Monday 3 January 2022

My No Spend Challenge 2022 - The Rules

 


The simple rules for My No Spend 2022 Challenge are:

1.  My housekeeping money for the year is the cash and coupons that I had in the Lodge at the start of the year and may only be added to with any other coupons or points that I get over the course of the year.

2.  The average for each month worked out at £50.83, so taking this as a rounded £50 I can only start the year with £50 in my purse, any left over at the end of the month can be carried forward to the following month.  

3.  No money may be drawn down from future months.

4.  The monthly spending will be roughly divided into £10 per week for food and £10 per month for non-food items.  This will not include dog food or treats as Alan pays for these, or for my laundry products as I buy these on a regular subscription from Smol.  It will include everything else ... toilet rolls, tissues, toiletries etc.

5.  I may ask for things to help out with my Challenge for my birthday and Christmas, or any other regularly occurring events that I cannot for the life of me think of at the moment.

6.  Things I am not buying for myself this year:

Clothes*

Books

Shoes

Fripperies

Household Linens etc


7.  *If I lose enough weight to need to, I may buy myself clothes of a smaller size with money made from selling any clothes that are too large.

8.  I may continue to sell things that I already own on either Facebook Marketplace or at car boot sales, and I can use any money received to purchase gifts, cards etc for birthdays or Christmas 2022 for other people.  All cash received this way will be put into the enamel teapot as the new Gift Giving Fund and may be drawn from at any time.

9.  I can continue to eat out or have takeaways as Alan usually pays for these treats for us out of his Navy pension, on the understanding that for every meal he buys me I make us both a meal from my own supplies.

10.  I will post about the Challenge at least once a week on this blog and will show photographs of the contents of the cupboards/fridge/freezer at the start of each month.

11.  I will try to get and keep all receipts and show them on a shopping post every time I go shopping, as well as sticking them into my challenge diary for posterity.

12.  These rules may not be changed but can be added to if I think of something else that should have been here from the beginning.



Have I missed anything?

I don't think so but if you think of anything that is screamingly obvious please let me know.  Back tomorrow with those Food Stash photos, sorry but this post is long enough already. 😀

If you have any questions I will try and answer them in the comments.  Questions asked after this week will be directed back to this post, as hopefully it will prove helpful.


Sue xx



43 comments:

  1. Sounds good to me, Sue, you've thought it all out very well. It must help a lot to have a full freezer and larder (and wherever else you've stashed food!) to start off the Challenge. I wonder how much harder it will be later on in the year. Thanks for letting us in on it, your Challenges always give me ideas. xx

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    1. I have a lot in, but do you know I'm actually looking forward to the days when there's less. I want to switch from eating so many vegan 'alternatives' and get right back to basics. 😀

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  2. Phew - I feel a bit breathless having read this. It looks absolutely brilliant and I can't think of anything you have missed off the top of my head although, life being as it is, I am sure things will emerge.
    I'm really looking forward to reading your updates through 2022.
    xx

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    1. Thanks, I wrote it off the top of my head and then edited it a bit, but I think I've covered all bases. But as you can see I have the clause that I can add to the rules if something I think of later comes up.

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  3. I really can't think of anything you've missed, Sue, and look forward to your posts. Exciting!

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    1. Thanks, I feel quite excited too, it's a long time since I got stuck into a Challenge. I hope you and G can manage over the course of the year with your super tight budget, but we can cheer each other on from the side-lines ... I'll just go and rustle up some pom-poms ;-)

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    2. pom-poms at the ready! ...lol... :)

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  4. Looking forward to this!

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  5. Should certainly be helpful for those who need to tighten their budgets, especially with everything going up this year.

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    1. I couldn't have picked a better time to do this could I. Hopefully I will be able to save a large portion of my wages this year and thus have a decent safety blanket in the bank once again after draining it with a large purchase we made at the end of the last year.

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  6. Wow. Starting 2022 with a blast. Good luck with it all, I look forward to following your progress.

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    1. Yep, I'm starting off with a bang. :-)

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  7. Hi Sue, do you meal plan and if so how do you do that just for yourself. I live alone following the death of my husband almost 5 years ago and really struggle to meal plan for myself so any tips you can give will be great fully received. I’m looking forward to following your challenge. Heather

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    1. I used to to all the time, but over the last year I really let things slip. But now I am going to get back into it with a vengeance, if nothing else it stops those long moments peering into the fridge or cupboard vainly looking for inspiration and then grabbing a packet of biscuits when you find none.

      I find the best way to meal plan is first make a list of potential breakfasts for the week, then grab a piece of paper and a pencil and then look into the fridge first for things that need using up. Work out evening meals to make from them adding things from the freezer, cupboard or larder to make full meals, and then list seven days worth of meals.

      Seeing what evening meals you can make then take inspiration for using up the leftovers for lunches the day after each evening meal. So for example I would make a panful of vegetable stew for my evening meal and then whizz up enough of the leftovers to provide me with a bowl of soup for the following days lunch. Or I would have a dish of pasta in sauce but saving a smaller portion to be added to and turned into a quick pasta bake. Or simply make larger portions and then reheat the next day for lunch.

