~ February No-Spend Challenge ~ We're tracking our spending and trying to only buy the... - Page 2

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Clean slate. New Month.

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My goals:

0/20 No Spend Days
0/5 Let the Car Rest Days :
0/28 No Diaperswappers

[dsaucone]

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom

Oooh Stephanie! That would be tough for me. I used to be in a work situation like that too and I always overspent because it didn't feel like spending...you know?

I know, it feels like a credit card except you don't have to sign. And if you buy your lunch from the cafeteria you get a 25% discount if you put it on your badge. Then, 2 weeks later when you get your paycheck you realize you spent $60 on lunch, in the gift shop, and on the coffee cart - $4 fruit smoothies makes me as bad as you Starbucks addicts out there!

[kay4]

a. Who you are

Kelly, sahm to 4 kids


b. Where you are going (your financial goals)
Get out of credit card debt in 2 years.
Also trying to have a no spend year (I posted in the other thread on that)

c. How you plan to get there
Paying $495 month to Discover card and $138 to Star card
have as many no spend days as possible!


My smilies=
necessary spending (bills, etc)
: no spend day

[Tangled Hill]

Hey all -

I've been over on the No Spend Year thread, so I figured I'd hang out here a bit, too (here's my intro over there). January went so well, and now I'm totally jazzed about not spending! Woo hoo!

:

Anyway, I'll be coming over here to post my dailies. Good luck to all of us!!

[westernskies]

Hello I am westernskies

Financial goals are to be debt free, sell our home, and buy a hobby farm outright. My financial goals for February are to:

Reduce Spending- Have as many no spend days as possible, think about purchases for at least 24 hours before making them, STICK TO MY BUDGET!

Already I see bumps in my February road with Valentines Day, My birthday, our wedding anniversary, and a weekend winter retreat (already paid for) in the line up... I think I just need to budget aside specific set amounts of money for each of these and then not go over.

Specific Goals

20 out of 28 no spend days
14 out of 28 no drive days

=No Spend Day
:=Unexpected but Absolutely Necessary Spending
=I blew it

[SugarAndSun]

I am in again! I really didn't spend much last month outside of food, but I want to spend even less this month. I am also hoping to curb the food spending.

1. No spend! (This is premature since we are showing our house tomorrow!. Must plan ahead!)

[Tangled Hill]

Originally Posted by westernskies

Already I see bumps in my February road with Valentines Day, My birthday, our wedding anniversary, and a weekend winter retreat

Oh, goodness. I totally forgot about Valentine's Day! Guess we'll have to find something free to do. No biggie. Several things have come to mind already....

Son's bday is also this month, but I've got gift money for that set aside, and I'll get cake ingredients out of the grocery budget. Instead of a party, he wants to take a friend to a place with bowling/laser tag/arcade games, but he's going to that same place tomorrow (with this same friend) for another kiddo's party, so I'll see if I can't talk him into something a bit cheaper.

[Gwendolyn's babies]

Hi I am Gwen a SAHM to 4 wonderful jewels. Currently I am homeschool just one.

I hope to save money so we are more finanacially secure. DH's job next year will be drastically cut in hours so we are try to build a cushion.

I hope to continue being thrifty and pay off the house early.

I want to be able to give presents that are homemade even thriftstore finds and not feel guilty then go to the store and buy something new on top of what I already gave!

Example:
I made my neice a apron. I added to her giftbag a box of cake mix and cookie mix and a cute heart cookie cutter. Then I felt all guilty that it didn't cost much (the apron was made out of vintage material that I had) and I went and bought $20 more buck of stuff. my sister even told me that I put more effort in my gifts that are homemade then others who spend more.

I want to only eat out once a week (sometimes I am out and about and it's so easy to grab mcdonalds...does it count if only buy the kids nuggets, not softdrinks,fries, or the kiddie toys ha!) any ideas of a lunch I could tote with me that's easy. My little ones don't do pb sandwiches.

I want to use cloth diapers almost exclusively.

I want to make sure I look nice even if the outfit I am wearing is like 7 yrs old.

I am pretty good about not spending gas...I have too many little ones to be adventerous.

currently we are a family of 6 (one who is on breastmilk only) and spend about $4oo mnthly in groceries. Though I think this is pretty good i am sure we can keep cutting.

[tiffany21074]

Okay, I will really stick w/ it this month!

Who I am:

WAHM to two kids, age almost 4 and 18 months. I work part time as a medical transcriptionist and hubby is in property management.

We are actually debt free and rent our house right now, so that is not an issue. We currently have about 3500 saved right now towards our 'forever home,' and we want to get 40000 saved up in the next few years. All of my paychecks go directly into a savings, and we put an additional 260 in from our budget every month. I am feeling the pull of finally being financially secure and finding things that I "need" to have, as in, I really don't need! I am also striving for contentment, so thanks to the original poster and her reasoning! It is an inspiration! I don't want our increase in income to = an increase in stuff, so I am going to head it off at the pass!

So the things I will buy this month:
1. Thomas cake for daughter's bday.
2. Cod Liver Oil and vitamin supplements for hubby and I.

