After starting these posts last year, I've decided to make these posts a regular fixture on my blog, but I am going do just one post every month from here on in. So here's the post for January.
Freebies and Frugal Measures
1) After coming back to London, this January I stayed out of the shops and sales and off the websites I usually visit, (save for the shop I work in) and as a consequence didn't spend too much money on unnecessary impulse purchases.
2) I received more dividends from the shares I bought last year, which all adds to my monthly passive income total. I also received some shareholder money off vouchers from M&S. I may try to use some of these, (the ones for food/flowers or the ones to use in the café) but others (home and clothes) I might struggle to use on my no spend year unless I use them to buy things for LB, OH or the house. In any case, they don't kick in until next month and last until the end of July, so there's plenty of time yet.
3) OH changed our car insurance provider to save money this month and due to the fact that some points had finally disappeared off his licence and I'm now working, we got a better rate and saved over £100.
4) I stocked up on a few extra beauty items from My Pure whilst ordering a new face cream and dental floss, in order to benefit from free postage, 10% discount and a free gift. All of the items are things I use daily and I prefer to have a spare available to me, due to the fact that I buy most of my natural beauty products online and then have to wait for them to be delivered if I run out.
5) I moved some money out of a very low interest paying account into a higher one to help increase passive income from savings and investments and then requested a transfer of some Isa savings into a higher interest paying Isa account.
6) I cancelled my business credit card and wrote to the bank to close my business bank account to stop incurring the charges when I'm not really using it very much.
Frugal Fails
1) I didn't get so much use out of my gym membership this month, as I had to work quite a few of the days I would normally go to classes. A bit annoying, but I can't do anything about it, so I just have to suck it up and just go when I can.
2) OH left the dog's collar out in the garden and a fox ran off with it, so we needed to buy a new one this month.
3) My new PU rucksack, bought from Primark before Christmas, and only used for one week has shed three teeth from it's main zip, rendering it virtually useless, as the zip now sticks when I try to close it. I shredded the receipt before we went away at Christmas and in any case it was probably bought more than 28 days ago. Another example of my buying cheap and buying twice. Luckily, I already have another bag I can use (not from Primark). The next time I buy a bag, I'm going to spend more money and get a better quality one.
4) I did make some purchases at the CS and in a couple of other shops this month. Mainly small very practical things for travel, gym or home use, plus a couple of preowned books and some other items from eBay to use up my business Paypal balance. I tried to stick to things on my wish list that I definitely need, not just want. Not the best start to my no buy year, but I figure the habit of not buying stuff is like a muscle that gets stronger the more you exercise it, so hopefully by the end of the year, I'll be better at it.
I agree that habits are like muscles that get stronger as we use them. I am already up to 19 days of no spending with at least another 5 to be added for the month. This is the best I have ever done for days not spending. I need to work that muscle a bit more over the next year.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Sounds like a pretty good month, especially as there are so many shops tempting us to spend in the sales.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the not shopping habit is easier the longer you go without browsing and looking for things to spend money on.