Low spend February

[Orcubed]

For those of us who want to carry on from January. Anyone new who also wants to join in welcome!

My big effort this month has been towards groceries, because I've been putting away money for upcoming expenses (car insurance in April, holidays later in the year) and making extra payments towards our winter energy bill.

So, first 11 days of February, we spent £140 on groceries (includes cleaning items and basic toiletries) and the second 12 days we spent £81. There's only two of us at home this month (Ddog's food and treats are a different expense) so I've been able to do lots of NSDs, veggie meals and eat the pantry. Harder when DS is home and we want to be a bit more expansive.

So, £221 and now I have £50 left in the pot until 28th Feb, and still a bit of food to use up. I'm going to shop today and include probably a chicken and some minced beef or pork, as well as top up on butter, coffee, tins, some biscuits (currently obsessed with Lidl's shortbread rounds, £1.25 a pack) and whatever fruit and veg I can find in the empty aisles! Also need dishwashing tablets.

Treats this month: £2.40 on a pot of Sabra hummus; £6 on tulips and daffodils from Lidl - an absolute bargain, a week in the house and they're still going strong and cheering me up. Walls vanilla ice cream with creme fraiche. Clotted cream to have with homemade scones. Aldi dark chocolate. We like sourdough from the bakery, and Lavazza coffee, and we're reluctant to make savings here, although we obviously could buy cheaper. (DH also bought a cut-price cheesecake and lemon tart from Waitrose - near his work, and he paid for this, so not counted in my total. Love the lovely DH.)

I'm writing down all my spends, NSDs and meal plans in my 'household book'. This really helps. As does having enough time and knowledge to shop in different places, cook from scratch and plan.

Keeping the two of us fed and clean, and not feeling too deprived on it, for under £280 (in an admittedly short month) is pretty good for us.

I'm going to keep going through March on the grocery bill (probably the whole year, tbh, the way things are) as I want to keep putting money aside for expenses later in the year, and also pay for a pot of paint and a mirror - I'm redecorating the loo. So I'll be coming back here, if anyone else is?

I'll be back. Our building project is going to go on for most of this year and I've watched enough property shows to know we will have unexpected expenses that aren't in the budget so I'm keeping a tight rein on expenditure.

£50 Ocado today on store cupboard/freezer stuff

Yes I'll be back next month. I've found it really helpful to keep a track of my spending so much better, and I'm hoping to see my totals go down month by month 🤞

Jan groceries: £644.73
Feb groceries: £402.72

Another big win is that I've really got into the swing of packed lunches. Although to be fair to myself it is a constant piece of work so I understand why I didn't do it for so many years.

Treats this month were multiple:

• 2 x books from amazon- was in a hurry and couldn't be bothered going to the library
• new blouse for job interviews
• treating myself and dc to hot chocs and cakes while out and about at half term.
• gym membership and personal trainer
• new trainers
• new plant for greenhouse

Things on my list to buy:
Nice pots with plants front door
Nice storage bench for hallway
New bed, bedside tables and chest of drawers
New sports bra

Did a grocery shop, had to get extra bits because we have a house guest for the weekend, but not too bad at £76. That included 2 bottles of wine, so was fairly pleased with that. Still on track to be able to put something away at the end of the month now the pet unsurance has paid up.

I have failed miserably. Even the fact I had to put in for a new card and cant spend money till it comes has not stopped this.

March I do better.

Oh sorry to hear that @Pseudonamed what went wrong do you think?

Half the battle is to have the intention to save - so hopefully March is better for you 🤞

Oh I went wrong. My strengths are overthinking, overdrinking and overspending and sometimes I can do all three at the one time.

With no access of course to my bank card I did seek out my deposit account card and am using cash currently. I wont have a new card till wed so the few quid I have now has to do me till then as its a pain in the hole where I am to get to my bank to take money out so that is something. I think going forward that is what I will do. Shop on a Friday for the week, meal plan accordingly and then take out a few quid cash for teh rest of the week and not upload the new card onto the justeat app and well the laptop or the phone and do not take the card with me. I really have no sense when it comes to money. My dp is totally the opposite. I could learn from him. I wont but I could.

Don't feel too discouraged - progress isn't always linear. It's hard to be self-disciplined all the time. Your new strategy of taking out cash might be really helpful - there's some research about it I think.

