~March No-Spend Challenge~ The Day of Reckoning...how did you do? What did you learn? What will... - Page 3

[Smithie]

Last month was awesome for us! But some big expenses are coming up, so I want to get more "awesome" months under our belt, ykwim?

I though about consigning stuff at a sale this month, but I don't have a whole bunch and after the cost of the tagging software I don't think it would be worth it. Manual tagging is also allowed, so I might do that - it would get me into the sale early to hopefully score some summer shoes and tees for ds. Or, I could just go to a consignment store and see how well I do there. I feel like the hours put into the consignment sale logistics would not be justified by the tiny profit.

"Feeding the cabinet drawer" is my big goal this month. I have $380 stashed in there right now, and need $767 to cover some immediate upcoming costs of being Jewish

In line with that goal, food costs need to go even lower (I'm not trying to starve my family, I swear, we've just been overspending for our eating style and need to normalize). So let's say that $400 actually gets spent on food this month, and $100 feeds the drawer.

Where will I get the rest of the cash to feed the drawer? I don't know!

In the non-financial realm, I REALLY want to keep up with ds' homeschooling. He is totally ready to read, shows lots of interest and asks lots of questions, and his preschool is not teaching that. I also bought the Saxon Math K curriculum back in September, and I want to get my money's worth out of it!

Less important but only barely: I need to exercise. The gym membership is paid for, they have free childcare, and my pregnant body hurts SO much less when I move it around a few times/week!

No-spend days are not so important to me. Fast food indulgences are also permissible as long as I pay for them out of my change hoard, not out of my food budget envelope.

3/1: $500 cash taken our for all food expenses this month ($20 of that fed the drawer), amount in checking account that's above our minimum comfort level "swept" into savings


Goals

1/1 Sweep into savings
0/400 on food
20/300 fed to the drawer
0/30 on finishing up kids' summer wardrobes
1/20 days doing homeschool lessons
0/12 days exercising

[nolansmummy]

a. Who you are
I am a full time student and my husband is as well. I'm just trying to save some money for an emergency fund because i hate living off our grants and relying on them so much. I hate that if something happens and its not in january or june or august (when we get our financial aid), we pretty much are out of luck. I hate that we mindlessly spend money, or eat out so much, and that is a "reward" because we are both so tired and busy.
b. Where you are going (your financial goals) andI guess my financial goals are to just build up a small emergency fund and to pay off the small balances on our credit cards.

c. How you plan to get there By not going to target Seriously though, i need to stop going to the grocery store, or target for something to do. Its been so cold, i feel like to get out of the house those are my options. I also want to stop "browsing" for stuff online, because its so easy for me to just click "buy it now" especially if they take paypal, or my info is stored (hello , amazon). I just need to focus on my goals. Every day i don't spend $$ i will transfer 10$ into our savings account. :
I also plan on having a garage sale later in the month, which i want to go toward savings, and cc. I want to sell some other things online too, like textbooks, and other miscellaneous things. The money from that i want to go into a "fun" account. Eating out, coffees, magazines, etc. can come from this fund so we all won't feel deprived.


My official goal is to have more "no spend days than not :" for this month , and to get at least 100 $ into a savings account that is at another bank. DD and ds's bdays are this month, so those are expenses that i've planned for, but i will still write them down to include in the spend days. I also want to eat at home lets say 20/30 days. We will be out of town a lot this month for kids bdays but i think every day we are home we should cook. :
Today is the first, so its a great day to start. I will record all spending, even bills because i really want to see where our money is going.

