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!

@CurlsnSunshinetime4tea I think that’s my biggest problem. I didn’t budget for these things. We took a big drop in income last year when my husband changed jobs. I budgeted very well for the first part of the last year and put away money every week for expenses like these but that money got swallowed up in heating oil, car repairs, back to school and I ended up using the credit card for Xmas. I’m now in a position where I have to clear cc before I can put money away again. I feel I’m in a cycle that’s hard to break. I am determined to get back in track but I find it exhausting and very stressful at times. So, I reckon by March I should be able to put money aside again, hopefully.

@MrsShortbread thank you. I do feel a low spend approach might be better here too. I tried a no spend before and ended up getting really anxious any time something unexpected turned up and I can feel my anxiety rising again regarding spending and saving.

@Goldmember thank you. I do have them on weekly allowance and their phone credit is only €10 a month also (we live in Ireland). They’ve all either bought their own phones from birthday or Christmas money previously or got them second hand as presents from us.
I have cut back massively on the amount of clothes I buy them. They do like their labels …. Which is a bit infuriating, so I tend to buy in sales or on depop. I try to only buy when needed or as gifts for birthdays and Christmas.
I do have a tendency to go over board at Christmas and this year was no different, even though I swore I wouldn’t. It’ll take me at least 2-3 months to get back on track after that now and I’m kicking myself for it.

I really need to low- no spend. I’ve decided no new clothes for me or DH this year unless essential and I need to say no more to invites out for coffee etc.

ok, I’m on board, as much as I can be and I look forward to getting much needed tips and advice on here.

Thanks for the incentive to get started and sorry for long post!

Hatethisdrama - I agree with PPs. NSDs etc. mean something slightly different to us all, depending on our circumstances.

For many of us, we need a financial plan for predictable expenses (bills, housing, day to day living etc.), planned expenses (e.g., holidays, house maintenance), children | teenagers, emergencies.

In general, there's a lot of support for YNAB (You Need A Budget) as a concept as well as the (paid-for) app. There are several threads about it on this CoL forum and Money Matters (probably even more on MSE).

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/money-matters/4619144-ynab-newbie

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/cost_of_living/4794033-new-to-budgeting-where-to-start-help?reply=125820564&utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share&utm_source=copylink

Free method:
https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/everyday-money/budgeting/use-our-budget-planner.html

You (we) need a budget to plan expenditure for everything. I couldn't begin to do this as I know there's a lot that I don't know. To be blunt, before the conversation on Thurs evening, it's been impossible to talk to DH about money. I'm a long way (I think) from getting us to set a budget but we need it. (I'm hoping I'm wrong and that relentless support from DH's psychologist will get us there.)

Thank you @2024Hackathon yes, I need a low spend and a major budget over haul! I’m not great with money and all the finances are left in my ( no so ) capable hands. Bless DH, he just trusts/ expects me to manage the whole household bills etc. he’s great, in that he never questions where our money goes but has none of the stress of trying to budget.

I will look at those links thank you and get myself in order.
Hope you and DH get things sorted financially also.

@Hatethisdrama I'm basically just trying to not spend anything I don't have to. So when I triumphantly post NSD, for me it simply means I haven't been out the house and spent money - or bought something online. It doesn't necessarily mean that £400 hasn't gone out on the gas/electric on DD (that's Direct Debit, not daughter!) for eg.

I'm currently trying to eat our way through the pantry/freezer as much as possible, because I'm a bit of a hoarder, and like you Christmas was costly. I'm expecting our finances to be really cut this year and trying to get on top of things before we have a massive loss of salary. I don't have any debt (apart from mortgage) because I managed to pay that off in the last couple of years. However, neither do we have any savings.

I know we're bad at money, spend on impulses, eat out too much, love a 'bargain' we don't really need - so I'm basically trying to stop that. I will buy food/petrol when I have to, obviously. I'm posting those amounts to sort of make myself aware/accountable. Before this I excused myself popping in to Tesco or B&M most days and spending £30 or so, but I was buying an awful lot of stuff that looked nice rather than was actually needed.