      You can also think ahead if you have room in the freezer and always try and make at least two portions of your evening meals, putting one portion into a freezer bag or box or simply on a well-wrapped plate for an easy freezer meal on a day when inspiration just won't strike.

      Hope this helps a bit and hopefully over the course of this year I will be able to share lots more of my tips, tricks and hints to both jog my own memory and help my readers.

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    2. Thanks Sue that really helpful. Heather

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  8. That's quite a challenge, Sue. Brilliant.
    I think I am joining you, just for myself in my daily way of living (on my own) through this year.
    Only difference in budget money will be €€€, so I think a weekly budget of €15,- and a once-a-month extra of €25,- for unforeseen circumstances will be do-able and challenge worthy.
    My start off will be on Monday next week, January 10th.
    I'll follow you on your blog for support, both ways :>)
    Cheers,

    Jeanneke.

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  9. Great challenge Sue, I'm sure you'll Ace it. Its going to prove very helpful to lots of people as food prices and the cost of living continue to escalate rapidly.

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    1. Hopefully good for others and me. 😃

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  10. Hehe great challenge..Wishing you happy new year

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  11. Sounds like you are ready to go and I am ready to follow your progress!

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    1. Yes I am off and running. My final spend was on a pre-ordered book on 30th. Now there's no more spending on anything other than food and essentials for life. 😀

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  12. *haha* Well, good for you if this is the type of thing you enjoy. But who will get your money when you die? Probably somebody who will fritter it away in no time. Personally I think YOU should spend your money as life is short. But that's just me. Happy New Year!! ~Andrea xoxoxo

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    1. It is, and I've blogged about Challenges like this for years, and it's through doing this sort of thing that we paid off two mortgages in less than ten years. This final push to save will see me with some money in the bank as well as our two rental properties and of course owning our own homes outright. So although my sons will inherit when I die ... and not fritter anything away as they have learned from me the benefit of being careful with money ... in the meantime we will be able to enjoy a reasonably comfortable retirement in which we can pay all our bills and enjoy holidays when we close our company in a couple of years.

      Happy New Year to you too. 🙂

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  13. You crazy lady, the first thing I would want to do is shop but that is me. I've read all your challenges over the years and if anyone can do it, is is you. You literally can make a meal out of so little.

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    1. To be honest I am sick of shopping AND all the advertising telling us that we should be shopping. It will be so nice to step away from all this and have a nice simple year.

      I'm currently making a meal out of one potato, some leftover stuffing and three inches of ready rolled pastry. 😃🤣

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  14. I like your challenges. Reading along on some of the blogs makes me much more mindful of what I am spending, and how I am spending it. I thought that I was pretty sensible to begin with. Some of my blogging friends make me feel like an amateur.

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  15. I don't think I could do this as I hardly use cash, so my no spends is not using my cards, which I don't find hard once I make up my mind. I don't need anything, clothes are good and shoes and if I lost weight I'd have a lot more. My biggest failings are books and plants.. so the library has a list ordered and my step daughters gave me garden vouchers and I have loads of seeds to keep me happily growing stuff, so thats sorted.

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    1. I think one of the reason the cash in my little drawer built up was that at the start of 2021 we weren't using cash in many shops as they only accepted card payments. Now hopefully I can spend the cash. 😀. Books or non-book buying is going to be the hardest thing for me this year ... I MUST be strict with myself. 😬🙃😬

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  16. How about any medications you might have to purchase? Or does the NHS cover these? Other than that question I can't see anything that you have missed.

    God bless.

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    1. We don't pay for any medications here in the UK, so no cost to me other than paracetamol at the supermarket which I buy there to save the NHS money. I will need a restock of vitamins, possibly late in the year.

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  17. My first thought also was unforeseen medical/health expenses not being factored in the list.
    Looking forward to following along for a spend less year, I certainly don't enjoy shopping.

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    1. The NHS covers most of our medical expenses here in the UK. Any private treatments, if necessary, will come out of savings as they always have done.

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  18. I’m looking forward to following your updates on this challenge. You can do it!

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  19. Amazing - you blow me away. I presume you are sensible enough to break the rules if something changed and you really needed to spend?

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    1. Oh gosh yes, in a heartbeat if something serious happened. The purpose of this is to build savings so the whole year is about accruing money for emergencies

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  20. I am very impressed with how much you have on hand from the "bits & pieces" savings over the past year! I'm looking forward to following along as I attempt to really reduce my spending this year - or at least my frivolous spending. I am going back to using cash and I have spent some time today setting up my various envelopes. I have become a bit obsessed with buying food so it is time to cut back and use up some of what I have. My initial plan is to allow myself about 1/3 of my usual monthly food budget in Jan., Feb., and March - the difference will go into various envelopes (some for savings and some for purchases that will be NEEDED this year). I allow myself a very small allowance per month - but as we are about to go back into more restrictions as of Wed. (no indoor dining - no movie theatres or concerts) there isn't much to spend money on anyway! Good luck to you Sue.

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    1. I think my food stash has grown so much this year as I too have become a bit obsessed with food shopping. There's not been much else I've been able to do so things have gotten out of hand a bit. It's going to be a good year to take back control. 😀

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  21. Looking forward to your challenge Sue:) Cheering you on from Oz, Lurker Linda xoxo

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