Low Spend 2025

[YourLimeCat]

Does anyone want to join me in a mutual support Low Spend year? I entered premature retirement this year at the age of 60 due to health issues and I will be living off a saved Civil Service pension for the next 7 years. Due to no rent or mortgage to pay its not too dire a situation but it would be good to have somewhere to share tips with fellow low spend attemptees.

I'm in. I want to pay off some debts, and know I spend alot of money each month buying snacks and end up each month nose to tail with my wages. I need to stop spending on rubbish, pay off those debts and get some savings going!

@sewingstockings thank you, really appreciate your response

I'm in

Been self employed for 2.5 years and haven't paid into my pension yet.

We have some small house debts like sofa fridge that kind of thing that collectively add up to a few hundred a month that I want to clear this year and not add anymore.

The next five months will be tight as in every bill for the house and business will be paid but there won't be much wiggle room for extras and when I look at what we spend on stupid extras I'm shocked.

I over hauled our food budget recently and we are managing to save £50-£70 a week by shopping more savvy and not taking the tween with us when we go.

I've cancelled £50 worth of subscriptions for stuff I really don't need on my phone this week and was shocked when I saw the amount.

My dh car has just gone wrong but he's not the best at saving money and has no self control when it comes to Amazon etc and I've told him I can't afford to help him again as I'm shouldering a huge amount of household bills compared to him as I earn more so he really needs to knuckle down.

We work opposite hours so he's using my car but I've pointed out I pay a lot of money for my car per month that I work for and it's the time he takes it that I need a car for kids lifts,family things etc so he's got to pull his finger out massively.

I'm also going to tell my adult dc bank of mum is closed now as between the two adult dc in just this last year they have had over £5000 out of me between them.

I never have an issue helping them but I do when it's not offered back or I'm working double the hours they are to cover them.

We have a family chat coming up

That's where most of my spare money goes lately.

I need to get tough with them and myself.

I'd really like to cut our food expenses too, as well as my general own cur backs. Dh is very wasteful but also adds to the shopping list without checking the cupboards/fridge will be making more of an effort to check before doing the shopping

I’d like to join. I have 1k debt to pay off to my sister, also would like to add some money to rainy days fund. Not easy when you pay gazillion pounds for nursery. I want to focus on saving on grocery shopping and only buy clothes, toiletries, make up to replace them.

I'm in. We had unexpected painful boiler and car bills recently which cleared lots of savings. Have fixed a lower energy supplier rate for 2 years, cancelled the window cleaner for a few months, sold clothes on Vinted and made a detailed budget and meal planner. Stocked up on bulk buy cheap food to save money.

Similar position to you @Elephant9

Currently on mat leave and my plan is to withdraw cash at the start of the week (say £25) and leave cards at home unless I'm doing a shop so that way I can still pick up a hot chocolate or snack but not spend mindlessly on impulse purchases that I really don't need.

@BecuaseIWantItThatWay that sounds like a great idea, but I have Apple Pay and Amazon and it is so hard 🤣
promising myself I’ll be better

makes me so sad that we’re stopping ourselves from treats like a coffee or cake, my first maternity I was so excited about taking my baby out and having a nice coffee.. now I can’t see it happening!

Well, day one (new years day) I managed no spends 🤣.
That was an easy one!
Day 2 today, taking my dad for a hospital appointment that will potentially be up to 3 hours long. So will take a drink and a snack with me rather than using vending machines.
Need to buy bread and milk today. But that should be it. Will update later on how it goes!

You could still do this but make it cheaper by arranging to do a walk with a takeaway coffee and just make coffee at home in a thermal mug and bring homemade cake. Or invite others to yours for coffee and homemade cake. Flapjack or banana bread are both cheap and easy to make. Get a cheap milk frother wand and just make fresh coffee in a cafetiere or coffee pot then heat the milk in a pan or microwave and give it a Whizz. I can't manage fancy patterns with the milk but give it a dust of cocoa over one half for a coffee shop effect.

I think I be pretty frugal because we were so skint for so long. I think those habits have stayed with me. My useful tips for food.

Freeze loaves of bread so they don't go off.

Make veg soup once a week for a cheap meal and then a lunch on another day.
Do Jacket potatoes once a week for a cheap meal but vary the toppings.

Make double of anything like spag bol, chilli or curry to freeze and use for another meal or jacket potato topping.

If you do packed lunches for kids bulk make cheese rolls for the week and freeze them.

Top tips for avoiding buying clothes. Pack up winter / summer wardrobe and put away (vacuum or laundry bags in the loft) so you get a new season of stuff. Polish shoes and boots regularly so they look nice and fresh, clean / wash trainers. Organise your clothes ans accessories and spend some time planning outfits so you feel good. You can often recreate a current trend by mixing older stuff in a new way and maybe adding some charity shop accessories for variety. If you have friends or relatives similar sizes suggest a swap shop evening for clothes that are good condition but either don't fit or aren't your style any more.

Don't get sucked into needing multiple different cleaning products. One multipurpose cleaner, washing-up liquid and some bleach is enough to clean everything....and maybe some polish for wood. It's just about giving it a good scrub with hot water usually, all the cleaning videos online where influences are tipping an entire bottle of pink stuff and then about 10 other products make me sick, so bad for the environment.

Cycle your kids toys and craft around so they don't get bored. Use the library for books. Take a flask of cheap hot chocolate if you are out on a day trip as a treat to keep them happy.

