Last month I was going to challenge myself not to spend ..... it fizzled out through lack of keeping track and circumstances. I decided to begin again for September and this time I've been keeping tabs on myself properly.
The Challenge is purely to spend as little as possible from my housekeeping budget for the month and to put all the money I have managed to save towards my other Challenge .... £2012 in 2012. Both Pages are at the top of the Blog under the Blog title if you want to follow my progress.
My Housekeeping Allowance is £50 a week, this is used for food for the two of us and dogs, (I buy them supermarket cheapo mince and tins of tuna, we are trying to wean both of them off 'dogfoods' as such, as Rosy doesn't like them much and always leaves some which Suky then eats ... and she is supposed to be on a diet!!).
So I have £200 for the month of September and my weeks are running Saturday to Saturday as this is when the month started.
I have lots of food in stock as you can see from these photos, tins, jars, packets and lots of dried foods in jars.
There is also lots in the freezers, both of them. And dried herbs and seasonings to compliment the ones that are still growing happily away.
We also still have crops growing in the Veggie Patch, including Spinach, Kale, Courgettes and Cabbages, so there is absolutely no chance of us going hungry.
I am trying not to go to the supermarket too much even though that particular Challenge has now ended, (all Jokers were played by 5th September) I still love my High Street shops way to much to just abandon them. But in an effort to keep costs as low as possible I will be using up all my vouchers and Nect*r points to help pay for my shopping while I am doing this Challenge.
The food in the picture at the top was last weeks additional necessities, I spent £22.25 and a voucher at Mr Sainsb**ys. The small bottles of water are a rare buy for me, we have them in to use for when we are travelling and once emptied they are filled from our big cheap bottles or with diluted squash. The biscuits were for travelling too, to save us money at the services, (own drinks, own nibbles equals pennies staying in pockets), I could have made some but I ran out of time last week, so they were a compromise.
I am going to run this for as long as possible, but the main push is through the month of September, I would actually like to run all supplies right down, I wonder how long it will actually take me.
After all not spending at all is the best way to save. So for the foreseeable future I am shopping from my cupboards and freezers and putting the money saved into the Bank of Sue.
Sue xx
A good plan, one that I am following. I need to run my stocks down to make room for cold weather food. With a new granddaughter in Wales any money saved will probably go to petrol costs. Then there is all the fabric for my quilts, never mind the scandalous price of good thread.
ReplyDeleteA very good reason to save money on food. A brand new granddaughter - so exciting, lucky you.
DeleteGood luck with your no spending in September. I am in Carla's low spend challenge this month to try and put back a little more money in savings. Having the pantry and freezer full will be key
ReplyDeleteThere's lots of us at it it seems!! :-)
DeleteI'm always happy to open the pantry up and see it full.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on your no spending in September. We're not truly doing no spending, but we are trying to use up things so we can rotate our supplies.
There is something very reassuring about a fully stocked larder.
DeleteI just want to refill mine with more of the foods we eat more regularly and get a good basic store.....to do that I have to empty it first, which is almost as much fun!
Good luck with the no spend - we are spending £100 a week for four of us - which includes packed lunches for 3 and afternoon snacks for hungry teenagers - the cat is cheap as we buy dried food in 3kg packs for £14 which lasts well over a month even with the cat next door tucking in! We are cutting back this month on alcohol. Our freezers are almost empty. We found the T*sco quarterly delivery charge was worth it for us as we can have 2 deliveries a week which enables us to budget for 3 or 4 days at a time. We would like to join a cash and carry but they all seem to want businesses not real people. Also would like to use a co-operative but nothing like that is happening here yet. Have reduced petrol use dramatically by only driving car on days I go to work. Hope we don't get a bitterly cold winter as heating costs will be so high, although I did get by electricity frozen until 2014 so that will help a bit. Really enjoy your posts as you never give up!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a well thought out plan, and well done on getting your electricity charges frozen, most likely a VERY good move.
DeleteBest of luck with the no spend. It a good idea. Hope your plan works.
ReplyDeleteThank you, I hope it works too. The more I stay away from the shops, by using food I already have and not buying more, the more I save AND keep away from the temptation of buying things I don't really need.
DeleteI enjoy reading your blog Sue. Have you ever tried a company called Landywoods, they do frozen good quality meats for dogs (good quality) These meats are designed to be fed to your dogs raw which is very good for them. A good web site with lots of information on natural feeding for dogs. They deliver all over the uk and a pound of meat can cost as little as 35p. www.landywoods.co.uk/ I sadly lost my beautiful girl last November. We used to buy six months of meat at a time, good for the dog and even better on the pocket.
ReplyDeleteI've actually been looking into feeding the dogs this way. It does need thinking about because once I change them over I wouldn't want them to go back.
DeleteThe main thing that is holding me back is that Rosy is pretty much a vegetarians dream dog, she loves her veggies more than her meat.
Hi Sue, I'm new to your blog, I found you on Frugal Queen's blog where you posted delicious recipe for a lentil quiche. One I will try. I seem to have a few bags of "soup mix" and apart from adding them to my casseroles and soups - I wonder if anyone else makes something delicious and cheap out of it?!
ReplyDeleteI'll follow you now to make sure I don't miss any posts! Good luck with your no spend September x
Rachel
Another use for it would be to add it to a Risotto, you would get all the tasty bits that are in the soup mix. Add the cooked soup to the rice as you would the stock, but at the same time you will be adding lots of flavours, finish off with a large handful of a Parmesan style cheese and it would be lovely and very frugal.
DeleteIt's so easy to forget what's already in the cupboards isn't it? I think I'm going to follow your lead and try not to buy anything other than the absolute essentials for the rest of the month.
ReplyDelete