~ February No-Spend Challenge ~ We're tracking our spending and trying to only buy the... - Page 3

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Originally Posted by Ruthiegirl

Here's to a good month!

Here! here!

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

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

I was so determined to start this month out right that I didn't go to the bookstore today...because I usually get Starbucks there.

I went snowshoeing instead.

I would like to say that I enjoyed it just as much as curling up with a juicy magazine and my favorite coffee...but I didn't.

But that's okay. I want this to be my month and I want to see a lot of thumbs. Better for my waistline to go snowshoeing than to sit around and drink.

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My goals:

1/20 No Spend Days
0/5 Let the Car Rest Days :
1/28 No Diaperswappers

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

One thing I'm really jonesing for this month is home decorating stuff...I want new furniture.

New furniture is EXPENSIVE.

There is nothing wrong with the ragtag furniture we have...other than I'm tired of it.

But what I ~~ultimately~~ want is a home that is comfortable and pleasing.

One home decorating tip I read in the Tightwad Gazette is to CLEAN before you redecorate.

Because often what makes a house pleasing is cleanliness. That nice fresh scent. Everything in order and arranged pleasantly.

It doesn't have to be new to be clean.

So I'm going to set my sights on lovingly cleaning this house.

From top to bottom.

I'm hoping that once it is thoroughly cleaned, I'll be more satisfied with my home furnishings.

And if I'm not...at least all that cleaning will buy me a little time. Hopefully it will take me until March 1st and the end of this month's challenge.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

New clothes.

That is another thing that I have a hankering to buy.

I have a closet full of lovely clothing. And a bin more of lovely clothing in the basement.

I think what I ~~really~~ want is to look better.

(For those of you new to our thread, I just had a baby)

I'm heavier than I like to be, I'm not well-rested and my face shows that, I'm growing out a pixie-cut so my head looks shaggy.

My breasts are GINORMOUS -- which looks great on some luscious ladies, but not on me. My clothes don't fit right.

Which is why I want new ones. {clothes, not breasts}

But...seriously...it is not the CLOTHES that are going to fix all this.

It is just time. I have to let my baby grow. She'll start sleeping well eventually and I'll get more rest. Once she is done nursing, my breasts will go back to their normal state.

Then all the clothes that I happily picked out before will fit again.

So I have to be patient.

And maybe put the ice cream back in the freezer more often...

[Pumpkin_Pie]

Ok, I'm in again. I totally messed up last month and then was too embarrassed to post the end of the month. Here goes again!

Hi my name is Kim, and I am a single mama to one 22 month old boy. I just started a new job two weeks ago that is going to be paying me slightly less than I was making unless I am able to pick up some extra hours (which is very likely). I will also have my hours cut pretty drastically in April, so I need to build up a cushion in order to survive a very lean month. My car is also dead and the estimate is nearly $600 to get it fixed. I am going to have it fixed, but I am going to drive MUCH, MUCH less once it is back. I have learned the bus system here, and although it isn't perfect, it is doable and it makes financial sense for me to use it whenever possible. Plus that will save my car for when I really need it.

My plan is:
1. To use only food stamps ($327.68) for my groceries this month, and to use them very wisely. (shopping sales and using coupons)
2. To have at least 10 no spend days (I am not going to set myself up for failure, so am setting this goal low
3. $140 frivolous spending ($5 a day for the month of Feb)
4. $50 minimum saved per week out of my paycheck each Friday.

My key:
: True no spend day
Planned spending (bills, groceries, etc)
Frivolous spending above my $5 a day allowance

Here goes nothing!!!

1. $58.64 on groceries , $10.34 baby wipes , $4.98 frivolous spending
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0/10 True no spend days
1/10 Planned spending days
$58.64/$327.68 groceries
$10.34 planned spending

[kay4]

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[PassionateWriter]

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom

Better for my waistline to go snowshoeing than to sit around and drink.

thats the quote of the month! lol!

im feeling exactly the same way re: clothing for me. I have a ton of clothes..even after purging several times last year. BUT, none of them fit. im several sizes away from them fitting b/c i had a baby 3 months ago and the weight isnt coming off...tandem nursing does NOT produce small boobies. I refuse to diet though and i dont think i can..my DP would leave me if i did..im starving all the time. but alas, im going to give it at least 6 months before i take any drastic measures (its COLD here so im not getting out as much as i would like to..im hoping spring/summer will keep us much more active and ill lose some of the weight then).

