If someone has already started the NO SPENDING support thread for May then I'll delete this one...but if not....here goes!
Our goal is to spend money on NOTHING EXTRA for the month of May. Of course you'll have to pay for groceries and gas and such, but this thread is to support you as you try to spend nothing on non-essentials.
for today. I'm meeting with SIL with a friend and all our kids for a picnic after playgroup today. I got up early and made bread and cookies to bring (actually, I still have to bake the bread as the cookies are still in the oven; I'm really running behind!).
I feel really bad as it was SIL's b-day yesterday and for my birthday she gave me a book and a $20 gift cert. Of course they make tons more money than we do. So I'm going to give her a loaf of fresh baked bread wrapped nicely, a homemade card and a scrapbook that I never used. I think most of our family understands our financial situation. Right now we're putting more than half our income into savings. In 5-6 years time, we will be able to pay cash for a house, which will be an awesome feeling. I have to keep my eye on the prize
Oh, did I mention I will probably be doing babysitting over the summer? That will be a lot of nice free cash to save too.
I think that sounds like a perfectly wonderful present, regardless of financial situation. I'd love for someone to make me bread!
I think I might be spending today. It's so frustrating. I'm trying to pack for my trip and I have ONE pair of jeans that fit well enough to wear and no shorts or capris. I don't want to spend 10 days of vacation in skirts, I do that at work already! So I'm trying to figure out if it's actually justifiable spending or not. Gah.
May 3... $105
May 4... $23
May 5... $9.50
May 6...
May 7...
May 8... $6
May 9...
May 10.. $6.50
May 11.. $18.43
May 12..
May 13..
May 14..
May 15..
May 16..
May 17.. $26.82
May 18.. $6
May 19..
May 20..
May 21..
May 22..
May 23..
May 24.. $15
May 25..
May 26.. $27
May 27..
May 28.. $18
May 29.. $20 Fuzzi Bunz
May 30..
I bought more diapers yesterday and lost my thumb.
Seriously, do I need counseling? How can anyone swear up and down (to herself) that she is not going to spend anymore money and then clickity click click...paypal is zipping down the internet.
I have no excuse. I can't seem to get myself reigned it.
Okay, FIDO. I'm forgetting about it and driving on.
Frugal Progress:
1. Stayed off diaperswappers all morning
2. Walked to playgroup
3. Started reading "America's Cheapest Family"
4. Got it from the library
5. CD Eleanor
6. Letting the car rest today
I have $78 left in our budget from the month of May...my goal (yet again) is to make it to June 1st with that money in my pocket so that I can send it in on June 1st to the credit card company.
I can make it until Friday...I can make it until Friday...
Scrap -- I was just looking over your impressive list of thumbs...21 thumbs in 29 days. Way to go! And the purchases you did make were teeny tiny things. You may be the ~Frugalista of the month~.
Does anyone else have more thumbs than that?
I think Sarah is going neck and neck with you.
Not that this is a competition, because of course it is most definitely NOT...just wanted to point out that you two are doing really really well.
Go Jessica Go!
Carla -- I think paying cash for a house is FANTASTIC! I'm really hoping you two are able to do that. And I think your present for your SIL sounds very thoughtful. I would love to receive something like that too.
Grace -- We went through this before with the swimsuit
Clothing is a need. You can't run around naked. So if you buy yourself much needed shorts or capris (or even *gasp* shorts AND capris) then I wouldn't even record it. If you were buying your third Prada bag (or your 64th cloth diaper) that would be an unecessary purchase, but you need clothes. Cut yourself some slack and go buy clothes that fit for your trip.
Didn't go to diaperswappers all afternoon. Now I'm logging off for the night, so I'm safe from internet shopping until tomorrow. I'm going to lick this compulsive spending.
Bah! No thumb for me today. I didn't bother to bring my lunch, so I had to buy something in the food court. And I figured that since I was buying...I might as well go all out and get a combo meal. Ugh, it wasn't even that great. Oh well, next time.