What I will refrain from doing:
1. I will not buy gardening stuff this month. I will save that for next month!
2. I will not drive to unnecessary places and attempt to combine trips.
3. If there is something that we need, I will try to get it elsewhere for free. If it is truly something that is needed, then I will get it at a thrift store or used, cheap.
4. I will look at my kids and family and decide how I am truly going to spend my time, and remember on my death bed what is it that I will have wanted to spend my life doing--shopping or strengthening relationships?

Good luck everyone!

Tiffany

[mamimapster]

I am Mapster- partner to my Dp, and Mommy to Dd's 1 & 2. We are working on getting out of serious debt using the Dave Ramsey snowball method. No car debt-just lots of Cc and student loan debt. I would love to be able to pay at least 200 extra this month to Cc. I've been at these threads on and off for a long time. I usually get discouraged in the middle of the month and give up, but I ROCKED last month-this thread really encouraged me.

I was very happy to manage to control no spends last month, this month is tough in some ways because it is shorter, but I hope to do as well or better. I just got some yummy yarn for my birthday, so that should keep me busy and away from spending on *that* board (I'm not naming it to protect Crunchy V.T's eyes )On that note, though I'm so happy we cloth diaper since I heard someone the other day say that most people spend 72 per MONTH on diapers! My birthday is this month though, and so is valentines day, and....

I was so happy with how well we did in January We will all do awesome this month:!!

February Goals;
unbudget spend days goal 15/30, 0/30
No Drive Days goal: 7/30,0/30
No frivolous spending over 95 actual:/95
Sold items 0/50
Thrift/diaper items: 0/20
Decluttering/organizing 20 min day 0/20
Grocery budget /340.00
Baked/home cooking:/10
Study/Daven daily 0/18
no Tv days 0/15
patience cultivated 0/28
walked 0/10

[HipGal]

a. Who you are

WAHM mom to 2


b. Where you are going (your financial goals)

Just want to save more, not take money out of savings if I can help it! I also want to slowly save up for a piano.

c. How you plan to get there

I think this is a good month to do no unneccessary spending. I also want to lower the amount of eating out we have been doing to under $100/month. I need to take some time to meal plan, look up recipes, etc.


2/1 groceries only
2/2 gasoline only
2/3 no spend!
2/4 Dr. visit copay only
2/5
2/6
2/7 groceries only
2/8
2/9 Dr. visit copay, gasoline and groceries
2/10 $100 for space heaters, $120 for furnace repair guy. Our furnace is broken! : We are living without until Thursday, when I will owe another $375.
2/11
2/12 $350 for furnace repair
2/13 Do I have to count what dh spends? If so, $20 on 2 ukeleles.
2/14 Bought a bike for ds, but used xmas money, so not too bad. Made heart-shaped pizza and wrote each other love notes for Valentine's.
2/15
2/16
2/17 gasoline only
2/18
2/19
2/20 lunch out (my sister made me!), $50 for gifts, stuff for kids at Japanese dollar store (my fault!).
2/21 groceries only
2/22 groceries only
2/23 $15 for ONE school photo : , gasoline
2/24 $40 donation to donorchoose

[AngelBee]

:

[major_mama11]

Wow, taking part in the January thread really, really helped me! This is the first time I've ever gone a whole month of tracking spending... Makes me think twice about impulse buys!

Who you are- Part-time working mom of a 3 yr old, with one on the way.

Your financial goals – I am currently working around 20-24 hrs per wk, and I would like to be able to cut back to working 12 hrs or less per wk. this spring, so I can be a mostly SAHM. – especially given the fact that we are homeschooling. I am only required to work 6 hrs per week, so it is really a matter of getting to where we don’t need as much to live on, so that I don’t have to sign up for the extra hours.

DH is not 100% on board with doing a budget, so at this point I only focus on my own money going in and out.

2009 goals: Necessary expenses: we will be paying for a birth center birth that is only 50% covered by insurance, and also we are planning to refinance our home this spring to lock in a low rate (we are currently in an ARM mortgage). Smaller necessary expenses are car seat and cloth diapers for new baby.

I am really into the Dave Ramsey debt snowball and baby steps. DH will be paying off the last $850 on his credit card this month- yay!

*************************************************
Feb goals:

Necessary spending :
Groceries- <$450
Gas-<$70
Birth center remaining fee-$1625
No spend days- 20

Misc budgeted spending /goals:
Homeschool books/activities- <$20
Kid clothing<$20
Use $ from ebay sales to buy cloth diapers
Return some items to Walmart- use $ for kid items

: Unbudgeted spending- <$30 (trying to be realistic here)
Declutter house so that I know what I already have!
No $ spent on Paperbackswap or Amazon (use library more)!

