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!

NSD here today, feeling quietly proud as am feeling a little down in the dumps and it would be so easy to comfort-shop but I’m not. Very cold here, biting wind making the house chilly. I checked the coal bunker and it’s a lot lower than I would have liked (£300 to fill), I’m trying to work out if I should get a load (sensible) or try to make do till the Spring just with logs (hopeful lol). I’ve already bought one load more this winter than last winter.
Tonight’s food - lentil pasta bake

Nsd for me , within my own rules . Making cottage pie for dinner. I did look at some hair scarves online, but resisted , might have ago at making some with fabric I already have .

I am still here!

Sunday was a proper NSD :)

Monday - first day back at work after 9 days off. I was tired, stressed, upset and really struggled - I am not usually like that at all so resorted to 2 costa coffees and bought me and friend lunch in the cafe (get staff discount so could have been worse!) once I had eaten and had a good chat with my friend I was much better and day ended well :)

Today was a day off, but went to visit ex-work place and to cook them all lunch - they supplied the ingredients but I did take in 2 loves of bread and a box of biscuits. Then went to shop to get bacon and milk for us, they had reduced frozen bits in so got 2 bags of wedges for £1 each which will make things easier in the long run! so some essential spending but kept it really low cost and didn't buy loads like I usually would.

Still no take aways here and I am cooking our meals :) the effect on bank account is great. Realising now that I need to sort work eating/coffee habit. Either take with me or find another way to reduce it.

xx

Your poor ceiling, @Hatty65 ! How is it looking?!

Aah that thread on tray bakes is fantastic! Made me laugh out loud, plus some good recipes to try for lunch boxes etc. I have to make a birthday cake this weekend, and after the Great Birthday Cake Debacle of 2022, I am under strict instructions as to what to produce! Luckily I have almost all of the ingredients in already, and a friend with a surplus of flour has offered me enough that I won’t need to buy any.

Someone on here mentioned an app that gives recipes based on the ingredients one has in already. Sounds very interesting, so thank you! (Can’t remember who it was but I wrote down the app name).

NSD today thank goodness. I sat down and worked out how much money I wasted last year when everything went to pot - I can’t even bring myself to say as it’s so awful. Suffice to say that for a good 6 months I was still spending like I was earning FT, to console myself for the fact that ill health had stopped me doing almost anything I enjoy, when the same ill health had reduced me to less than half my usual weekly hours (and means I’ve shifted from being salaried to being paid hourly, as a way of keeping my job despite only being able to work a few hours a week). Seeing how much money I’d wasted, on things we don’t need and don’t have space for, when money is now so tight, honestly made me feel quite sick 😞

@AllTheChaos It's looking threadbare! We have old lath and plaster ceilings - and they really need quite a lot of repair work, but money is too tight! They are basically thin strips of wood with lime plaster mixed with horse hair (or similar) mixed into the gaps.

DH will cut it out and fit a bit of plaster board in.

I spent £5.37 in Tesco today on literally the basics - bread, milk, stock cubes etc. I also spent £7.90 on two zips for my cushions I'm making - which felt like a lot! I swear zips were about 55p last time I bought one.

Another NSD. We had fish from the freezer this evening with store cupboard rice and a handful of slightly droopy green beans. And a couple of chocolate florentines left over from Xmas

Sort of a NSD here. I had a private dermatologist appointment which will cost me £240 when I pay it - but at least I'm diagnosed with some advice on managing going forward and best of all, no follow up tests (so no more dosh!). And I might be able to claim some of it back through work.

I've started keeping a list of things I wanted to spend on but didn't, for motivation. So far today it was a McDonald's at lunchtime and fish and chips tonight.....there's a theme....😳

Have forgotten to post for a few days!
Today I spent £2 on biscuits at lunchtime.
Yesterday I worked from home and spent nothing.
Sunday - no spend - day at the beach for a walk.
Saturday- no spend - friends came round then we went for a walk.
I did order a calendar for £13 that I needed as I can't organise myself without a paper calendar.
I also spent £26 on smart clothes on sale as I never have enough smart clothes for work. I have put on weight and none of my old smart stuff fits!
Want to go out for a few drinks on Sat- I may try and persuade them to go to one of our houses for a few drinks before or after to save a bit of money.
I'm also trying to replace mindless shopping with some hobbies- I've been doing a bit of sewing and have a new book from the library.

@AllTheChaos sorry to hear about your I'll health - and I fully understand your frustration about still spending the same amount of money.

Please don't beat yourself up too badly about it - because it's actually very hard to change - and being on this thread etc will be a big help.

I lost my job last year and was lucky enough to have 3 months pay to live on.

It took me 3 months to find a job (so grateful to have done so) but I spent that redundancy money down to zero- which was really reckless as I didn't know how long I'd need to live off it. It's just very very hard to change habits.

