Buy Nothing for Six Months

Aril

With regard to vouchers my Mum and I also sometimes swap them or simply buy the product so the other benefits from it if for example it's got a clubcard number on it. Last week I bought some Millicano which was half price and for which I also had a £1 voucher off in Tesco- Mum doesn't shop there but everyone wins!
Arilx

elliewild

norabatty wrote: »

Hello all, lots to report:

DH finally got around to ringing Sky, he said he wanted to cancel as we could no longer afford it. They automatically reduced our monthly bill from £44 to £25.50, which will be at the lower rate for 12 months. This is saving us £222 over the next year, at which stage we will do the same thing again!

At this week's weekly shop at Mr S, I spent the grand total of £16.43! This included a pack of 20 Mr S Basics nappies - they actually aren't that bad and haven't leaked yet. I wouldn't use them overnight but can't complain when they only cost £1.41 (around 7p per nappy compared to Pampers which are usually around 20-25p per nappy).

This caused me to look at my normal nappies - we use Boots Super Dry nappies (usually around 14p per nappy) - went on to their website and they had a BOGOF, which I've never seen before. Usually it's buy 2, get 1 free. Together with Boots Parenting Club points, they were working out even cheaper than the Basics nappies from Mr. S. So I popped down to my Boots store yesterday evening, no signs advertising BOGOF so got the lady at the counter to scan one for me. Sure enough, they were BOGOF. So I went and got 10 economy packs (all size 4s and all size 4+s on the shelf!) and managed to buy 512 nappies for £34.95. But also got 346 points from Parenting Club, which is worth £3.46, so in effect, I bought 512 nappies ( a 4 month supply) for £31.49, which works out at 6.15p per nappy. Definitely the best deal on nappies I have ever encountered. And they are great nappies too - I think we've only had about 3 leaks in about 10 months :T!

My friend bought the reusable cloth nappies (i dont know much about them without children myself) but shes had two babies now and swears by them, i understand they cost a bit initially but well worth it.

elliewild

Thistle-down wrote: »

I am finding it pretty easy to stay spend free because I am avoiding shops as much as I can, and sticking to lists when I have to go into one.

I was able to pay off my first debt due to the non-spending. It was only £50 but what a great feeling! :j

well done you! every little bit helps. wish i could pay off some of mine!

elliewild

well 3 days in and its going well for me.

made £20 on ebay and havent spent yet. (apart from mortgages/general bills which have to be paid) once i break up for summer i am looking forward to trying to reduce all my bills etc (just dont have time at the mo)

also managed to score some freebies from work because we are moving departments (they are a little random, but i got a huge measuring jug - which i am going to use for my home brew sangria, some wrapping paper, a canvas bag and some empty tins for storage)

ive also put a bag in the kitchen to collect things that i would throw away but could recycle (e.g steak pudding tins are going to be used for bird feeders, and plastic containers for storing tools etc)

ive also been looking on the floor everywhere for pennies and change which i am collecting in a used coffee jar for my next holiday - every bit helps!

My OH is planning to make our dishwashing tablets (he is going to put them in ice cube trays to freeze into squares) i will let you know whether its effective!

hope everyone else is having fun with this challenge?

flyingmamma

nsd today...infact i got some baby freebies in the post and a friend repaid me some money i,d lent her ages ago so great day.used the car today but planning a nsd and carfree day tomor asi,m on a roll.

Thistle-down

I bought a 2014 refill for my little filofax. It was marked £3.50, it rang up at £4.75 but the guy let me have it at the lower price.

I didn't really need it - but I have been longingly looking at new filofaxes in a bigger size, especially with some currently on sale at 1/2 price at WHS. Having a 2014 diary makes me think I can't possibly get a new Filofax until 2015 at least. Silly logic, but whatever works !

[Deleted User]

elliewild wrote: »

My friend bought the reusable cloth nappies (i dont know much about them without children myself) but shes had two babies now and swears by them, i understand they cost a bit initially but well worth it.

