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?

Great list I might just pinch if ok? Xxx

I really need to do this. My biggest problems in 2025 was Klarna! Although I can pay it off ok it's just so easy to use and spread payments. I'm trying to not buy any new clothes for the foreseeable. I have enough boots, shoes and coats to last do a few years. Most of my coats and some of my shoes are charity shops/vinted. But I want to have more thought to my clothes and not just grab fast fashion item because I can. Our food and pet food bill is a lot. I make my own bread and cook from scratch and we avoid UPF as much as possible. I need to start saving too. I don't have any savings. I think I'm a shopaholic. I have so many crafts it's like Hobbycraft in my house! I've got to stop shopping!!!!

One thing which is a good challenge (and money saving) for January is using up all the food in my freezer, fridge and cupboards so eg. I have a tub of chickpeas been there a while, I plan a meal using it, use up any packets of seasoning (peri peri marinade, anyone?), a random pack of gelatine, a bag of flour, 5 unfinished bags of pasta (mix them, cook which one trashed longest first and add them in). Obviously when basics run out, like flour, I may need to buy more but it's surprising how far you can get with what's in your cupboards and it's fun to think of meals to use up random things.

me too please

Can I join? I’m lucky that we all got loads of toiletries for Christmas . And enough sweets and biscuits to last till Easter ( if I have the will
power not to eat) my husband and eldest ds got £50 Asda vouchers from their work for a bonus and I worked Christmas we didn’t get. Any extra money for working but got 2x£30 all shop vouchers which can be used in M&S so was planning on spending this on my January food budget. I want to do a low spend year. Really need to build my savings up as 51 with only 1k in savings

Also having a huge clear out as my little boy has grown out som many clothes . So listing. On vinted . So far made £6 on 2 pairs of jeans . It all adds up

Feeling inspired from all the shares of ideas on here!
@LoyalGreenHam think a list on my phone is a good idea to remind me.

So far the plan is:

• Clothes clear out and put on vinted. Trying to make 2026 a no buy year for clothes!
• freezer and cupboard check and use up.
• got a good gusto deal which will cut down on food spends for Jan- just need to remember to cancel when full price!
• make cakes and biscuits as treats for the kids instead of buying!
• going to track and track all spends to get into a habit for the year.

-sign up to Monzo 1p challenge and create a Christmas pot for 2026!

Ooh I'm in, I've already been talking to IRL friends about doing this so I'm glad to have found this thread.

I've already cancelled my Amazon prime, and ordered the two birthday gifts I need for January. Definitely no takeaway coffees, secondhand books (my weakness), house bits, or new clothes for me. I'm also going to be strict with my weekly meal planning and make sure I'm "shopping" from the freezer and cupboards - also going to be better at making sure DH takes lunch to work so he doesn't need to buy sandwiches on the days he goes in.

The only thing I don't want to do is say no to meals out with friends, as these bring a lot of job during what can otherwise be a long, dark, slightly grim month. But no booze!

I also do need to buy some very boring house things like radiator paint, but I'll try and order this before January so I'm starting the month fresh.

I think my rules are:

• Going out is ok as long as it's planned (not unnecessary coffees though).
• No clothes or house things.
• Only replace necessary toiletries, as cheaply as possible.
• Other things: do I absolutely need it? If yes, can I buy second hand? If not, is there a discount code?
• Keep fancy / indulgent / treat food to a minimum. Bake snacks etc if we're hosting friends.
• Stick to the meal plan and shop freezer and cupboards (and check the fridge before doing an online order!)

I can't believe we still have five weeks to get through until February...

Ooh also, I want to sell some more books via World of Books. Last year I made £400 (I did send in around 360 books...)

Wow you must have a higher class of book than we do 😉. We scanned hundreds and hundreds from my mum’s house and only got £38 worth to send in and then they rejected half the books so we actually got £22.

