A no spend January with limited grocery shopping spend

[MikeRafone]

Im needing a detox from spending for January

Ive cancelled my amazon prime account - for now as I rarely use it until easter so it saves £35

all my bills will go out by direct debit and standing order by 2nd of the month

Im going to set a limit of £4 per person per day for the grocery shopping so £28 per person per week. We have a lot of left overs, some of which im going to freeze for January.

Coffee at home rather than out in a coffee shop, no hitting the sales for stuff no-one else wanted!

Im wanting as many no spend days as possible for January

anyone want to join?

@peonypatch don't buy them ! Yes you will thank yourself in Dec but right now surely its an expense you don't need ? You'll buy them now and then put them straight away. Maybe put £5 away each month and treat yourself in Dec ?

I might have missed this, but for those trying to cut down on the takeaway coffees (this has always been my downfall too) consider if you use any of these -

Virgin media - generally offer a free Cafe Nero once per week, sometimes offers for Greggs too.

Octopus Energy - one free Cafe Nero or Greggs coffee once a week

Vodafone - can vary, but currently it’s a free barista drink of your choice in Cafe Nero.

Shop local - our local independent coffee shop has a reward scheme too, so if I do need to buy I always head there, support local and am still building up towards a freebie!

I am sure there will be plenty others. I find I can still get 2/3 coffees a week free of charge. Also make sure you have the coffee shops reward app.

1st day in January, hasn't been no spend, but the spend has been planned for a while and budgeted for as is coming up to dp's 50th so have bought his present from the kids and booked our hotel for a night away.
But nothing else. I have seen some gorgeous pjs, but am resisting urge to put them in my basket.

I spent very little on clothes last year and don’t plan to spend much this year, but some things are wearing out. I’m using up the make up I have, so no impulse buys on that.

We bought fresh veg today, since that was used up, but there are left overs in the freezer and stock, also in the freezer, for various things.

We have the best deal we can get on electricity and phones.

We have a garden voucher, so that will be useful in the spring.

I’m rereading books on the Kindle, unless there are free ones that I like the look of.

Good idea! I’m already putting £35 away a month for Christmas 2026 tbf.

I need to come back to this thread….ive just seen some lovely pjs on M&S that I’m going to get for my daughter’s birthday. This then led me to mooching in the online sale. So many bargains to be had but I don’t need them. It’s a danger zone!

Hopefully the photo works.........I love a spreadsheet and this one has the meal-plan on one tab, freezer & cupboard list on another, shopping list on another!!!!
Only done up to the 28th this month as we're away from the Thursday at a festival, so will start again after then

My usual Ocado order was due to be delivered tomorrow but we really haven’t run out of anything so I have pushed it back to Wednesday and may be able to push it back further still depending how the week goes. Would be good to push it to Friday and then I will have saved a whole week’s grocery spend.

I’m cleaning out one freezer drawer per day and inventorying as I go; we could easily last for over a month apart from eggs/milk I reckon. 4 drawers in kitchen fridge/freezer and 7 shelves/drawers in big freezer in futility room, mostly full.

I have not spent any money today.
I walked the dog, did jobs at home, and we’ve had leftovers from yesterday’s roast. I’m now meal planning for the weekend from what we have in the freezers. A good start!

Well done everyone!

Tomorrow we're having a day out using our NT membership. I'm going to make a flask of tea to take with some homemade flapjacks and fruit. (I make these in big batches and freeze). So the only cost should be the petrol.

I've made a proper 'what's left in the fridge' dinner this evening, stuffed jacket potatoes with brocolli, eggs and cheese.

Over the holidays I cancelled Strava, Audible, the New York Times, Paramount on Amazon, and paid off a credit card using savings so we didn’t incur interest.

I think meal planning could be the next win. There’s four teenagers in our house so we eat a lot of pasta and rice! I’m going to look for new meals to do with them both. Any ideas?

Nothing spent here today so a good start. I got my 10% off voucher from Lidl last month. So I'm going to try to max out that voucher before it ends in 7 days. Only going to buy what we often use from Lidl. So dishwasher tablets, chicken, mince. Try to stock up the freezer but it's still very full from Christmas. I'm going to try to be tactical to get the voucher every month

NSD today and I’ve been through my emails and unsubscribed from mailing lists.

Lots of my knickers are holey and I almost bought some from an Instagram ad as they were only £1 a pair but remembered that i am not buying from instagram ads anymore so closed the page. I bought some from oddballs last year in the Boxing Day sale and they’re very comfy but lots haven’t lasted the year so I’m reluctant to buy more. If anyone has any recommendations that would be great.

