In April I started a Low Spend Year and have shared updates after three and six months.
If anybody is starting a Low or No Spend Year now, as part of their New Year’s Resolutions, here is my Ultimate Guide.
In it I explained why I think April is a good time to start, but if you are starting now, that can work out great too. You could always have three “feeler months” where you use the time to track and understand your spending better, then really ramp your efforts in April.
Table of Contents
How has it been going?
The last three months has been our highest spending quarter by far, partly due to Christmas and family birthdays in October and November. Looking at these numbers, it does not feel like I am doing a Low Spend Year right now, but I also know that there have been lots of occasions where I’ve held back from buying something because I’m doing this “challenge”, so I still feel like it is having a positive impact.
We now have a joint account which we use for variable family spending (like food, stuff for the kids) so it’s more difficult to compare spending to previous months when it comes to groceries, for reasons that are complicated to explain, so I’m drawing a line under that and only tracking eating out from now on. I’ll show the full cost of this, whereas previously we would split the cost of this.
| October | November | December | |
| Eating out | 0 | 292.17 | 94.16 |
| Stuff | 339.74 | 64.15 | 801.89 |
| Family experiences | 189.47 | 45.51 | 0 |
| Other: Transport/my hobbies | 93.61 | 158.12 | 0 |
| Total spending | 622.82 | 559.95 | 896.05 |
| Amount extra I invested | 1500 | 2186.85 | 2000 |
Our main spends have been:
- Birthday party and presents for daughter
- Christmas presents for each other, the kids and family
- New coats for the kids
- Family birthday meal out (the main celebration for my birthday)
- Furniture for Lego storage at home – our main childcare strategy!
Although spending has been higher, we’ve also been able to put aside far more for investing than we ever had before because I am working an extra day a week and also because we don’t have childcare costs any more. This was our motivation for being more intentional with our spending, so I’m very happy with our progress.
Ways I’ve saved
As always my favourite way to save is to avoid impulse buying and always look for free or secondhand options first. For example I’ve been getting back into using the online apps for e-books and audiobooks that my library card gives me access to.
As I’ve started focussing more on fitness, I’ve resisted the urge to follow any kind of paid programme and instead have been using the Gymshark app (which is free) and asking my partner to create workouts for me.
When preparing for my daughter’s birthday party, I used some of the tips I describe in this post on arranging an eco-friendly birthday party on a budget.
When I’ve bought something new, I’ve tried to use vouchers, e.g. cashback vouchers from my John Lewis credit card or Nectar points that I’ve gained from converting air miles gained through work travel. I am also liking the Jam Doughnut app which sometimes has higher rates than other retailers, or covers retailers that others don’t, like IKEA. I appreciate the fact that the cashback is instant too. My referral code is N3NK if you’d like to check it out – you get a sign-up bonus worth £2.
I’ve also done a couple of current account bank switches which have paid out in this quarter, totally £375, which has helped offset the higher spending.
What’s been challenging?
The last three months have been very different for us in that we are settling into our new family routine, with me working five days a week and also having no childcare for the last couple of hours of the day. As I’m working compressed hours to have Friday afternoons off, it also means working longer days Monday to Thursday.
We manage without childcare in the afternoons because my partner’s work is flexible and the kids are usually good at playing together. After busy days at nursery and school they like to have the down time.
However, it has meant that time that we’d normally spend on our lunch breaks keeping on top of the house is now spent doing the afternoon pick up, which means we are not coping that well with the housework and are spending more on convenience food and cleaning. Some of the “eating out” expenses could easily have been avoided with a meal at home, but we’ve been giving in to feeling tired.
What have I learnt?
I like having a joint account now for our variable household spending and it’s working well for us. This was quite a change for us as we always had separate accounts, with the bills coming out of mine and other spending out of my partner’s. It’s nice not to think about who is going to “pay for” certain things. I didn’t realise the stress that was associated with that until it wasn’t there anymore.
I also think it will help us cut down our spending in the longer term. This is partly because we have more visibility of the total spending, instead of just being aware of our own spending. We don’t sit down together and review our budget, so it’s a good step for us towards that. Also, as we put a fixed amount into that pot each month, we can set ourselves a goal to have more remaining each month to put towards our goals.
What’s next?
As there are three months left of this tax year’s ISA allowances I am keen to keep up the levels of investment, if possible. Although I am prioritising investing, I am also aiming to put aside up to £30 a day towards mortgage overpayments. For the moment, this is going into a savings account which gives me a higher rate than my current mortgage interest. This also gives us some flexibility, as we can use this as an emergency fund or as a buffer for rising living costs.
We have one possible house project planned – some shelving and pictures to be put up. Other than that, we only have one birthday planned, which will be quite low key, and no holidays. The other main expense we are expecting is for some repair work to our rental property after a recent leak.
We are eating more healthily now which should help us to cut down on eating out. We are also working on shopping smarter to reduce our grocery bill, by buying in bulk and using more frozen food.
We are both enjoying settling into a new routine that involves more exercise, so if we can keep our heads down and prioritise that, and be more organised with our eating, I think we can have a strong final three months of the Low Spend Year.
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