~March No-Spend Challenge~ The Day of Reckoning...how did you do? What did you learn? What will... - Page 6

[MittensKittens]

I was just going to post "where is the March no spend thread gone, but it's a sticky now!

Any way...

3/1 -
3/2 -

Key
- necessary spending - groceries
- necessary spending - bills etc
- bad spending
- no spend

I am going to need some parts for my sewing machine today though

[scrapadoozer]

03/01:
03/02:

2/20 No spend days
$0/$100 Unnecessarily spent
...Need to add more goals.

[turalis]

- make sure we only spend $100 a week on groceries
- be 100% committed to using cash and leaving the cards (especially debit) at home
- continue to make extra student loan payments
- stay close to home & go to the library


weekly totals for food:
March 1 - March 7: 79.50/100

= budgeted spending
= un-budgeted spending
= no spending


3/1- on : 76.50
3/2- on : 3.00

[MomtoRyan]

Originally Posted by lizziebits

Can you garden this spring/summer?

We had some success last year, and this year we'll be trying again. We plan on growing peppers, onions, carrots, broccoli, green beans, peas, snap peas, tomatoes, lettuce and herbs. We use square foot gardening and do all that in a 20' x 2' space on the side of the house.

I would really like to hear how you go about this. I live in a townehouse and space is limited so this sounds perfect. Do you have a link to how to do this or suggestions? Thanks in advance

Originally Posted by Neva

I'm a f/t working mama, supporting my DH and DS as DH continues to heal. (over a year cancer free wooh!).

Wanted to say congrats for your husbands remission. I hope everything goes well and that the stress levels diminish in your household soon. You must be a supermama!!

[melissel]

Originally Posted by MomtoRyan

I would really like to hear how you go about this. I live in a townehouse and space is limited so this sounds perfect. Do you have a link to how to do this or suggestions? Thanks in advance

http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

If you google it, you'll find tons of sites and blogs. I'm container gardening myself this year, because our sun is limited (never thought i'd find myself cursing those trees!) and I have to be able to move containers around as needed. The square-foot-gardening guy has a book, too, and there are loads of good container-gardening books...at the library!

Good luck!

[tiffany21074]

1-
2-

I even went and put stuff back so I would have kept my commitment to not spend. It was tough! But I did it.

[kalisis]

RE: Square foot gardening - don't bother buying the book or even wasting the gas to take it out of the library. Everything that is in the book can be found online.

I'm thinking about container gardening this year, but also plan to do a couple SFG's this year too.

SugarandSun, I think your big expense is fruit. Greens aren't that expensive, lb for lb compared to fruit. It's too bad that you can't plant some fruit trees. Strawberries grow really well and are easy.

[melissel]

Originally Posted by tiffany21074

1-
2-

I even went and put stuff back so I would have kept my commitment to not spend. It was tough! But I did it.

Last night after I had recorded my thumbs up for the day, I had to cook dinner, which I had all planned out. It had gotten a bit late though, and DH insinuated that we should just get takeout. I was like, "No way! I just joined the no-spend challenge on MDC THIS MORNING! I can't fail on the first day!" And I cooked the dinner. But it was hard. We had a snow day here, the kids were getting tired, I had work to do, etc. So pats on the back for both of us

[Brisen]

I'm bumping my budget down $100 this month; our household income is dropping by a few hundred/month in July, so I'm trying to ease into the transition now.

1:
2: $14 dh took the kids to a movie

no spend:
budgeted spend:
unnecessary spend: :
no drive: :

Household spending: $14/$500
No-spend days: 1/18

[lizziebits]

Originally Posted by MomtoRyan

I would really like to hear how you go about this. I live in a townehouse and space is limited so this sounds perfect. Do you have a link to how to do this or suggestions? Thanks in advance

As Melissa said, Square Foot Gardening. The book was a nice read (I got it from the library) and it was pretty easy. We live in a townhouse too, an end unit, so we did it all on the side of the house. Here is a picture of our garden (before anything was growing!):

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/a...101_0751-1.jpg

The Garden forum on here had lots of helpful information, too.

[Jenn_M]

Originally Posted by melissel

I was like, "No way! I just joined the no-spend challenge on MDC THIS MORNING! I can't fail on the first day!"

I did this to DH too. I sent him an email stressing that I would *really* like him to stick to budget this week so I don't have to put grumpy faces in my post.

[melissel]

Originally Posted by lizziebits

As Melissa said, Square Foot Gardening. The book was a nice read (I got it from the library) and it was pretty easy. We live in a townhouse too, an end unit, so we did it all on the side of the house. Here is a picture of our garden (before anything was growing!):

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/a...101_0751-1.jpg

The Garden forum on here had lots of helpful information, too.

Wow, Liz, that looks awesome!

[melissel]

Originally Posted by Jenn_M

I did this to DH too. I sent him an email stressing that I would *really* like him to stick to budget this week so I don't have to put grumpy faces in my post.

[Smithie]

That reminds me to give a shout-out to my dh - he spends NOTHING. He is WAH and works 100 hours/week, pausing only to eat the dirt-cheap bean soup I make and freeze for his lunches. His biggest expense is fresh fruit. Yay for dh!

"Originally Posted by Smithie
20/300 fed to the drawer

OK, I have to know...why is your drawer so hungry???"

It's the "cost of being Jewish." In this case, $$ for the Temple Building Fund. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they built that basketball court, but I wish the old-fashioned custom of the rich congregants building the infrastructure while the poorer congregants say "thank you" and the rich congregants say "no, thank YOU for letting me perform a mitzvah!" had not been abandoned as elitist. That kind of elitism, I can live with...

