No-spend trend: my month of financial gains and pains

As costs continue to spiral, many Brits are feeling the pinch more than ever. Helen Coffey takes on the fiscal challenge of cutting her outgoings to the bare minimum for 28 days...

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There are times in life when I feel like I have slipped into a parallel universe.

Sometimes it’s sparked by realising I don’t know who famous people are anymore (PewDiePie? Tate McRae? Louis Partridge? Sorry, no idea). Often it’s when I read the news, and wonder how we ended up with some of the worst men imaginable having access to the nuclear codes. And at other times, it’s when I realise just how much money I’ve managed to spend on a fairly average day.

I don’t think of myself as a particularly extravagant person. Unable to justify the exorbitant expense, I never even flirted with the idea of obtaining Oasis or Taylor Swift gig tickets. Holidays are usually cobbled together from the cheapest train fares available and accommodation consisting of mates’ spare rooms or reasonably priced Airbnbs. I don’t own a car, designer clothes or any expensive jewellery. The one time a former housemate and I had our flat robbed, the burglars stole precisely nothing from my room. Which was, on reflection, mildly insulting.

Yet my day-to-day expenditure seems to spiral ever upwards, especially when it comes to life’s little extravagances. The birth of the £15 salad has made lunches al desko less of a last-minute necessity and more of a remortgaging-your-house type investment. A casual dinner out with the girls seems to have more than doubled to a £50 minimum spend. I recently decided to be “good”, trading the usual glass of wine for a kombucha at the pub - only to be punished with a £7.50 bill.

It’s not just me feeling the pinch. Cost-of-living pressures are only getting further exacerbated as international conflicts lead to escalating oil and energy prices. Though there had been a notable downturn in food inflation in January, the dip reversed and UK grocery inflation edged back up to 4.3 per cent in the four weeks to 22 February, reports The Independent’s food and drink editor, Hannah Twiggs.