. I did go shopping, but I used birthday and gift money, everything else was planned for and so I now have my birthday present (a much needed epilator), I got DH an MP3 player (very cheap) and a couple of things we needed that falls in the grocery budget.
I am kind of flipping right now. Our fridge let out and we lost almost everything in the freezer and I'm praying most of the fridge is salvagable . It was making this clicking noise yesterday but everything was still frozen. I woke up and the place STUNK! but I had a dr's appointment and homeschool group, so I wasn't bothering. When I got home, it was really bad, gross, and so I set about trying to find out what it was. I opened the fridge freezer and liquid something came out and almost everything was thawed. The frozen veggies all stunk. Almost everything got tossed (there was some hamburger and roasts that were at the bottom still frozen and some things that were cold we're having for lunch). I tossed all leftovers. Come to find out it was left over beans that were the stinkiest.
I felt like crying as I tossed nearly a garbage bag of waste into the compost from the freezer and fridge. I froze most of the eggs in the deep freeze as I just bought them and didn't want them to waste. I'm hoping housing comes soon to fix it; I called them right away. It's been a couple of hours and I'm hoping someone comes today. What a waste!!!!
Originally Posted by bwylde
Today I am giving myself a
. I did go shopping, but I used birthday and gift money, everything else was planned for and so I now have my birthday present (a much needed epilator), I got DH an MP3 player (very cheap) and a couple of things we needed that falls in the grocery budget.
I am kind of flipping right now. Our fridge let out and we lost almost everything in the freezer and I'm praying most of the fridge is salvagable . It was making this clicking noise yesterday but everything was still frozen. I woke up and the place STUNK! but I had a dr's appointment and homeschool group, so I wasn't bothering. When I got home, it was really bad, gross, and so I set about trying to find out what it was. I opened the fridge freezer and liquid something came out and almost everything was thawed. The frozen veggies all stunk. Almost everything got tossed (there was some hamburger and roasts that were at the bottom still frozen and some things that were cold we're having for lunch). I tossed all leftovers. Come to find out it was left over beans that were the stinkiest.
I felt like crying as I tossed nearly a garbage bag of waste into the compost from the freezer and fridge. I froze most of the eggs in the deep freeze as I just bought them and didn't want them to waste. I'm hoping housing comes soon to fix it; I called them right away. It's been a couple of hours and I'm hoping someone comes today. What a waste!!!!
Oh my goodness!
I am so sorry this happened to you! I almost lost my deep freezer one year due to a hurricane power outage and I cried so hard. Do you live on base? (I'm wondering because you said you called housing.) I hope they come right out--this is an emergency!
We live in public (low income) housing. Sometimes they are pretty good about these things but other times.... I may have to add to my grocery budget if I lose all my produce
:. Some things are still holding strong and we're going to try to eat up what we can. I am thinking of dehyrating some things but lots of things can't and some things are just better fresh. I think the apples, onions, zukes (and maybe cukes) and a few other things may be ok. I have to stop thinking about how much $$ in food we lost.
I hope they come right out. Seriously, I think that is an emergency. I live on a air force base and when stuff has gone wrong, we're supposed to call our housing contractors to come fix stuff. There have been times I've had to call 2 or 3 times to get somebody out here and that sucks!
ETA: Now that you mentioned apples, I really want apples and peanut butter for a snack and it's almost time to start supper!
May = 19 thumbs for me. I hope to beat that in June.
There was $265 worth of unnecessary spending...money frittered away. I hope to spend less than that in June too.
But overall, I'm ~~thrilled~~ with how no-spend May went for me. I've been budgeting and keeping records for a while and in April I spent $1,300 on this and that.
So this support group REALLY helped me. Thank you guys for your encouragement and just being willing to read through my long posts. (Or at least pretend that you are reading them.
)
I'll see you guys over in the June thread.
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