I see some other people are including non frugal related activities so i'm going to add:
Run/walk - 12x/mo :
Yoga - 16x/mo
No junk days - 20days /mo
Read at least 2 leisure books


3/1 - (1/31) : (1/31)Update-12.50 grocery, 18 gas-: 10$/100(1/16)
3/2 -(1/31)- 18.85 EM, 30$ Take out, 2$ video game(dh)=50.85 (1/20): (1/12)(2/16)
3/3- (2/31) 9$ SN,6$ sonic= 65.85Necessary spending= 60.00Grocery :(2/31):(2/12) (3/16)
3/4- (2/31) Necessary spending-25.00 Grocery : (3/31) : 20$/100: (3/12) (4/16)
3/5 - (3/31)- Mcd's - 12$
3/6 - (3/12): (4/31) Planned- Road drinks- 10.00, Gas- 18.00 : (30$/100)
3/7 - (4/31) Otb- 40.00 , walgreens- 24.00 Target -100.00
3/8 - (4/31) : (5/31)Planned- Grocery- 160, Gas- 15, GC spent- 50 : (40$/100)
3/9 - (5/31) Necessary - .25cents : (51$/100) : (6/31) : (4/12) (5/16)
3/10 - (6/31) Necessary- Returned shirt to target and bought necessities instead 50$, Grocery 25$ : (60$/100) : (7/31) : (5/12)
3/11 - (7/31) Nec. Grocery - : (70$/100) : (8/31): (6/12)
3/12 - (5/31) Pizza - 18.00
3/13 - (6/31) Chinese - 20.00Nec. Grocery - 25.00
3/14 - (7/31) vG- 60.00 Nec-Petsmart- 45, Jcpenny - 40
3/15 - (8/31) : (7/12) (6/16) : (80$/100) : (8/31)

[JesiLynne]

I am sooooooooooo joining this month!

[Scribe]

I am back in this month. I'm in serious need of an attitude adjustment. My spending was out of control last month.

March 1: $46 on K-cups

[dfunk98]

Here we go again...

Each month, I have been getting better and better. Like in Feb., eventhough I went way overboard with groceries , I was able to pay off 2 cc's. WOOHOO!!
So, for this month:

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

Goal
No spend 12/30 days (up 2 more from last month!!)
Groceries $0/$250
Household $0/$100
Saved for trip to CO $20/$50

3/1- $56 Target (Food, household stuff)

Not a great start, but we're supposed to get alot of snow so I needed to pick up a few things. Here's to no more $$ spent this week!! (fingers crossed)

[scrapadoozer]

03/01:

1/20 No spend days
$0/$100 Unnecessarily spent
...Need to add more goals.

[becoming]

3/1 -

1/12 no-spend days
1/16 eat-at-home days
0/$500 groceries/household
0/$200 eating out
0/$2000 to savings

Key:
- no-spend day
- only necessary spending
- planned unnecessary spending
- totally blew it

[mamayarn]

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
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 ($172.32/$225.00)
No spend days
No drive days :

[smeisnotapirate]

2/25 - : -$20
2/26 - : -$13
2/27 - :
2/28 -
3/1 -

3/15 : or , $33/$150 :

btw,

= spending in the budget
: = spending off-budget
: = spending-free day!

My newest goal is because I count both DH's and my spending, I need to make sure HE doesn't spend frivolously, too! And I'd love to have more : days, but I suppose as long as it's in-budget, it doesn't really matter, right?

[lizziebits]

March 1: $47 at the Grocery Store, $2 for Coke

I gave up soda for lent, but subscribe to the "you can have it on Sundays" school of thought, so I got myself one today. Mmmmm. We're supposed to get a decent amount of snow so hopefully tomorrow will be a true no spend!

Actual:

1/8 days
1/31: cook at home
1/31: eat at home

Goals:
23/31 days: necessary spending or no spending (groceries, gas, copays, etc)
8/31: days: unnecessary, but budgeted spending
0/31 days: overbudget, frivolous spending

I'd like to cook dinner 25/31 days.
I'd like to eat dinner at home 29/31 days.
I'd like to complete my grocery pricebook by the end of the month.
I'd like to come under budget by $100 this month. This is a toughie, because our budget it pretty trim.

