How I Made £100 in 1 Month With Envirofone's Money Saving Challenge ♥

January is always a tricky month for me money-wise - I end up spending all of my money in the run up to Christmas and then living like a pauper whilst trying to save all I can when it comes to the New Year. What is it about the New Year that inspires us to save? I feel like I just have to put something away and be more money savvy.

Usually I end up failing in my efforts, I mean all those January sales are too good to miss, right? Not this year. This year I actually managed to save quite a bit and with very little effort too. I was challenged by Envirofone to implement at least three money-saving ideas over the month of January and see how much I could save. So what and how did I do?

1. I got a refurbished phone and switched to SIM only.
I've wanted an iPhone for the longest time - mainly for the good camera they're known for having, but it was always out of my price range, even on contract. I bought a refurbished iPhone 7 - which you wouldn't even know was second-hand, there's not a mark on it and it works perfectly. Envirofone offer a great range of nearly new or as good as new second-hand phones, for a fraction of the RRP.

I then was able to buy a SIM card separately and top it up whenever I need to. I found a company who can give me all the data and free calls I need for just €20 a month, which I think is a fab deal because I use a lot of data!

2. I decluttered and sold old clothes.
I had vacuum bags upon vacuum bags of the boys old clothes which I couldn't bear to part with at the time. However, with the prospect of having to move again soon upon us, I decided it was high time to sell on a few bits.

I made over €130 by selling some of the boys old Little Bird clothes alone and I still have a lot of other old clothes to sell too. I was delighted with my profit - I mean the boys and worn and well loved these clothes, but they were still in great enough condition to sell. It really was a win-win situation! I put this money into our savings account towards our mortgage deposit.

3. I did meal planning.
Meal planning was something I had never done before - always making our dinners on a whim there and then, but now that I'm on a set diet and know what my boys truly will and won't eat, I thought it was about time I did some meal planning.

Planning our meals in advance not only saved us money - because I knew what I needed to buy and could shop around for the cheapest offer, but it also helped us to reduce our food waste too and I'm all for anything which helps us be more eco-friendly and less wasteful.

4. I went on a self-imposed spending ban.
There is nothing I really need, so instead of spending money on clutter and junk from the sales that I didn't need, I avoided spending money on non-essential items.

Of course, I still had to buy the everyday essentials, but for the whole of January I bought no new clothes, makeup, beauty products and other items that I'd consider a 'luxury'. This saved me a lot of money.

5. We went on free family days out.
One of our biggest spending areas as a family is all the days out we go on. Visiting heritage sites and places of interest can be quite costly, so during the month of January we decided to take advantage of the lovely free places to visit around our area.

We were still able to enjoy some lovely family time together in gorgeous surroundings and we saved money by simply packing up a picnic and taking the boys to the playgrounds in these places instead of paying for food and attractions.

It's amazing how things that seem like such little differences can make such a big impact on your finances and savings. I'm so happy that I managed to make and save over £100 in January and I'll be keeping these thrifty practices in motion for the rest of the year too.