Today spent £20 supermarket top up shop.

Resisted by dd socks (£20) still feel in two minds about that - but I'll try to hold off until Feb at least. She is wearing her brother's for the time being.

Also was really close to buying hand cream - it is my favourite brand - only available online- and it was actually the hassle factor of trying to log into their website which made me walk away.

A positive is how much I'm loving my homemade cakes at the moment (also love traybake thread!!)

A negative is I'm expiring with boredom with no spending socialising or nice food to indulge in

@rainpleasestop I'd count that as no spend. I put all my budgeted money for bills, petrol and food shopping in a separate account at the start of the month and don't include all that in my daily spending.

9 Dec update. Not a NSD today - although I didn’t spend any money myself, my mobile phone bill (£40 - I know that’s far too much), a charity direct debit (£8.50), and a Patreon subscription (£2) came out of my bank account today. All come under my personal spends rather than joint/ household expenses.

diesel for the car and top up grocery. all on budget.
having friends over for dinner on friday and invited to a birthday celebration on sunday both may involve some extra's.

Need to go to town this morning unexpectedly, will eat beforehand, take my trusty thermos with me and, firmly, not spend anything!

Had a NSD yesterday and will today. Back to work tomorrow but have enough bread and fillings in and other snacks but may have to pick up some more fillings tomorrow. Will see. Will also take my flask of coffee and then work provide free tea and coffee, water

@scoopdewhoop yep that's what I'm doing now all essentials and then what's left after savings as well is what I'm trying not to spend/waste!

09.01

Spends £22 for the L. Reuteri tablets to ferment in milk for MIL's DP.

Upside, still eating from stores and freezer.

I've been really good and had NSDs since Jan 1st so far apart from budgeted food shopping etc. DH on other hand has booked in an £800 car maintenance on 27th

Ahh today could be a NSD, packed a massive packed lunch for work again.

£10 club fees came out this morning for DC.

Just trying to get to one day in the month when nothing comes out at all!

Because otherwise it does make you question the point of life/rat race etc. spend all month working only to survive but have nothing left at the end of it.

Lots of NSD here, essentials only so don’t count.

I got a Too Good To Go food box yesterday, worked out it was over £20 worth of stuff for £5. It was at a garden centre though so I got tempted into the Christmas decoration sale area but only bought a strip of tinsel for £1 so technically not a NSD, but I was very well restrained 😆

Dh and I have been through our finances and managed to knock off £60 a month on subscriptions/contracts by phoning round negotiating/threatening to leave etc.so that’s cheered us up too.

Let us know how it goes!

Another nsd. Dinner will be chicken pies from freezer (made pre Xmas) cauliflower cheese and swede and carrot mash. Will be going to Lidl for weekly shop tomorrow but still have a well stocked freezer so it shouldn't be that much.

I need to book my dog in for a vets appointment as we're taking her to Europe at the beginning of February to visit friends- already have the money for the trip in separate travel fund

Not a NSD for me - spent 3.85 on pub drinks for me and a friend (pre planned) but then small fish and chips on way home as I was too knackered even to heat up pasta when I got in.

Useful to see spending patterns though - and I could have spent even more if we ate at the pub.

That's good it could have been worse @chimichangaz and I agree that it's really useful to see spending patterns overall.

Ha - definitely not a NSD here! Had £500 expense for home maintenance. Not strictly essential but been considering it for a long time- and in my head I had allocated the money.

I wonder if tomorrow will be a NSD. No spends planned and will pack my lunch, so it could be possible 🤞

Got supermarket shop on Friday so I hope I can at least manage tomorrow.

But really I'm really impressed that I've been able to keep packed lunches going all week.

I have been so busy today and had to also have a mammogram amongst a busy day at work. Felt a bit stressed and didn't sleep well last night so hadn't prepared a packed lunch. This meant I went into Lidl to grab a quick lunch and also bought 2 pairs of £1.99 reading glasses as my prescription has changed and I can't see well with my old ones. Total non essential spend of £9.86 as I also picked up some roasted veg and some other little bits. I am finding it hard to focus on stopping all non essential spending......

I've just remembered a tip that Alvin Hall gave years ago when he did 'Your money or your life' (loved that programme!).

He said if you find it hard not to shop - for example my weakness is a stationery shop - give yourself a small budget. For example, £10. So you still get the dopamine hit of spending but you're reducing the amount you spend. I've done this in the past and it's actually quite good. Sometimes you even think 'why am I looking to spend such a small amount - do I even need to spend at all?'

I think it's about changing your habits and your thinking patterns. And it's so hard, as we live in a world where consumerism is king - we're conditioned to want more. So those of us who find it hard to resist need to be a bit kinder to ourselves as this is 'trained' into us virtually from childhood!! And it's difficult to fight but once you understand your motivation and patterns it makes it easier to recognise when we're doing it.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk 🤣🤣