Having a no spend month!

August and the beginning of September is always the most expensive time of the year for us. It's Stu's and the girls birthdays in the space of 3 and a half weeks and years ago we used to have to buy all the back to school stuff. I could easily spend about £200 on uniform. I thought things would get better now both of my girls have finished school but we always seem to find other things to spend money on. This year it was redecorating the kitchen. Then of course there is the little splurges, I have been buying a drink from Starbucks most days when take and pick Ellie up from college and sometimes I want a snack too. It has to stop so for the whole of October I am going to be really strict with the spending.

We need to save some money, Christmas is coming so I have decided to have a no spend month, it might even be 6 weeks. I know I will be spending money in November, that's when my birthday is. hehehe

I will be making no unnecessary purchases! This includes clothes, makeup, home decor, takeaway coffee, takeaway food and meals out.

Instead of buying drinks when I am out, like from Starbucks or little bottles of pop I have going to use a reusable bottle and I will just fill it with juice before I leave the house. I think the biggest challenge is going to come when my family decide that they want to eat out! It is so tempting but I must resist! 

Groceries are of course allowed but I am going to be mindful about what I am buying. I am going to really try to stick to the meal planning as we have had quite a few weeks over the last couple of months where it hasn't gone to plan. I also have a freezer full of food and thinking about Christmas it needs to be used up before then! There's leftovers, random packets of meat and plenty of ingredients to make meals. I am thinking about not getting our meals every week from Gousto, I know it helps me stick to the meal planning but the food in the freezer needs using up.

I already know I can save so much money on food shop! My family won't be happy when I don't buy the snacks but we don't need them, we have plenty of other crisps in the house, cakes and biscuits. We don't need fresh doughnuts every week or bought sandwiches that come with the grocery order, we can easily make them at home. When we decorated the kitchen I sorted the cupboards out and realised we have more things than I thought we did, I found Super noodles in the back of the cupboards which are still in date, a ton of cleaning products that I didn't know about and baking supplies. I can make my own cakes!

Of course we will pay the bills and any necessary expenses. They always come first but I do need to check where we are at with paying the Council Tax bill, I think we're a couple of months ahead and with the gas and electric I might skip that as we are more than few hundred pounds in credit and the next bill isn't due until December.

When it comes to the bathroom I have already told my family that I am not buying anymore shampoo, conditioner or body wash until everything in there is used. When a bottle gets to less than half full the girls will open a new one just to make it easier to get it out. I have said no more! They will empty the bottles before I buy new!

Have you ever done a no spend month? How did you get on?