Low spend/No spend February

[AlexFurbison]

Inspired by MikeRafone's January thread.

Does anyone fancy joining in with a low spend or no spend February?

I'm aiming for 10 no spend days and keeping spending very low on other days. No unnecessary purchases or meals out and keeping on top of the grocery spend.

The exception is DD's birthday. I've already bought her presents but we're going out for lunch at her favourite place so that will be a planned spend.

Yes me. Do you decide your no spend days in advance. Or just try to collect as many as possible?

In January I tried to aim for every other day but I only ended up with eight no spend days in total - usually due to just nipping to the supermarket for top-up shops.

I am going to try the same again but with less nipping to the shops this month! My grocery spend is the hardest for me to get on top of.

I won £100 on the premium bonds yesterday so that's a nice little boost. Didn't manage a no spend day as we needed milk and fresh veg.

Aiming for a no spend day today - making flapjacks for the kids and have dinner in the freezer so hopefully no need to venture out for top-ups.

Joining.

I don’t have a set number of nsd to aim for as previously I’ve found that sets me up to fail. With 4 dc there’s always something that comes up unexpectedly.

My aims are to keep groceries low without compromising on food or nutrition and to stick to only planned or necessary spending/purchases. I’m really bad for impulse purchases so need to get out of this habit!

@AlexFurbison i also won £100 on the premium bonds, my first win in ages!

February spending:
Health and beauty: £13.76

Also coming over...

NSD yesterday, will be the same today.
Also had a premium bond win of £50.

I did pretty well in January so going to aim for low spend Feb too.

I won £100 on the premium bonds yesterday so that's a nice little boost. Didn't manage a no spend day as we needed milk and fresh veg.

congratulations - on the win

I have spent the last two days cooking

make so much food prep that my freezer is jam packed

My £101 Sainsbury shop + £39 Aldi essentials is turning into a very delicious months worth of food

Chilli con carne
Lemon ricotta lasagna
Goulash and I froze the mash to go with it
Char sui pork and rice
Chicken bhuna
tika chicken kebabs, marinaded these and just need to find space to squeeze them in

6 flat bread
16 pitta bread
I curry loaf, sliced and frozen
1 simple milk loaf, sliced and frozen

https://www.janespatisserie.com/2020/11/21/gingerbread-nyc-cookies/ I swapped the white chocolate chips for dark chocolate and reduced it to 100g, love ginger and dark chocolate

have made frittata bagels with smoked cheese, have jackets to make with tuna and mayo or serve with chilli

still to make beef keema https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/indian-beef-keema-carrots-potatoes

Have cinnamon and apple oats, raspberry soaked oats and blueberry and lemon soaked oats

So that is 7 meals on rotation for the next 4 weeks - which will run into March

Plenty of choice for breakfast, toast, oats or even weetbix. Got oat milk as it lasts and semi skimmed.

I have £10 left from my grocery shopping money for any top ups/essentials
I saved £8 on my nectar card.

https://www.janespatisserie.com/2020/11/21/gingerbread-nyc-cookies/.

I haven't cooked these - I froze them as per the recipe and then popped them in a freezer bag. I wrote the instructions for cooking at 180 for 14 minutes on the label. Now if I fancy a sweet treat, I can have one at a time and not go to the shop and buy something

Hello just checking in

:) I'm in for another month. I think it will be less successful than January - dh is on site this month which limits how much I can work.

Spent £130 in Lidl this morning & £35 on Amazon - both planned restocks of bulk items. Beyond that I'm hoping for just top up shops.

Extras this month - my birthday (not planning anything expensive but will probably get a cake & a bottle of wine), a housewarming present (£40), ds has a music trip (£45) and I want to pay some extra into my pension before the end of the tax year. And I've just run out of moisturiser.

I have an £800 credit card balance that comes off 0% in May - I usually pay £100 a month but would like to pay 300 extra this month with the aim of clearing it in March.

On the win side - I did two Chase referrals & made £100 over the weekend and February & March are no council tax months which is £400 saving. That will stay in the current account - I'm working on getting a 3 month buffer of bills money (am up to one month atm).

We're not doing anything over half term as dd has mocks so we will save some money there too!

Quite a few premium bonds wins this month! Well done everyone.

