No Spend September

[StellaCruella]

Hi all
We have around £6.5k debt that I am determined to pay off as quickly as possible so we can start to build some meaningful savings.
To kick start this, I am planning a no spend September.
Anyone with me?

Hi @StellaCruella I could certainly do with reducing my outgoings. I've just googled "no spend September" and am wondering what your own rules are for yourself and whether you've done it before?

@Amandafm thank you but I use Chase

@HarpQuartet good question! Yes I have done it before. Normally I don't include consumables which are essential, bills and pre-existing subscriptions. That's what I'm going for this time but I will allow a couple of take aways because I need to be realistic.

@StellaCruella I think the one month limit would suit me well, although I've just realised it'll have to be October. Glad to have been introduced to the idea, thank you.

Can I join in? I could do with a no spend month or two.

@HarpQuartet you're so welcome
@Didsomeonesaydogs absolutely!

September is a good month for me as both DC have summer birthdays, I'm back at work and DC are back at school. And it will stop me Christmas shopping early!

I'm actually going to start on August pay day and run until September pay day, so 23/08 - 25/9.

I could do with joining. It is my daughter’s birthday in September and she wants to go to some sort of outdoor activity centre. Other than this I want to spend very little.

Pls can I join? I'm using my overdraft every month and I have no idea why. I need a re-set. I'll plan to start on August pay day, which is 15th.

Please help keep me accountable!

Awesome - I need accountability too!

Yes i need a little spending reset! I have 1 birthday but i have l already got the gifts and will cashflow a takeaway from saved money specifically for that.
so my goals will be
stick to my shopping budget £500 max
no little extras because they look nice or just because i want it
a mini shelftember (we don't keep lots of food in the freezer after we had one die and lost so much food) but really try and meal plan around what we have in to reduce food shopping as much as possible.
no fancy lunches except maybe the day the kids go back as my husband is off but i will decide closer to the time.

I'll join! I'm doing similar already to be honest. Unfortunately I'm recently out of work, so last month was my last proper pay day 😣

Silver lining of that is saving £5.50 a day on bus fare and there's no temptation of Costa.

I'm joining too - need to start saving for Christmas, so a no spend September and October sounds like a good plan to me :)

I’m in for this. Need to save some money after these school holidays !

I've done no spend months. Normally my rules are obviously pay all your bills set a budget for supermarket food shop and allowance for fuel transport etc but no discretionary spending no clothes no eating out no takeaways so all the money that normally goes on these is saved

no little extras because they look nice or just because i want it

Thats the killler.

Use what we already have in the house before buying more food - that will be a really good one for me.

I've got loads of tomatoes from the greenhouse so I am going to batch and freeze some soup for work lunches over the weekend.

I've got 4 pouches of lentil type things. Had them ages totally unappealing!

Chuck them in a bolognaise @eggplant16 (not all at once!)

Yes, good old bolognaise. Bears absolutely no resemblance to anything Italian but it'll have to do!

Up for this - expensive November so would like to do reasonably cheap September and October.
Big takeaway coffee addiction so I am going to give myself £20 a month.
Other than that can't think of any other exceptions apart from the basic consumables and bills.

Or a casserole - but the weather is a bit warm for that right now!

I'm going to go through my freezer and cupboards and write a list of everything we've got in, then do a meal plan.

We're going camping on bank holiday weekend - that's the only pinch point I think where we'll want to go out for lunch for example. But I reckon we can still keep it cheap for all of the other meals.

The take away ban will be the toughest I think. And not being tempted to start Christmas shopping.

I want big savings so need to stay strong!!

I've just cancelled Now TV and paused Amazon Prime. That's £18.98 saved.