I had 3 NSDs this week, and pretty low spends overall apart from rent going out and a birthday-related non-essential purchase early in the week. Hoping for a good month in March, which will be more challenging as I'm travelling a bit for work (but it'll be reimbursed later).

Only a few more days until payday!

NSD today. Went to local country park in camper. We have a season ticket so no cost. Took sandwiches and cinnamon buns from home and brewed our own coffee. Dog had two walks so she's now asleep

We had to go out as the builder was knocking the render off the back of the house and I only lasted 10 mins before leaving

DH has washed floors and I'm about to put tea together. Using leftover corned beef hash to make pasties which we're having with beans. Not cordon bleu but will be fine

Is there one yet for March? I did a lot of prep work yesterday for a frugal March but dont want to duplicate if already a thread.

@grannycake corned beef pasties sound fab!

@Pseudonamed I'm interested in what you do to prep for a frugal march please?

Oh I'm doing cheese and onion pasties today.

I need to do March too.To be honest unless the Lottery comes up, I will be doing a frugal 2023.

I live in Ireland (the southern end) so went up to NI to bulk buy things we need for the month like coffee and lunch things etc not to mention painkillers etc as it is WAAAAAAAYYYYY cheaper to drive up and shop than it is down here so I have prepped all my 'definitely will need to buy' stuff including cleaning products and dog food and all that.

I have also done a full inventory as it were of everything in the freezer and presses/cupboards to see what I have and determined to use up what we have before stocking up again. I still have rice and pasta from the earlier days of covid here can you believe.

The final thing is that once my wages went in this morning I have taken out an amount of cash that will see me through the full month and have deleted my card off my phone and taken it out of my phone case so its cash or nothing. I tend to tap a LOT when I am out but this will make me think twice. I have then also removed all card details from my laptop as it is far too easy to just go feck it and justeat us all a takeaway but with the card hidden (i got dp to hide it and he is far better than i with money) and only cash that HAS to last me I have done everything in my power to not overspend in march. I calculated what I spent on things that we did not need to spend on in Feb and the amount is obscene.

Very organised @Pseudonamed . I need to do similar like a Aldi stock up. We shop at ocado and asda but some things are alot cheaper in aldi. I used to do an Aldi shop just after payday for things for the month I knew where cheaper there and won't go off eg toilet roll kitchen roll, kids snacks, crisps, cereal etc but I've stopped doing that but need to get back into it again. I also need to do a pantry inventory as I get too click happy on the online food shop and just add the same things in each week without checking if we actually need them 😱

Not ending the month well at all, but hopeful for March. Groceries were up on last month at £3.56 per person per day (did also include catering a kids party for 12 so wasn’t quite that much on our actual food) but I am at least heading into March with full cupboards and fridge freezer so that should help to keep it lower through the first week or two anyway.

Groceries: £598.65
Car: £763

Stuff for dd’s birthday party: £60.80

Birthday present for dd:£ 2.93
Birthday presents for others £82.50
Outings/food out £205.66
Toiletries/beauty products/supplements £178

Other £46.99

£11000 part payment for builders. Otherwise a NSD. Probably do the weeks shop tomorrow - have roughed out a meal plan

Forgot my coffee this morning at home and thought I'd try to power through, but I didn't manage it - caved and bought a latte this afternoon. At least it wasn't super expensive (subsidised by work).

In total, I spent more than last month, but that was expected due to birthdays. I can hopefully do better next month. I did manage 12 NSDs, which is great considering it's a short month.

Pleased with low spend day today only £10 and it was on essentials...a bottle lid and some washing machine cleaner!

Morning. Can I join, please? I'm on no spend 23, but it's not really active, and I need some encouragement.

Ended February in the black, thanks to the pet insurance paying out. Managed to put away £150 towards next Christmas, and £200 in ordinary savings. That is basically the council tax plus £150 extra. Probably possible because February is so short. I am aiming to save through the year so I don't go overdrawn in December this year, and also build up a contingency fund. Onward towards March!

New thread for March

Feeling the need to get February done and dusted so I can start afresh for March so have taken the liberty of starting a new thread.

Welcome @xogossipgirlxo

Thanks Orcubed - will join you over there!