Here goes!
2/1
2/2
2/3
2/4
2/5
2/6
2/7
2/8
2/9
2/10
2/11
2/12
2/13
2/14
2/15
2/16
2/17
2/18
2/19
2/20
2/21
2/22
2/23
2/24
2/25
2/26
2/27
2/28

[Patrick's mummy]

I'm Sarah, SAHP to DS1 (5.5), DS2 (3) and DD (baby). I do these threads all teh time but the one thing I don't seem to learn on is grocery spending. But I am fat and I need to stop buying cookies and cakes and chocolate and sweets and soda and cook with what I have in the house and lose a few pounds at the same time! So, this month my big focus is on groceries - £300 maximum which includes everything we put in our mouths e.g DS1's school snack money (compulsory), anything DH buys to eat at work etc etc.

This month we have DH's car at the garage for its MOT plus we need to pay for some major repairs we had done on the roof last week. I am taking the kids away for a few days to see family but that should only cost gas.


So.. starting strong

Feb 1st: No spend!

[boatrat]

a. Who you are
I'm Kelly, a WOHM/WAHM to Austin and wife to Jonny.


b. Where you are going (your financial goals)
We are in pretty good shape overall, but need to rebuild our 6 month EF, which we had to dip into for some unexpected expenses. The second goal is to then pay off my car completely, then start saving for a car for DH since his will probably not last much longer. We want to buy his car outright so that we don't have any more car payments ever.

c. How you plan to get there
Eating out - usually it is 6 times/month, but in Feb. it will only be 2!
Groceries - eat less meet, more lentils, beans, etc.
No clothing purchases
No Amazon purchases
Four no drive days this month
Enjoy the things we already

We have some things around the house we had been planning to sell on craigslist. We will actually finally do this and this will be where we get our "fun money" for the weekends.

I'm so excited about this!

[Ruthiegirl]

Here's to a good month!


I have high hopes for another terrific month. We did really well in January. We paid off $1000 of cc debt, added no new debt (big one for us) and stuck to a tight budget.

This month -- I upped our grocery budget a bit. I seem to always over run the food budget, but we have been making some big changes in our diet and eating better, so I don't want to scrimp too much on food.

The credit cards continue to live in a drawer and do not travel with me, so I am not tempted by them. All I need to do is stick with the plan and we will be free of CC debt in 3 months. What a sweet relief that will be.

No spend today. We are headed out for a family bike ride and then will be spending the afternoon with the neighbors watching the superbowl.

1 --
2
3
4
5
6 -- pay day
7
8
9
10



My goals:

No new debt!
1000 cc debt
500 groceries
200 food co-op (bulk goods)
50 gas

[Purple Sage]

Dh is working at both of his jobs today and took the car, so we have no choice but to stay home and not spend.

2/1 - : :
2/2 -
2/3 -
2/4 -
2/5 -

- No spending
: - No driving
- necessary spending
- unnecessary spending
: - eat at home

[liangel]

My key:

:=groceries
necessary spending (gas, health and beauty products, household products)
-unnecessary spending
-no spending

2/1-

[PassionateWriter]

a. Who you are
SAHM of 4 (3 at home).

b. Where you are going (your financial goals) and
i want to budget $100 a week...for food and incidentals. i think i can do this IF i really stick to it. this is the first time ive done a thread like this.

c. How you plan to get there

$100 week for food and other incidentals

$18 for raw milk

gas on the card but no unnecessary trips and consider carefully the trips we do take (we are in a HS'ing group and really dont like missing it).

NO new clothes for anyone until ALL the spring/summer clothes are out of the attic and gone through. Esp. NO new clothes for baby...for the year actually (he has a brother 2.9 years older and i saved everything).

Use library more (been doing this lately alot more). If its not on paperbackswap or library, wait for it. Add it to bday wish list (in april). i have too many books on my TBR list anyway.

No more museum/childrens museum passes for the year. Use library's free or very low fee passes instead.

Being meal planning. and use coupons. Plan meals around sale items.

Atttend more story hour classes.

Originally Posted by mamimapster

I
February Goals;
unbudget spend days goal 15/30, 0/30
No Drive Days goal: 7/30,0/30
No frivolous spending over 95 actual:/95
Sold items 0/50
Thrift/diaper items: 0/20
Decluttering/organizing 20 min day 0/20
Grocery budget /340.00
Baked/home cooking:/10
Study/Daven daily 0/18
no Tv days 0/15
patience cultivated 0/28
walked 0/10

this looks really cool...can you explain the chart? i think i understand most of it. like the patience cultivated? how do you measure that? and the baked/home cooking...is your goal 10 days of the month?

******
2/1: $25 on toybox for baby. already committed to this. i used the larger toy box to store the older boys' small legos so needed a toy box for just the baby's items.

avoided temptation (this is important for me): pedoodles on sale. and cute ones. did NOT buy.

[L&L]

Hi, I am Llanya. I am SAHM to Lula, and wife to Liam. Our income is half of what it was since I left work, and I am trying not to dip into our savings...to truly get by on what we bring in each month. Eventually I would also like to have some extra to go towards my student loans, we have already paid off DH's student loans.
I;ve been lurking here for months and really want to participate! Since this is my first month, I will start small....
Also, DH has a week off this month and we tend to spend on vacation days....
Goals:
500 groceries
100 unnecessary spending
20 no spend days