Dinner tonight was leftovers from our big nye feast. Tomorrow will be the remains of a roast chicken made into something. I have quite a bit of meat in the freezer although it seems to be mostly joints and need to be creative with the veg we have for a couple of days rather than buying more. Starting to run low on a few cupboard bits so am going to eke it out as long as possible then do a big shop one day next week.

@ChristmasLightsLover We eat a lot of pasta and rice too. A very easy pasta dish I do is to put some tomatoes, olive oil, salt and pepper in the air fryer with either a block of feta or supermarket own Boursin. Add a bit of pasta water and stir then pour over the pasta and mix. Probably not a new idea for you though! We also do a lot of carbonara as a little bit of meat goes quite a long way in it.

My Korean friend taught me to put oyster sauce in fried rice and it makes a world of difference to the flavour. We also double up on the beans in a chilli etc to make it stretch further.

Chicken mince instead of beef because it’s half the price. In stuff like a keema or chilli or tacos where there’s a lot of flavour it doesn't really matter.

I’m really bored of cooking at the moment though so struggling for ideas!

I have a paper diary and plan to write down everything I spend including direct debits. At university I divided my loan after rent by the number of weeks and had a page per week headed with the amount left. Everything I spent was deducted from that amount. I remember buying a skirt and working out how many weeks I’d have to split the cost over to make it manageable. I used to be really really good at budgeting so I know I can do it, I just don’t always want to 😳. There’s been lots of grief spending this year but I don’t want to carry on. It’s such a waste.

I’m also going to use my diary for my other challenges. For example I’m going to do one press up a day for the first week, two the second, three the third etc. In a year I’ll be able to do 52 press ups. DH is upping the number every day but I know I wouldn’t stick to that 😂. I’m also going to record the books I read and a few other things. None of this is relevant to not spending other than it gives the mind other things to focus on.

I’ve just seen that you can pay a monthly fee to have no advertisements on Meta platforms. Although it’s a cost I genuinely think this would really help myself and others who have an impulsive shopping addiction. I am an advertisers dream.

im making a shopping list and so far have 4 things on the list, hopefully not to many items will be needed!

Have plenty of freezer meals and using those until they run out

Its spend day today as having lunch out with a friends - but hopefully Saturday and Sunday will be NSD

Could you try to not give into temptation re: ads this month, and then depending on how hard you find it either sign up in February, or realise you've coped and you don't need to give Meta more money? Maybe use this month as a mini social media detox too?

@Ieswe I like your idea of giving your brain something else to focus on rather than spending.

I know that I shop online to alleviate boredom, so that's something to be aware of.

Did well yesterday- like a pp, I have delayed my food delivery as we have lots to eat still. I've also got lots of toiletries.

But I have sent flowers today to a friend who's having a difficult time. I feel that's a necessity.

Otherwise doing ok. Well done everyone 👏

I was thinking about this earlier and honestly I think my spending has gone down since retailers have started charging for returns I feel less likely to take a punt on something fitting or suiting if I will have to pay to send it back.

Everyone seems off to a great start.

Yesterday was a no-spend day and today was a planned spend - a cup of tea and a scone with a friend in a cafe followed by a nice walk by the river - then a small food shop. Planning for tomorrow to be no-spend too.

No spend here again today. I want to get a leather bag in the sales as I'm trying to get to the point where I have fewer better quality bags. I might still cave but that would be my final sale item.

Next job is meal planning from the freezer

No spend day yesterday, today we've been to soft play on the bus so spent £15 total. Didn't buy any snacks there and resisted going into the supermarket next door.

I am setting a target of 12 no spend days for January.

no spend day yesterday. Today is looking like a £3.50 spend day, pleased with that. We will also do the online food shop but I am not counting that as it's a necessity. Being very strict with the food shop.

I have seen my expensive face cream on an ebay shop, sealed in the original box and £25 cheaper than a shop. I am considering it

Have spent today had to take car for mot, breakfast at Toby carvery needed a heater for upstairs and a small shop in sainsburys .

Refusing to spend a penny over the weekend

Ive made a list of all protein in the fridge, cupboards and freezer with expiration date scribbled next to it. The same for all other perishable foods. Listed all long-life items too. And then cooking and eating in the order of those dates so as nothing goes to waste.

My plan is to not go shopping unless absolutely necessary. Its surprising how much stuff ive got!

Declined a girls night out invite too. Im serious about this 😁

I've just made a huge pan of soup, some for tomorrow and some for the freezer. I used lentils and barley and a pile of veg that needed eating up soon. Onions, shallots, brocolli, asparagus, cabbage, tomatoes and garlic. I added bay leaves, salt and pepper, some worcestershire sauce and homemade veg stock which I make in batches and freeze.

I'm very happy as I have saved money, prevented food waste (which I hate), and have ready made food in the freezer for a quick meal when busy or tired.