No spending for a year ???

NO-SPENDING-FOR-A-YEAR

Well, I'm not a great believer in 'New year resolutions' and all that but I guess January is a good time to start changing my financial life around ((cough cough))


Too, too much to put in the first post but a brief outline goes something like this,
I've been rumbling around as a different user for many years but fresh start for 2016, poor financial choices, overspending & debt have followed me around like a faithful puppy for the last 20 years (so yes I am mostly in my forties), never massively but enough to always make life far more stressful that it needs to be.


So, I've decided to opt into a year of (trying) to spend on only absolute essentials to enable DH & I to shed the debt & stockpile some funds to enable us to think about buying the property we currently rent (first time buyers at our age - EEK!!)
Add 2 children (teenager & near teenage) & a fussy cat into the mix and we'll see how we go!!
Feel free to join the ride!!


Hope to check in again later with today's spending but got to fly for now!!

NO-SPENDING-FOR-A-YEAR

Well, I realize the next few weeks are going to be an exhausting process of 'out with the old and in with the new' with regards to my financial mindset.
I was contemplating just how many aspects of life will be affected by spending on essentials only, even that in itself is a challenge as what is an 'essential', everyone's would most definitely be different, for me documenting that process I think will be invaluable to assess the pitfalls and blips and also to see any progress made, so even if just for me I'll continue to rumble on!


So on to 'Essentials' - needless to say all household bills, rent, car stuff, loan & credit card payments fall under this category, after all of this has been covered there's enough left to pay for petrol and food with a little left over for other weekly expenses that crop up (children's clothes, school trips, books etc), petrol is a necessity that remains roughly the same amount weekly & I already have a shopping budget that I have to stick with although it always ends up a tad more than expected which is down really to lack of meal planning & the odd impulse buy (& I hate the thought of food cupboards looking bare - maybe a subconscious connection of it being a visual acknowledgement of being less wealthy than I'd like to think I was, so I overstock !!)


So in preparation of food shopping this week I have to rummage through the (full) freezer and cupboards and make an inventory of what I actually have packed into many kitchen cupboards! (note to self, start decluttering kitchen cupboards!!), start putting together feasible meal plans (cooking is not my most favourite pastime plus time is limited (no excuses though!!)) & completely stick with the budget even shave a few pounds off maybe! (I'll touch on the 'where should I shop' debate another day!!)


Anyway, spends yesterday - unfortunately not a NSD, poor lunch planning meant I spent £1 at lunch and a further £1.20 for a cuppa later in the day - the lunch pound could have been saved had I planned better (which I have today!!) but in the freezing cold the tea was justified in my mind (take the flask next week!!)


So yesterday spends £2.20 (must try better today!!)

NO-SPENDING-FOR-A-YEAR

Hmmm, does spending in the boots 70% off January sale amount to essential.....


I would suggest not but in the big picture of life I'm also trying to save myself excessive spending over the course of the whole year so felt justified in speculating £9.00 (originally £18 each) on 2 branded huge toiletry filled gift sets which will be nicely squirrelled away for birthday/Christmas gifts.


Hope you're all having a frugal day xx

Tradcob

Hello!

I'm a great believer in buying prezzies in the sales- why not save yourself a few pounds in the long run?!
Congrats on trying to think differently on your food shop, its something that my partner and I have been trying to do as well although i'm a little behind yourself as i havnt yet decided on a food shop budget, must put that on the list to have a think about!

hope you have a good day!

NO-SPENDING-FOR-A-YEAR

Hi Tradcob,


Thank you for popping in, thanks too on the vote of confidence for my 'Boots' buys!!
When the sale first started I bought quite a few half price gift sets (before starting the year of essential spends!!) so what with yesterdays additions I should be pretty much sorted for most of my friends birthdays and Christmas gifts - lovely gifts that I am happy to give at a fraction of the cost - a win win situation I guess, all nicely nestled in the attic next to the 10p Christmas paper I managed to grab in the @sda sale (kids Xmas wrapping paper sorted, not that DD's even look at the wrapping paper, lol!)


So to the food shopping/sorting..........
I managed to have a check of the breakfast cereal cupboard (and overspill cereals stored elsewhere!!) - Used the last of one bag of porridge but have a big new squidgy bag still waiting to be opened (at the back of the cupboard that I hadn't even realised was there!!), several boxes of cereals I'd picked up from @ldi have been opened but barely used (the kids aren't big cereal eaters ((note to self, Duh!! stop buying cereals!!))) so I'm going to make some crispy rice/flakes choc cakes to use them up otherwise as has previously happened I'll end up just throwing it away.
Couple of branded big boxes that were on offer at Morries before Christmas are still in reserve, plus a couple of other opened boxes that DH is working his way through, so that should last a fair while!!.
Also noticed 3 jars honey still in 'reserve' and a couple of jars of jam & choc spread - Def need to buy peanut butter though.


I've had the light bulb moment of realising I NEED to know what's in my cupboards otherwise I am constantly over buying as I can't remember what we already have!!
Organisation is definitely the key to all aspects of MS I reckon!!


Quick round up on yesterday's spends!
£9 for the 2 gift sets (saving me many more pounds in the long run)


Here's hoping for a spend free day today!!


Lou xx

HappyMJ

My advice for grocery shopping is to do it online with a tablet or a laptop and add everything you need to your basket while you are in the kitchen and can physically see what you need. Yes you need to pay at least £1 for delivery but in my experience the £1 that the shopping costs to be delivered far outweighs the extra cost of adding items that I might like the look of whilst wandering the aisles and it also saves on either petrol driving to the supermarket or bus fares or taxi fares taking the shopping home.

