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~~ September No-Spend Challenge ~~ Our last week for this challenge...how are you doing? - Page 6

post #101 of 459
9/4/09 at 1:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom View Post
Had to update because we went back to the fair and spent a little bit more on ice cream.
Oh the fair! I can't wait. Our state fair starts in a couple of weeks.
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post #102 of 459
9/4/09 at 1:48pm
a. Who you are
I'm Aileen, married and part time stepmom to 11 year old dsd and 16 year old dss.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals)
Pay off remaining car loan of 6523.63 and remaining cc 2k. Build up 6 month reserve savings (still need to figure out how much this should be).

c. How you plan to get there
Watch my spending like a hawk - groceries especially and unnecessary purchases. Have already trimmed cell phone bill, landline bill and cable. Already have automatic draft from paycheck going directly into savings account.

Legend:
Budgeted spend
: Unnecessary spend
No spend

September
1.
2. purchased promo product in support of my niece's son's scouting. 40.62
3. : box of red wine, we were out
4. jumped the gun - it was NOT a no-spend day by the time late evening came around. i bought myself some GladRags which one of the ladies were talking about on another thread. i've been thinking about abandoning disposable pads for years and finally decided to take the plunge so I worked it into the budget. i'm so excited!
5.
6.
7.
post #103 of 459
9/4/09 at 3:29pm
Thread Starter 
Woohoo!!! Day THREE with no car. I'm on a roll!

Today was a day I didn't plan on because I had to go to work. It took me FOREVER to get there, pushing the baby jogger, but I did it. My gym (I'm an aerobics teacher) is about two miles away so I ran there.

I was planning to run back but I was too tired after teaching, so I walked back.

We are having GORGEOUS weather right now. I won't be this motivated once the snow sets in.

But for now...woohoo!

01..
02.. , :
03.. $17 fair food, :
04.. , :
05..
06..
07..
08..
09..
10..
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25..
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My Goals:

3/20 No Spend days
3/9 Let the Car Rest days :
post #104 of 459
9/4/09 at 4:01pm
My key...
No Spend Day :
Necessities/Within Budget :
Over budget- frivolous spending :
Exercise Day :

1st- : I did spend $2.20 on items for vegetable soup though
2nd- $70 on homeschool related items
3rd- $40 Gas, $90 Target (Groceries and Consumables), $13 B&N, $4 Sonic
4th- $6.00 Breakfast for dd and I (we do a once a week breakfast), $84 Grocery Store, $4 Sonic
post #105 of 459
9/4/09 at 4:07pm
1. <$20 @ Target for cabinet/drawer locks and some kid's toys. Gas for car & van. Also a few groceries. So, overall, a .
2. No driving, other than work. So, no spending!
3. Library & pediatrician (9mo well visit). No spending!
4. No driving other than work. No spending! Got almost 30 hours on this paycheck!!!!!:


I wanted to mention that the totals are only for me. My hubby does his own thing. It's a little hard sometimes, because I never know how much he's made each day, how much he's spent, or how much we have for groceries. I determine how much food we'll buy by guaging his relative stress level. :

That's part of why I have no # goals -- no idea how much we'll have.

I do plan to hit Wally World soon, to copy two pictures and buy some baby gates.
post #106 of 459
9/4/09 at 4:24pm
Jumping in a bit late; probably will not catch up on posts, so hope the month is starting out well for everyone!

a) I am Kim - PT SAH/PT WAH/PT WOH mama to (2) fantastic kiddos (5 + 3 tomorrow); DH works FT + is in school FT; kiddos are nearly always w/ DH or me, so life is exceptionally busy, but lots of fun (we are homeschooling too)

b) Short-term: keep the budget in the black for the next year, continue to pay down debt, + squirrel away $ in savings - both my income + DH's should double a year from now (when he finishes an RN + I can bill more hours)

Long-term: live debt-free (okay, this is very long-term) + purchase the camp DH has been pining for the past decade

c) Lots of no spend days, meal plan, sell stuff, simplify, increase income...

Kim :
post #107 of 459
9/4/09 at 4:28pm
Sept. 1:
Sept. 2:
Sept. 3:
Sept. 4:

Goals:
4/25 No Spend Days
To update/$600 Groceries/Eating Out

Off to a good start. Couple of immediate challenges - trip to the fair tomorrow (how to convince the kiddos the rides are crummy + we should spend more time w/ the (free) farm animals?) + DS' 3rd b-day party next week (~50 attendees, but planned b/w lunch + dinner, local apple orchard is hosting free of charge, lots of free entertainment, just need to keep the food/goodies in check...)

Have a fantastic Labor Day weekend ladies!

Take good care,
Kim :
post #108 of 459
9/4/09 at 5:54pm
I even finally made a diaper. Hooray!

