~ October No-Spend Challenge ~ The treat is having money in the bank. The trick is keeping it... - Page 9

[mommyto4grits]

My key:
No Spend
No Driving
Budgeted Spending/Necessities/Thought Over Purchase
Unnecessary Spending
: Exercise Day

Groceries $262

1st- :
2nd- :
3rd- :
4th-
5th- :
6th- :
7th- :
8th-
9th- :
10th-:

[Ruthiegirl]

Yikes! Our food bill is out of control this month. Part of me wants to reign it in, but a bigger part of me is enjoying all of the fresh produce and quality meat.



Oct 1 --
Oct 2 --
Oct 3 -- 18.55 thrift store clothes
Oct 4 -- $20 campsite, $103 camping gear
Oct 5 --
Oct 6 --
Oct 7 --
Oct 8 -- 11.55 fast food
Oct 9 --
Oct 10 -- 20.00 gift
Oct 11 --
Oct 12 --
Oct 13 --
Oct 14 --
Oct 15 --
Oct 16 -- payday


600/2250.00 savings (extra paycheck this month)
299.74/600.00 groceries/household stuff
100.00 ds's birthday/Halloween

[Om Girl]

Falling off the wagon...I now know why I fall off the no-spend wagon. It's because I slip up and then I just say "forget it" and don't finish the months challenge.
I have been striving to be better, but I'm finding that food is my biggest spending pit. Too often things come up in my work that I need to be out of the house for longer than expected periods and then I'm just too exhausted to cook or there's not enough time. (I know really original excuses, huh?!)

So I'm working harder on my spending less on food/restaurants/etc.

10-1:
10-2: :
10-3: :
10-4: $30.00 bus card
10-5: :
10-6: $104.85 winter shoes for both girls, planned : out
10-7: $15.66 Target
10-8:
10-9:
10-10: $74.89 Target (DH's bday present/card, dress for the holidays for myself)
10-11: :

[dancebaraka]

Hey All!

Joining back in now that I am home from Taos... had an amazing time, btw!


Goals:
save $100 cash by the end of the month

Extras for the month:
~$3 week couponing/cvs-ing
$45 wine club
$100 date nights/evening outs/misc.spends

Key:
no spend day
budgeted spending on basics/bills
planned extras (see above; I'll note what I spent for these)
oops! (I'll note $ here as well)

10.07 (wine club -$45)
10.08
10.09
10.10 (folk festival tix -$25)
11.11

[FeelingBlessed]

Had the library fine habit kicked for awhile, but it seems to be creeping back up again. Must get control, + make sure the parking ticket monster is not far behind!

Take good care,
Kim

Oct. 1:
Oct. 2:
Oct. 3:
Oct. 4:
Oct. 5:
Oct. 6:
Oct. 7:
Oct. 8:
Oct. 9:
Oct. 10: ~$5 library fines
Oct. 11: $15 toy for kiddos

No Spend/Spend w/in Budget: 9/27
Grocery/Eating Out: $to update/$600
Exercise (happier me = less spending): 7/27
Organize (saner me = less spending): 8/27
Debt Blasting: $232,998/$235K Oct. Goal (debt paid off since start of snowball on 2/15/08)

[justamama]

a. I'm Denise. I live in our house with DH and two little girls (4 and almost 2), 2 dogs, a bunny, and am pregnant and due this spring. I just started a part-time WOH job after basically being unemployed for a few months (had a job, didn't have hours). We have a lot of debt and have considered bankruptcy as a viable option, but I am trying to avoid that. We are also behind on our mortgage and trying to get that caught up without having to pay higher payments for an entire year!

b. Our biggest goal is to get caught up on our mortgage. After that is avoiding bankruptcy and clawing our way out of debt. We'd love if I could SAH after this baby is born, but realize that may not be reality right now. By the time the baby is here, I'd love to have the mortgage caught up and have all debt but the balance on the cars that we gave back to the bank paid off.

c. Avoiding aimless shopping in stores. Eating more at home/taking leftovers. Going to an all cash system. Paying bills as soon as I wake up on payday and the money is in our account so they are taken care of before any shopping for the week is done. Making our own supplies when we can. Using the library. Looking for ways to reduce costs. NO CASH ADVANCES FROM OUR BANK!!!

[mommyto4grits]

My key:
No Spend
No Driving
Budgeted Spending/Necessities/Thought Over Purchase
Unnecessary Spending
: Exercise Day

Groceries $262

1st- :
2nd- :
3rd- :
4th-
5th- :
6th- :
7th- :
8th-
9th- :
10th-:
11th-:

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Wow -- $381 in frivolous spending and we're only 1/3 of the way through the month. Just wow.

In case any of you feel like I'm leading by example, you can now see that I most definitely am not.

I've got to reign in this spending, friends. This can't go on. Mainly because we don't have much extra left for the rest of the month.

Okay...tomorrow is a new day and my goal is to stay out of the stores for the rest of the month.