[PassionateWriter]

1 ::$103 food; send DP to the food store. should have known better. he spent at least $20 that i wouldnt have.
2::
3
4
5


Goals
1/20 No Spend Days
0/20 Decluttering/Organizing Days/cleaning/30 minutes
0/10 Library Days
:0/4 books
0/15 knit at least 15 minutes
:0/28 eat at home
:0/7 update blogs (months behind)
:2/10 Let the Car Rest Days [/QUOTE]

[dsaucone]

I'm going to have to have one of the nurses lock my badge in the med cart at work tomorrow. Seriously, this has to stop!

1st : $3.50

KEY/GOALS/TOTALS

No Unnecessary Spending 0/20

: 0/300 Savings

: $106

: $3.50 Badge Spending $0 Spending Total

[PlayaMama]

Originally Posted by PlayaMama

so, goals for me:
$600 for food this month!
$60 spending money- $100 birthday money
$100 saved for grain mill

21/31 no spend days
10/31 budgeted spending
non-budgeted spending
29/31 get outside days : (i know this has nothing to do with money but it's needed)

it's looking good so far!!

27- :
28- :
1- :
2- :

[lizziebits]

Originally Posted by PassionateWriter

1 :$103 food; send DP to the food store. should have known better. he spent at least $20 that i wouldnt have.

[/QUOTE]

I sooo feel you on this one. When DH comes to the store with me, he is like a kid in a candy shop. And he only wants the expensive stuff -- steak, gourmet cheeses, seafood.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Now, DH loves to eat out...a lot...what do you guys do about DH pressure to spend?

Welcome Theoretica!

If I were you, I would just talk to him about it and ask if you could curtail the eating out just a bit (not cold turkey) for a month. At the end of the month, maybe he'll like having more money in the bank? Enough to do it again the following month?

I would try to ~ease~ into eating out less. Especially since it is something he loves to do. Could you two learn to make some of his favorite restaurant foods at home?

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

01.. $23 Pizza Putt
02..
03..
04..
05..
06..
07..
08..
09..
10..

~~~~~~~~~~
My Goals:

0/20 No Spend days
0/5 Let the Car Rest Days :
: Put Money in Savings

[kalisis]

Well, I've been sick, so today was a no spend day by necessity.

1. $0


* 1/10 no spend days
* $100 total (cash) for food/entertainment while in NY (I plan to do a cleanse while I'm there next month, so this should more than cover it.)
* $50 misc total for the month
* no new shoes for anyone this month.

[major_mama11]

= budgeted spending
= no spend day
: = unbudgeted or frivolous spending
= decluttering day
: = money to savings for car fund

Groceries /household 128.50 / 450
Gas 15.71 / 65
Homeschool 0 / 20
Kid clothing 0 / 20
New baby items- 0 / 200 carseat, 0 / 40 for misc, 53.10 / 55 for cloth dipes
: 4 / <20 self spending
No spend days 0 / 20
Declutter 0 / 10
: Money to savings for replacement car fund- 0/500

3/1- 53.10 cloth diapers- (used $ from last month’s ebay sales), 4.00 gift for co-worker, 15.71 gas, 128.50 groceries (so much for < 110 per week)

Boy am I starting this month off with a bang! I agree with everyone who has mentioned the difficulty in keeping grocery bill down when DH is along. Lately, I have only shopped for groceries with DH, as my hugely pregnant bod doesn't feel too enthusiastic about loading and unloading the car and wrangling DD all by myself. It's nice to have him along to do the heavy lifting, but every time I turn around, something else not on the list has been thrown in the cart!

[kreyno4]

I'm Kathleen, SAHM to 2 girls. Last month was my first doing No Spend and it really helped me. My specific goals for this month are:
1. Keep grocery/household spending at $400--was about $75 over last month, but we really can't afford to be.
2. Get DH on board--relates to #1 as he has been doing the shopping (we have a new baby) and does tend to buy more things not on the list, go out for milk and come back with 3 other things, etc. Not sure how to accomplish this goal, though!

3/1 - $31.25 grocery

no spend
: no drive

0/15 no spend days
0/13 no drive days
$31.25/$400 grocery and household

[Krisis]

Mar 1 -


No spend:
Necessary / on-budget spend:
Unnecessary spend: :

1/10 no spend days
0/5 dinners out