@Hatty65 that sounds more doable. We do have some debt (2 car loans) as well as that visa debt from Xmas on top of our mortgage.
I love your idea no unnecessary spends…. That should put less pressure on me and make me think twice if I need that coffee or that top etc.
My aim is be debt free (except for mortgage) but with the drop in salary last year it’s very difficult to pay off more than the monthly repayments.
best of luck to you too…. A drop in wage does affect things but we can all adapt to our means, hopefully. Our change in salary was quite sudden and unexpected so try to plan as best you can for it and im sure it’ll all work out.
Thanks for the advice. I’m starting to feel this doable 🙏

Around £10 in the Coop for coffee and cream

Can I join? We just got back from our holiday and I am terrified to look at the accounts... it was fun though.

We have far too much stuff so am currently organizing so we don't need to buy extras.

Have told the kids it's a no spend year...

I’m desperate to get on track. I’m embarrassed to admit that I have a good salary but have to work 6 days a week. My money just goes, I treat myself as I think I deserve it as have such little time off. So meals out, shows not as a treat most months.

i am going to do an old school budget and would love to pay off debt, save for a holiday and stop the dopamine rush of buying myself something which never lasts.

NSD for me today, plenty of food in. Living the tips on here so inspiring.

depending on circumstances sometimes having a small amount of discretionary spends a month helps just so you can have a coffee with a friend or go to book club but it must be in the budget, when things were tight with us it was just £25 each per month for DH and myself. Now we are semi retired so income is much less but we are mortgage and debt free so actually on paper we have less but in actual fact are more comfortably off.
I think it is deciding that if having paid your bills housing allowed for food fuel etc and set money aside for annual expenditure like birthdays christmas car repairs day trips etc etc) you have for example £300 left you then decide whether all £300 goes to debt repayment ( over and above the amount in main budget) or to savings or do you have a monthly allowance for spends and then £250 or 200 goes to savings / debts

Feeling a bit smug. Made spicy sweet potato soup from the fridge. That's a few lunches this week.

Defrosted sausages and used up old veg and Yorkshires (only had to buy potatoes, this weeks shopping came to £20) and just about to tuck into sausage mash and veg.

Unexpected spend was £14 on hair dye as I didn't realise I didn't have a box. Oh also had to pay the bin cleaning man a tenner (owed a few weeks). But feel like it's going well so far.

Had to buy party food and a bike lock today. Both essential!

NSD here for second day in a row 😊. Was lovely weather so did a long dog walk, then took our thermos and sandwhiches and went for another walk at the harbour. Love never buying tea and coffee out, it saves a fortune.

DD19 asked me if I could get her some Pepsi whilst out, usually I just would but this time I said I happily would if she had the money. She did, so I did. Might not sound like much, but she’s an independent adult with her own income and I do need to get better at reminding her of that! (She’s not selfish/greedy, she has severe ADHD and forgets mundane stuff like giving me a couple of quid…it all adds up though.)

NSD. Another day where we didn't leave the house and just ate out of the freezer. Have got food out for tomorrow too so hopefully that means another day of not spending.

I baked a lemon cake today for DNs birthday treat. Feeling very accomplished and virtuous.

Not only did it cost me zero additional £, as I had three lemons leftover from Christmas, and loads of eggs and butter, but it will taste ten times better than a store bought cake.

Had 4/8 NSD so far this year 😇

For me, a no-spend day doesn’t include the things that go out monthly. So things like utilities, money set aside towards annual costs like insurance etc. don’t count. I count ‘spending’ as everything else. I do allow a certain amount in my monthly budget for treats like a coffee out, and for a day out with DD.