01.. $61 for kid winter gear from Sierra Trading Post
02..
03.. $51 yet more clothes for me, $14 yoga book
04..
05..
06.. $110 cat stuff
07.. $20 Alcohol for scrapbooking night (mudslides)
08..
09.. $8.37 McDonald's
10.. $89 Isis vest
11.. $26 for replacement blender because I broke the neighbor's blender

My Goals:

4/20 No Spend days
2/5 Let the car rest days

[HappyLamb]

Originally Posted by _ktg_

My budget is $500 for my fam (me, DH & DSx2)

So I for one will say I am in awe of you for only spending $375 on groceries!!!!

Well, let's see if I actually stick to it.

[akichan]

10/1 BUT ran into a palm tree so must pay $500 insurance deductible next week when I take van to the shop. Grrrr.
10/2 $7.35 Little Caesar's pizza - but I was craving it for 2 weeks now and it was soooo good I can't regret it!
10/3
10/4
10/5 Paid electric bill.
Going to be a spending day because going on a day trip to the Polynesian Cultural Center (have annual pass). Planning to buy kids a dvd or cd of Poly music at the gift shop-been looking for one online for a while but can't find any, so I guess I have to bite the bullet and buy it brand new. The kids have been longing for one, so I don't feel bad. I'll give myself a for the day because we're packing our own dinner.
10/6
10/7
10/8 Target and WalMart splurges, spur of the moment party invite.
10/9 Don't know what to call this one - necessary, but dumb. Got van fixed for backing into palm tree. $500 deductible paid.
10/10 Spent $6 on a book I've been looking for! Border's 40% off coupon ROCKS!
10/11 I will be putting in a LARGE glowstick order which is going over my entire Halloween budget. Grrr. And I will still have to buy treats.

My Key/Goals:
= no spend 4/10
= spent within budget
= frivolous spending
= eating out 1/3
$51/$35 Halloween supplies (costumes already purchased, this is only for treats and light sticks - enough light sticks to last us the entire year)

[major_mama11]

Eeps- big spending day today! We were heading to the grocery store this morning, but as DH was strapping DS into the little infant carseat, he noticed that the straps were way too tight and wouldn't adjust any higher. The straps wouldn't even go all the way onto his shoulders anymore. I was hoping to put off getting his big-boy carseat until next month, but it couldn't wait any longer. And carseats are one of the few things that we don't skimp on. So off to Target we went.

DD has gotten down to just beat-up Crocs and snowboots and has outgrown all other shoes, and it's getting cold, so we bought her two pairs of shoes today as well- I looked at several yard sales this fall, but didn't find any with shoes her size this year, so we bought them new...

My two frugal moves this month- finally got back to Aldi's for an all-around stockup, and also finally started using cloth dipes part-time again, now that DS's rash has cleared up.

Have picked out one nice, quality toy for DD for bday, and one for christmas, but haven't bought them yet. She gets soooo many toys from extended family, all year round, that I think one nice quality toy for each event from us will do it, this year.

Doing a good amount of decluttering- it's becoming addictive.

9/30- $4 milk. Story hour at library- free!
10/1-
2- $20 gas, $1 gift (new baby card), $4 bday party preparations, $102 groceries, $4 baby cereal :
3-
4 :
5- $6 birthday stuff, $10 groceries, $46 baby diapers (couldn't pass up sale, now we're mega, mega stocked up)
6 :
7 :
8 :
9 :
10
11- : $405 Target ( $290 for carseat- which will last several years, $30 groceries, $10 shirts for DS, $30 shoes for DD, $10 breastmilk storage bags, $4 bday invites, : $10 DVD for DD that wasn't really necessary) :

October goals:

Budgeted:
Groceries /household $146 / $360
Gas $20 / $100
Homeschool $0 / $20
Kid clothing & items- $40 / $20
Baby $50 / $30
Gifts $1 / $40 (may start xmas shopping this month (photo calendars and friend bday $5)
Jubilee birthday prep! $14 / $30
: Stupid medical bill $0 / $100- $577 remaining
Carseat- $290 / $290
unbudgeted spending $10 / $20
No spend days 8 / 20 days

Other goals:
: Exercise 5 / 10
Declutter/ Deep clean 3 / 5
: Cook from scratch 2 / 5

Total budgeted =$720
Total spent = $281 (not counting carseat because DH is paying for it)

[Ruthiegirl]

Hmmm...we are headed to Vermont this Friday for a visit to see friends. I just looked at the weather and (dang!) it is cold up there right now. I am going top sift through clothes today and see if everyone has enough to wear.

I think the kids and dh will be fine. I usually have enough for them, but I think I am the one who will freeze. I am a typical mom and have under-bought clothes for myself for years and I am down to 2 pairs of pants and lots of very worn t-shirts.

Giving myself a for today to encourage me to not spend. I have a bin of old things in the attic and I will look there and figure out if I can swing the trip without buying anything.


