Welcome to 2023!
Yesterday, after a trip to the pharmacy, I grabbed a free Greggs coffee courtesy of the O2 app and debated my January Low Spend/ No Spend Challenge......
- We can use whatever food we have in the house in addition to what we buy but must not run down stocks completely. This would be totally counter productive as we have a lot of cold weather still to come
- Shopping must include toiletries and cleaning products as well as food (no cheating)
- We can eat out or have a cheap takeaway (is there such a thing?) once a week but it won't come out of the food budget as G will pay out of his wages.
- We can use yellow sticker bargains or Too Good To Go bags, as it would be completely daft not to
We actually have more money in vouchers than we had last January, thanks to my Iceland win, but food prices have risen so much that it might still be a bit tricky.
Here, the rain has stopped, the sun is shining and I'm about to put the slow cooker on for a warming beef stew for G when he gets home from work tonight. It should make him 3 meals: 1 today, 1 tomorrow and 1 to freeze for next week.
Let's do this!
Reasons to be thankful:
DD and her family are still poorly but on the mend
Our Son in Oz and his family are still coughing but feeling a little better after covid
My eye is healing
The sun is shining 😀
Have a lovely day everyone and stay safe wherever in the world you happen to be x
Good luck, it sounds like you have a good plan in place. I shall be following along.
ReplyDeleteThank you AnjiDot, I hope it wont be too boring as so many people do the same or similar challenges in January. Happy new year to you!
DeleteI keep £30 in my purse for bargains. Yesterday at Lidl beef joint £5 instead of £10. 2 packs of sausages £1 dated 2nd Jan and 3 trays of chicken at 90p. I replenish the money out of the weekly spend. Happy New Year.
ReplyDeleteCrikey, Tania, they were real bargains and not to be missed.
DeleteHappy new year to you!
Popping over from Weaver of Grass to say hello from the US. Good luck with your challenge! We too will spend little on food this month, as we are so stocked up there is no need. But I must admit, I just bought a teapot on ebay because it was so reasonably priced! Ah me. Maybe my challenge needs to be to spend less on such things!
ReplyDeleteWelcome Granny Sue! Wow...I know how easy it can be to buy something because its cheap, but we all need the occasional treat.
DeleteHappy new year to you!
Good luck with this month's no/low spending. I'll be cheering you on! Heating costs have gone up here, too, and I've been given an estimate of what this month's bill will come to based on how much natural gas I have used so far and it's almost 3 times what I'd normally spend! That money has to come from somewhere, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, Bless, 3 times the cost is hard to find. I know that you too are frugal so good luck with your January spend.
DeleteHappy new year to you!
Indeed, Marlene, it would be daft to empty the freezer and store cupboard in case we get snowed in. There's still time!
ReplyDeleteHello Angie. Happy New Year to you and your family. I do hope your family in Australia get better quickly. Hard for you as well when they are so far away. Also, I hope your eye is getting better each day.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes in all your savings it is such a worrying time. Look forward to visiting you here in 2023 xx
Thank you for your good wishes Beverley. Everyone is improving gradually but it's been a damp squib of a Christmas.
DeleteHappy New year to you and your family xx
You have an excellent plan and I am sure you will be able to carry it through.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year.
God bless.
Thank you Jackie. Happy new year to you too.
DeleteThings have gone up, haven't they? My dad taught me to factor in for inflation. He said that hot dogs were only a nickel when he was a boy. Good luck with the savings, you are on your way...headed in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteWe are certainly going to make an effort again this year with the savings, Stephenie. And you are so right, inflation is truly biting now. 11.1% here and still rising.
DeleteA free cup of coffee is not to be sniffed at :-)
ReplyDeleteWe too will be eating out whenever we feel a real urge too, usually Alan pays for this as my share of the joint home bills is so much lower than his. He heats a four bed, two bathroom house to a much higher temperature than I heat my little one bed place, uses water willy nilly and generally does nothing to save money on any of the bills, whereas I do everything I can to keep consumption down. Hence he pays for any meals or takeaways from his own account as I put the same as him into the joint account for bills, council tax etc ... it balances out in the long run I'm sure.