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

Thanks for the well wishes they really help.
Had a good chat with my boss who had some helpful advice and let me up my hours too.
LSD today-£2 for my weigh in at work. Lost 2lb since I was last weighed so that's a bonus!

@CheeseMaiden hope the move goes well

@Orcubed I'm really sorry to hear that and yes I totally understand I'm thinking of what we need in the near future and must stop!
@ivykaty44 I think hope they'll make him redundant as the hours are now on a rolling 4 weeks basis which is looking like the redundancy pathway so he's going to do these 4 weeks then see. I don't want him to jeopardise a payout by jumping ship too soon.

Another NSD. Shopping tomorrow but should only be about £15

I’m on day 4 of NSD

with only groceries & fuel being purchased

i might get to go until Friday, any raises on a 6 day stretch?

I signed up for the Superdrug loyalty card today and got our shampoo half price. I had to buy Dd new schools shoes at £50 and ds needs new ones too so that's another £35 😩

Ivykaty44. I hope I can go to Saturday just buying some bits of shopping. Saturday I plan to go out for coffee with my dm and mil.
I try to keep to £50 tops for shopping including cleaning materials and shampoo etc. I haven’t been well for a few months so am on ESA so can’t spend like I did when at work. Looking like this health problem could be long term so will just work away.

Thanks @Mogloveseggs! we are pretty much in, DH needs to do some toddler proofing of the stairs and then we can move in properly.

caved in and spent £6 on 2 coffees this afternoon, needed something to get me through the rest of the day

NSD today. So at the moment I’m 50/50 😁

So technically another NSD today and the day started off fantastically with £100 refund for train journey delay and £50 from YouGov arriving in my bank account. Unfortunately it's ended badly. I sold my sons PlayStation 4 on eBay and the buyer wants to return saying it's defective (disc read issue). I've already used the funds as part payment for the new PlayStation 5 (test were from my sons diligent savings), so I'm now down at least £130. Son has just admitted the disc issue which I said nothing about when I listed it. Husband has been pretty firm and said the funds we are down are coming from his up coming birthday fund, which is good.

NSD here too. It's lovely to have your company doing this - reading how everyone else is doing really helps with the willpower!

Rubbish day - £5 on a contribution to a colleague's leaving fund, and the electrics at home have blown and I can't get hold of the landlord. I've got a freezer full of meals and meat merrily defrosting as we speak. 😩

@Orcubed I won't be making the same mistake twice! I certainly couldn't get to that amount again by next week!

Great amount of survey money @ancientgran and good use of it too.

I'm still on the NSD streak, other than food and fuel. Should be okay for a few more days too.

Keep the freezer shut and it won’t defrost as quick, you might be able to save some
that’s annoying about the ps disc

lsd today as don’t seem able to get nsd but was food stuff while I was in town working

NSD d1. :) hope tomorrow goes as well

I've spread the cost of the school shoes over 3 payments with klarna and PayPal pay on 3. Ds's school PE trainers were reduced anyway so I bought those outright. I'm glad I can spread the cost but I could still do with it all together. Tomorrow is ds's swimming lesson so there's bus fare to pay out because I don't drive and if petrol doesn't count then neither does bus fare. Tomorrow therefore should be a NSD, as should Friday.

I booked channel crossings and breakdown insurance yesterday for spring trip but this oney was already locked away in our retirement travel account. Hairdresser today but that was prepaid in December

Managed to bulk buy firelighters online for half the price they would have cost me in town, happy about that.
Also, cleared inbox and am busy unsubscribing to marketing emails as they come in - definitely worth doing. Will be a NSD today. Hope it goes well for you all.

First NSD yesterday. I’m actually really surprised how hard it was. Walked to school - DS had forgotten his trainers - and had to forcefully stop myself getting an ice cream (main downfall) and then the willpower to not spend online was exhausting!
This thread has been such an eye opener for me. Thank you so much OP for starting it.
All the messages from everyone is really helping me stay on the straight and narrow!

Finances are in a bit of a state because of Christmas and trip to see family in France so this couldn’t be more timely (and gratefully received).

Keep up the good work, everyone! And good there are some positive steps you can take Mog.
NSD on Tuesday and yesterday, apart from a food top up of £17. Hoping for a NSD today - I've brought my lunch and coffee to work, which helps!

Hello all. NSD here yesterday, today need to top up milk, bread, parmesan, tea, lentils. Won't be buying meat for ages as we have freezer and fridge supplies from the big Christmas shop still, so I am hopeful of keeping food spends to around £200 this month. DH will buy his lunches at work, but that's his account. We're both doing a big old alcohol-free commitment this year (not just dry Jan), so that will save lots.

Stuff we do need to spend on this month:
house insurance renewal - has gone up by £220 because we put in a claim last year. I will try to haggle, but two searches so far have produced very high results, apart from one. I will do a bit more investigating, but there's a limit to how much headspace I can give this at present. Joint account will cover this.
Eurotunnel tickets for September and October. We're going on an overseas holiday, yay! Which means we also need travel insurance for the first time since 2018. I have a 0% purchases credit card, which means these items don't have to come out of this month's budget.

Hi everyone,

Keep up the good work!

After morning drop off,
Post office £7.75 sending an international tracked item
Tesco food top up £7 , tried to but couldn't find any reduced items in the morning I suppose!

Working from home, No more spending today!

all done everyone on NSD, some days are much harder than others.
I just need to get bread today, so my mission is to get in and out of Aldi with just a loaf of bread in my hand!
make sure you get an GHIC which replaced the Ehic for travel, it free but you must apply @BigSkies2022

Tomorrow is ds's swimming lesson so there's bus fare to pay out because I don't drive and if petrol doesn't count then neither does bus fare. transport costs don't count, parking charges do count

rias insurance I found to be much better price for house insurance

well done!!

not all done...

we can get to the weekend - its not far away