When you feel compelled to buy stuff google plastic pollution or any kind of environmental problems and remind yourself why you don't really need it.

I'm in!
My husband moved out 6 months ago and I have been in survive and cope mode.
I am revamping my finances now I have sole control. Fortunately he does pay maintaince and I have today put in a UC claim to get a handle on my finances. I have some debts - overdraft, car loan etc, so I'm going to pay those down with a vengeance over 2025 to get myself in a better position.

I have meal planned the entire of January using what's the freezer, cupboards etc with a small monthly shop.

My weakness is adorable clothes for the children, more so when they match 😍 so I'm working hard on that, plus they don't need any...!

Hi I'm also joining in please.
When I became a single parent I was so careful and now I'm not.
I've started writing down all spends as that makes a massive difference and rebooking at my budget.

Can I join please. DH took early retirement as well last year from the Civil Service, for health reasons. I'm still working a couple of days a week. It's so easy to spend everything coming in, so want to try saving something each month (no matter how small). DH received a lump sum, but the house needs doing up, so bang goes £7k on the bathroom. Kitchen, new flooring and possibly new boiler will follow in the next couple of years.

We went out on a day trip last week, I started by resisting some nice socks, scented soaps and candles, which I'd normally treat myself to on a day trip. I have a lot of socks, toiletries and candles so am going to use them up. Also, only buy clothes we really need. We don't overspend on food, but am going to concentrate on making cheaper choices.

Living frugally is defo something I need to improve on. I get bread from the shop at the end of the day when it's reduced a nd freeze it. But takeaways and shop runs for chocolate are defo a weakness of mine. I have plans to improve on this. And I need to do a meal planner based on the freezer foods I already have in. And then go from there.

Can I join! Went back to work full time after being part time with the children earlier in 2024 (basically 7 years of part time / freelance!) so have no pension to speak of and so my goal is to sort that out.

set up a budget just before Christmas and am a little embarrassed at how much I’ve been spending with nothing to show for it tbh

Well I went to Aldi to get some food in, even shopping frugally resulted in spending more than I hoped.

loads of stuff reduced though! Worth getting and freezing

also bought cranberry sauce for 9p!!!

I need to join please. We have a holiday to pay for by the end of May. We would like to pay off my son's phone and the Mac book we pay £29 a month for. Also owe £2000 on my husband's credit card and slightly more on mine but mine is on 0% so I will be moving that when my current deal runs out. I want to spend as little as possible this year as I know I will have to pay for some dental work at some point. Our first food shop of the year cost £50 so I'm happy with that. I'm doing beef casserole in the slow cooker for tea and I'm using up the part baked bread rather than popping to the shops to buy a crusty baguette. I was going to pop to Aldi to get a few things but because my Tesco shop on Monday is cheaper than it normally is I've added the bits to it. They are a little cheaper in Aldi but I know if I go in for them I will end up spending more and Aldi is never included in a budget.

The other thing I did last week was to unfollow all accounts on social media that in any way induce you to spend money - included resorts, brands and influencers. It was particularly helpful after Christmas so I wasn't lured into the boxing day sales.

Figured that what I don't see, I won't miss out on!

Pleased to report that so far it's working well!

Day 2, only spends were for bread, milk and pizza. (freezer pizza not take out). So I'll take that for day 2. I Dont think I could Make pizza for the price we paid as cheese can be so expensive!

Plans for tommorow. Trip to the cinema, rather than buying snacks at the cinema, will take snacks from home.

I really want a takeaway, but I'm trying to challenge myself to save as much as I possibly can this year and stop the emotional spending (which goes hand in hand with emotional eating). So far no non essential spending this year, I'm hoping the freezing cold weather this weekend will keep me indoors and away from spending too.

Made marry me chicken in the slow cooker yesterday, have stretched it out to today and there’s enough for tomorrow too!!
only pricey ingredient was the sundried tomatoes but I can make another batch next week as only needed half the jar.

Can I join? I was on some similar threads last year and want to keep up the good work.

We're not seriously struggling financially atm because we have worked very hard to keep 'lifestyle inflation' at bay after we stopped having such massive childcare bills (ds is now 7), but there are still areas we could improve. I'd like to make sure we have enough saved for a planned visit to the U.S. to see family this summer without putting it on credit cards (I'm the higher earner, but DH contributes to council tax and water bills and he buys a lot of our groceries).

I have a couple of problem areas where I tend to rationalise unneeded purchases, especially during sales, so I'm going to try a 'pay for it twice' approach. Basically, I'll pay for the items and then also transfer the same total amount to our trip savings. If I can't, then I'll have to wait on that purchase until I can pay 2x the cost. If that means I miss a sale, so be it - if it's only a want, then it can wait (apart from birthday and Christmas gifts).

And I'm trying to stick to secondhand for clothes etc. where possible. We have a small house so we should stick to one in, one+ out for purchases anyways. We're doing dry January, too, which will hopefully help us health wise and reduce our grocery bill.

I would love to join please - January is going to be a looooong month

We have a small house too, I've already booked a charity shop collection to get rid of some bits we don't need any more - trying to think of some good ways to keep active this month with the DC that don't cost too much, as it may be a bit cold/ icy to do our usual walks! I may be tempted to splash out on a Slimming World membership though as I could definitely do with losing many some lb's

<waves to @moimichme >