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

Realising the benefit of living where we do as haven’t had to buy fuel at all this month (DP has but that’s for work so comes out of business account)

Another two birthdays £12

A kindle book 99p. Razor blades £5.99

Totals:

groceries £436

presents for own dc birthdays £210

birthday presents for other people £100

other £136.78

Also I’m a bit annoyed with dp, he doesn’t know that I’ve been doing this challenge specifically but he does know that I’ve been trying to be careful with money and cut down where we can. We have loads of food in the house but he keeps commenting on us not having certain things eg we’ve run out of muesli this week but have weetabix, porridge and three other cereals to choose from. Or he wanted eggs for lunch but we’d finished them the night before. I’ll get more in the next shop but there’s plenty of other stuff to choose from in the meantime. The reason our food shop is so high (which he moans about) is because I have to try to make sure we never run out of anything!! I told him he was worse than a toddler earlier in the week when we’d finished the white bread but did have granary, bagels, crumpets, wraps and some frozen sourdough and he moaned that he’d have to go to the shop so he could have lunch.

Vet bill yesterday £81 follow up Vet bill today. £750. Had to be done though, so essential its spending. But I am now overdrawn again by about the same amount as after christmas after being £90 ahead.

Am hoping that the insurance will pay out, I think my excess is £200, but its a skin condition that is very similar to one he had in 2019, so they may claim its excluded.

£48 on coal and £2.20 for bread and 2 bags of ground coffee in coop - cheap because I used 2 vouchers and my coop points. Should be OK now until Tuesday when I do the weekly shop.

My food bill for this month is half its usual amount and it hasn't been two difficult so I'm hoping to continue through February

Well I have spent today, 3 apple trees for the garden, £60. I’m okay with this, they are reliable heavy croppers so will have paid for themselves in a couple of seasons. For me personally, reasonable garden costs (especially edible!) get included in to my budgets for the year.
Other than that, spent nothing, and will definitely manage a full two weeks without food shopping which is great. Tonight’s dinner vegetarian stew.

@Orcubed I've been having the same problem with mine. There's a ridiculous amount of food in the house, but if it's not the "right" food he's been bleating. As I told him at the weekend I intend to shop to run out, to cut down on waste and costs. The shopping to ensure there's enough to cater for everyone's every whim isn't happening any more!
It's spurred me on to extend this into February though. I will educate the man if it kills me 😂

Child benefit is every 4 weeks so the date you get paid keeps changing, well it does with mine for GS. The month when you get two payments is always nice.

Also the payment round Christmas/New Year gets messed up as they sometimes pay it a few days early because of bank holidays. Should be back to normal soon.

I've had to pay for a few things today but GSs DofE training weekend but it was budgeted for in "his" money so I'm not counting that. I did buy some sourdough bread so that was £1.90.

I'm due my child benefit this month, which I'm checking each day to see if it's come in. Got paid last on 30 Dec, but before that I was always getting it at the beginning of the month, so I'm not sure why it's changed.

you should get cb tomorrow, as it will have been 4 weeks. You get 13 payments a year not 12,

Managed mostly NSD this week although I went to Aldi at lunchtime a couple of days back for groceries (fruit & yoghurt for breakfast at work & some salad bits to go with dinner) - was tempted by a gym towel in the aisle of doom. In my defence, DP and I were talking about trying a spin class so it would be used. But then I came off my bike on the way home from work and hurt my knee so don't think there will be any cycling on the agenda for a few weeks now!

Hairdresser today & I am at a family 60th do tonight but will try to keep spends as low as I can - it's in a working men's club type place so drinks should be fairly cheap at least.

Good work all, and sorry to hear about unexpected vet bills.
I've had an unexpected small bit of income yesterday (unused holiday pay - at last - for a part-time job that has finished) so I swept the majority of it into 'untouchable' savings, but (confession time) yesterday I did buy a hot lunch at work (it's subsidised so very cheap).
But I've had 16 NSDs this month I think, helped by bringing coffee and lunch to work, but I'm strict on my definition of NSD (even groceries are a spend, in my eyes!).
My DH does a lot of our food shopping (and cooking) but he can be quite toddler-like about food at times, too. Never seems to occur to him that even if he's not 100% in the mood to eat X, it'll still be good for it to be eaten up and it'll fill his belly just as well as his preferred option!
According to my banking app I've spent £177 less than this time last month, which I'm pleased about (although it was also necessary). I do try to be quite careful in general, but will be watching my pennies closely again after mid-February (when it's mine and ds' birthdays).