[scrapadoozer]

02/01:

Goals:
1/20 No spend days.
0/$100 Unnecessarily spent.
0/$300 Saved for the midwife.
2/6 Receiving blankets made for babe.
0/2 Cotton caps made for babe.

[MomtoRyan]

My name is MomtoRyan and I am a SAHM to a beautiful baby boy (18mths old) and a wife to my beloved DH.

We do have debt BUT it is managed very well and we hope to have it paid off in the next few months. What I would love is to have extra $$ instead of having ends meet. I want to sock away $$ into savings instead of taking it out. I would also love to come to terms with being satsified with what I have and stop feeling the need to keep acquiring objects.

I plan on doing this by:

Not spending $$ on toys. If I want to get DS a new one I have to sell some first.

No more $$ on books. This is a hard one for me, as evidenced by last night, lol. I have so many TBR books that I could start a library. I must thanks Passionatewriter for alerting me to paperbackswap. LOVE that site.

Use library more. Storyhours, passes etc.

Start a mother to mother group where we find fun things to do for free. Like cooking swaps. Everyone make a dish and swap so others can freeze if that makes sense. You bring a dish and take dish home.

COUPONS COUPONS COUPONS!! I love coupons now my problem is shopping for the sake of coupons, blush.

I am hoping to take in a little one to watch with DS to bring in an extra income of $150-$200/wk. Now I just need help finding someone.

I am hoping to have 15 no spending days.

Now do giftcards count? DS is in need of new shoes badly so I have a giftcard that we got for christmas.

I am glad to have joined this group. Now let's have fun NOT spending.

02/01

[westernskies]

01-: My little babe and I woke up with fevers and a cough. I made a trek to Walgreens to replenish our medicine cabinet. Spent around $18 there. Then I was so beat from being up all night that I sent DH for breakfast and lunch... Another $20 gone. So not a great start to February...
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=No Spend
:=No Drive
:= Unexpected Spend Day
=Spent but only on budget items

Goals 20/28 No Spend Days
14/28 No Drive Days

[sugareemoma]

Well I failed the January no spend challenge because I needed to buy two new books for school. I was hoping to find them used but the *** professor required they be the newest edition! I even tried to explain that I was planning on only buying used because of the ecological benefits not just to be thrift and he said that one book won't make a difference argh!!!
Anyway, this month I will only buy food and a bus pass --so I can get to school-- I will keep you updated if I give in and buy any objects. I have tried to simplify over the past month to make this even more feasable for me, which is difficult being a single mom in the city.
Good luck to everyone else!
:

[westernskies]

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom

New clothes.

That is another thing that I have a hankering to buy.

I have a closet full of lovely clothing. And a bin more of lovely clothing in the basement.

I think what I ~~really~~ want is to look better.

(For those of you new to our thread, I just had a baby)

I'm heavier than I like to be, I'm not well-rested and my face shows that, I'm growing out a pixie-cut so my head looks shaggy.

My breasts are GINORMOUS -- which looks great on some luscious ladies, but not on me. My clothes don't fit right.

Which is why I want new ones. {clothes, not breasts}

But...seriously...it is not the CLOTHES that are going to fix all this.

It is just time. I have to let my baby grow. She'll start sleeping well eventually and I'll get more rest. Once she is done nursing, my breasts will go back to their normal state.

Then all the clothes that I happily picked out before will fit again.

So I have to be patient.

And maybe put the ice cream back in the freezer more often...

I could have wrote this very post... I feel ya!!! Just thought about maybe adding an exercise smilie to my goals. At least to walk every day... Not jumping jacks or anything crazy! LOL

[becoming]

Oh, geez, NOT a good first day for us. We had to go waaay out of town (DH's grandpa is critically ill and hospitalized 2 hours away), so we were forced (yes, forced - I saw no way around it) to eat lunch & dinner out. We tried to do it frugally and ate buffets both times, but still, it's highly annoying to start the month that way. Also, while we were in the city, I decided to go ahead and buy the boys the new shoes they've been needing for a long time, and DS1 a new pair of jeans (he blew out the knee of his best pair last week). So here you have it...

1 - $106.94 clothes/shoes for my boys, $25.12 lunch, $29.36 dinner

0/15 NO SPEND days
0/$600 groceries/household expenses
$54.48/$200 eating out
$106.94/$300 spring/summer clothes for me & the kids
0/$125 6 gifts for Christmas 2009

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Now do giftcards count?

