No Buy Year

Slowdown

I’m very pleased with my no buying efforts in January. No pub visits (Dry Jan with a small wet patch from a bottle at home), no buying clothes, small number of trips out, having friends around to the house rather than going for coffee, no takeaways. 

I’ve been spending time instead of money. Time pursuing my hobbies, time cooking new dishes, time reading, contemplating and best of all plenty of lie ins. Hurrah. 

ArbitraryRandom

If I may, I'm going to try for a no spend month (30 days - so to the 3rd March) as I need to break the habit of impulse buying little crafty things on Amazon or just popping into the supermarket to spend £20 because I don't fancy what's already in the kitchen (it adds up!)

I was thinking about doing it for lent but I've a couple of unavoidably speedy months coming up thanks to work trips and building work in March.  

I'm going to say no spend at all (inc food) other than essential bills by DD as I've got plenty in and worst case I've got the means to make bread and cartons of UHT, so really no excuse at all... 

Anything I 'want' to buy I will put in my online basket/shopping list and see if I still want/need it at the end of the month. 

Rosa_Damascena

Slowdown said:

I’m very pleased with my no buying efforts in January. No pub visits (Dry Jan with a small wet patch from a bottle at home), no buying clothes, small number of trips out, having friends around to the house rather than going for coffee, no takeaways. 

I’ve been spending time instead of money. Time pursuing my hobbies, time cooking new dishes, time reading, contemplating and best of all plenty of lie ins. Hurrah. 

That's a nice way of putting it  

If it's not stretching the analogy, I too had a dry January (with the exception of drinking about half a bottle of HM Irish cream). 

Watty1

I'm not doing so well as in a weak moment I bought a mascara and a duvet with cover.   I have no explanation for the mascara, the duvet however was really cheap and it is for a dog bed as WattyDog does not have a dog bed and now he is 7 I looked at him laying on the tiled floor and wondered if he would like a bed.  Researched beds of a suitable size and gasped at the cost as he is a very big dog. A secondhand one will not fit in the machine so I bought a cheap duvet and cover.

I'm going to let both purchases slide as they were reasonable rather than whims and I finally found the ideal hose for £15 on market place - this was on my needs for the year list, is a very expensive robust hose and was a bargain, plus if the lady hadn't sold it it would have gone to landfill so a win all round.

ArbitraryRandom

One day down for me. The start is always easy  

Had a good look at the fridge to work out what I needed to use first, and split a couple of packs of ham into bags in the freezer - had some today in an omelette for dinner (sharing with the cat). 

Also found 4 cartons of my UHT milk had expired. I'm in no way short (I have fresh in and buy UHT on rotation so I just missed these ones). 

Out of curiosity, I opened one to see what it's like and doesn't smell bad, but it has separated into what looks like yogurt and whey... obviously I can't use it in drinks, but I'm wondering if it might be worth keeping to enrich bread, scones or pancakes (similar to using sour milk but without the sour taste). Anyone tried it/have a bread 1kg maker recipe?

I've tried using UHT for yogurt making before, but I've not had a lot of luck unless I add a fair bit of milk powder and I don't actually have much of that in so wouldn't work with the no spend month. 

SecondStar

ArbitraryRandom said:

If I may, I'm going to try for a no spend month (30 days - so to the 3rd March) as I need to break the habit of impulse buying little crafty things on Amazon or just popping into the supermarket to spend £20 because I don't fancy what's already in the kitchen (it adds up!)

I was thinking about doing it for lent but I've a couple of unavoidably speedy months coming up thanks to work trips and building work in March.  

I'm going to say no spend at all (inc food) other than essential bills by DD as I've got plenty in and worst case I've got the means to make bread and cartons of UHT, so really no excuse at all... 

Anything I 'want' to buy I will put in my online basket/shopping list and see if I still want/need it at the end of the month. 

There is a No Spend month thread, if you’d be interested - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6502372/fabulous-februarys-no-spend-day-challenge/p1

bouicca21

ArbitraryRandom said:

I'm wondering if it might be worth keeping to enrich bread, scones or pancakes (similar to using sour milk but without the sour taste). Anyone tried it/have a bread 1kg maker recipe?

I’d taste it before committing to using it.  Not sure why you need to use UHT but if it is just for ensuring a longer life then I find filtered is the way to go. Tastes the same as ordinary milk but lasts way longer.

Katiehound

Guess it would make scones? soda bread?

Rosa_Damascena

I have just reviewed my spending patterns for January - 14 rather than the predicted 13 NSDs, counterbalanced by an eye-watering CC total and the credit month is not yet up! Composed of a big bill for home insurance, plus LPA x2 and car maintenance costs which weren't cheap. OTOH I have spent quite a lot on food for some reason (but also gained a whopping £20 in Asda cashback ), nearly £30 unexpected charity shop spends, £50 on internet wants and a substantial sum on a good quality office chair. At least using a credit card for everything leaves an undeniable digital audit trail and allows for some self-reflection / flagellation!

29 days in February....I am going to stretch myself to 14 NSDs, of which there has been just one thus far. If I can stay offline today I shall make it 2!

bouicca21

Theoretically I only had one spend day as I am excepting food and socialising.  My spend was for theatre tickets, which is socialising but rather more expensive than my usual trips out with friends.  I am a bit taken aback by my food spend.  During lockdown I struggled to get to the 40 quid minimum to get a £1 delivery slot.  Decided to be lazy and get a delivery this coming weekend and before I knew it I’d got to £85!  And I’ll still need to top up with fresh fruit and veg before the month is out.