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?

So a week in to Jan and I have spent £20 in monsoon. £10 in mimi and lula. I got DD a jacket she didn't like (had to tease this out if her, she's 8 and won't say but just won't wear it, so it becomes a waste of money) so returned that and shd get some money back from JL. I also got a tax rebate! First one in yrs so money wise overall doing ok. Spending could be better. Looking hard also at my use of ubers. I haven't used one on 2 occasions in the last few days that I would have previously. I am also doing a monzo saving challenge. Determined to spend less and save more.

How often do you all shop for food? I seem to be going every other day. I spent £84 in Aldi on 5th Jan and then £40 yesterday with a £12 Tesco top-up shop in between, Is that normal? Maybe I need to spend like £150 in one go?

I think doing one big shop is far better, buying extra milk and bread to freeze also helps stop the top up shops. I have a few bags of flour as I make bread. But I have milk in the freezer.

Also buying two washing up liquids, two washing powder, shampoo, toothpaste, then when the first one is finished replenish so you don't run out and have to do a top up shop for £5 washing powder and you spend £40

Meal planning, cooking double whats needed and freezing the other half immediately, also saves time and effort. I keep the frozen meals for the last week of the month (when there is less money in the bank) having 5/6 home made freezer meals is so good, also use dup bags for the slow cooker.

Presently though I'm trying to use up as much store cupboard and last bits in the freezer - this means I', going to do a top up shop today t get me through till next Wednesday/Thursday before I do a big shop which should last me until the end of the months I'm hoping. Ive been through the cupboards and found Thai curry paste, tuna, and a couple of other items I'd forgotten about - so using those to make dinners

https://www.tamingtwins.com

has some great meal plan dinners, slow cooker, dump bags and quick cooks

Not a bad week so far - like @Ieswe we're fortunate to already have lots planned and I'm trying to cut the mindless spending which was adding up.

£20 for nails on Monday, I don't wear much make-up etc but do like to have nice always sparkly nails.

£35 Aldi for DD's uni food shop on Tuesday, along with £40 in TK Maxx for a new frying pan, candles, pasta jar and glass jars for me for roasting juices. I always put them in the fridge in a ramekin then throw them out unused and mouldy 😖.

Wednesday was approx £20 on travel snacks so not too bad, and yesterday should have just been a small amount for work parking as it's my office day. However it's more than doubled since last year (from approx £7 to £15.20 so will be getting the bus from next week! Then went slightly off-piste as I managed to get hold of The Creel House Lego set which was vvv spendy! However it's for DD's birthday in March so the money is there (her dad is splitting the cost too) just wasn't expecting to spend it quite yet..........and she won't be getting anything else!!!

So all expected spending - apart from the Lego, but would have spent the money in a couple of months - but adds up. Today I'm working which is a bit of a shock, I'm not normally around on Fridays but swapped my non-working day for Wednesday so I didn't have to take leave to drive DD to uni. Have to wait in for Evri to collect my cd parcels, and then have more returns to drop off to the post office - when it all comes in there will be £190 back in (which is already spent but at least it's not coming out of current money!). Have a few things to list on Vinted and then a food shop so will keep me out of mischief!

I've done another freezer deep-dive and there is plenty there so only need milk, bread, eggs, fruit, veg and a couple of cleaning bits so I'm hoping for about £40, will report back later!

@AlexFurbison I have Clubcard plus which gives me 10% off (up to £20) two shops a month. So I try to do two £200 shops a month to get the full £40 off. I stock up on cupboard stuff/cleaning stuff/washing powder etc in these shops as well as buying lots of meat. Then the weeks in between I just buy bread/milk/fruit/veg/anything forgotten or urgent. The veg box comes fortnightly so I try to coincide that with a non big shop week but Christmas has thrown me off schedule.

On top up weeks I do sometimes find myself in there almost every day but that’s more because it’s right by school so I go on the school run and just carry a few bits home every day rather than lugging a lot in one go.

Like @MikeRafone I double up on things so there’s one in use and one in stock and then buy more when the in stock one gets opened. Also if something we use regularly is on offer I buy lots of it but it does mean all my cupboards are disaster zones 😆

@MikeRafone thank you, that's really good advice. I definitely need to meal plan better and to double-buy some things. I always buy two toothpastes but never think to extend that to shampoo etc for some reason.

I've got the Batch Lady cookbook so going to see if I can get some freezer meals made on Sunday.

Thanks @Ieswe I think maybe I'm just not spending enough at each 'big shop'. I'm going to make the next one a really big shop and see if we can hold onto it for a bit longer.

Part of the problem is that my kids seem to go through the pantry like locusts after I've been shopping so I think I'll hide some of the snacks and bring them out at a later date!

Weirdly if I do a normal shop the kids eat everything immediately, when I do a massive shop they’re less likely to (maybe because the cupboards are too full so it’s a mission to get to anything!)

@Ieswe I think that's a good approach so that you still enjoy your planned activities. For me it's the unplanned purchases that are the problem. I'd got into a habit of stopping at Greggs on a dog walk as a little treat. So that's stopped now. But I haven't stopped subscriptions that I use a lot.

Christmas has also thrown me off schedule - still have bits to use up. I need to get eggs for tea tonight and I was only in the supermarket yesterday 😩

I need to do xmas better next year. Buy less beforehand and spend more in sales after.

I've got the Batch Lady cookbook so going to see if I can get some freezer meals made on Sunday.

