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~April No-Spend Challenge~ We're tracking our spending and buying only the necessities. Come... - Page 5

post #81 of 424
4/3/09 at 12:22pm
I'm Allyson, dh and I both woh full time and we have 2 little boys.

I'm planning 3 grocery trips this month max and hoping to keep it under $300. We don't usually spend a ton on just stuff, but the last month or two, its gotten wild. We typically eat out once or twice a month and that isn't a huge deal so I'm not worried if we do that and if we don't, great.

I'm just going to track groceries and any other spending that isn't one of our normal bills.

Here goes:
1-Payday - $15 prescription, $41.45 groceries
2-$0


Grocery total - $41.45
Sponsored Links
post #82 of 424
4/3/09 at 1:34pm
1:::
2 $100 Toys R Us for new Wii Games and Skate Boards. Its DS2's birthday and thats what he wanted. :
3 $70 food; $25 gas. went back to the dr. office today for another swab and convinced them we shouldnt have another copay (we didnt see the dr.). yeh for asking! usually i'm embarassed to ask!
4::
5


Goals
:1/20 No Spend Days
1/20 Decluttering/Organizing Days/30 minutes (NOT cleaning)
0/5 Library Days w/ boys
: 1/4 books
:0/20 knit at least 15 minutes
:3/28 eat at home
0/10 add things to CL
:0/5 update blogs (months behind)
:1/10 Let the Car Rest Days
:3/30 Exercise at least 30 minutes
post #83 of 424
4/3/09 at 5:31pm
April 1st: no spend, walked 2 miles
2nd: no spend
3rd: $5.50 homeschool, walked one mile
post #84 of 424
4/3/09 at 6:19pm
Well, I had a rough start to the month! : In happier news, DH's student loan is finally PAID OFF! Woo-hoo!

04/01: $17 Thrifting.
04/02:
04/03:

2/20 No spend days.
$17/$100 Unnecessarily spent.
$0/$400 Paid on the pellet stove.
post #85 of 424
4/3/09 at 7:07pm
APRIL 3:

I'm changing my icons to-

: No spend or only necessary, budgetted spending like groceries, day care, rent, gas, etc.
Avoided urge to spend! (such as really wanted to go to book store but went to library instead, or other such action) or decluttered/purged in some way.
Budgeted personal expenses only, hobbies, entertainment, etc.
Frivolous spend!

So far:

April 1: (used book sale and parking fees for said sale)
April 2: : (grocery day) $178 = $85 on bulk for month, $93 for weekly meals
April 3: : and Paid rent and daycare bills, but no spending other than that! Also decluttered three garbage bags full of stuff to the thrift store and didn't even step foot in the store! Yay me!
post #86 of 424
4/3/09 at 8:06pm
Kerry, SAHM to dd 5 this month and ds 1 this month. I've never done this before but I figured I should try.

I think my goals for this month are to get an accurate recording of our spending and continue to try and spend as little as possible and even attempt not to need to increase our debt.

One challenge for me is that I only do some electronic spending - and that amounts to a tiny fraction of our spending. My dh likes doing errands so there really are whole months at a time where I spend nothing. I'm not complaining as this is my preference. But it makes it hard to track. LOL


Dh just walked in at this opportune moment to tell me what's been spent.

April 1 4.06 breakfast; 1.45 coffee at break, 5.25 lunch
April 2 milk, cheese 10.97
April 3 gas ~45.00

OK so based on that my expanded goals are to find a way for dh not to have to buy food at work on days when he gets stuck dealing with dd in the early morning hours and actually doing up our listing from the records we kept in Feb.

take care,
Kerry
post #87 of 424
4/3/09 at 9:24pm
Joining.... better late than never!

I'm Kathleen, SAHM to 2 girls. This is my 3rd month doing the challenge and it has been eye-opening in a good way.

My goals are to give it one more try keeping my grocery/household budget to $400 or less. If I can't, I will have to raise it next month.

And to keep working on being on the same page as dh.... the same goal as last month!

