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Original poster

NO SPEND 23

549 replies

LaurieFairyCake · 30/12/2022 19:33

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 Wink

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... HmmGrin

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

OP posts:
bridgewateremma · 20/03/2023 15:36

I forgot to add that I'll have to spend £13.90 on the train to get to my interview - aarrrgggh why didn't I go for the Teams option???

grannycake · 20/03/2023 16:14

@bridgewateremma Good luck for the freelance work. I used to mark A levels to pay for our hols when the DC still lived with us. I definitely don't miss it though the money helped

bridgewateremma · 20/03/2023 16:27

Many thanks @grannycake, it's something similar - a freelance auditor for the work I do for my day job, approx. £750 - £800 extra a month gross.

I got the total made during my mad week of matched betting wrong above, I made £142.00 profit.

needastrongoneagain · 20/03/2023 16:44

Well done @bridgewateremma. I know it's miserable at times but look how well you are doing and how disciplined you've been.

I'm still here but don't get chance to post that much. This month has been really good, I don't think I've spent anything that has been unnecessary or frivolous. Our food budget is high, but does include anything at all I buy at a supermarket so deliberately set like that and saves taking money out of other 'pots' (too much faff for me).

I've gotten used to putting money into 'pots' in my Chase account so the money is there for birthday presents or a holiday deposit etc. Added one for dog expenses this month too, so their trip to the groomers is covered on Wednesday.

£30 left in the pot until payday Friday and the cupboards are full so we've done well, if been incredibly boring this month!

Thebreakfastclub2023 · 20/03/2023 16:50

grannycake · 20/03/2023 16:14

@bridgewateremma Good luck for the freelance work. I used to mark A levels to pay for our hols when the DC still lived with us. I definitely don't miss it though the money helped

If you don’t mind me asking my DC handwriting is not good because we lived abroad for years be they tried to change it when we came back to the UK and it’s sort of a mix of curly cursive and uk style. As an A level marker what is the stance on reading bad handwriting. Not doing English. Thanks 🙏

grannycake · 20/03/2023 17:41

@Thebreakfastclub2023 We would try our best but if we really couldn’t read it then we would refer it to our team leader for someone else to have a go. We did have one at the college I worked in where the exam board contacted us to see if our own staff could help - they do put a lot of effort in. Also teachers & examiners are used to reading all sorts of handwriting

Thebreakfastclub2023 · 20/03/2023 18:34

grannycake · 20/03/2023 17:41

@Thebreakfastclub2023 We would try our best but if we really couldn’t read it then we would refer it to our team leader for someone else to have a go. We did have one at the college I worked in where the exam board contacted us to see if our own staff could help - they do put a lot of effort in. Also teachers & examiners are used to reading all sorts of handwriting

Thanks so much for replying it’s so hard changing handwriting at 9 years old DC was revered for his curly cursive accuracy abroad in primary here they were mortified by it but changing it was hard going! His teachers are very helpful it’s psychology and biology mostly as there is more writing in them than chemistry and maths but still curly cursive hybrid nightmare writing must be a torture for you markers!

Thebreakfastclub2023 · 20/03/2023 18:36

Also OP I am reading the post to get inspiration when I am child free in the sense DC off to Uni in Sept as me and husband need to budget better and send money to DC so I am getting tips for the original thread I don’t mean to derail it. Very good thread. I am beginning to hate all the waste in my life and generally in the world as I’m getting older I appreciate it’s so unnecessary. Our planet is priceless.

ItsTheSmallThings · 20/03/2023 18:37

I've decided I'm only going to spend money on Mondays and Fridays. I do main shop on Monday and then top up on Friday, so run out of squash / Milk/ bread it will have to wait till Monday or Friday, kids need clothing will have to get either Monday or Friday, fuel (unless needed for work) can only be purchased on Monday or Friday, need something for the house ..... that way I don't go to the shop for milk and end up with a drink, biscuits and whatever else I convince myself to buy no fuel, will have to walk, need something for the house, have a few days to think if I really need it or just want it. Wish me luck

Clemfandango95 · 20/03/2023 21:05

Aimed for 10 NSD’s this month,
on 7 so far … so fingers crossed !
got £91 left to last until payday next Friday - grocery shopping all done, petrol in car, should be ok I hope!

bridgewateremma · 21/03/2023 18:21

That's a good idea @ItsTheSmallThings, I should do that too! Anytime I have time to myself, I relax by going round the supermarket/charity shops - I know this isn't the best plan!