Like @heatdeath I’m on a 10 month council tax payment so that’s £250 back into the pot this month - I’m putting it in the emergency fund as I’m trying to save three months’ worth of income. I think next month the dosh will go in the holiday pot as we’re planning a trip to Northern Ireland in the summer.

My no spend day just got spoiled as DH spent £19.38 at Tesco on his way home from work. He did buy me a Wispa so I’ll let him off!

I need to join again, I seem to have spent a lot already given its only the 3rd. Mostly on "bargains" on Vinted.

Im going to aim for 10 no spend days and no buying work lunches - I managed 14 NSD in Jan and two lunches.

Just spent £44.33 at the vet to be told our dog is fine. (He has a little spot/growth on his lip).

Same. I seem to have a little spark on my bank card this month! Need to put the flame out.

I was on track for a 4th NSD yesterday but then dd reminded me I’d said I was going to buy her some jeans. So £5.83 spent on vinted. Hope they a) arrive and b) fit.

Need to give the two younger dc a couple of pounds each for a school fundraiser today but hopefully a NSD apart from that.

@DillyDeclutter @December2025 I find once I start spending it opens the floodgates for more. Good luck!

February spending:
Health and beauty £13.76
Kids stuff £9.83

Oh bum, @AlexFurbison you’ve just reminded me I also spent £13.46 on the cat yesterday. Glad your dog is ok though.

February spending:
Health and beauty £13.76
Kids stuff £9.83
Pet stuff £13.46

Trying to do this too with the exception of groceries/pet supplies.

I've managed 3 nsd this week. I used to take lunch to work but found i barely moved if I did so started not taking something, resulting in needless spending when nipping out for a sarnie. I've reverted to taking lunch in.

There will be £20 spent today (bingo with my Dad) and food shop at the weekend

my month so far £125.97, that includes a months worth of grocery shopping

Got a trip booked tomorrow, but all but the food and drink is paid for

Thanks @Ieswe our dog is an absolute sweetheart so I'm glad he's okay, even if he is golden and jobless.

I just spent a whopping £121 on the weekly food shop (family of four, including two young teens who are always hungry). £90 of it was at Aldi with rest at Tesco. I did buy two of lots of things in an attempt to stock up so we'll see how it goes. I really need to get a handle on the frequent top-up shops so hopefully this will help.

You're all doing much better than me with NSD! I think this might be a NS weekend coming up so should get two days there.

Was hoping to have lunch out after being out for an appointment yesterday but didn't bother.
I did however pop into Lidi for some cupboard essentials we'd ran out of that I didn't buy at Tesco on Monday so a spend of just under £30.

Two spend days and three non spends so not to bad.

It's been a really long week and I had zero motivation to cook so we compromised with a chippy tea as DC and I only have chips. DH has some extra bits so all of us were fed for under £15, granted a home cooked meal would have been cheaper but I'm doing my best!

I've had a reminder that the travel insurance needs renewing so will need to find out how much that's going to cost. I'm going to try and have a spend free weekend as 2 of the DC are away and the youngest will be happy with a board game and a film with homemade popcorn

Your menu for the month looks amazing @MikeRafone

I wish I could achieve that!

I think my problem is that I fail to make a shopping list that covers a whole month of meals - I just get bamboozled at that stage.

I think my problem is that I fail to make a shopping list that covers a whole month of meals - I just get bamboozled at that stage

Its only one weeks meal plan - then multiplied by 4

That ways its easy, I can either cook each night for 7 nights and cook double to last us 4 weeks or food prep on a day off and put everything int he freezer.

I picked 7 meals and multiplied the quantities. Some for the slow cooker, some fro the oven and some for the hob. I put the bread on to cook first, then made the dough for the pitta and flat breads. Then put the slow cooker meal on, then the oven meal and then the hob meals.

I have also found im eating a lot of different meals through January and February - as search for other food, that I like the look of. Ive never cooked or eaten char Sui pork before and never cooked a chicken bhuna, haven't had goulash for a few years, haven't had tarragon chicken for about 2 years. So its certainly been more intersweting

I got in on the train at 6pm and got in the front door, thought oh what shall we have for supper. Within 10 minutes dinner was on the table - straight out the freezer