4/1 - $3 milk
4/2 - $20 care package for friend who had a m/c; $4 grocery :
4/3 -

: = no drive day
= no spend day

Goals
1/15 no spend days
1/15 no drive days
$7/$400 grocery and household budget
post #88 of 424
4/3/09 at 9:59pm
April 1 -
April 2 - : $115.56 :, $3.94 Starbucks, $32.42 clothes for dd1
April 3 - $17 planned lunch out

: & household items $115.56/$600
Unbudgeted/Unnecessary Spending:
Budgeted/Necessary Spending: $32.42
No Spend Days: 1/15
:At least 30 minutes exercise: 1/30
Spending $ - $20.94/$50
Gas: $100
post #89 of 424
4/3/09 at 11:04pm
4/1 : :
4/2 : :
4/3 : : $4.13 on coffee and doughnuts

Goals
2/24 :
3/25 :

Key
: - no spend
- necessiary spend
: - blew it
: - eating at home with what we have
post #90 of 424
4/3/09 at 11:32pm
Pardon any typos. I am doing some one handed typing for a while until the left arm heals.

Jaime Totals:
Groceries: 0/$150
Household Expenses: 0/$75

My Grid:
= no spend days
= bills, bills, bills, but nothing unbudgeted
= spend day

April 1st
It was also a double no drive day since we are both homebound after the surgery. Gasoline saved :
April 2nd
And another double no drive day :
April 3rd
And you guessed it, yet another double no drive here I have to get out of the house this weekend. I think maybe my Mom will cut DHs hair over the weekend sometime, so that will save money and give me a chance to interact with other people.
April 4th
April 5th
April 6th
April 7th
April 8th
April 9th
April 10th
April 11th
April 12th
April 13th
April 14th
April 15th
April 16th
April 17th
April 18th
April 19th
April 20th
April 21st
April 22nd
April 23rd
April 24th
April 25th
April 26th
April 27th
April 28th
April 29th
April 30th

I hope everyone is doing well
post #91 of 424
4/4/09 at 9:29am
My Budget (not including bills & debt repayment)
Grocery/Household = $51.42/$190
Clothing = Earned $4.30


4/3 - : Hubby bought Steak 'n' Shake last night after work
4/4 - planned spend for extra groceries and the forgotten ham (hoping to keep it under $65)

I found out last night that my MIL and SIL's are coming Friday and staying all of Easter weekend. I'm excited for the company, but slightly freaked out at what that will do to our - already TIGHT - grocery budget Gotta call on some real creativity for 3 extra adults for 4 meals plus we're having 10 here for Easter next Sunday (I think I can, I think I can ...)


Quote:
Originally Posted by scrapadoozer View Post
Well, I had a rough start to the month! : In happier news, DH's student loan is finally PAID OFF! Woo-hoo!
: That is AWESOME! Way to go!


Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunnyflakes View Post
Pardon any typos. I am doing some one handed typing for a while until the left arm heals.
feel better soon!
post #92 of 424
4/4/09 at 9:46am
Looks like there won't be room for us in the homeschool co-op after all - I don't know if one lady had the wrong info about their K4 enrollment, or if they put their heads together and decided that they didn't want a Jewish family. Oh well, if that's what happened, obviously I don't want to be in their co-op anyway. So we'll take that expense out of the budget!


-------------------------------------------------------------------------

April 1st: Dunkin Donuts, $10. Groceries, $22.49. Vet, $268.50 and my dignity.
April 2nd:
April 3rd: $100 to mikveh lady, $45.72 lunch and groceries at kosher deli, $19 gas and snacks on trip home
April 4th: need to get some milk from farm and other food...
April 5th
April 6th
April 7th
April 8th
April 9th
April 10th
April 11th
April 12th
April 13th
April 14th
April 15th: TAXES DUE
April 16th
April 17th
April 18th
April 19th
April 20th
April 21st
April 22nd
April 23rd
April 24th
April 25th
April 26th
April 27th
April 28th
April 29th
April 30th

Total non-bill non-food household spending: 383/1000
Food: 72.21/400
Plane tickets: 0/500
Days doing homeschool lessons: 2/20
post #93 of 424
4/4/09 at 10:35am
I made it through the mall without getting coffee! : $12 for a video game is better than the usual $65 (he traded some of his old ones in for credit).

I'm going to go ahead and put this in for today, because I can't go anywhere - DH is working and has the car.

