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???

@Dexterslab I find keeping a record of everything I buy keeps me aware and over time there is more money…I was chatting about this to my adult DD earlier, I’d bought (necessary) upholstery thread and sewing elastic online, it came to £7 which is fine but without using cash and a shop it would have been easy to almost forget it’s been spent.

I’ve today paid for DD self-defence classes for the month (£30) and a dog nail file (£8) as well as £7 on mending accoutrements. Ok with that as they are all household expenses.

Keep going @Dexterslab, the reward will come.

A rare Costa for me, £3.30. Agog at the cost as I don't buy them often but was meeting old pals.

Today and yesterday were NSDs.

Discretionary weekly spending total so far is £21.20.

I paid off £375 from my credit card yesterday and have another £150 (my invoice was paid by cheque so I'm now waiting for the cheque to clear ) to pay ASAP. My catalogue account and PayPal account are now £0.00 balance. I will ring them both next week and reduce the available credit down to £200 each. I have £1,500 left on one credit card and £6,256 on the other (both mostly interest free). I'm aiming to continue to pay off £500+ every month for the next 17 months. This monthly amount takes into account interest starting to be charged when the interest free period is over (unless its better value/possible for me to balance transfer) and the odd month when I may have an unexpected expense.

I do have a big transatlantic holiday coming up in the autumn but flights & accommodation have been kindly provided by family so I just need to save up spending money so I'll have to think about that soon.

I'm very aware that any one of my 5 extra jobs (not my main job) could stop at any point with no notice so at the moment I'm trying to make hay while the sun shines!

On the down side, I'm not really coping very well with keeping a keen eye/not spending stupidly on the family food & household budgets. I really really need to get a handle on this. I'm working hard/juggling lots of jobs, so when I'm in the supermarket, I just want to treat myself! But it's cheating and we can't afford it. I've spent A LOT of the family food budget already and it's only 3rd Feb! This will be my focus this week, maybe I'll do a big food shop online instead and not go to the supermarket.

It's lovely to have the support here and hear how everyone is doing, keep posting!

@bridgewateremma thats fantastic, keep going! My supermarket tip is to not go when you're hungry or in too much of a rush, and allow yourself ONE treat only. Everything else must be from the list. That means in theory you can treat yourself to anything! As you go round you can make a mental note but don't put it in trolley. Then at the end of your shopping go back to whichever thing you have picked.

Also, I've started to include a can of squirty cream as a fridge staple - its a pretty cheap thing to stick on top of hot chocolate or tinned fruit or waffles etc etc and then it feels like more of a treat.

CrapBucket, that’s such a good tip! To look and then go back for the one treat. I’m going to copy that one!

This thread is very good for mindful spending so very inspired by what is here. Paid off the overdraft last month, made some savings.

However, was quite crap on takeaway and takeaway coffee towards the end of the month. Aside from self discipline, does anyone have a tip in trying to avoid this? I do this on the go, when I am tired!

@LexMitior takeaway has always been our downfall. Last month I've resisted by putting our usual order into uber eats,seeing what a ridiculous price it is at check out and then going to the kitchen to cook something as out of principle I'm not spending £40 on one meal! It's no spend 2023😅
I've found it helps to have some quick food in the fridge/freezer. It's just because I'm hungry I want the take away and I can cook something quicker than they can get my take away to me!

I think we are all susceptible to shortcuts when we are tired @LexMitior, I know I am! Would it help to have some 'easy' meal ingredients in stock for the nights you fancy a takeaway - salmon & salad/carbonara/stir fry etc?

My DH and I got into a habit of buying one of my daughters a small tube of Pringles as a treat after a weekly Saturday morning class. She wasn't happy this morning when this was refused, but she was given crisps at home instead and will have to like it or lump it from now on!

@bridgewateremma @Norfolkungood thank you. I will give the quick food in the fridge a try. I mostly cook from scratch but the whole benefit is pretty undermined by a takeaway which cost far more and is less healthy.

I'll try to get some quick and tasty things in.

On the coffee, this is just very hard to crack. I love coffee well made.

@LexMitior the takeaway coffee is my downfall too - as this thread shows 😳

I have been better tho since January - limiting myself to a max of two a week and trying to pick up Costa offers (they twicve did 'buy a coffee Friday, get a free one over the weekend'.

Starbucks have gifted me 300 points (=two drinks) so DD and I are going out to enjoy that later. Just ducking and diving on this a bit, trying to limit the spend.

Gonna have to buy a swimming costume today tho, the emergency one is beyond the pale now. :)

Also got paid £40 yesterday for a little side hustle I have so that feels good. AND won £25 on the Premium Bonds.

Today was NSD#23 of 2023!

End of week 5 review:-

£21.20 on train tickets
= £21.20 spent and 6 x NSDs

February total spend so far = £21.20 + 3 x NSDs.

NSD. Really tempted to buy a chainsaw (gardening) but resisted!

NSD yesterday, today I've done the grocery shop but stuck firmly to the budget. Treated myself to a jar of lemon curd. Living The Dream.

Ooh lemon curd, that's a good treat for not so much money.

Enjoy the lemon curd @CrapBucket! You can add squirty cream too, mmmmmm!

I spent £3.50 today on a roll-up jigsaw mat (still boxed) from a charity shop. This will give me and my son a lot of pleasure.

PS I went on a beach walk today and found some PINK sea glass. I'm a fair weather/sporadic sea glass hunter and have never ever found ANYTHING so exciting, this is so rare! And it was FREE!

Love the pink sea glass @bridgewateremma!

Good efforts by everyone.

I went to Starbucks with DD last night but both drinks were free as I had been gifted some points (by Sbx).

Today I went to a craft fair with DD and bought her something for £8 but nothing for myself. Unfortunately I later went online and bought a new swimming costume, got a 20% off code tho so it cost £36 rather than £44. I promise you if you saw the state of my 'this will just about do' one you would agree it is an essential purchase

Pink sea glass sounds amazing! And I think the swimming costume is essential, you did well to hold off so long. I class my yoga classes as essential.

Having a tough slog here with teenagers so I'm buckling in for what I know is going to be a difficult week. Oh and my energy bill has doubled so that's nice...

I hear you on the troublesome teens @CrapBucket! One of mine is driving to distraction just now!

How is the new swimsuit @clarey?

£1.90 spent today on a visit to the 2nd hand toy warehouse with DD. It is pay what you can so she chose a toy then proudly handed over her 10p from her money box and I topped it up with another £1.90 to £2.00. She's delighted with her purchase!

NSD... except paying for kids PGL at school which was pretty ouch. However this is not spending on myself

One thing I’ve noticed in the no spend is how much easier it is to tidy without the constant coming in of new stuff and having to battle that with stuff going out and the anxiety of juggling it all.

Finding this month hard. Our payday is middle of the month and while I’ve cut back radically it’s still all so expensive.

However I have been doing expenses every couple of days and I literally cannot imagine what it would have been like without the no spend.

I am enjoying not doing online shopping returns.

I’m still on board, I did have a splurge and bought myself new underwear from M&S - just a couple of multipacks to replace my holey faded ones, felt like such a treat!

We had a takeaway last night from a local Mexican to celebrate dds fabulous report, that cost around £60 but we get takeaways rarely these days (perhaps every few months instead of fortnightly)

I've reduced my energy payment to £50 for a bit - they’ve got £650 of my money, I’m keen to have a buffer but that amount felt ridiculous! I’d be interested to know what everyone thinks is reasonable? I’m going to try and reduce it to £300-£400.

And getting rid of Amazon cardboard….