I just cook double the night that I am cooking - that way I'm not stuck in the kitchen for any longer. So I will make 2 cottage pie, sort two dump bags for the freezer to go in the slow cooker, make two chicken casseroles or double in the slow cooker etc Its very rare that I will spend time cooking multiple recipes for the freezer in one sitting

Same. For me it defeats the object of batch cooking if I have to set aside extra time to do it. I just make double portions of anything that is freezable, and half goes into the freezer for another day.

Another £13 on food today. Have a delivery coming on Sunday which is currently about £55.

Total spend so far in Jan £126

I'm actually back on this thread because I'd started looking at a necklace on ebay - bad, bad, bad!😡

Ive had a refund on one of my utilities £46, a refund on a pair of joggers from the tiktiok shop £11 and a cheque for $78, so have put that in the bank and will wait and see how much the bank charges me and the exchange rate for the dollars

So hopefully if I get £50 from the cheque that will be over £100 in my bank instead of going out..

So our start to the frugal year has seen us having to shell out £2100 on the car that was perfect one day then just stopped working the next! Our shower packed up so needed a new one. Our newish boiler also not heating up properly so has to be drained and refilled when it's having a moment (boiler installer coming out soon) and tonight the dishwasher died. Oh and all the animals cost a fortune in flea treatment despite it being absolutely freezing, they managed to pick up fleas 😭😭😭😭😭 I feel like someone is playing a cruel joke x

Oh @WingingItSince1973 that’s rubbish luck!

That really is rubbish luck. Dh car has also died and our dishwasher has broken. No idea on how much the car will be as it's been at the garage all week and they haven't had time so it might be a new car.

I also impulse bought a very long and very chunky Cardigan in the sales. It's cable knit but feels like a dressing gown so hopefully it will keep me warm.

I haven't done any top up shopping so I might even meet only spending £250 this month on food.

However dd needs some demi pointe ballet shoes so there is a big spend. I'm going to withdraw that from my Vinted profits as they are at least £70 if not more

I’ve also started to buy a couple of UHT milks to save going to shops.
I’m also cleaning the fridge and freezer, between CHATGBT and taming twins cookbooks . Even if some of the meals are slightly odd!

Good luck with The Batch Lady. I love the simplicity of her recipes but everything I've made has been disappointing, very bland but we are vegetarian and I don't think that's her strong suit. I'm going to return to quick meals, preparing ingredients in advance or just doubling up what I normally cook.

I feel for you winging it, the whole of my 2025 was like that, constantly shelling out on things that I knew I'd need to pay for one day, but not all in a very short space of time! I'm hoping that now everything is fixed/ replaced, we can have a better year.

I've drawn up a budget for everything for this year as I really need to keep a tight rein on things. I'm itching to book a holiday though. I'm not going to though as that will blow the budget for the the year. Cheap weekend planned, walking and board games

What is the genuine website for yougov surveys? I have had a look and there seem to be multiple ones claiming it is them 🙄.

I am making bread today to avoid going to the shop and picking up other things. Not made bread before, so fingers crossed thst it is edible!

MikeRafone thanks for the heads up to entitled to. At the moment I don't think we quality for anything. Hopefully things work out for the best, but if not longterm there are a couple of things that might kick in and good to know about.

I think our food shop for two came in at around £54 for two - not bad. There are probably a couple of tweaks I could have made to lower it and DH eating slightly less right now reduces it a bit.

I did an exercise class yesterday - £6. I haven't managed to get DH out the house for ten days, but he agreed to coffee out just down the road today - two coffees and a shared cake £11.50 - well worth it for some normally!

Front door was sticking. I worked out it wasn't the mechanism and decided I wouldn't attempt re-aligning it myself. Turns out to be some twisted plates in the door frame - the chap charged us half price - £45 and showed me how to do it myself if we have the same problem again.

2nd day of no spending here, but haven't been out of the house so was easy to stick to.

I didn't leave the house and didn't spend anything either!

I'm quite enjoying not having new stuff coming into the house. I decluttered some books today. Just a small bag of about 10 but it's a start.

Ive still got a £20 note emergency money in my purse untouched.
No money spent apart from regular bills that are on DD/So.

Meal plan for next 3 weeks done.
Dh buys most of the food but I have lots of stunned all ready in eg kilos of Greek yogurt, dried ,frozen and canned beans, legumes, fruit, veg etc.

I should see the end of Jan with no incidental spends.

Thanks for the heads up @LondonCheesecake I must admit I'm not massively inspired by the Batch Lady cookbook but I'm giving it a go. It suits me to cook in the morning rather than making double in the evenings as I'm always shattered by the end of the day (thanks perimenopause!)

One week in and I’m doing ok on the no spending front.

I bought my lunch to work for 5 days in a row which is an absolute record for me.

I would normally buy it at least once and twice a week- if not every day.

I have also resisted buying coffee on my two days out on the weekend. Which is again a bit of a record - and I did have to exercise a bit of restraint.

the previous post reminded me I have nearly £40 in my purse so I will try to use that.

what has helped/shocked me was doing my budget at the start of the month and realising I actually don’t even have £1 spare. It’s a bit of a shock.

I had a rough idea of everything- but hadn’t actually put it together properly before.

I’ve since cancelled one club for dd which she was begging me to cancel, but I kept her going as it was good for her.

I’m also cancelling our tv package- which will save £20 a month.

and unfortunately stopping investing. I only started last year- but I simply don’t have disposable income- I will try to keep at least £20 going- so I’m not stopping entirely.