Oh that’s gutting! I did send a few academic books which received a higher than average price, but most books seemed to be between 5p and 75p which is very annoying. It did add up though. I thought it would create lots of space but alas, the shelves are still crammed 🙈

I will join you guys.
we have loads in the freezer and I will limit other spending to £50 Max a week.
its dh’s birthday in January so I will have a max amount of money for his gift and then no other frivolous spending for the rest of the month.

Well I managed a no spend day today 😊

DD8 asked me to look for some particular lip balm online, I did but I didn’t then buy it!! I simply told her the price and said she could save up or ask for the set for her birthday in a couple of months.

Our local shop is twice the price of Aldi or Lidl

What books did you sell please?

I have decided that if I buy any new clothes I will not be ordering online but have to look on Vinted and in charity shops. Plus I'm operating a one in one out policy so if I buy a new item, another item of clothing has to go on Vinted or be donated. I actually don't have loads of clothes as I lost a lot of weight this year so had to pretty much start from scratch with my wardrobe. But I'm going to make economies where I can. I was looking for new cardigans or zip up tops for example to wear over my pyjamas when it's cold but I've repurposed some of my old jumpers that are now a couple of sizes too big for the same purpose.

I listed five items of clothing on Vinted last night and one has already sold so that's £6 earned.

I'm considering whether switching to online food shopping would save us money. I can't decide whether it's more economical or not but I could trial it in January perhaps. I work part time so usually do the food shop on my day off.

A real mix! Some novels, some non-fiction, some academic, a few children’s books. Some old parenting books. I just went through my shelves and tried to pick out books I wouldn’t read again, and that I wouldn’t recommend to DD when she’s older. It was a really straightforward process.

Did you have to pay for postage or do they come to collect? Thanks ☺️

I do online grocery orders and I do think it makes it much easier to stick strictly to my meal plan, as I’m not wandering the aisles getting tempted by stuff that looks good / is on offer.

Postage is free, they collect if you have over a certain number. The only thing I had to do is buy some cardboard boxes to send them off in, but if I had been more organised I’m sure I could have sourced some for free.

I just looked at the Boden children’s sale…and resisted. Gosh that was hard as they had some summer things in well reduced. I think I need to avoid all shop websites!!!

Yey! 😍 I managed a no spend day yesterday too! 🤩 think I can today too 🤞 it is an addiction, so I’m taking it one day at a time! I’ve also got a note book ready to write down any purchases so I can see where my main spends are.. I’m determined to be a reformed character in 2026 and actually get some savings built up! 🙏🏻 xx

i work next to a tesco express so have my club card and the shop next to it they do sell things more expensive so I don't usually go in there

I've done well only spent £27.00 on a shop on the 27th we did have a cheeky Chinese for our tea but I usually do that for new years eve so this new year's eve ill make something to pull that back . Back to work Thursday still got plenty of food and drinks to last so hoping for a good few no spend days . Amazon has been tempting but ive managed not to cave 😅

We ordered the boys wardrobe and toy storage yesterday. £353 in ikea. All activities are paid for now until the kids go back to school. Swimming today, birthday party tomorrow and early bird bowling and arcade on Mon, (managed to palm off the youngest to my mum for a couple of hours so that's a saving, he is savage in the arcades! Spends his money within 5 mins, fine if DH is there too so one of us can take him outside but I'll be on my own with them so no chance of that) We are away for two days 2-3rd which will be one of the last thing to go on our credit card (just DH car service in Jan to go on) then we are stopping using it. Planning to take the Dec's down on 1st and let the kids have an xbox day, they've had limited screen time over Christmas so they can have that for a day.

I've got DS birthday in Feb but I have a separate pot for that. We did the ikea shop out of Jan's budget rather than the decorating budget to force us to have lots of no spend days in Jan.
I've got haircuts (me and all 3 kids), my dad's birthday, window cleaner and £50 aside for clothes for DD - I did some vinted shopping though so I'm hoping I've covered everything she needs and won't need that £50. All that is budgeted for which leaves us with £200 for the month (general spending - food, diesel, birthdays etc are all in pots on monzo now).