No Spend 2024....

[meemawww]

Or at least the first couple of months to make a dent in my credit card debt!
I feel like I need a thread to encourage me and hopefully get some tips anybody like to join? I earn an alright wage but my god am i frivolous with money since my earnings went up!

Officially started Low/ no spend on the 2nd of Jan , so far i've spent £13 on non essential things ( tower cleaning set in sale and vitamin drinks )not too bad and could technically write them off as kind of needed items though I could do without them so counting as non essential . Also stuck to my weekley food shop budget online shopping 👍

NSD almost. Spent £3.50 on sausage rolls for lunch as we ran out of bread. Kids are still off school and eating non stop!
We had a day out at a national trust property- we have a membership- was great to get out in the sunshine after all this rain.
I'm going to research how feasible small solar panels are later. We have an office/ shed at the bottom of the garden that gets sunshine all day so I thought it would be a great spot for a solar panel.

@TashaG acknowledging your spending and seeing where it's all going is the first step so well done!

Thank you, TashaG, AllTheChaos, and LostCats. I had to keep reminding myself how difficult it was for him and what a milestone it represents. It was hard:

• to set aside my own frustrations about the lack of past engagement (I didn't know he was addressing this with his psychologist so I didn't have prior notice that we'd be having 'the talk')
• not to get impatient about the mistakes he made when he announced some figures that I knew were wrong because I keep approximate running totals of the things I know about in my head (it took 40mins just to persuade him that he'd made a SS error but I know that his anxiety reduced his ability to listen and to think)
• to handle my own emotions and show no sign of them while remaining completely calm and positive but pushing back to help him understand that we need to reduce expenditure in some areas because we have new expenses for which we need to budget.

I don't imagine that the next few conversations will be any easier but I can only try and help him to sustain them so we can work towards our finances together.

Not a NSD as we did a £116 foodshop that should last us 2 weeks (with a small top up shop in about a week of £10). Other than that I haven’t bought anything so I see that as a win!

I’m joining too. I saw a post which resonated recently - £24.70 of mindless spending per day adds up to £10,000 a year.

we are also renovating at home and have just discovered a huge issue which is unlikely to be covered on insurance and cost around 20k (on top of what we’re already paying for extension/renos) so I’m panicking.

So today has been my first actual NSD which I’ve been trying not to find frustrating…the things I’ve bought since the first have all been necessary for various reasons: it’s just how dispiriting how expensive everything is! New socks for a family member with bad circulation issues so had to be merino, £35, new indoor shoes for school for DD x 2 (one with mobility issues so needs particular pair) £48, new hair detangler products and school hair accessories for multiple DD £45; it felt never ending.

On a positive note, cancelled my Sky, and TV Licence too, today.

£24.70 of mindless spending per day adds up to £10,000 a year.

@Fbifan That is amazing - and I'm pretty sure I have been mindlessly spending that kind of amount. I would LOVE £10,000 actually in my bank account by the end of the year, although I can't see it happening. However, 10k LESS out of the bank would be great.

I had a NSD today. I'm not very well at the moment and it makes it easy to not want to leave the house. And I'm trying to avoid Amazon!

Phew - yesterday I spent £570. So much for aiming for a NSD!!

£450 was my son's school trip! His dad gave me half of the money for it in November which got completely swallowed up by my normal spending- so then had to find the £450 myself.

Then £50 on kids clubs, £70 on clothes - the majority of which will be returned- just need to find a pair of trousers that fit DS.

BUT- I didn't buy lunch or anything else - so a bit of a win.

Today £74 spent.

Feel this is getting out of control- but I'm just recording what does come out of my account on a regular basis.

Today was a £3.40 Aldi expense- so I can make my own cakes (may not be cheaper but trying to avoid processed food)

A small work expense which I'll need to claim back. And my new sports club fees.

Tonight- still got to book flights for our holiday, pay the rest of the deposit, and book the 3 x clubs for dc plus after school clubs.

Once you take out all those expenses I'm barely spending anything on daily life.

This weekend's plans are diy and a run.

That all sounds really hard @2024Hackathon

Are you getting any support yourself? As that sounds like a lot you need to take on - but really good you are making progress having the conversations

@2024Hackathon that sounds like an incredibly tough situation. Best of luck to you both going forward

Almost a NSD today - went into the office and spent 90p above the meal voucher value we get for lunch. But I felt like stopping at the chippy on the way home and managed to resist and eat the leftover Turkey curry from yesterday 😇

That's eye-opening isn't it.

24.7 x 365 = £9015.5
24.7 x 366 = £9040.2 (because 2024 is a leap year)

I also agree with the following although getting a rise, finding extra hours, or a sustainable second job etc. is not always that straightforward.

Spending $5 a day on Starbucks will cost you $1,825 per year.
But a $1/hr raise will pay you an extra $2,080 per year.
The lesson?
Buy the coffee if it makes you happy.
And figure out how to increase your income.

On a lighter and stickier note, DH wanted to add Tunnocks Teacakes to the shopping list for tomorrow. I wasn't born in Scotland so, to me, they're not a fresh 🥬 or essential food item. (Apparently, I'm wrong about this in ways that defy adequate expression. 🤨 )

I made assembled some using a 'cheat' recipe (nothing is made from scratch and I just used chocolate, marshmallow fluff, and biscuits from the storecupboard). They're now setting up in the coldest part of the kitchen.

