On Tuesday, I talked about what I want to do/achieve this month. One of those things was low spend January.

My intention is not to buy anything (aside from food) for the month of January. I live in a small flat and while I’m not the worst person in the world for this, I feel I have too many things and at the same time need to replace and repair some furniture (my living room chairs need re-upholstering and I still don’t have a wardrobe). So not bringing anything into the house while I think about what I actually need and focussing a bit to prevent some mindless spending is helpful.

There is also a money saving element to this, food and energy costs are rising, in April I’ll pay more National Insurance and I expect that other utilities and council tax costs will rise too. So I need restructure my spending to account for this and so it’s probably a good time to focus a bit on that.

I’m also choosing to use this month as a chance to make some space in the freezer and ‘pantry’ and reset my food spending a little. I used to spend £15 a week on food, I have an allotment and I use Oddbox and that doesn’t change this month. But I’ve decided that for January aside from my two Oddbox deliveries, I will spend no more than £5 a week. So £64 for the month or just under £12 a week. I try and have a week a month without food shopping (and I will pick that up again after January), it’s always helpful as it helps me think more creatively about food and cooking and I’m hoping that a low spend month will help me do the same and re-assess my diet a little and maybe stop me falling back on the same old meals.

I do need to point out that I’m lucky not to have to reduce my food spending out of necessity and to know that this won’t lead me to have a month lacking in food or nutrition. I will be blogging about what I cook and eat this month a little bit more than usual to hold myself accountable. Watch this space.