No spend today, and have earned £30 dog sitting today. So happy ! Plus I'm using their electric and they've left me some food. Win win

Nsd here , my running total is £36 on non essentials for the month, which I am pleased with . I have also saved £120 total on the last 4 weeks food shop 😃 planning on carrying on until feb half term but even then will carry on being minful about spending and saving as much as possible

NSD. Small win as my fuel bill was quite a bit less than last month so I still have some credit left if we have a warm February

After doing so well since the week before Christmas I spent quite a bit of money today. I had to order a new shampoo and shower gel. I really like them, the bottles are large and my hair is all swishy and shiny after I use them, but for me they are quite pricy at 15 euros each. They will however last for 6 months.

I also needed some more Vitamin C for my face, because I'm knocking on a bit so that cost 50 euros too. It is good stuff though and has made a massive difference to my old leathery hide.

On a very positive note though, my water provider had overcharged me by 500 euros last year so that was reimbursed today. I do some part time lecturing for a local university and they only pay twice yearly (a bizarre set-up but generally accepted here) so that was a nice dollop of cash to arrive in my bank account today too. And because I'm a low income family I get government help with my energy, so I received a cheque for 200 euros today which will go towards my fire wood for next winter. I am also allowed to claim a one-off payment of 100 euros towards my fuel for travelling to work. I will be putting in my claim tomorrow. So even though a big spend day, it's also been a good day.

Well 3 days left

sadly my plans for the weekend have been cancelled & I’m not out for afternoon tea. So not spending on either tea or fuel getting there. But the reason is very sad so I can’t rejoice at the saving

asked if work needed me as plans scuppered & they do so an extra shift in the pay packet will be handy

spent £21.33 on food shopping

my new total for food shopping in January so far £144.46
my new total for fuel in January £98.89

Haircut £22
supper was delicious £35 with tip and pudding
coffee with friend today, my turn to pay £7.60
sealife £30 + coffee £10
a&e parking £4.70

£317.90 for the month

What shampoos did you get that last that long & are good please? 👀

Hi all Ive not been posting much but I have been reading along.

We absolutely cut back on so much stuff and we managed to break even for the month of Jan eg we spent as much as we had coming in, didn't go into the overdraft which is amazing! It's not a normal month though as we got some money from family for Christmas which we were meant to treat ourselves with but we put it towards nursery fees so didn't have that coming out the bank.

In my head we are now into Feb as it's after Jan payday and it's already been spendy, essential things but still spendy. Presents for friends parties, new iron, new clothes horse etc

I've been selling lots of vinted and then using that money to buy stuff on vinted as with 6 of us someone always needs something 😂

@LaTangerina it's called Olivia Thinks and I buy it online. It was in my hotel on holiday last April and I loved it, so bought it when I came home and it lasted until mid November. It's vegan, with no sulphates or anything like that in it. I have very fine, limp, wavy, greasy hair and it has really made a change using it last year. As part of my no spend I was determined to use up bottles of shampoo that I had in my bathroom and I have been using another brand, but I've tried for two months now and it's just not working. Using the Olivia Thinks shampoo I feel like I've got bouncy swishy hair and I want that feeling back.

Spendy couple of days! Hairdresser cost £75 for cut & colour but only spent £6 at family birthday do. Yesterday we ended up having a bit of an impromptu day out with friends - food and drinks in nearby city so this was definitely not a NSD. Worth it though as we had a lovely day with good company.

Going for long walk shortly to try to shift the headache! Starts and ends at a nice little cafe so we've decided to get tea & cake afterwards. It's fairly cheap though & DP paying so it doesn't count

I need to buy a few fresh bits & some milk, will go after work tomorrow & keep it to a minimum. It's looking like I will come in under £400 for grocery spends in Jan - this is significantly under budget and far less than we have been spending, so I am very happy with that. I'm planning on carrying on with this for the next few months and hopefully by March we will actually start to see the benefits of it in the bank accounts...

@brittanyfairies thank you so much I'm looking it up now. Our hair sounds very similar too. I've been looking for a decent shampoo for a long time x

@brittanyfairies where do you buy it from please? x

£6.40 in Coop for bread milk and cheese. Roast dinner today with remains of Xmas pork from freezer

@LaTangerina I buy it online at Body and Spa Shop, I think they're a German company

I've had a really up and down January so far. Started strong but by the 13th I was spending money hand over fist. I still seem to be up financially but only just. Going to do the whole year I think, and really tighten up in February.