I'll take a photo and put it on the Pantry Challenge thread if I can turn them out tomorrow. Otherwise, we'll forget this whole sticky thing happened and erase it from our memories.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/cost_of_living/4974829-pantry-challenge-2024?

Sorry - should’ve been 27.40!!!!

5 Jan update: Had to go out for a blood test today and treated myself to coffee and a snack afterwards:

£4 bus fare
£4.70 cafe

Total £8.70

No plans for tomorrow, so hopefully that will be a NSD.

nsp and money that was allocated for today diverted to the mortgage/ploc and my cc (jeans backordered from dec).
bills all come out soon after payday, i then take the remaining amount of money and divide it by 30. this gives me a ball park of what we as a household can spend each day. on any given day of the month we know how much should be in the everyday main account, prevents finding out at any point that we are short and helps dh who is a spender moderate his purchases over the month vs all at once.

Just realised that I've had two NSDs in a row. Hurrah!

Almost a NSD today but one of my private prescriptions came due, so that was £20. Hopefully everything will be shifted over to NHS in the next few months, but the waiting lists for diagnosis were so long it made sense to go private (esp as work paid, except for prescriptions, not me!) Groceries due tomorrow, but managed to make a budget and stick to it (£60 for the week for all of us). Was so tempted by the sales, the ‘flash sales’ etc. Managed to resist, but it was so hard! Just trying to be more conscious and not just clicking is tougher than I expected.

Not a full NSD. Spent an £4.19 on postage for a birthday gift. So it is an allowable expense under my 2024 spending rules, this goes for essential food/ toiletries/ pets/ household stuff. I can spend on my beauty treatments or clothes (replacements only) out of my monthly spending allowance.

My aim this year is reduce spending on everything else I don't actually need. I do get monthly Amazon vouchers from work that I plan to save up (I always blow these on "stuff") I've been through my Amazon basket and lists and deleted so much off.

I also use receipt scanning apps in exchange for vouchers, I tend to get a £5 every couple of months. I'd also recommend doing any bank switches that are available I've claimed over £1000 in these over the years. I do sell on FB marketplace or Ebay when I declutter. DH was given vouchers from work that we've exchanged for Aldi vouchers to knock off our weekly shop.

I have a couple of big spends due out next week, home insurance and school residential money. If I can reduce spending on everything else then great

Can I ask, is no spend actually no spend whatsoever other than essentials?
I want to really cut back but Jan is full of expenses! I have 3 teenagers and I’m broke from them. I need to clear the credit card over the next two months and pay back another debt too.

I can stop the excess spends on myself, as in stop buying clothes and only buy essential cosmetics etc but not sure about the teenagers? How do people manage them?

I also have a trip coming up in Feb ( away for 3 days with friends) so will have to spend money on that.

Am I a lost cause? I’ve always found budgeting so hard and we do struggle to make ends meet each month.

All advise and ( constructive) criticism welcome!

@Hatethisdrama my nsd are total no spend online cc or cash. but does not include any automatic withdrawls like bank service fees.
replacing things like new undies/jeans for dh and at some point not your standard shampoo (curly girl here) is on the standard shopping list.
dh knows his generous monthly limit on his cc that he can spend on whatever without me having an nervous breakdown. are the teens able to manage an allowance for their wants/needs vs you purchasing (sanitary and bathroom essentials aside)?

@CurlsnSunshinetime4tea thank you. I do give the teens an allowance, so they can manage that somewhat….but one has a school tour coming up, the other has a school dance and the third has music lessons to be paid for….. all in January. And there’s a birthday thrown in there too. It just seems impossible to get money under control with all these expenses.

Everything else will have to be essential spending only and I’ll have to stick with it.

I suppose my aim is that in future I have these things budgeted for and not coming out of our weekly pay but it’s getting to that point that’s the problem.

@Hatethisdrama i'm NO expert i too struggled with this back when i had teens.
can you save up during the off months?

@Hatethisdrama I would consider all those things essential to your individual household!
The way I look at it, is a full no-spend day is great (I don’t include direct debits going out), but I focus on low spend. So restricting anything that isn’t necessary to our household and being mindful of costs by hunting around for cheapest on those essentials etc.
My youngest two really want a £6 pack of superhero capes, I’m not getting them till a birthday in March…usually I’d have just bought them as I love seeing children play. Not essential. Or my sparkling water habit. It’s surprising how quickly it all adds up.

I have a 16 & 11yr old. They don't really cost me too much on a monthly basis. Their toiletries, I'll replace in the grocery shop. I top up the school dinner accounts monthly. Clothes, we go 2-3 times a year to town for a big clothes shop, they have a big clear out of their wardrobe before that. Uniform is picked up when needed which isn't very often, mine are small and have uniform for years. Mobile phone is £8pm giffgaff, they have our old phones. They have a small amount of pocket money to to waste however they want.

Everything I pay for them is classed as essential spends, it's generally replacements, they don't get expensive brand clothes or shoes through the year, they can ask for some at Xmas or birthday.