Money Diary #1: The No Buy Year
In case you missed it, last weeks post focused on all things no buy and the self imposed rules I’ve put in place to impose this (you can read that about this here) and as part of the no buy year series, I’ll be sharing regular updates including money diaries a la Refinery29 - so it begins! As the first week in my no buy year, the below is full of promise, although I’m certain that I can probably cut my grocery bill down even more with a bit of planning. Here we go, the first money diary of the year…
Industry: Events at a NPO/Charity
Monthly Expenses:
Rent: £200 (inc utilities, wifi and water)
Apple Phone Plan (0% APR): £44.00
Phone bill: £10 (Voxi is incredible)
Netflix & Spotify are family plans
Saturday
8am: Awaken, caffeinate and return to bed to stay cosy and scroll endlessly through social media.
10:31am: Eventually get out of bed and head to Aldi for the weekly food shop (£21.17). I love Aldi dearly and it is just so much cheaper than other supermarkets that I constantly return. Get regular lunch items and a few store cupboard replacement items. A cheap shop as I’m trying to run through my freezer.
11:00am: Back from Aldi and cook myself a quick brunch of two Linda McCartney sausages from the freezer and two boiled eggs (with ketchup).
14:30pm: Realise I’ve not had any lunch yet and use up the remaining salad bits in the fridge from last weeks shop.
15:30pm: Eat some of the Aldi pop chips I grabbed as part of the food shop, paired with an Aldi diet coke…
18:00pm: Dinner time! I’m one of those people who forces myself to wait till at least six to eat so starving is an understatement… I make a healthier version of a pizza using a wrap and some ham with a generous amount of mozzarella…
20:00pm: I try not to eat too much in the late evening but it was Saturday night so I have a hot chocolate and a fibre one brownie.
Total spend: £21.17
Sunday:
11:00am: Visited some friends from university and went into town to watch Little Women. So incredible and the cinema we went to does £4.99 tickets whch is always a win.
14:30pm: Movie finished and we headed to the nearest KFC for my friends to try the new Vegan burger. In money saving mode, I’d brought packed lunch with me which was great!
15:00pm: Head back to my friend’s house and watch Booksmart.
18:00pm: Dinner time at my friend’s house and book accomodation for our trip to Amsterdam in May. There are 10 of us going and we manage to find a hostel that guarantee us being in the same dorm and does free breakfast! Works out as £160 for 4 nights in Amsterdam. (Plus it has self catering facilities). Only a deposit required for booking so only cost £15 each.
21:00pm: Home and straight to bed.
Total spent:
£4.99 at cinema
£15 for Amsterdam booking deposit.
Monday:
8:00am: First proper day back at work today (last week didn’t count), so I’m busy as usual!
10:30am: Have my packed breakfast of two eggs and some Aldi’s own ryvita.
13:00pm: Day flew by and it’s lunchtime! Have my packed lunch of a tuna salad which is a welcome change after a Christmas of beige food…
16:00pm: First day back surprisingly didn’t drag and I managed to get ahead! Yay! Head home.
16:15pm: I get home and spend the rest of the evening binge watching Spinning Out on Netflix. So good.
18:00pm: Dinner time! I have some Linda McCartney sausages from the freezer, with some root veg mash and frozen peas. Filling and delicious.
18:30pm: Continue watching Spinning Out.
21:00pm: Bed time! First day back at work and I’m knackered.
Tuesday:
8:00am: Day 2 at work! Have a coffee to set me up.
11:00am: I’m in meetings all morning so only get to eat breakfast at 11 - have the same thing as yesterday.
13:00pm: Lunch time and once again, have the same thing as yesterday that I prepped for the week.
16:00pm: Managed to get quite a head for the month and spent the rest of the afternoon working on my 2020 marketing plan.
16:30pm: Home again and finish watching Spinning Out which is everything I wanted it to be.
19:15pm: Eat dinner with the people I live with and catch up after Christmas.
22:30pm: Bed time!!!!
Total spend: £0.00
Wednesday:
8:00am: You guessed it - I’m at work with a coffee.
11:30am: Scarf down breakfast before I head to a meeting where I’m treated to an Americano. Win.
13:00pm: Lunch time and continue to have a tuna salad. It’s delicious and filling so I don’t mind.
16:00pm: Finished work and head home to chill before I see some friends in the evening.
19:00pm: Have dinner with friends (pie & mash) and catch up with everyone post Christmas. Communal eating is so so important and we rotate cooking so technically this was free…
22:00pm: Home and fall into bed.
Total spend: £0.00
Thursday:
8:15am: Get stuck in traffic because people don’t understand road positioning so arrive a bit late to work.
13:00pm: Bit of a manic day so didn’t manage to eat breakfast so have lunch and save my breakfast for an afternoon snack.
16:00pm: Was one of those days where I was both chaotically busy yet didn’t seem to manage to do anything so head home.
16:30pm: I’ve started watching Cheer on Netflix and it’s brilliant. Perfect mindless TV.
18:00pm: Have dinner which is Linda McCartney sausages and root veg mash again. I’m tired & predictable.
19:30pm: Have an Alpen bar and a peppermint tea before bed.
Total Spend: £0.00
Friday:
08:00am: At work but feeling good because it’s Friday!
13:00pm: Lunch of an egg salad instead of tuna. Delicious and filling!
16:00pm: And we’re finished!
16:30pm: At home and finish watching Cheer.
18:00pm: Make dinner which is an exciting mexican beef with black beans that I had in the freezer from a previous batch cook. Have this with cheese, greek yoghurt (instead of sour cream), and jalapenos. So good and definitely need to cook this again!
20:30pm: Have a Fibre One brownie as a snack before heading to bed.
Total Spend:
£0.00.
So there we have it - a week of no spending! I’m so sorry if you found this boring and also very aware that it became a bit of a food diary - but that’s definitely where most of my money goes so… Surprisingly on a day to day, I’d actually say most of my money tends to go on those ‘it’s only £5’ purchases so it’s helpful to see!
I’m currently sharing little insights into my day to day on instagram, so don’t forget to follow me on there!
Do you have any financial goals this year? Let me know in the comments!