me spending anything today. I've moved some money into 'pots' (I use chase banking) for longer term planning for holiday, Christmas 2023, insurance etc too.

Menu plan from the a Christmas present bought for me that I've been extolling the virtues of, One Pot, Pan, Planet by Anna Jones (available from the library too), which is about sustainability, environment issues (energy reduction) and planning as much good food.

Caveat - I'm organised this week because I've been off work!!! It'll be a bit more of the usual winging it from tomorrow onwards.

• saag aloo shepherds pie.
• preserved lemon and herb baked orzo
• halloumi, broccoli and chickpea bake
• quick squash lasagne
• carrot soup with tahini and rosemary
• cauliflower and ginger soup with cashews
• smoked paprika pasta bake.

I've got the ingredients in for all of these dishes (it'll be good to find a use for the pot of tahini sitting looking at me in the cupboard!), so will work my way through these. Some of the herbs are from those bought for Christmas too.

Today I’m going to menu plan for the rest of the week so I don’t end up at the shops - tonight will be chicken chow mien using up some of the leftover and frozen chicken from xmas

Right now I’m going to log on to Amazon to see what’s coming in subscribe and save because no doubt there’s a load of random stuff I don’t need!

Good luck everyone today! Today will be cauliflower cheese to use up the contents of the fridge, and will get washing pods. Hopefully nothing else today

Morning,
I always feel so envious of meals like yours @needastrongoneagain as it would be absolutely pointless in my house due to allergies and fussy eaters. I think myself lucky if I can get away with 2 different meals but sometimes it’s 3. Yesterday I made minted lamb stew, dp doesn’t like lamb so had a chicken and leek stew, I don’t like leeks and not keen on chicken stew. Eldest ds ate the lamb stew with me while youngest won’t eat stew at all so had sausages with homemade stuffing balls and Yorkshire pudding. Tonight will be slightly easier as me and eldest ds will have the leftover lamb stew on chips, youngest ds will have freezer chicken chunks probably with rice and beans, don’t know what do will have as should have been leftover chicken stew but he threw it away as said it tasted weird and is blaming a new stock cube 🤷🏻‍♀️
Should be a no spend day today, we have run out of bread so dp might pick some up whilst out but I did mention that we still had a packet of part baked baguettes in that can be used if anyone wants a sandwich.
My days off are Sunday-Tuesday so another 2 days off work… I must really start some uni work today as I’ve been saying I will make a start since last Tuesday and haven’t done anything yet.
forgot to add to this months budget that I have the dentist for a wisdom tooth removal next week so that will be £65 ☹️
We also have a big wedding for dp’s sister in March and the boys and dp are going for a suit fitting on Sunday and I still need to find an outfit so I imagine 3 suits/shoes and a full outfit for me will cost us a small fortune

Morning gang! I've taken my step dad to hospital for a scan and am waiting in a nearby Wetherspoons. Spent £5.10 on bacon sandwich and refillable tea. Had 2 cups so far. Also bought a 90p newspaper as could be here for hours!
But he did give me £25 for petrol and it's nowhere near that much to cover the usage. Was going to be £50 but I said that was OTT.
Contemplating my third cuppa at the moment!

Totally realise I'm super lucky in this regard and really hope it doesn't come over as being superior or twattish! Cooking is my therapy (and running) for all the other life crap and I can spend ages planning and in the kitchen as a bit of escapism.

Like I said though - after this next week it'll be more like jacket spuds and beans, wraps etc, pasta pesto as we are all back at work and the house won't be tidy and organised etc. just had extra time to plan over Christmas, sort of 'reset', 2022 was grim for our family.

Although your lamb stew sounds lovely @Grigorisangel!

Joining for a bit of inspiration and camaraderie!

I did a bit of financial sorting out on NYE and realised I need to have a very frugal 6 months minimum in order to pay off a credit card and save for a holiday.

Food expenditure is definitely a big one to tackle. We had jacket potatoes & chilli last night, and I’m going to make a couple of one pot dishes this week to last the working week. I’m sick of lavish meals after Christmas anyway, so it shouldn’t be too hard.

Clothes is the other one for me. I’m staring a new job tomorrow and could really do with new stuff, but I’m going to hold off this month at least and make do with what I’ve got. I’m a terrible panic purchaser and I know that ‘I need new shoes’ can easily turn into a shopping spree, so I’m resisting.

Willfully ignoring the Style & Beauty forum on MN is part of my master plan, too. 😆

My slow cooker is coming out today.I saw a recipe for slow cooker vegetable soup on one of the money saving sites,and the rotting leftover vegetables in my veg drawer can be put to good use.Apart from that,I have some part cooked baguettes so,fingers crossed no spending here today💪

It's day 2 of dry January for me,which tbh completely goes hand in hand with no/low spend January.No spending on wine,unnecessary tipsy online purchases plus hopefully a stronger,sober determination grrrrrrrrr

This is my meal plan for the week

M - leftover roast pork with mash & veg
T - chilli and rice
W - prawn and courgette pasta (tuna pasta for DS)
T - sausage and mash
F - summer in winter chicken with rice and veg
S - fish pie
S - roast (probably beef)

I have everything in except courgette, chicken, creme fraiche and the meat for Sunday (will buy this on Sunday)