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

PeachiceT

have a look on marketplace, many people will sell if not using

ivykaty44 good idea , thanks

Had a bit of a trying day. My adult daughter came to my rescue with a huge bar of chocolate and some flowers and a much needed hug.

Anyway, I ended up going to poundland. It's about 2 minutes from my flat. A blessing and a curse. Spent £7.75 , mostly on stuff I needed.

Day 13 and £0 spent on non essentials!

food shopping and fuel day tomorrow so I’m aiming for no more than £40 on food and my usual £20 for fuel (although still have a bit so may just put in £15.

I’ve promised my son a treat this weekend so will try and keep that much much less than a usual treat weekend!

@PeachiceT it was my teens sun joint present last year after they tasted a friend’s and were wowed. They love how easy it is, it’s much safer than microwaving or boiling milk in a saucepan, and really is a lovely treat of an evening. My friend just grates up favourite chocolate bars and it’s delicious. I’m actually pretty impressed. Oh, also bought direct and got it much cheaper by subscribing to their Choc mix for a couple of months.

BrewandBiscuit

as your son to think of a non monetary treat for himself & see what he can come up with?

We have plenty of free stuff this weekend. We are going to bake and we have a volcano science thing to build and erupt (sounds messy!) but he’s had an award at school this week so I’ve offered him a treat. He’s chosen the cinema and they have a kids club so only £2:95 each and we’ll take our own snacks. I’d easily spend £50 at the weekend on treats and we’d eat out probably twice in the week too so I’m more than happy with my £75 a week savings that we can go and watch a film. He’s so excited too as he’s never been to the cinema before

Great savings @BrewandBiscuit

Should be a NSD.

Mashedpotatosandsausages
Sounds great. Will look into that as a gift later on in the year. Great top about using chocolate bars !

Thursday ended up being £145 on locksmith as planned, £19 additional dentist & £9 in Aldi - this was grocery spends though as DS wanted to cook last night, so will come off this week's food budget.

Small spend yesterday - £7.50 on fittings for new shower, unplanned but necessary as we've been stuck with baths or cold shower only for 2 months!

NSD expected today & hopefully tomorrow too (barring grocery spends). I will be doing next week's meal plan today - I'm debating just popping to the shop for essentials tomorrow (low on milk & loo roll) & completely clearing the fridge before I do another grocery shop. We're eating at friends' tonight and didn't have the planned meal yesterday (as DS cooked), so that's 2 meals in the bank, plus leftovers still from last week.

£70 on wood and coal. Very wet dog walk. Cooked a pan of leek and potato soup for lunches this week and an apple crumble for puddings this weekend. Cooked in combination microwave so some energy savings there

Spent £65 on Thursday on my big weekly shop from Sainsburys, nsd yesterday. I will need a few bits today but nothing major. I'm happy with how the month is going so far.

Anither NSD today, tuna salad for lunch and vegetable and bean stew with herby dumplings planned for tea. I will have to go food shopping on Monday, as running out of basics like spuds, veg and eggs. I also have loads of room in the freezer now, so my hoarding tendacies have really paid off this month.

No spends for 2 days including allowed stuff, and food bill greatly reduced so far this month as we are working our way through some surplus supplies left over from one of dh’s fad diets that lasted barely a couple of weeks. He’s going to get some interesting meals over the next few days 😄

So shopping was more than I wanted it to be but it should last about 10 days and I did need dishwasher tabs and a couple of other expensive but not weekly things. Fuel in car too so they total £73 for the week.

first non essential spend of 2023. £14 on a cinema treat for my son. I thoroughly enjoyed it too! That should be it for the weekend now as lots of free things planned.

NSD. I’m enjoying opening my banking app and seeing the balance! Tomorrow will also be NSD and I’m contemplating not doing a food shop this week…just milk if we run out.
About to make golden syrup flapjacks with the kids, and have an early night planned as am so tired.

Nsd for me, also reduced food shop by £33 this week 😃

I had to go to Aldi to pick up some extra bits and Sainsbury so food shopping £25

apart from that a NSD with a nice visit from family and staying home this evening to watch a film

my new total for food shopping in January so far £108.31
my new total for fuel in January £24.89

Haircut £22
supper was delicious £35 with tip and pudding
coffee with friend today, my turn to pay £7.60

Ended up doing my grocery shop today instead as we've planned to go out for a long walk tomorrow. I'd meal planned for the next 2 weeks & bought everything we needed except a couple of fresh bits & more milk that I'll pick up next weekend. Also bought a few things which weren't on the list as they were on offer at Lidl & I know we would need this month anyway so made sense to buy a big pack now (frozen fruit, coffee beans, cheese, walnuts, gnocchi, soft cheese all XXL packs.
Then Home Bargains for loo roll, DW tablets, cleaning products, shampoo & conditioner & kefir. I spent more than I'd hoped to but just means the next couple of weeks should cost less. All 'allowed' spends - I resisted the fondue maker in the aisle of doom 😂

We'll need fuel tomorrow but that's allowed so should be NSD.

Just bought 4 pints of milk today. £1.75 !!
Just buying it on it's own it brought it home to me how expensive it is.
Was in Tesco express, so possibly a tad more expensive, but even so!

Fell utterly off the bandwagon this weekend - some of it was anticipated but some of the spending was just down to it being a cold, wet weekend in the middle of January. Spent way too much.

Back to it next week! Can't recoup the losses but can get back on it going forward.

A fail today but I think it was worth it. Someone did something very nice for a member of my family and I sent her flowers, cost me £40 but fortunately I had it as I have been so careful this month and she loves them.

I had quite a spendy day yesterday, hair cut, birthday cards and present plus an Aldi shop.

However I only bought what was in my list in Aldi and it came to just over £50, not bad for 2 adults and 2 teenagers. I do save monthly for birthday presents so that came out of that 'pot' and my hair was cheap and cheerful as my friend does it.

I do however have quite a few virtually baskets of clothes across the internet and I have bought nothing yet, I'll see if I still need them in February!

Argh mn keeps refreshing and losing what I’ve typed.

groceries this week £106 (still cheap for us)
dd spent the last of her Christmas money so £14 out of my account but I have the cash

Had to buy a bottle of contact lens solution as I changed my subscription to lenses only while I used up excess solution but then didn’t change it back in time.

new totals:

groceries £265

presents for own dc birthdays £207

birthday presents for other people £79

other £48

@PurplePositivity thats really cheap! Is that enough food to last you the week? Would love to know what you got, we have an extra two children but £12.50 per person for the week seems unachievable for us! I’m impressed!