My low spend year, what I learned – and why I would do it again

Amanda Jones is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on sustainable living and decorating a home in way that is good for the environment. See the rest of her articles here.

2024 started in a bit of a panic. Having just finished a nine-year home renovation, we hadn’t a penny left in our savings and had even raided our ‘emergency’ fund. The cost-of-living crisis was biting hard, and we knew the following year, in 2025, some big purchases, and essential home repairs would be needed. It was time to take drastic action.

I had been hearing a lot about people doing a ‘no spend year’ and was intrigued how this worked. Could we do something similar and focus on building our savings back up? After some research, watching a few YouTube videos, and following a few frugal Instagram accounts, I presented my husband with a plan of action, how we too could do a low spend year…he took a bit of convincing.

We no longer had a mortgage, and to truly get a ‘no/low spend’ experience, we decided to slice off a chunk of money each month that would represent our ‘mortgage’ (I based the amount on what our last mortgage payment had been in 2012, plus inflation). Why have a hard year, when you can make it even harder?

For context, in 2024, there was just the two of us at home, both our daughters were at university, they were only home during holidays. Our joint income was well below what a couple working full time on minimum wage would be. We knew the year ahead would be tough, it was however our CHOICE, many people live hand to mouth, they have no choice.

Next, we worked out our exact income, and our exact outgoings, to the penny. Our pretend ‘mortgage’ went straight into our savings when we were paid. We then worked out what we had left, and where we could make savings. There were areas that we could save on, and we did, but some bills were ‘fixed’ like council tax, and utility bills.

During the year, there were several areas we saved on, I was really surprised as I already felt we lived frugally, I learned a lot about our spending habits in 2025. These are the areas we saved most on:

1. Food bill

By far, the biggest area of our savings was on food. For just two people we spent a ridiculous amount of food. I got straight back into meal planning, buying foods on offer, and looking at the reduced section.

We usually cook from scratch and had done for years, but we added more cheaper recipes to our planning. We reduced our weekly food bill by more than 30%, amazing as this was when inflation was rapidly increasing food prices.

2. Energy bills

We literally turned our heating off and concentrated on keeping warm with layers of clothing. On the coldest days, we might put our gas central heating on for a couple of hours but no more. Luckily, we have a wood burner, so on cold evenings we would light that.

We saved a significant amount doing this, not easy but we survived. Growing up in the 60/70s with no central heating made us tough, we embraced our inner 70s child. At the end of the year, we were significantly in credit with our energy supplier, and we had this transferred into our savings.

3. Eating out/takeaways

Although we rarely go out to expensive restaurants, we do enjoy a meal out occasionally, or a coffee and cake, a takeaway every couple of weeks. We budgeted two meals out that year, for birthday celebrations, but there was no popping out for a coffee with friends.

I think for me, this was the most difficult aspect of our Low Spend Year, it felt too restrictive and took some of the spontaneity out of life.

4. Clothing

We agreed that we wouldn’t buy any new clothes, unless we needed to replace something that couldn’t be repaired.

Typically, we don’t buy lots of clothing, what I did find though, was the clothes we did have started to look very shabby by the end of the year, so it was perhaps fortunate we weren’t going out much!

5. No book buying

This one was directed at me, and it was very hard.

I did, however, develop a real love for my local library, the librarians are amazing, and my almost weekly visit is a real pleasure that I may not have experienced otherwise.

6. Holidays/days out

We agreed no holidays, and days out, but only if they were free.

We did change this halfway through the year, and got a subscription to the National Trust, having worked out that it was a very cost-effective way to enjoy days out…I just had to avoid their brilliant second-hand book shops. We have continued with our annual subscription.

7. No charity shop or vintage buying

What can I say, this was HARD. I love to pop in a charity shop, or search on an online auction site to find my next treasure. I really did have enough stuff, didn’t need any more, it’s not really a bargain if you don’t need it, so I just needed to keep that in mind.

If I felt a bit bored, I just moved the furniture around, rearranged my mantelpiece or shopped my own home. (I did have a relapse midway through the year and bought several vintage jugs, all quite cheaply, but still, it just showed me how susceptible I am to vintage jugs!).

We saved several thousand over the year and replenished our emergency fund (we should all have one, you never know when you might need a new washing machine). Building up our savings meant we were able to do some much-needed expensive repairs in 2025, without worrying if we could afford them.

We learnt a lot about what we needed, and what our priorities were. I learned, that despite not being too wasteful with my money, I do like having the freedom of choice to buy something, even if 8/10 times I’d automatically choose not to buy it.

Would I do this again, absolutely, especially if there was a big purchase I needed to plan for, or debt to pay off, or an emergency fund to build. Next time however, I’d add a small allowance for meals out, and of course second-hand books (maybe allow myself a couple of vintage jugs). It wasn’t an easy year, but it was such a worthwhile exercise, that I would encourage anyone to do.

So if you’re thinking of doing a ‘Low Spend/No Spend Year’ my advice would be, do a bit of research, set your boundaries, and go for it!