I bought a dozen Harringtons nappies back in 1967 and they did for both of my DDs and I still have four left that I use as soft cloths for dusting or cleaning windows with.
They are obviously not as thick as they once were but after more than 40 odd years it hardly suprising, but they make the best soft dusters ever :) and I'm not one to throw things out just because they no longer need using for the original purpose.Now thats really OS recycling :):)
At the moment my £60 food budget for July is still firmly in my food purse and as I have nothing to buy at the moment that's where it will stay.I had to spend some money yesterday at the garden centre for some shrubs but I had that money saved up and put aside so I'm not counting that at all
I too find the odd coin in the street and put it into my Road-kill savings tin Last year I accumulated around £9.60 which went into the holiday fund at New Year
I think I have around £4.81 already in the tin.It always amazes me how people will just throw the odd penny or copper coin away rather than save it up.Our local newsagents always seem to have a few coppers around out side,especially five pende pieces.I am quite happy to pick them up though as its all cash at the end of the day:):)

mishmogs

Afternoon

I think I would like to join this happy band, if that's ok?

I have just gone through June without buying any new or second hand clothes. This was a promise I made to my DH and I succeeded! So I decided to carry on for another month not buying any new clothes, I have this week bought a woolie waistcoat for winter from a charity shop so I will leave it at not buying new.

I have been growing our salad stuffs this year, first time in a long, long time using recycled 4 pint plastic bottles and this has been successful and am going to have a go at growing sprouting seeds. I too have been making elderflower cordial and have just finished my 3rd lot of elderflower champagne. Also got into making ginger beer, which is very good. Strawberry jam made, enough for about 6 months anyway and will make rhubarb and raspberry jam this week.

I need to cut down on grocery shopping, so DH and myself walked into town this morning (needed the exercise) and got LL milk in £land and the yogurt for starting off yogurt making again as ran out last week due to no milk! 2 x litres of LL milk is £1 in £land cheaper than Mr S or Mr T (only 55p per L in Icel@and). Now pre redundancy we would have gone into the local and had a pint but not anymore, can't justify £4 per pint these days!!

I have a german student coming to stay for a year at the beginning of September and she is a veggie, now we are meat eaters so this is prompting me to further reduce our meat consumption by looking at our diet. I can't see us becoming veggie but I think an interesting time ahead which I hope will assist in reducing our food bill.

So I will also cut down on car usage and increase my nsds per week, currently 2 will try and aim for 3 and not buy anything new for the house.

I have just had my 6 monthly haircut which cost £8 and gave the girl a £2 tip as she did an excellent job and I cut DHs hair yesterday.

I think I might enjoy this challenge and see what others are doing and maybe pick up some tips along the way.

nomi01

Hi,
I just found this thread and I love it.
I have 3 kids in primary school so my essential spends may differ to some. However, I really need to give this a try.
I will speak to my fella and try and get him on side too.
I got an allotment a few months ago so I am hoping to reap the rewards of that soon.
I wear a uniform to work and I think I can claim for wear and tear on an annual basis (need to look into this). So this cuts down my need for new clothes, although I still want them.
I dont drive and walk most places. My biggest expense is shopping and I am a shocking impulse buyer.
I have worked hard to minimise my debts but I have been overspending and creating more debt lately. I need to reign this in.
I am hoping this thread will help me to focus again.

sparrer

Was going to have a spray tan for £17 but saw a bottle of self tan for £3. I now have a lovely even bronze glow.

It's DS's graduation on Thursday which is 200 miles away. I'm sad that my old car passed away two weeks ago but pleased that in its replacement I've only done half the mpg I would have in the old one. I'd saved up for it so paid cash and got a very nice amount of interest.

Last Tuesday I bought two dresses in a discount shop for the graduation then on Thursday I noticed the shop had sale on. I checked they had 'my' dresses in the same size which they did so bought them and took the others back for a refund. Then with the leftover from the refund I bought a third dress, and still got £5 change