NO SPEND 23

[LaurieFairyCake]

I'm going HARD CORE. There's already a no spend January - I want to go ALL THE FUCKING WAY as far as possible

And I want to take YOU down with me

I confess it's easier for me as I am literally drowning in stuff even now. I've lost 6 stone in weight and I've got rid of 15 black full bags of clothes in last six months so I'm on a roll.

I also work all the fucking time so I have about 50 books to read and all the tv I want to watch. And I can't be arsed doing anything to my house so that's out.

I also want to do this for the environment - I already buy second hand as much as possible as I'm obsessed with EBay - but I could still do with buying much less

I've no idea what the rules could be, let's decide that if I get anyone on board.

My own thoughts are to get as FAR as possible.

I have bought a jumper in the sales already I don't need 🤦‍♀️ which is what kicked this off in my mind today - yadda yadda half price blah blah but I have 20 jumpers! And I had drunk half a bottle of port last night when I purchased it online...

So given my flawed premise anyone want to join me???

@LexMitior bet the roses will be superb. I use rotted seaweed from the shore, stinky but works well. I think not-spending on my garden will be my most difficult temptation to resist this year tbh.

Yesterday, I had a close friend over for a roast dinner and helped DD with exam prep. Nothing bought on or offline so this was NSD#11. Discretionary weekly spending total is £0.00.

Post exam trip to Starbucks with eldest DD this evening so definitely not a NSD!

Starting to find it really hard to not buy random things I take a fancy to online. And not online window shopping.
But on the amazing plus side, I just put money into my credit card!

@Mashedpotatosandsausages - yes this will be hard. Seasonally you have do the manure in the next month. You are lucky with the seaweed! Gardening is about thrift but I live in London (albeit largish garden) so a while to the coast.

Put it in your shopping basket and leave it 2 days....bet you've forgotten about it by the time you look again.

can I afford it, Do I need it, do I like it..

Or pay off the credit card first.

You’re right. Credit card first I think. That keeps me awake at night. Not the need for a new sewing box 😁

@LostCats to succeed you need to be clear why you are going for no buy; you have indicated your "why" is to clear credit card debt, so every time you are about to buy something non essential you need to ask do I need this more than repaying my credit card debt?
will it give me more lasting use and pleasure than seeing my credit card bill down not just today but will I still think the pleasure is worth it when credit card bill arrives in 1, 2 3 weeks time
you didn't buy sewing box, so add cost of sewing box to the amount you will repay towards credit card ie minimium direct debit plus sewing box,

So the no buy is actually even more than just the credit card. It’s the burden of new items coming to the house, the financial cost and the effort of dealing with them.

So I guess my why is the relief of nothing coming in. And then the added benefit of less spending and thus debt.

I agree too much stuff is a different type of burden it needs organised, a storage place, it needs cleaning. it is just more for you to manage and part of housework routine
it is definitely easier to keep your home tidy and clean with less things in it and it frees up time amd money for the stuff and things you care about more

Yes, I'm clearing out at least 3 items a day too, and we are not hoarders either.

£30 fuel
£3 coffee for DH, he's in hospital long term so I'm not counting as frivolous spends.

Difficult situation @Happierwithouthim you've got there, respecting the confidence but needing to safeguard too.

Fricking dogs eh @lifelongfrugaleer, they are all lovable dickheads!

Oops spends

£30 fuel
£3 coffee for DH.

Ahh, ignore - wrong frugal thread 🤣, bugger. Brain fog after a long day.

NSD, busy too so haven’t noticed I’m not spending if that makes sense. I do need to research new school bag for DD5 as her last two have broken in ways I couldn’t mend grrr. She’s now using her pe bag as her school bag till the Feb holidays if it lasts that long!

Eldest DD finished her prelim exams today so I took her for her Starbucks treat this evening:-

• £12.70 on a venti frappucino & biscoff loaf for DD and a venti classic hot chocolate (no cream) for me

I've more than doubled my spend for the month but happy with that spend, it was so worth it to spend that special time with DD. I also bought a Starbucks 2G2G bag this morning, which was cancelled by the time we got to Starbucks due to lack of stock due to go out-of-date, so 1) I didn't spend that money and 2) I got a free trio of cakes to apologise for the inconvenience!

Discretionary weekly spending total is £12.70.

@bridgewateremma, that sounds like a lovely post-exam treat for your daughter 🙂.

@Mashedpotatosandsausages, might somewhere else be able to fix your daughter's bag? I know Alpkit do heavy duty outdoor repairs (possibly all by post), and a local repair café might be able to as well?

NSD!

@AllAboutSlime ahh thanks for the ideas, we live so rurally though - it’s a 50 mile round trip to the nearest proper village let alone town! I like their bags being made from canvas/leather then I can mend, but this was a very synthetic Barbie one that I just can’t. Might be able to repurpose for their bedroom though - hold Barbie clothes etc.

A wee win today!

I went to the Co-op to buy a single banana to have with my breakfast after the school run. If I was buying a small, cheap item of food, not as part of a family shop, I usually pay for it myself. I was annoyed though, that it was going to ruin my planned NSD.

The large banana was 25p, then I swiped my Reward card, 25p balance = free banana and maintained my NSD (so far!)!

No spend day! Went for lunch with my mum but she paid so happy days.

Also spent nothing today. Well, I transferred some money to DD but she is giving me the cash (she gets paid in cash but needs money in her ac) so that for count. Took lunch, quiet evening.

£93 Tescos delivery, probably need another £40ish on top of that as there was a lot of bits missing on the app that I still need.
Fuel bill of £288. Currently wrapped up in a blanket!

Well so far this year 18 days in I've spent £7 on a cheap dress from EBay

Apart from that, NOTHING - and I usually spend at least £200-£300 on 'stuff' I don't need

I've managed to fill about a dozen online baskets and buy NOTHING (yet, the month is still middle aged )

God, I'm so annoyed with myself!

I went to Boots last night for some new tinted moisturiser/foundation as I just couldn't squeeze any more out of my current one. I went to No. 7, got colour matched etc., then went to the till to complete my purchase of 3 x products on 3 for 2 and got a £5 voucher off. I was intending to spend my Advantage card points.

Anyway, all the tills in Boots now are self-serve and it wouldn't work with my Advantage points. I was trying not to spend any real money, but pay with my points. I got in a real fluster then the checkout lady came over and she was really patronising. It turned out you can't use a £5 off voucher if paying with points. That seems obvious to me now but I couldn't understand it at the time. Anyway, I got so frustrated as she was trying to cancel the transaction and start again, that I said, "I'll just pay for it" and spent £22.90 on tinted moisturiser!

The real frustration is that I certainly wouldn't have bought 3 items if I wasn't planning to pay with my points. So now I have spent lots of money I really didn't want to spend. I should have just politely left them and gone back another time or or just gone with restarting the transaction and just bought 1. Anyway, you live and learn.

I also went to TK Maxx (didn't buy anything), M&S (bought some Percy Pigs on DS's card for him and bought a dress for me but from household clothes budget) and Hobbycraft where I spent £2.00 on craft foam for DD.

Discretionary weekly spending total is now £37.60 (yesterday's spending total was £24.90 - I could kick myself) .

To help, I have a brand new Seasalt coat I'm going to stick on Vinted tonight! Hopefully I can make £80.00 or so, which would help so much.

Aw don't beat yourself up! But if you really don't want them can you return them? I have had a NSD today, turned my heating down loads and wearing so many layers I look like Joey wearing all of Chandler's stuff.