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!

It will be no spend today - working from home. Yesterday was no spend but Saturday was spendy! Paid £36 for an after-school club for the term. I bought 2 birthday presents amd cards for kids birthday parties. In the evening I went for a few drinks which wasn't ruinous as we only had a few.
I will be looking at our savings accounts tonight as one has an awful interest rate and I'm sure there's a better deal out there.
Child benefit got paid in today so if that doesn't get spent it will go to savings as well.

Trying to remember the goal of getting the credit card paid off and having a decent emergency fund.

I have a few more birthdays coming up but won't be going over the tip for them.

NSD. Took the car for its first service and just had a thermos of tea and a biscuit from home whilst waiting. Really wanted to nip in to local shop for bread and chocolate on way back but didn’t…online food delivery is tomorrow. I won’t add chocolate to it, it’s not essential sadly.

Cleaned out horses, showered dog once home as she had a marvellous run with them but ended up boggin’. Dinner will be cheesy beans on toast followed by apple and blackberry crumble from freezer. I’ve a long work shift tonight, truly too tired for cooking anything more complex.

The weekend saw quite a few spends as had to buy trousers underwear and birthday gifts for DC.

Also did my first non essential spend of the month and bought latte and 2 cakes! As experiencing terrible PMT.

But... looking over this month, while something has come out my account every day. There are many days when it is just one thing so I'm quite pleased with that really

Really not a NSD here....

Bought posh biscuits for coffee with a friend 1.75. Then popped into town after work - present for friends 70th £42. Birthday cards for the next three months a tenner. New pens and desk mat £5.50 in WHS clearance (really don't need those....). Mc D for tea £7. Car park £2. Then paid my hospital bill £240.

What I'm really annoyed about is having to buy genuine Epson ink cartridges for my printer that's 5 months old. It just won't recognise the compatible ones I spent £20 on so now I've spent £58 on cartridges for a printer that cost me £112! So bloody annoying. I was going to return the printer but I think I'll just try and do as much printing as I can at work (instead of printing work documents at home!!)

Just realised that yesterday (14 Jan) wasn’t a NSD as I spent £2 on bus fare after our afternoon out.

15 Jan update: £19.46 credit card payment and £134.05 spent on grocery shop - two weeks worth of food, though there’ll be some top-up shops needed as well. Normally the groceries would come from the joint account, but that’s gone overdrawn up to the overdraft limit so I’m playing for it myself instead.

My mid-month summary is:

Pay: £1,545
Spent (including contribution to joint account for bills): £1,259

I was £430 overdrawn before payday, but I’m aiming to get that down to a £200 overdraft by the end of the month .

a small but expensive costco restocking of pantry goods.
under budget for the day so the unspent $21.10 was immediately transferred onto debt reduction.
i tried to renegotiate my cell phone/ internet/ and home security contract and not sure i accomplished anything. i could have screamed or strangled someone with the waiting holding and transferring to another department :(.
i tried to complete an exchange of an apple product online and again was met with mind blowing frustration and achieved nothing today. i'll try again tomorrow.
i did make progress with the bank and will be earning some interest on cash that was sitting in my retirement account not earning any interest.

Hoping for a no spend day but have a £4.50 Sainsbury's voucher burning a hole in my pocket 😬 I'll be working right by a store today.

@CurlsnSunshinetime4tea Costco is a budget killer for me. It's always at least a £100 shop for a handful of stuff. I really need some more kitchen roll, theirs is the best but I'm trying to stay under budget this month.

I wouldn't count that as a spend unless you go over £4.50!

I have a couple of finance wins. I spotted a £3 overcharge on my last Lidl receipt (I analyse every one for my budget tracker) I raised it with customer services and got a £3 voucher to use next time and I have reached a £10 voucher on my lidl plus app for use on this week's shop.
I have spotted a £30 balance on my boots advantage card so I'll use that up when I'm next in, probably very soon if the teenage DDs have anything to do with it.

Does anyone use receipt scanning apps? I have 3 that I use everytime, small but regular cashback, every little helps and all that. Shoppix & Storewards builds up points and pay out in PayPal or Amazon, I get £2 or £5 every couple of months. Zipzero is really good and is usually 0.5% cashback on the receipt total, extra % cashback offers on certain shops, this pays out directly to utility suppliers when the balance reaches minimum £5. I pay off my council tax or gas/ electricity and have earned over £150 since 2018. Shoppix and Zipzero will also accept emailed receipts.

Today has been expensive! Had to fill up with fuel - £68 and did a £28 food shop, really on basics/things we'd run out of.

I feel a bit disgruntled, but they were essentials and I suppose I didn't have much choice.

No spend day despite my Sainsbury's voucher!
Have a heavy head cold and have had a draining day at work. Before NSing I would be dialling for a takeaway or getting some munch from the shop!

17 Jan update: NSD today - I was in my usual office today but walked in, took a packed lunch, and have tea and coffee supplies there so didn’t spend any money on hot drinks.

under budget for the day. $30.00 transferred onto debt.

Yesterday was a NSD for me as I basically didn't leave the house except to pick my son's dog up from daycare.

Very impressed with those going into the office and still not spending!!

Have a trip to town (40 miles round trip) to take DD19 for her first tattoo (a compass to show her left from her right - her ADHD means she’s oblivious to direction) - but will take my thermos of tea as usual. Should be a NSD.

£52 on new specs and £1 on parking today!
Need glasses and I think that was a pretty good price as they should've been over £100. Luckily I had the dosh for them.
One child needs a new coat though so that will be another spend.

NSD today! Also, I took a lot of stuff to the charity shop, so feeling smug all round. I'm de-cluttering slowly.

I feel her pain. I cant tell left from right, struggle with direction and get lost driving all the time! @MrsShortbread

Feel like I've gone off track this month. Recovering from a c section and have had to get the bus to numerous appointments for baby and DD1 as husband is back in work due to the time it takes I've ended up in town alot between buses ect. My aim was always low spend but wanting to do better than I have been and get back on track!
NSD today, we mainly stayed home and went for a short local walk.

Another NSD for me today but not feeling smug as I've arranged to have a takeaway with my sister tomorrow night!!

That actually really reassures me for her, that you are similar and can drive, thank you!

17 Jan update. Some spending today as I was working in the other office to my usual one, so had to pay for bus fare and a couple of drinks, and I also needed to buy birthday cards:

£4 bus fare
£3.40 2 x teas
£2.58 3 x birthday cards

Total: £9.98

snowed in, nsp not by choice as a few items are needed.
despite this the daily allowance has not been spent and therefore transferred onto the property taxes this time, i've surpassed my $500 goal for the mortgage so popped it elsewhere.
if i don't use it, i loose it to future bill payments. both dh and i have not used out cc's.

£89 at vet yesterday - I had missed the window for boosters by a couple of days and we have had to start the whole process again. No other spends since Monday