You decide what counts and what doesn't count. This thread has no rules. You record whatever and however you would like to.

I consider gift cards "free money"

For those who had a rocky first day, FIDO.

A month is a long time, you've got plenty of time to still have a great month.

[dsaucone]

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KEY/GOALS/TOTALS

No Spend 1/15

Necessary Spending

:Bring lunch from home 1/20

: Spent on badge at work 0/$10

Groceries/Household 0/$300

Savings 0/$300

$0.00

[dfunk98]

Let's try again

I did this last month for the first time and didn't do too bad. But not really too good either. I didn't spend as much as I have in previous months and I did manage to get ahead on our bills, not waiting paycheck to paycheck as I had been. My goal is to do better than last month as far as unnecessary spending and pay more towards our credit card bill. It's not as important to me to have no-spend days, just less-spend days, I guess. Although, no-spend days would be welcome

My Key-
No Spend-
Necessary Spending-
Unnecessary Spending-

Goal
No spend 10/30 days
Groceries $0/$250
Household $0/100

[Hollysmom]

Well, I am back....again. I seem to fall off the wagon every month


I am Kristine WOHM to 3 amazing girls. I am consciously trying to simplify our lives so I am hoping to make our finances simple as well. So, in keeping with that theme I am not going to set any crazy goals, just going to commit to trying to spend less and come here and keep track. The big difference this month is that dh and I had a chat and it looks like he is on board:

February 1: No Spend

[HydeParkB]

Who you are: Momma to DD, turning 4 this month, and wife to DH

Where you are going: Right now, just trying to stay where we are. Would like to have more to save for retirement and a new home (farm).

How you plan to get there: I don't know. Bad, I know.

I am going to try to limit my thrift store shopping to 3 trips this month. Also, figure out how much homemade we can do for DD's birthday party. We're doing a dino theme. And I want to get more items listed on my etsy store.

We have SO much food. DH is the main cook so it's hard for me to 'control' that spending. BUT, I will continue to take leftovers for lunches and snacks, try to cook at least one dinner a week (hello, crockpot). And, I will encourage him to rely on the pantry as much as possible. We are getting ready for this year's garden season, and I think he is motivated to make space for the produce that we will be growing this year.

[Tangled Hill]

2/1

Legend

No spend
Planned, budgeted spending
Unbudgeted spending

[OkiMom]

a. Who you are
Im Heather, SAHM to my two daughters (2 years old and almost 3 months old). My husband is a Marine whos doing training exercises this month and next so he won't be home (or even in the same country as us). We live in Japan but we are moving back to the states sometime in the next year and a half so we need to save money to relocate.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals) and
I want to have 10,000 saved up for when we go back to the states. Coming out here we ended up in trouble because there was a lot of expenses we didn't budget for (like a 1600 hotel room bill waiting for an apartment to come available). We also want to buy a car when we get back and not have to go into debt.
We are almost debt free, and want to be debt free completely by June.

c. How you plan to get there
This month Im trying to spend as little as possible still keeping us busy. With DH gone I need to keep busy otherwise time goes by to slowly. We talked before he left and decided on the following expenses(outside of bills of course):
30.00- Amazon- two books for DD and a movie for DH (his V-day present)
20.00- Misc spending on the girls
500.00- Grocery budget for the entire time he is gone
100.00- gas budget for while he is gone (we drive a lot over here just to get to the store and church)
50.00- household improvement items (this month Im getting: A new pan- the only one I have takes 5-6 times to brown 1/2 pound of meat its so small, telephone wire, two picture frames- we have NO family pictures around the house)
150.00- Car repairs- need two new tires and an oil change
5000 Yen for out in town stuff- Im getting a new season pass to the Gardens so we have something to do on the weekend
15.00- Shipping, still have a Christmas Present to send off
50.00- Bras- I have NONE that fit me. My chest got HUGE after having the baby
40- Misc Spending for me
10- picture developing
I want to try to keep my spending under 1000 the entire time he is gone. So really this budget goes through the second week in March. Im trying to have at least 10 no drive days this month since I have a tendency to make up things I HAVE to do in order to get out of the house. Also, Id like 20 no spend days.
ETA- One of my incentives for saving is whatever out of the budget I dont' use when DH gets home I get to use to get a few things for the house... Things like laundry baskets (no we don't have any), glasses (we have one right now, DH and I share at meal times) and a trash can (dont' have one of those either)... It gives me a reason to really not spend much.