No spend month planning

It probably seems to defeat the purpose a bit, but in order to get through our no-spend month I have done a small amount of preparation. I have 3 small children and things we cannot live without include formula for one child and disposable nappies (only used for night time; we use cloth for the baby during the day).

We also don't eat meat and don't have a freezer full of tofu! So today I stocked up on tofu, soy and oat milk and a few other 'basics' to get us through the month. I do have legumes in the freezer and cupboard, and aim to eat through all of them across the month.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I'm going to get a small fruit and veggie box each week (or maybe just a few times depending on how we go) as I don't have any frozen fruit and veg except for peas. I do have a few canned peas and carrots too, which I fully intend to use!

I think doing this basic pre-planning will avoid me doing a desperate supermarket run in a week's time. However, as I was shopping today for my 'essentials', I did end up getting a few unnecessary items such as dip and veggie burgers from Aldi. This was the perfect example of why I really shouldn't be allowed in shops and why this month will be very good for me!

Another big part of planning was perusing the calendar and working out if there will be some forced spending in the month.

Both our daughters have birthdays next month, but we are sneakily having a joint birthday party for them on the 30th April! We aren't doing gifts for them as want to move away from giving toys to giving them experiences. We have asked that those coming to the party don't bring a gift but contribute to a sandpit fund and child friendly experiences. I'm not sure if this strategy will actually work, but hopefully it does and we can purchase them a sandpit and take them somewhere fun. (We already have a zoo membership which I will be utilising a lot next month!)

The other big event next month is a very good friend's 40th. There is no getting out of contributing to the joint gift, plus we have already booked a babysitter for the night. I'm going to just write this one off as breaking the no-spend month. My friend is worth it!!

I also needed to find my son an outfit for his school concert - yellow and white clothing with no logos. As we had nothing fitting the bill, I got lucky at an op shop today and found a white tshirt and yellow shorts in his size! A bit more than I wanted to spend at $7 but far cheaper than new. And in before the month of May starts!