09/01: Memory card $10, boots for dd @ Goodwill $3
09/02:
09/03:
09/04:

3/20 No-spend days
$13/$100 Frivolously spent
post #109 of 459
9/4/09 at 6:42pm
9/1: $80 neccesary durable goods/ $5 unneccesary

9/2: $5.50 neccesary ($3 food, $2.50 nonfood consumable)
$0.75 unneccesary
{No Driving!}

9/3: $82 neccesary

$37 food
$19 durable goods (24 mason jars, earplugs, a nail file)
$22 non food consumables (stuff to make laundry detergent, dog food)
$4 snack while I was running errands- I was NOT Crashy McBloodsugar when I got home!

9/4:$606 neccesary/$13 unneccesary

$561 summer property taxes
$24 food ($3 of this was not strictly neccesary)
$20 gasoline
$4 non food consumables (borax)
$10 DH work raffle thingy (again, not strictly neccesary, but budgeted for)

We now have stuff for a month's worth of baking, fresh fruit, and stuff to make a year's worth of eggplant parmesan patties, marinara, pizza sauce and ketchup. Total spent on food is $64 so far. Here's to freezing and canning on Labor Day Weekend!
post #110 of 459
9/4/09 at 7:03pm
***********************************************
My key:

: is a no-spend day
: is a planned meal out
is planned spending of some kind
is negative spendy-ness, either a meal or other unnecesaries.
is something bought with the dollar-fairy's leavings
***********************************************


09/01: (a mocha) :
09/02: $250.00 dental emergency for DH. (just the downpayment!)
09/03: coffee, : otherwise
09/04: grocery day. Spent a lot, but stocked up on dog food, laundry detergent and some other things.
post #111 of 459
9/4/09 at 7:29pm
Money saved- goes to pay off my car early
Sept 1- spent money for the business. none personally
Sept 2- planned grocery day, cancelled
Sept 3-Pick up CSA pre-paid, pick up salt, and baking supplies spent $71 groceries within budget
Sept 4-
Sept 5-
Sept 6-
Sept 7-
Sept 8-
Sept 9- grocery day max 75
Sept 10- pick up CSA prepaid
Sept 11-
Sept 12-
Sept 13-
Sept 14-
Sept 15-
post #112 of 459
9/4/09 at 9:59pm
Here we Go!

No Spend Days
+ income and other abundances
- money used
I also plan to check-in at the end of each week. I'll put thoughts & gratitude for my process there

Week One~

Sept.1
Sept.2
Sept.3 + $125 (sister owed me)
Sept.4 -88.23 (elec.bill)
Sept.5 + $80 (income) -62.60 (groceries, higher than usual b/c I am bringing a bunch of food to a friend tomorrow. I will earn a $15 Gift Card from this trip & before coupons & savings, my total was almost double this.. that feels good!)
Sept.6
Sept.7
post #113 of 459
9/4/09 at 10:20pm
I'm in!! i'm going to try and *really* limit my extra spending/cut down on my grocery/take out bills. I can't vouch for dh being on board or me being able to keep track of what he spends but I'll keep track of me and what I know of

01- Nothin!:
02- $57.00 for bi-weekly organic csa box-which for the second shipment in a row was VERY disappointing to the point where I'm thinking of canceling but on a plus dh didn't spend ANY $!!
03-Dh! $50 for gas-$10 for food for his lunch Me NUTHIN
04-Dh went grocery shopping, which needed to be done BUT we needed just a few things...not cookies, wasabi peas, popcorn so he spent $30 on groceries...$10 on CRAP! I spent .10 yup that's 10 cents...ds wanted to use his Kernals g/c today and our order was .10 over::for dh for me
05-
06-Worried about today..f-i-l just said that there's a family get together 2 hours away(so 4 hours total driving!) from 2-4. So I'm going to have to make lunch for the road/hope they take us out for dinner after...Doubt there will be many veg friendly foods there to nibble on and I *really* don't want to spend $ on take out!
07-
08-
09-Cousin's bday...thinking of buying him a guitar strap frm my work(DISCOUNT BABY!!)
10-
11-
12-
13-
14-
15-57.00 Csa organics box
16-
17-
18-
19-
20-
21-
22-
23-
24-
25-
26-
27-
28-
29-$57.00 Csa box
30-