[ThisLove]

I'm going to be making a purchase either today or tomorrow, but I'm chalking it up to a necessary expense (expanding my very limited CD stash, so I can completely switch to CDs ... no more sposies to buy!).

That's a good reason to spend ... right?

[Ruthiegirl]

Day 3 of the no spend challenge. We have been doing these challenges for so long, that day 3 kind of feels like Day 300. I am going to be so thrilled when we are finally out from under this debt load.

The roads are super icy, so we have another reason to stay at home and eat our own wholesome food. I have a nice tub of spicy black beans for burritos, so dinner is all set.

01 -- :
02 -- :
03 -- :
04 -- gas and groceries
05
06 pay day
07
08
09
10


no spend
planned spending
: eat at home



0/200 groceries/household
0/200 food co-op
0/800 cc payment
0/50 garden
10.10/100 gas

[mamayarn]

Oooh, garden talk. I can't wait for spring!!

We are not doing so hot by the numbers this pay period. Some are things that just got paid during this pay period by chance ... actually, that is most of the problem. I mean, we're in a good spot with groceries, but the stuff that is just getting paid at the moment adds up too. Disregarding that stuff is what leads us to the bad place of spending more than we make, so at least now I am facing it and can adjust over time.

We got the webcam so that DS and I can video chat with DH when he's out of town. It's a big boost for our family morale.

2/26 : , savings $0.16, eating out that took days to finally clear $7.84
2/27 yarn $24.96, magazine $38.00, pizza $16.20
2/28 groceries $57.71, tea infuser of awesome $14.03, new shirt for me $13.42
3/1
3/2 : grocery ~$x.xx (milk - not sure of amount), webcam $10.80
3/3
3/4
3/5
3/6
3/7
3/8
3/9
3/10
3/11

The spending I track is all spending other than bills, including gas and food for our family of 3+.

Goals:

Use reusable bags for all shopping trips (1/4)
Total non-bill spending ($183.12/$225.00)
No spend days
No drive days (my car) :

[melissel]

Originally Posted by Smithie

It's the "cost of being Jewish." In this case, $$ for the Temple Building Fund. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they built that basketball court, but I wish the old-fashioned custom of the rich congregants building the infrastructure while the poorer congregants say "thank you" and the rich congregants say "no, thank YOU for letting me perform a mitzvah!" had not been abandoned as elitist. That kind of elitism, I can live with...

Ah, I see. So it's a savings spot for the building fund. Yes, my BFF also struggles with the same issues and left a congregation because they simply couldn't afford to keep up with the costs. That's difficult. But good for you for planning and saving!

Originally Posted by ThisLove

I'm going to be making a purchase either today or tomorrow, but I'm chalking it up to a necessary expense (expanding my very limited CD stash, so I can completely switch to CDs ... no more sposies to buy!).

That's a good reason to spend ... right?

IMO, yes. I'm contemplating buying a grain mill this month too.

Originally Posted by Ruthiegirl

Day 3 of the no spend challenge. We have been doing these challenges for so long, that day 3 kind of feels like Day 300. I am going to be so thrilled when we are finally out from under this debt load.

It's hard, but it's so worth it. We paid off our CCs at the end of last year, and it was an amazing feeling. Keep up the good work!

[SugarAndSun]

Originally Posted by lizziebits

Can you garden this spring/summer?

We had some success last year, and this year we'll be trying again. We plan on growing peppers, onions, carrots, broccoli, green beans, peas, snap peas, tomatoes, lettuce and herbs. We use square foot gardening and do all that in a 20' x 2' space on the side of the house.

I plan to have a nice size garden this year. I may try the aquare foot gardening.

Originally Posted by kalisis

RE: Square foot gardening - don't bother buying the book or even wasting the gas to take it out of the library. Everything that is in the book can be found online.

I'm thinking about container gardening this year, but also plan to do a couple SFG's this year too.

SugarandSun, I think your big expense is fruit. Greens aren't that expensive, lb for lb compared to fruit. It's too bad that you can't plant some fruit trees. Strawberries grow really well and are easy.

I wnt to plant some ever-bearing strawberries for sure. We do eat a ton of fruit. The kiddos at two melons, a huge containers of strawberries, a coule pears, various frozen fruits in smoothies, and some oranges yesterday alone. A box of crackers would be so much cheaper.

[ThisLove]

Oh, I didn't even notice the gardening talk!

Our property's very shady in the back (small property, lined with trees in the backyard), so I can't grow here (tried it, failed), but I'm growing over at my ILs' and we're going to test the water of indoor, hydroponic growing. We focused on getting the landscaping done last summer - planted Hydrangeas, Knockout Roses and Spirea (I believe). We're going to bust up the sidewalk (for free, yay!) and put down a stone walkway (also free, many people in our families farm, lots of creeks to raid).

And I decided (all of a sudden) that instead of spending on dipes this week, I'm going to go through my bags of recyclable clothing and sew up a few (I may have to buy a few things - not sure yet) before buying. I'm too indecisive and the thread over in Diaper Making with all of the recycled-material dipes inspired me!

So -
: - groceries
- bills (electricity, gas, water & cable) & other necessities
- no spend!
- unnecessary spending

Feb. 1st - : ($71), ($7.30 for new mop bucket, leftover containers, Cream of Mushroom soup from Dollar Tree)
Feb. 2nd -
Feb. 3rd -