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!

bills paid
the invoice for the hot tub repairs has not yet been issued.
on budget for the day with a purchase of a hand held vick's nebulizer for dh who is obviously sick with an upper respiratory bug.

NSD thankfully.

£100 on wood for stove

I'm back after 4 days away. I daren't check the bank account yet and tot up what we spent! It will be depressing.

I need to tighten out belts now for the rest of the month.

Does it have to be depressing?

Did you build up some good memories and experiences?

I keep reminding myself that we're not going for a life we can endure, we're going for a good life within our circumstances. And you had a wretched stretch recently that allowed you to reduce your outgoings and cover lovely things like this.

oh @Hatty65 no matter what it is, you will not only get through it but rise to the challenge.
nsd here mainly due to being snowed in with a dh who remains ill with sinus issues/upper respiratory/cold/flu.
money not spent onto my cc which took on another $498 for the hot tub repairs (i estimated it would be $500). while on my banking site i flagged an item that was returned with the return having come up like a second purchase (withdrawl vs deposit).

I had a no spend day on Friday, but on Saturday we spent quite a bit. It was all stuff we needed to sort out, like a £100 deposit for a holiday cottage for a summer break, some training tickets to see a friend, a large order of coffee beans, and a tinted moisturiser which had run out and which I use daily. We also got a few household items from Amazon which had been on the purchase list for ages. My share came to £162.70

Sunday we spent the day outside and brought some snacks. I did get a chai latte for me (£3.50) and a green juice for DC (£4.50). I was pleased he liked it as it was mainly spinach.

Monday £3.30 for a coffee at a coworking space. I count that as looking after my mental health and making sure I go out daily, otherwise I would just sit indoors all day!

I do fully subscribe to seeing friends and travelling, so those are probably my main areas of spending. I need to cut down on impulse purchases though, so I can save. I saved regularly until Christmas, but my hours have recently reduced and the lost income is the missing savings bit now

£19 on Amazon for a mascara and some earrings. £6 on a kindle book. Nothing more planned for today. I'm making a big batch of bolognese for the freezer. Gym yesterday but no spends

@2024Hackathon and @CurlsnSunshinetime4tea You are absolutely right! We did have a lovely time, so I need to stop stressing about the money spent. It's gone and we enjoyed it. 4 days away with all the DC and their partners so it was worth it to see them all.

The weather is hopefully improving shortly as we head into March. Sorry to hear about your DH and his illness @CurlsnSunshinetime4tea Hope he is on the road to recovery.

@Hatty65 I’m just hoping I don’t get it, I’ve doubled up on my multivits.
Dh and I discussed today being a nsp and the fact I need 9 nsd this month to deal with expenses (vet last of the mattress & hot tub) that are on my cc.
btw my cc gives me air miles not a great deal but helpful with my mom and dd living far away.

@CurlsnSunshinetime4tea I'm sending hopeful and positive wishes your way!

Oh - not posted for ages! Hope everyone is ok <3

The main reason being my work promotion was finally sorted (took months and I'd nearly given up!) but been in the job for about 8 weeks now so nice pay rise for me as gone from 4 days to 5 days and I am loving it! They have been slow sorting pay so had a month where I got old wages so this month I should get back-dated money, which will make a nice dent in the bills!

Despite the delays I have managed to clear a credit card which I was pleased about but on the other hand I have just booked 4 or 5 flying lessons over the next few weeks! Not had any for ages due to the weather so have decided to hit this and the exams hard to try and get this sorted this year!

Have slipped back into the takeaway trap (although hasn't been as bad as it was!), mainly due to the extra work day plus the fact the promotion has been a huge learning curve but feel like it's all settling a bit now. Using the 'spare' council tax payment and £60 Swagbucks vouchers to do a big shop this week so we have no excuses plus enough for the next month at least!

Have managed to secure a few turning hours over the next month or so as well so that will help. I'm also about to jump in the £10 a day thread. Did great last month with a £100 win on the PBs despite low savings in there, might need to add more!

Going to go back and catch up on everyones posts :)

x

very slow going with minimal spend days and extra going on the ill fated cc.
more things noted to need replacing (door handles x3 on hold till april at least), thankfully we live in an awkward location so unlocked doors is really not a worry especially this time of year.
what was my fave pot for cooking soup/oatmeal a coated small TWO year old Le Cruiset, has begun to peel! i've ordered a hexclad off amazon, pricy but you would think for these exagerated prices they really would last a lifetime (or at least my lifetime...i'm 67) i'm not even seeing that le cruiset offer this small pot anymore. I downsized all my kitchen ware 10 years ago now and the small 1 quart pot is the most frequently used one.
enjoyment wise i'm working on replacing my pj's all the while dh mad folly of the month (as i continue to try and balance the books) is a puppy....yup he's concerned ONE of our older dogs (a 12 year old Airedale) is failing so his answer to this is a new airedale puppy.
and i honestly think the pj replacement is a direct result of dh's unilateral puppy plan. i did say yes to another dog but requested he wait till we are down to one dog. so as of next week we will have 3...
well done @TashaG

£63 in Aldi for food shop on Thursday. £18 on Amazon for dental supplies.