Groceries-97/250(Hoping to only spend $200)
Take out/Eating out-10/50(hoping to spend $0)
Extra $ Spent .10/20
Gifts-cousins bday-$20.00 Hoping to spend less Doubtful though
-F-I-L's bday-prob dinner- hoping to spend no extra
KEY--no spend day
Planned spending
Dh/unplanned spending
post #114 of 459
9/4/09 at 11:25pm
In the last 3days I've spent $12 on lattes! Its the back to school grind I think. It was such a normal habit in the past. Normally just a once a week treat but I've been feeling sleep deprived and getting a 10am pick me up. Need to make a pot at home instead and bring a travel cup!!!:::::::i rked::
post #115 of 459
9/5/09 at 1:31am
a. Who you are. Im Heather, I use to do the no spend challenge before the birth of my second daugher almost a year ago. Now I need to again. I have two girls, one is 2 1/2 and the other is 10 months. Im a SAHM and we live in Okinawa, Japan.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals) We want to go back to visit family for Christmas. Im trying to buy the plane tickets for the girls and me on October first so I need 2770 for the tickets. DH's ticket is another 900 that I need to pay by November 1st. These are OUTSTANDING prices for tickets back to the states so I want to get them before prices jump.

c. How you plan to get there: Not spending for anything but food and gas. We have zoo passes if we want to do something on the weekend. There are also tons of trails to hike and at least 20 beaches on the island within 30 minute drive. There is NO reason we need to spend money to do anything.

Budget:
20-30 no drive days. Yes I know its a lot but we only have one car so I just need to sit at home after DH gets off instead of going places together.
300 food budget. This part is going to be a little hard
No fast food at all. Eat at home
Work on using the fabric I have to sew myself some new clothes. Right now I have patterns and fabric sitting around that needs to be worked with.
Go through the girls clothes and see where their "winter" (we don't have seasons really) wardrobe needs supliments. Im hoping DD1 can hold off on new clothes until we visit the states.
Declutter, Declutter, Declutter.
post #116 of 459
9/5/09 at 2:24am
Well, my auto insurance and CC payment didn't post to my account on 9/4 like they were supposed to, so technically it was a no spend day! : I'm sure they will go through tomorrow though.

Key:
No spend:
Budgeted spend:
Non-budgeted spend: :

Goals:
10/$250 Grocery Budget
20/$200 Rob's fun budget
0/$200 Chest Freezer Fund

1.
2. (gas)
3. : (Tums @ Walgreens...not feeling well) / $7.58 for dinner at work / $27.54 @ Wal-mart for a few things I've been wanting to get for the house (lock to keep our nephew out of our room, tool box so that we'll quit losing tools, and a wall calendar so that the bills will get paid on time every time) and deodorant for both SO and me. I also got some Reese's peanut butter cups but I had coupons for those so they were free plus overage!
4.
5.
6. drugstore/coupon shopping
7.
post #117 of 459
9/5/09 at 2:53am

September

1
2
3 +70 (from mom) - $50 visitation -$5.85 Qdoba visit
4 - $2.15 McD's visit -$12 gas
5
6
7
8 +40 - $25
9 -$15 gas
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
post #118 of 459
9/5/09 at 10:01am
Planned spending today -- mulch for the front garden beds, straw for the veggies beds and we need gas in the van. I have cash set aside for all of this, just need to stick to the budget.

Sept 1 -- 9.30 library fines, 32.40 homeschool stuff
Sept 2 -- 2.07 post office
Sept 3 --
Sept 4 -- 9.54 movie
Sept 5 --


September goals:

700.00/1100.00 savings
0/50.00 paint for dining room
48.36/600.00 groceries
0/100.00 dd's birthday
post #119 of 459
9/5/09 at 10:13am
1 $2 lunch at work
2 $88 food
3
4 $20 home depot $28 target $5 lunch at work food & gas 88/80
5
6
7
8
9
10
11 food & gas 0/80
12
13
14
15
16
17
18 food & gas 0/80
19
20 Mia's Birthday!
21
22
23
24
25 food & gas 0/80
26
27
28
29
30

food & gas 88/320
birthday 1.50/50
closing fund 400/1500
nothing purchased
$55
Items Sold (0)

My Footnotes (I hate it when things get all messy up there^).
The $20 at home depot included: repairs for the apartment & $8 to repaint some wall furnishings in an attempt to not make me want to buy $120 worth of new ones when we move.
The $28 target includes: ($$$), oil for the car, floss, hair ties, and dish soap. (D threw some absolutely ridiculous WOW cards in there that I could beat him with.)
post #120 of 459
9/5/09 at 10:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paxjourney View Post
In the last 3days I've spent $12 on lattes! Its the back to school grind I think. It was such a normal habit in the past. Normally just a once a week treat but I've been feeling sleep deprived and getting a 10am pick me up. Need to make a pot at home instead and bring a travel cup!!!:::::::i rked::
This is my issue at work! I have gotten back into the habit of making a pot and bringing a cup with me. Then I get to 9:15 am and it's break time, do I bring two cups? Cave and buy a cup? (Are you kidding $1.20 for nothing special coffee? I can make at least 40 cups with that!) Lucky for me we have a coffee maker on the floor and usually take turns making it and buying coffee for it.
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