I've not done a physical supermarket fortnightly shop in around 10 years originally with Tesco and now regularly with Morrisons and occasionally with Sainsburys, Asda or Ocado depending if they send a voucher or not. I can not remember the last time I pushed a trolley around a store. I always get shopping delivered on a Wednesday and the last fortnightly shop yesterday came to £63 for the two of us. It's not quite enough to last the fortnight. My OH will also do a top up shop each alternate week at the mini-supermarket with £10 cash in her hand and buy the fresh fruit and veg that we need. The £10 cash is so that we are not tempted to buy anything else that may be "on offer".

Tradcob

I think I may give your shopping method a go MJ, my partner and i are terrible for adding things into the trolley that we dont really need!

Hope you have a NSD No spending for a year!

NO-SPENDING-FOR-A-YEAR

Good morning lovely people,


Thanks you Happymj and Tradcob for popping by.
Happymj, I completely agree with online shopping definitely takes away temptation from impulse buys and stuff you just don't need but turn into 'must haves' in the confines of the supermarket!! -I'm so impressed by the budget you stick with.
I have sporadically shopped online over the years (I did have quite a few delivery problems with some) but did find a lot of things being swapped due to being out of stock and also short shelf life on fresh goods (had to complain more than once to having use by dates on the same day of delivery!), I think for me it's perfect for stocking up on non perishables and household stuff, so I think maybe a once monthly online shop would work wonders for me to stock up on that kind of stuff (as I'm the kinda girl who likes to squidge her bread for freshness, lol!!)


As for shopping budget, apparently according to a TV food swapping programme recently (can't remember the name sorry!!) the average weekly family shopping bill is £59, I try to stick somewhere near £75 and inevitably end up spending at least £10-15 on a midweek top up shop - I'd like to be able to spend nearer £70 - £75 including the midweek shop!


Also trying to adopt a 'no waste' policy in the kitchen as I must admit to being one of the many who end up binning endless fruit and veg that have gone over or other bits and bobs that have gone out of date (lack of meal planning again!)
So, the last of the blueberries have been used up on breakfast and broccoli that was nearing the end of it's life was used last night! Think it's going to be salad fillers in a few sandwiches over the weekend to use that up too! - Food shopping tomorrow so need to have the meal plans and list sorted by then!! wish me luck!!


Anyway back to other stuff, maybe at this point I might mention how I'm going to be £150 overdrawn this month!! - Month on month I still seem to be racking up at least £100 over, this is something that needs to be pulled back, no bank charges for it which is a bonus but even so I need to be able to stick with the budget.


Sold something on Eb@y for £7.50, so £142.50 now rather than £150, if I can shave a bit off the shopping over the next couple of weeks that I can add that back into the account too plus need to get some more bits and bobs on Eb@y!


Have a great weekend
Lou xx

Tjh1412

Found this really inspiring,I'm trying to do similar though am having to budget for a few things such as textbooks etc. Sounds like you're doing

NO-SPENDING-FOR-A-YEAR

Well lovely people I hope you've all had a great (maybe frugal?) weekend ☺


Apparently it's 'Blue Monday' today, the most depressing day of the year !!


One of the first emails I opened this morning was from an online store advising me something along the lines of, 'Don't let blue Monday get you down have 20% off of our product', in my past life (before NS's) I would have happily been thinking ' Ooh a whole 20% saving, I must take advantage of this great offer, now what shall I buy......', Now I realize if it's something you really need or are going to use then it's worth speculating (hence my dalliance with the 70% off B00ts sale) but I've also realized by buying into the whole 'spaving' (spending to save) ethos that it's just a huge marketing ploy, which I have fallen for time and time again & would buy because it is too good a price to miss regardless of whether I actually needed it or not!!! (hence the attic full of stuff to eb@y)
I'm constantly getting emails from companies advising me of what I can save if I spend, so one of my tasks this week is to unsubscribe to any and everyone who keeps emailing me such tempting offers to try to eliminate the deprivation mindset (hmmm, well if I want it then why can't I have it.........aka spoilt child syndrome............I'm a tad bigger than a child though these days though and should know better, lol ........)
Anyway, back to weekend spends..........
Spent nothing but the cash I'd allowed myself & food shopping, DD1 had a friend over last minute so decided as we were already out to bob them into the golden arches for a cheap lunch (cheaper at home granted but I still want to be able to do this kind of thing with the kids as I don't want them wondering why we can't do this kind of thing anymore.
Shopping budget, hmmm well, had to change my day this week and in turn meant both DD's escorted me resulting in addition bits and bobs being popped into the trolley, resulting in an £81 spend but with what I've got I think it's unlikely I'll need to do the mid week shop (well maybe just bread as no room in the freezer for any extra)
Eb@ying was a non starter over the weekend as just couldn't get motivated to hop up in the attic in the freezing cold, rubbish excuse but hopefully will get my Eb@y mojo back shortly as need to make a dent in that overdraft!!


Hopefully NSD today, will report back tomorrow!!

HappyMJ

I love an occasional visit to a burger restaurant. I never pay for it though.

I do the burger restaurant in question as a mystery shop. Free meal and a few pounds thrown in as well. Try registering with Gapbuster and try it out for yourself. Unfortunately you can't have kids in the shop or in the car with you it must be undertaken alone.

So.....if you do the drive-thru assessment you've got to kick the kids out of the car in the car park and once you've gone through and parked up you can then assess the quality and temperature of the food and let the kids back in the car and share it out. My OH hated me for it..I'd kick her out on the street in the rain, then drive around and queue for the drive-thru, being wet it was quite long and it would be at least 10 minutes before I was back to pick her up and she'd be wet through. LOL...

I also hunt around for discarded Arriva bus tickets as there's usually quite a good offer on the back on them to use at the burger restaurant that does not have a drive-thru. Depending on the weather I'd take it out and buy a bottle of coke at a convenience store instead of buying that syrup mix that they serve.