£7 in Coop for coffee yesterday

Otherwise NSD - should be NSD over the weekend as will be glued to rugby all weekend

A new week, positive thoughts everyone.

I think you should complain to Le Creuset, that's terrible for it to fail after two years, they certainly used to have a good guarantee on their casseroles.

thank you @ChiaraRimini , i'll send their customer service department an e-mail i didn't register the purchase and i certainly didn't keep the receipt so i don't think there is much they can do, and i don't see the pot available anymore.
today's breakdown: 1) the shredder, it's not been used in a while. dh moved it to another room, i went to shred something this am and the minute i turned it on i could smell burning and the control panel lit right up flashing etc....2) dh cooked some liver dog treats for the dog, i suggested outside on the bbq, i went to the grocery store, he had used a good baking tray, no parchment paper, the tray is garbage/totally ruined.
i'm being cursed i'm sure because i planned to save as much as possible this year instead i'm being plagued by non stop breakdowns and accidents.

march continues to be a struggle.
but pleased to say le creuset have gotten back to me with a 50% off offer on a pot. i will take them up on the offer...after payday as 50% off still makes for an expensive pot.
10 days to go, i hope some of you are having some success.

@CurlsnSunshinetime4tea Sorry you are struggling this month. I've not done that well this month. We have had visitors, which always obviously means a bit of spending on food/days out.

Also I am now on half pay (sick pay) in 2 days time so panicking a bit about what on earth next month is going to look like when we've only got half the salary coming in.

Keep going, folks!

@Hatty65 visitors here as well, our eldest son, wife and lovely daughter. they were out of the house daily for lunch but i did do my best with nice suppers and snacks. a much bigger shop than usual that week.
will the income change now be forever? or will it change at various points?

Also not a great month. Hairdresser £35, Gym stuff £35 from Vinted, Food for the month was a win win though. Did a fair bit of eating from my freezer so has come out at about £265 for the month for the two of us. Doesn't include dog as her food comes separately at £45.19 for the month

@CurlsnSunshinetime4tea The income change is because I'm currently on long term sick leave with a chronic condition that isn't improving. I'm basically entitled to 6 months full pay then 6 months half pay - I've been off sick for six months now, so am dropping to half pay.

The reality is that my employers are going through the motions of absence review management with me and I'm likely to be dismissed before I get my 6 months on half pay. At that point I've no idea what we are going to live on! DH is disabled, but will get his state old age pension in another year.

I am probably going to try and negotiate for ill health early retirement, but my pension will be less than my half pay is, so it's all a bit up in the air at the moment. I'm just trying to cut back as much as we can, and we will have to see how we cope.

There is no point crossing bridges before we come to them - we've weathered a lot of storms in our lifetimes and I daresay we will weather this one.

yes @Hatty65 being mentally prepared will help with any anxiety over the situation.
when dh and i retired our income went to half and then a few years later dropped again with the loss of the "bridge" element.
in both instances i gave myself 6 months to be super frugal to get a feel for what the reality was to be, but i figured it out much sooner.
one step at a time and anonymous forums are not a bad place to vent about the struggles and successes (and there will be some successes).

@CurlsnSunshinetime4tea Good to hear that you are managing - I think we will too. Life is often unexpected, and we were expecting (both of us) to still be working at this point. The mortgage is fairly small at this point, with about 3 years left to run on it, and I may get a small lump sum if I can get retirement agreed. In which case, I hope I can pay off the remainder of the mortgage which will be a help.

Like you, we're trying the frugal route! It's quite helpful, frankly, that I'm not feeling well enough to want to go out and spend money on a lot of days 😁And I've almost cured myself of buying books on Amazon...

Finally managed to wrangle DH into a financial discussion. We came to a decision that we're using some of the money in the offset mortgage savings account to increase our ISAs for the year.

We spent about £20 on a screen Echo from Amazon today. It's a combination of the current price drop, combined with trading in a current device for a voucher, plus a 25% discount, plus a voucher that we already have. The screen Echo will make it easier for the family member we're looking after to use it like an intercom and call into other rooms.

Paid out £850 for the car insurance in a lump sum (I still can't believe it).

No regrets about the Peloton. It's cost me the shoes and padded shorts but without it, I wouldn't have ready access to fitness activities.

I'm definitely spending less this year. The food inheritance is helping substantially and the discipline from that and the Peloton seems to make it easier to be discipline elsewhere for now. But we all know that life and financial shocks can come from nowhere - for now, it's OK.