Spends today:-

  • £3.96 4 x 99p Kindle books
  • £3.60 return train ticket to interview (cheaper than expected as I drove to station closer to destination)
= £7.56

NSD tomorrow hopefully!

CrapBucket · 21/03/2023 22:04

I've been spending lately but determined to get back on it... school leaver hoodie... prom tickets... even if I don't leave the house and set foot in a shop, there is an endless stream of things to pay for!

bridgewateremma · 24/03/2023 23:46

NSDs today and yesterday.

On Wednesday I spent £6.05 in Costa on breakfast and a tea.

I'm going to try and avoid spending very much this weekend, fingers crossed!

ItsTheSmallThings · 25/03/2023 05:58

Well yesterday I bought both a house and a car 🫣, but for me this is what no spend is all about. Sacrifice the little spends on purchases I really don't need to then buy bigger investments (apart from the car, generally just needed one of those)

LostCats · 25/03/2023 08:58

@ItsTheSmallThings I think you win the thread! That’s absolutely amazing!
I hope both bring you much happiness.
I sacrifice a lot so I can have my car. It brings me happiness every time I see it let alone drive it. So much rather have it than ‘stuff’.

needastrongoneagain · 25/03/2023 15:06

@ItsTheSmallThings - brilliant stuff! Tangible benefits for all the hard work. Well done indeed.

LexMitior · 28/03/2023 11:13

An update because I haven't posted. It's been quite a big change for me.

Most days now I don't spend except on food or essentials. I put my bank account in the Plum app which now saves and allocates money to different pockets.

This has been a sea change - instead of getting satisfaction from buying things, I get happy when I see the savings are building up. So I recommend Plum because I can now see where my efforts in not spending are going - to the holiday, rainy day fund, renovations etc. it really helps.

I'm sure you don't have to use Plum but I have found it really useful to keep on track and say, no takeaway, that's 20 quid for the holiday fund and then see it!

Best of luck ladies.

Dexterslab · 28/03/2023 15:42

LexMitior · 28/03/2023 11:13

An update because I haven't posted. It's been quite a big change for me.

Most days now I don't spend except on food or essentials. I put my bank account in the Plum app which now saves and allocates money to different pockets.

This has been a sea change - instead of getting satisfaction from buying things, I get happy when I see the savings are building up. So I recommend Plum because I can now see where my efforts in not spending are going - to the holiday, rainy day fund, renovations etc. it really helps.

I'm sure you don't have to use Plum but I have found it really useful to keep on track and say, no takeaway, that's 20 quid for the holiday fund and then see it!

Best of luck ladies.

I would love to use plum, so does it access your bank account? I want different pots for saving but can't work out how to do this? Thanks

LexMitior · 28/03/2023 17:36

Plum will connect to your bank account, and then you can set rules for saving certain amounts to fill the pockets of savings. You can also just decide to add an amount yourself at any time.

I found it really easy to do and install. You can even get a pre pay card which you can fill with a certain amount of cash for day to day expenses.

You can find it on Apple or Google app stores.

needastrongoneagain · 28/03/2023 18:21

Certain accounts let you set up pots of money too. I use Chase, it's a debit account only but brilliant. There's 1% cash back on all your spends for the first year and it's currently paying 3.1% interest on the monies you have there. I set mine up in minutes.

grannycake · 28/03/2023 18:27

I also use Chase. I have a pot with my food budget and then five savings pots for Xmas, cars, etc.

I also use it for travelling as there are no fees

needastrongoneagain · 28/03/2023 18:33

Yep - I think it's great the Chase account! I've recently added an extra pot for dog expenses as I wasn't budgeting for these and between food and groomer, there's something to pay out for them monthly. I've also started using it for work expenses to get the cash back benefits, pennies really but it all counts.

Dexterslab · 28/03/2023 20:41

I was trying to do this on revolut but it then said I would have to pay a fee on each transaction? Also how safe as these apps is my money safe?!

grannycake · 29/03/2023 06:25

@Dexterslab There are no fees with Chase (they are a major US bank) and all deposits are covered by the normal banking guarantees which I think is £85000.

Clemfandango95 · 30/03/2023 15:16

worse this month than February , need to do better this month!

£104 spent on miscellaneous items

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