January No Spend Review

The first month of my no spend year has been a success!!

I think lockdown 3.0 has very much helped me spend less, but I did have to juggle some battles too.

The most challenging part was to stick to my food shop list. This has kept me under budget and allowed me to think more carefully about what I am eating. In line with this, I have cut down food waste as everything is accounted for. What was really hard was trying to avoid buying chocolate and sweets. That is my usual weakness…I could easily spend £5 on chocolate and scoff my face in one night. Those days are gone. Cutting this sugar has definitely made me feel healthier.

My January month started on the 23rd December and ends tomorrow (payday). It’s always a long month and one that has normally been a challenge, but I have fortunately been able to start some savings. Something which is rather new for me, but will definitely become the new norm.

Here is a break down of my spend: (this doesn’t include the food budget – just money that could be spent on anything). My Maximum spend allowance was £50.

• Lunch with a friend £14
• Lunch with a friend £6.03
• Lunch with a friend £6.90
• Car park ticket £2.70
• A5 pocket wallets £1.25 (for school)

This is a grand total of £30.88!

Lunch with friends was allowed in my no spend rules (happened prior to lockdown 3.0). I couldn’t really avoid paying to park in a car park, but it was a lovely walk with friends (prior to lockdown 3.0). My only regret is the A5 pocket wallets that I brought to use at school – the likelihood of me using these soon are slim, but they will be useful when school is back to normal capacity.

Generally, I am pretty pleased with my month. I feel February will be relatively low as lockdown continues, but I have planned a purchase which will help me be more cost effective for the future. I will reveal more next month.

That 30 something life x