No spend January?

[Psychoticbreak]

There used to be no spend threads every month on here although I appreciate Dec is a hard one. For me I am going to try not to overspend this month and clear off the credit card in full again as it was zero balance up till xmas.

Anyone else with me?
Stilly possibly to class Christmas day as a no spend but that was my day one and I spent nothing yesterday either.

£45 at the dentist with a bill of £410 next month. 😵

Nothing but empathy. Even with dental insurance, I need to budget around £1K a year for dental work. No, it's not aesthetic, it's ongoing repair work, bone grafts (recurrent abscesses) etc.

£29.57 on petrol and £2.50 on groceries. It's my long lunch break on Fridays and I usually wander round the shops. Decided to resist temptation so went for a walk instead, found an interesting looking church snd got a free guided tour from a volunteer!

I spent nothing today but DH wanted snacks for tonight so I said to pick some up when collecting the kid from crèche. He went to the expensive shop and spent €16 on not very much.

‘twas a good shock for him. I’ve decided to not buy sweets etc in our shop so we have to buy them only when we really want them and pay the expensive tax. Otherwise we eat too much crap.

@2024Hackathon oh blimey that sounds awful. Expensive and traumatic.

Well I definitely fell off the wagon today - I went shopping and bought some jumpers in the sale which were kind of needed as a 15kg weight loss over the past 18 months has meant that practically everything I own jumper-wise is now too large and baggy. Well that's my excuse!! 😉
But I was treated to another jumper and also had lunch out for a birthday treat today. I also bought some summer holiday bits for some of the GCs and then DH and I shared a takeaway kebab so I didn't need to cook this evening.
Have been drinking Bucks Fizz leftover from Christmas which is about the only thing not to cost me money!! Still a lovely day anyway. 😊

Very spendy 3 days away which was unavoidable. We had to go to a funeral and stay away for two nights, so £45 on diesel, £134 on accomodation and £30 on food while we were there, £8 on coffee and sandwiches on the way home. £218 all told. But can't be helped.

Nellie - you managed the expenses of the funeral very well.

Items like that come out of a Life Happens budget pot in my mind, and some years it seems that pot is called upon on a regular and distressingly frequent basis.

Rainbow - 15kg is an impressive loss. Overall that sounds like a delightful family day. Well done.

Spent £3.24 today in lidl as we’d run out of bread and I bought some pasta and pasta sauce for dinner as we were going to be right on time - so all essentials.

However I’ve added money to my account today as I had almost £60 in my vinted account from some bits and pieces I sold and I got paid for an extra shift I did last week. I have another overtime shift tomorrow so that will go some way to making my account look better - still overdrawn at the moment but not as much as I was so taking that as a win

Oh and I read that my favourite fitness brand had a 70% off sale - I looked but didn’t buy anything

Love reading all your posts, and yes, some things are unavoidable.
I'm still doing really well. I've only bought groceries, and not that many. I haven't done a big shop for example and I've looked in the sales, but resisted. I know I don't need any more clothes.
It's been a wake up call for me, this thread. It's going to springboard me for 'better spending ' in the future not just January.

Spent about £22 on lunches out this week due to lack of planning and my schedule being a bit random so just needed to grab sandwiches etc. And £2 on a storage box I need but also could have lived without too.

In general really, really pleased with this month so far as I've cut out all the random spends here and there (and not bought any clothes). My food bills are generally a bit lower too as I'm being more careful and avoiding getting extra treats.

No spend day here today and I worked an overtime shift that I will get paid for next week. Still overdrawn but bringing it down. It’s really helped to focus on limiting spends

NSD yesterday and I made back the money I spent on Thursday and resisted temptation to spend it. Today I spent £5 on a gift, so I'm pleased with that. I sat and had half a bar of chocolate which gave me the dopamine hit I needed instead of the big spend... obviously not a long term solution for the waistline!

Also sorted a return which will be another £30 back in the pot, and haven't caved in to buying any alcohol this year. I feel there is progress here somewhere 😂

My electric blanket broke so had to replace that since I don’t use the heating. Then had a power cut so ended up getting a take away. Was not the best day!

I've recently started following the.brokegeneration on Instagram and her posts are really helpful. Today's one was pretty eye-opening: £13.7 of miscellaneous spending per day adds up to £5,000 per year. 😳

I'm pretty sure I've averaged that level of spending at some points in the last year. A new top and a dress here and there, the weekend take away, another lipstick I didn't needed etc... Really committed to changing all that.

@caramond wow, that is an eye opener ! Thanks for sharing.
@psuedocream3 that is absolutely progress. Sending you a virtual pat on the back 💯
Speaking of alcohol, NS is really helping me cut back. And I've lost weight. It's those takeaways.

This week before payday I'm struggling a little but I've just reviewed my short, medium and long term plans, and I'm staying focussed and positive!

