I am heading into week three of my no spend month, and it’s going OK…. There have been two small fails, things we really needed for the house. I could have waited until February, but I didn’t! I will reveal them on my YouTube channel when I do my review of January.
Mostly, though, I have been spending very little, so it has been an extremely low spend month. Here’s what I have been up to for this week’s five frugal things round up.
1# Eating from the stores
We bought the bare minimum food wise for the first part of the month. I didn’t do a proper shop until Thursday this week, in fact. Before that, we were eating things we already had in the fridge, freezer and store cupboards, just supplementing them with fresh milk, bread, fruit and veg as necessary.
This week we really needed to top up. As I was already taking the cats for their annual vaccinations and Aldi is next door to the vet, that’s where I went. To keep myself out of the stores from now until the end of the month, I bought enough food to last a fortnight.
Incidentally, a no spend month for us doesn’t mean not buying food. However, we do aim to buy as little as possible.
2# Meal planning
Before I went grocery shopping, I made sure to make a meal plan to use up what we had available first. I then wrote a shopping list with the additional items we needed.
This week we are having the following:
Sunday
Mediterranean chicken casserole, made with lots of peppers (I got a large wonky pack in Aldi), garlic, tomatoes and black olives. We will have this with mashed potatoes and broccoli.
Monday
Liver and mushrooms with mash and veg. I couldn’t get this in Aldi, but managed to pick some up in the butchers. Usually, we have liver and bacon, but I am avoiding processed meats (and processed food generally), and mushrooms are nice with liver.
Tuesday
As we have a lot of liver, I will make enough to have the same tonight. I am more than happy to eat the same meal on two consecutive days. It saves time, as well as the energy to cook it.
Wednesday
Salmon, carrots and broccoli and sweet potatoes. This is a treat, but I love salmon and it is full of those nutritious omega 3s we are all supposed to eat more of.
Thursday
We are eating at Justin’s mum’s house tonight, so no need to plan anything in. I will make sure to take some healthy snacks for later, so that I am not tempted by crisps or biscuits. It’s not that I am on a diet, but I am avoiding sugar and processed food, so will take some fruit and some nuts too.
Friday
Turkey bolognese, again using more of the peppers, with gluten free pasta and carrot salad. I bought a large bag of wonky carrots from Aldi too.
Saturday
Turkey bolognese again, although we might ring the changes and have brown rice or baked potatoes with it this time.
3# Competitions (and my first win!)
I mentioned in this post that I had started entering competitions as a hobby. The inspiration to do so came from a friend who wins so many lovely prizes by taking half and hour or an hour each day to enter a few.
This week I had my first win! I received a beautiful mandala necklace from a company called Muru. Because I tagged my daughter in the comments, she won a necklace too, so she was very happy.
I would love to win a big prize, like a holiday or a car. Maybe one day! It costs me nothing except time to enter and could be a profitable hobby if I am lucky.
4# Making my own gluten free crackers
When I was on the keto diet a year or so ago, I became very fond of some delicious little seedy crackers. They are made with flax seeds, chia and pumpkin seeds, bound together with parmesan cheese.
They are addictive crispy treats, and gluten free too. I had all of the necessary ingredients in the stores already. You can see how to make them in this video.
I love them! Making more is on my list of things to do today. You can buy similar crackers, but at a premium price, so making my own is good for a no spend month.
5# Got the laundry on the line
It is fairly alarming in these times of climate crisis that it is sunny enough mid January to get the laundry on the line, but….
This week I managed to get all of the bedding out and almost dry in around four hours. I bought them in before it got dark and finished them off on an airer inside.
My hands were freezing getting the laundry in, though! It is a bit mad that there was enough heat from the winter sun to dry the bedding, but at least it didn’t hang around the house long creating condensation.
So, those are my five frugal things for the first part of my no spend month. How is your month going? Let me know in the comments.
If you need a bit of frugal inspiration, check out my first book! Extreme Frugality: Save Money Like Your Grandma* is available from Amazon.
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Ruby says
We have also been making meals from the cupboards and freezer. I did a lot of cooking Sunday to use up various items that were a bit out of best by date or close to it. Some pork that cooked up tough as shoe leather was ground up for the dogs, who love it.
I also altered two shirts that were too large for me and added buttons to another to make it fit better. Some way too perfumed shower gel is being used to clean the sink and toilet.
We have a super tight budget this month, so I trimmed my own hair instead of spending $25 at the salon.
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
It’s amazing how much you save when you use stuff up. We are well under budget for groceries this month.