1
2
3 : DH Pay $17 eating out $12 DH video game
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 : DH Pay

Goals/Totals/Key

No Unnecessary/Unbudgeted Spending 3

Unneeded $29

: $300 left in the budget.

$100 Savings

3/30 wash/dry/fold/put away 1 load a day
post #94 of 424
4/4/09 at 3:08pm
Okay, so far so good:

1-
2-
3-, hubby's idea and I participated
4-, spent on budget for groceries
post #95 of 424
4/4/09 at 3:27pm
Checked the flyers last night and went out for some really good sales to stock up on food.

April 1 -
April 2 - : $115.56 :, $3.94 Starbucks, $32.42 clothes for dd1
April 3 - $17 planned lunch out
April 4 - : $165.12 :

: & household items $280.68/$600
Unbudgeted/Unnecessary Spending:
Budgeted/Necessary Spending: $32.42
No Spend Days: 1/15
:At least 30 minutes exercise: 2/30
Spending $ - $20.94/$50
Gas: $100
post #96 of 424
4/4/09 at 3:46pm
04/01: $17 Thrifting.
04/02:
04/03:
04/04:

3/20 No spend days.
$17/$100 Unnecessarily spent.
$111/$400 Paid on the pellet stove.
post #97 of 424
4/4/09 at 4:49pm
1- : $500 to car fund, : $0.60 library fine
2- , 30 minutes
3- , 45 minutes
4- $46 groceries; $20 labor prep items; $7 gas


April key and goals:

Budgeted
Groceries /household $46 / $450
Gas $7 / $60
Homeschool 0 / $20
Kid clothing & items 0 / $20
New baby items- $20 / $40 for miscellaneous baby/ labor prep items
: unbudgeted spending $0.60 / $20
No spend days 2 / 20 days
Declutter (so I will know what I have!) 2 / 10 days
: Money to savings for replacement car fund- $500 / $500
post #98 of 424
4/4/09 at 5:20pm
Plan: record everything here (did Feb & March and it made a huge difference in my spending) and use the envelope system.

Grocery weeks:
March 29 - April 4: 99.00/100
April 5 - April 11: 10/100
April 12 - April 18: 0/100
April 19 - April 25: 0/100
April 26 - May 2: 0/100

Type of spending
= budgeted spending
= not budgeted spending
= no spend

What the $ was spent on
: = $ spent on groceries
or : = $ spent on baby or cat
= $ spent on me

4/1 - on : 10.00 for next week's fruit & veggie delivery
4/2 -
4/3 - on - dealing with terrible cold
4/4 - on : 1.95
post #99 of 424
4/4/09 at 8:16pm
April 1: (used book sale and parking fees for said sale)
April 2: (grocery day) $178 = $85 on bulk for month, $93 for weekly meals
April 3: and Paid rent and daycare bills, but no spending other than that! Also decluttered three garbage bags full of stuff to the thrift store and didn't even step foot in the store! Yay me!
April 4- earned $5 for bringing in beer and wine bottles, spent $16 on groceries at market.

No spend or only necessary, budgetted spending like groceries, day care, rent, gas, etc.
Budgeted personal expenses only, hobbies, entertainment, etc.
Frivolous spend!
Avoided urge to spend! (such as really wanted to go to book store but went to library instead, or other such action) or decluttered/purged in some way.
post #100 of 424
4/4/09 at 8:45pm
Lovely garden grown kale for dinner last night. Love it! This warmer weather has really been good for the seeds I planted a few weeks ago. Little lettuces and cabbages seedlings everywhere. It is so nice to see all of that hard work pay off. More work to come, but it is much more enjoyable now that it has warmed some. More lettuces to seed and I still have about 300 square feet of lawn to dig up.


Apr 1 --
Apr 2 --
Apr 3 --
Apr 4 --
Apr 5 --
Apr 6 --
Apr 7 --

No spend --
Budget spending --

105.75/450.00 groceries
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Mothering › Mothering Discussion Forums › Natural Family Living › The Mindful Home › Frugality & Finances › ~April No-Spend Challenge~ We're tracking our spending and buying only the necessities. Come Join us! Newcomers Welcome!