Had a NSD yesterday and will have one today. I'm at work all weekend, taking food with me, have drinks at work.

Feeling slightly disheartened!

I’ve done amazing - I’ve been really focused & I wanted to really push through this last week however my sister is coming to stay from today - thurs! I don’t see her very often so will be nice to catch up however I can feel lots of spending coming on! 😩
any week I would welcome but not on my final week of the challenge! 🙈🙈

14.01-20.01 All NSDs.

I have business travel coming up in the next 10 days. I'm trying to change the first into virtual attendance so I don't have to faff with putting in claims, coping with the tiny subsistence, and then waiting for reimbursement to wend its way through the system.

RM2013 - my favourite fitness brand had a 70% off sale - I looked but didn’t buy anything 👏Good resolve there.

caramond - £13.7 of miscellaneous spending per day adds up to £5,000 per year. It's very sobering. £5 a day (equivalent of a coffee in London) is almost £2K per year. I'm at the stage now where I'm trying to think of it as that sum of money off the mortgage, and the difference that would make in interest payments over the remaining years. (DH doesn't think the same way.)

psuedocream - haven't caved in to buying any alcohol this year. I feel there is progress here somewhere Well done, that's such an achievement!

Amdone123 - just reviewed my short, medium and long term plans, and I'm staying focussed and positive! I'm so impressed by the plans. (I haven't been able to nudge DH to that part of financial budgeting yet.)

Disneyland2022 - any week I would welcome but not on my final week of the challenge Not even low-spend days would seem feasible. It's a balancing act, isn't it. The desire to see family that we don't see regularly and reconciling it with a drive to celebrate with outings and special food.

@Disneyland2022 could you make a few small changes ? You don't even have to tell your sister what you're doing, you could do it surreptitiously and make a game of it. Get a few small wins under your belt and report back here.

@Disneyland2022 maybe frame this as being mindful about your spending. Saving the rest of the month allows you to enjoy this quality time with your sister without guilt. You could also say your a bit skint and see is she happy doing some low cost activities.

I’ve not spent anything the last 2 days and don’t expect to spend anything today. DH has spent from the joint on non essentials like snacks as well as some essentials like bananas. However this is fine with me. DH is a naturally low spender. Though when he does spend he probably wouldn’t bargain hunt the way I would. I however could spend everything I had on bargains. I’ve always budgeted to account for this but now I’m trying to really retrain my mentality here.

I did our tax return and got €60 back snd DH €75. Would have been higher but we are paying back an underpayment from a few years ago when I was on maternity leave and DH had a messy year of employment. But the most enlightening thing was to see that our gross salaries had increased by €50K in 4 years. Now most of that was DH doubling his salary last year but sill I’m wondering where did that €50k go.

logically about €25K went on taxes etc. some also went into pension funds. And we have bought a house which is bigger and with a bigger garden than when we ranted so has more expenses. Some expenses were cash flowed last year like the €10k we put into the garden but I think there was a lot of waste and mindless spending. Mainly by me! So this year I want to focus on spending better.

im also anticipating some larger expense this year that may or may not happen and I don’t want to jeopardise things like a holiday because I cant keep my cards in my wallet. I’ve alway been better at paying off something instead of saying for it and it’s a mindset I need to change. Our incomes are good. We are very lucky with what wee have. We don’t have to worry about food and heat or clothes. But we could do much better with our resources

Last night I fancied a Chinese and some wine, so I asked dh if he wanted to go out for it. He didn't as it was freezing, and I couldn't blame him. He said just order a takeaway but I really wanted wine, and as I'm all or nothing.
I had 2 hard boiled eggs, a bowl of popcorn and some chocolate tree decorations.
Saved myself £50 and a whole vat load of calories 🤣

@pistachiosanscream we're quite similar ( not with incomes) but attitudes to spending. My dh is a low spender, too. The other day he came home with cheese, £2.75 a pack or 2 for £4.50. When I asked why he didn't get the 2 packs, he said, 'Because we only want 1 '🤣
And I've always been better at paying stuff off, than saving. I'm all budget mad, but dh looks at me like I'm mad. But, my target will be reached in 3 months. His won't, but it doesn't bother him.
Financially, we're in a good place too ( thank god), but we could also do so much better.

My DD and her DH actually did a shop like this and compared how much they would have spent against the so-called savings. It was quite sobering when you add up all the extra £1.50s or whatever - fair enough if you would actually use the items but if you could manage without or would be greedy to use the items knowing they were there, then there wasn't really a great deal to be saved if it ended up spending another £30 or so.

Exactly @Rainbow1901 , the supermarkets know what they're doing.

My sister and I always laugh about the time we heard a woman in the supermarket say, 'I mean, we don't like burgers but they're Buy 1, Get 1 Free'
🤣