Last year was horrendous for me financially, money basically haemorrhaged out, and my savings were wiped out. I also experienced a massive and long term drop in salary. A friend who knew I was planning / hoping to get on top of it all this year bought me a brilliant Christmas present! It’s a lovely budget planner, in a hardback notebook format. I find it hard to do certain things on screen, and for me, budgeting with pen and paper has helped enormously. I’ve seen similar ones on Amazon for £10-£15, and honestly, I’m going to ask for another one for next Christmas as it’s proving so helpful.

@AllTheChaos that sounds useful, and so clearly a really decent friend there too.

Is anyone trying to implement things like savings via reducing electricity bills over the year too? Tonight I’ve got a full airer of washing in front of the stove (not too near), I wanted a long hot bath but had a shower instead (boo), just trying to be mindful of as much as possible.

justtidying Have told the kids it's a no spend year... Were they OK about this and have they come up with some ideas to participate in this?

MrsShortbread Love never buying tea and coffee out, it saves a fortune. You sound impressively organised.

Hatty65 I excused myself popping in to Tesco or B&M most days and spending £30 or so, but I was buying an awful lot of stuff that looked nice rather than was actually needed. Were you buying food?

Debtfreeme My money just goes, I treat myself as I think I deserve it as have such little time off. That is so understandable. It's a go-to dopamine lift for the time-poor and it's helpfulful that you have such insight into that.

Frugal2024 I baked a lemon cake today for DNs birthday treat. Feeling very accomplished and virtuous. Was it a lemon drizzle or a cake with butter icing? (I've very fond of all things lemon.) Well done on the NSDs.

AllTheChaos What a thoughtful gift from your friend. I'm much better at remembering or editing things on paper (I know whereabout in a book or paper I read something, know the page position etc.) than I am on a screen. It's not for lack of practice. I thinks it's the spatial sense I get that I don't when I have to keep resizing and scrolling a screen.

I'm digging out my modern version of a hay box to reduce the time I need to have the hob on. Once I've got something up to boil | whatever the right temperature is, I'll put it in the insulated box to finish.

Likewise, it will be showers only. And I soap myself down and pre-apply the shampoo (to damp hair) before I get in the shower so I'm only rinsing that down.

@2024Hackathon I have to compliment my DP, he’s the Official Thermos Rememberer and Filler. We both find our thermos use romantic actually…must be a good match 😆.

I have a friend who swears by her hay box. I cook quite a lot on top of my wood burner, and have a toasting fork and kettle in daily use on it too. I keep meaning to try jacket spuds in the bottom but somehow I freak out and imagine I’ll burn the potatoes to cinders which would be awful. Must try soon!

@2024Hackathon it is a lemon sponge sandwich cake with lemon buttercream filling.

I will sieve some icing sugar on the top just before serving.

Honestly it looks fab, and I have shit baking skills. Makes me wonder why I ever buy cake for home as a cake like that would cost about £10 in a shop (it’s big!)

Can I join? We have seriously got to sort our finances.

We should have £1200 as complete fun money every month but I’m a total spendaholic and find we’re out of money by two weeks into the month 😅

my New Year’s resolution is to save save save!

Please show us a picture and I would love the recipe if you don’t mind

nsd over here. so my goal to overpay my mortgage/ploc is now sitting at 257.88/500. that puts me past the half way mark of my rough idea to overpay by 500 this month.
i have the 15th of this month marked as the day to call and renegotiate my cell phone/tv/home security contract.

6 Jan update: NSD here. I haven’t actually left the house today as I’m feeling quite achy today (joint problems).

It will be interesting to see if my personal spends go up or down when I’m back at work next week. If I’m in my usual office, I can walk there and have tea and coffee supplies. If I go to the other office, I usually get the bus there and get drinks from the cafeteria there. Next week I should be in my usual office, so it should be a low spend week.

We’re thinking about buying a bedside cabinet for DD, as she only has a small stool used as a table, but there’s only a small gap by her bed so I need to find something narrow. I’ve found one on Amazon for £45, but want to check a few more places rather than just going for the first option.

I spent £8 (including postage) on a coat for DD today. Vinted bargain. Her coat is literally falling apart!