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?

Thanks. That’s kind of where I’m thinking of heading. It’s a little pop to the shops spends that seems to really add up for us.

yeah

I empathise with those who are trying to avoid ‘popping to the shop’. I am on crutches at the moment so can’t ‘pop’ anywhere, consequently when we ran out of eggs and DH went to get some, it cost over £17...🙄

I can honestly say I would have just bought eggs!

This!
I often light heartedly tell my husband I can't afford to take him with me to the supermarket he's a 6ft4 kid let loose on the biscuit aisle.

I just got a really good deal in good hotel all inclusive for the whole of March. Won’t need to spend anything and right on the beach. Best way to save :-)

Made it to the last day! I have eight no spend days (I am including today). Not as many as I hoped but definitely more than if I hadn't joined this challenge so thank you @MikeRafone and everyone for the motivation.

I can honestly say that I didn't buy anything frivolous or anything that was just "stuff" this month. On spendy days I bought petrol, groceries and a much-needed coat for my DD. I had one planned cuppa out with a friend. Oh and I reduced our monthly grocery spend by £47! Small wins but I'm taking them.

It's made me want to continue so I'm going to try a no spend February (taking it account planned spends for DD's birthday) and see how it goes.

How does everyone else feel their month has gone?

Our biggest controllable expense is food so I’m pleased to have come in about 15% under budget and we are well stocked up.

Had to replace couple of items unexpectedly, but that is what the emergency fund is for. Need to crack on and replenish it now so fingers crossed.

I didn’t do too badly overall.
Food spending was about what it normally is but we’re well stocked up and I did a big shop yesterday so won’t need a big shop for a few weeks which will bring feb down. Dd1 also went back to uni so I did an online grocery shop for her which added a bit to my grocery spending.

I have most of DD2’s birthday presents already so just have one thing left to buy this month.

I returned the peacock vase so that £7 wasn’t wasted after all. I also impulse bought a couple of bits on vinted. I think unplanned spending was around £120 over the month so not outrageous but plenty of scope to do better in Feb.

Are we continuing on this thread or is there a new one for Feb?

I had 12 no spend days, quite pleased with that. But had a £500 vet bill, so came out about even.

I'm carrying on being more frugal in feb too. Who knew that I can also get a dopamine hit from NOT spending!

Thanks to @MikeRafone for the thread

well I managed the month on £350 + new dishwasher

so not bad overall

Going into February with a shopping list and meal plan at the ready for Monday or Tuesday and then my batch cooking will start.

I'm certainly hopeful of keeping the grocery bill down to under £150 each month, which leaves money for eating out and coffees...! I still want to eat well but also try new recipes and this is helping having a months recipes in one shop

I have 10 meals left int he freezer from January - so can mix them into the mix in February. Meaning some meals will be in the freezer for March

Im also liking not having to cook every night - warming up home cooked meals in the microwave is very simple

I did a full food shop last Monday, came to £82, much needed hair cut/colour £84, as hasn't been done since July, so quite a big spend week.

Will also be continuing into February, will pop to the supermarket tomorrow for fresh bits, have a planned appointment out one day this week which may or may not involve having lunch while there will see how the mood takes me.

My goals this month is mindful spending again.
Still going through a lot of shit with my Mum and dealing with the aftermath but I managed fairly well in January.
Can't really remember exactly the number of no spend days but there definitely was a few. Going to attempt to keep track of this this month I am away for 8 days so can't count those really but even then I will be mindful (I find mindful spending going hand in hand with mindful diet and nutrition)
February
1 no spend /20 days

Ended up buying my elderly dad 2 new hotpacks yesterday, so unplanned spend of £18.

But I can't let him go cold...

Aiming for no spend today.

Im going to go shopping today for groceries. It really. good knowing that I can spend £110 on the shopping list for the month and I will not have to shop or cook after this week.

All my standing orders & Direct debits, savings etc have left the building and so I know how much money I have left to spend in February.

Im planning this month to stick to budget.

and the shopping came in at £109 until I produced my nectar card and the price reduced to £101 + £39 I spent last week on store cupboard items in Aldi an loo roll

being organised really does pay off - I was spending £50/60 a week for 2 people, which soon adds up to £240 for the month

I have set myself a budget this month and NEED to stick to it. I have 5quid in my current account although I have access to another account if needed but im hoping not to between now and payday Thursday.
Full fridge/freezer/cupboards, car filled with diesel. I need to keep away from shops as I overspend and its not necessary at all with all the supplies I have at home.

Also just back...
Mine came to £60.24.
Next two days are no spending days planning on sorting the flower and veg seeds I've had for an age and having a go at growing them, I've got some lovely raised veg beds and been a bit slack with using them so I may as well get them prepped in readiness for sowing the vegetable seeds, maybe a few more pennies to be saved in months to come, and fresh salad bits on tap.

My aims are basically the same as for January but to do better on the no impulse spending and to reduce the grocery bill further if possible. Current average is £650 a month so £108 per person per month so it’s not ridiculous but we eat pretty well on that so I probably could reduce it a bit more.

We have dinner out once this month planned, plus going out for a drink once. I’m having friends round for a drink one evening so might need to buy a few soft drinks and snacks for that. We’re going to dn’s birthday party next week which will cost in fuel but we’ve already got the present. And it’s DD’s birthday which we still have one present left to buy for and then a birthday outing once she decides what she wants to do. So quite a lot planned already so making savings where we can will be helpful!

Do you still buy fresh fruit and veg/milk etc? My top up shops can easily be £20 even if I stick to the list. My other downfall is deciding I fancy something I don’t have the ingredients for and popping in and spending £15-20 just on stuff for one meal eg one day last week I decided I wanted duck flatbreads so went to the shop and bought watercress, spring onions, radishes, beansprouts, hoisin sauce etc whereas usually I’d just cook the duck and serve it with whatever veg I already had.

I sit down and decide what “ I fancy” and put it in the menu plan. Then the menu plan will be cooked and frozen every day this week, meaning we have 3 future weeks of meals ( easy to double up)

I but frozen vegetables to supplement meals, frozen and tinned fruit for puddings & breakfast oats.

the only extra I might need is mire fruit, nothing else will be needed. So I will pop in M&S for fresh fruit

if I suddenly fancy something, it can go on n the list for next month, as with 40 meals in the freezer there isn’t any point in cooking more food.

we just eat all the portioned food in the freezer. I freeze the rice, mash potato. It’s made cooking each even very easy

Milk is a mixture of semi skimmed and oat milk, that way it lasts the minth

bread I can make, I have curry bread, brioch, milk white and pitta breads on the menu, also have the ingredto make cinnamon rolls

It definitely sounds like it makes your life easier! Must be handy if you’re ill or have an unexpectedly busy day as well, knowing that meals are already sorted. I find batch cooking for us all more of a pain than just cooking normally but used to do it when we were fewer people. Now I just put the odd portions that are extra in the freezer and every so often we have freezer surprise. I like it when we have various curry dishes in there as it feels like a banquet when we get it all out!

Wow! I long to be this organised!

2 NSD so far
Yesterday I spent £13.76 on shampoo, mouthwash, and paracetamol and ibuprofen.
Hoping for another NSD today.

Yesterday was a nsd, and I won 25 on premium bonds. Not life changing but nice.
Today I need to buy bin bags, fruit and yoghurt. Will try not to buy anything else!