Oct 1 --
Oct 2 --
Oct 3 -- 18.55 thrift store clothes
Oct 4 -- $20 campsite, $103 camping gear
Oct 5 --
Oct 6 --
Oct 7 --
Oct 8 -- 11.55 fast food
Oct 9 --
Oct 10 -- 20.00 gift
Oct 11 --
Oct 12 --
Oct 13 --
Oct 14 --
Oct 15 --
Oct 16 -- payday


600/2250.00 savings (extra paycheck this month)
299.74/600.00 groceries/household stuff
100.00 ds's birthday/Halloween

[_ktg_]

Goals:
4/12 - "no spend" days
1/3 - Eating Dinner out days

Spending Goals:
$449.00/500.00 for groceries
$0.00/100.00 for halloween spending

Key:
- no spending
- budgeted spending
- unbugeted spending
- unbudgeted & emergency spending

October
1 -
2 -
3 - ($307 at Costco & $142 at the grocer)
4 - ($58 at Target) and $6 at goodwill for 3 movies for DSs- this might be a , but we had leftover $$ from our budgeted Target run. Just watch -This will come back & bite me later in the month.
5 -
6 - $10 for DS2's prescription re: staph/diaper rash. UGH!
7 -
8 -
9 -
10 - $11 Farmer's Market (this might go back to , after groceries this week)
11 - $33 for coffee beans(I'm also buying for my office, so some $$ will be coming back to me)
12 -

[_ktg_]

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom

Wow -- $381 in frivolous spending and we're only 1/3 of the way through the month. Just wow.

In case any of you feel like I'm leading by example, you can now see that I most definitely am not.

I've got to reign in this spending, friends. This can't go on. Mainly because we don't have much extra left for the rest of the month.

Okay...tomorrow is a new day and my goal is to stay out of the stores for the rest of the month.

awww Prudence

I just want to say I love this thread, because 1 if I'm tempted to fall off the wagon, I know I have to post it here , but also because we're all so supportive when we do slip up or have a very very off month.

Only 19 days left to go!!

[scrapadoozer]

I feel so out of control this month. I know I haven't spent a lot but the urge to do so has been SO STRONG. I need to stay out of stores and off any websites that want my money. Grrr, I hate feeling like this again.

10/01:
10/02:
10/03: Chinese food $16.26
10/04:
10/05:
10/06:
10/07:
10/08:
10/09: Chinese food $19.05
10/10: Booze $6
10/11:

8/20 No-spend days
$41.31/$100 Frivolous spending

[nina_yyc]

I haven't had the time to post an update every day since there is a volunteer project sucking up all my time, but here's the totals to date:

$310.24/600 Food & household expenses
$50.73/$45 eating out
$56.35/$150 Gas
$149/$100 Clothing/personal (hoping to get some of this back, it's mostly chiro appointments)
$49.40/$25 Entertainment
$136.55 Misc/unexpected expenses

I can probably blame $50 of that on this volunteer job, which is sadly undersupplied and by the time expenses are approved, it's long past the date when things need to be finished. Hopefully I can get reimbursed for some of that, but unlikely. There is also about $50 in there of gifts.

I've eaten out and bought myself a set of headphones for the gym, and paid a library fine but nothing too crazy.....but it really hasn't sunk in for me yet that unexpected things always come up, and THERE IS NO ROOM in the budget for that kind of spending, and yes, $4 at Starbucks is a big deal. I don't know why I can never learn this lesson.

There is still spending that needs to happen this month...We're invited to two Halloween events, so DD and I require costumes, and Saturday is our 5th wedding anniversary and we're going out for dinner. If I can get reimbursed for the chiro I can *almost* make it back on track, but there really can be no more spending until the end of the month!

[dancebaraka]

Hey All!

Joining back in now that I am home from Taos... had an amazing time, btw!


Goals:
save $100 cash by the end of the month

Extras for the month:
~$3 week couponing/cvs-ing
$45 wine club
$100 date nights/evening outs/misc.spends
$15 postage for swaps

Key:
no spend day
budgeted spending on basics/bills
planned extras (see above; I'll note what I spent for these)
oops! (I'll note $ here as well)

10.07 (wine club -$45)
10.08
10.09
10.10 (folk festival tix -$25)
11.11
11.12

[mommyto4grits]

My key:
No Spend
No Driving
Budgeted Spending/Necessities/Thought Over Purchase
Unnecessary Spending
: Exercise Day

Groceries $295

1st- :
2nd- :
3rd- :
4th-
5th- :
6th- :
7th- :
8th-
9th- :
10th-:
11th-:
12-

[Peacemamalove]

need advice no spenders! I need to make a homemade gift for my daughters 5th birthday but I haven't a clue what I can make her There is no money to purchase anything here is a list of items I have on hand:

Some fabric
yarn ( but I only know how to crochet and I am not really good at it )
jingle bells
a few wooden beads
some misc. felt pieces
some wool roving

My daughter's birthday is the 20th . So it needs to be something I can make by then and fairly simple. Any ides or thought?

[HappyLamb]

Key:
- no spending
- budgeted spending
- unbugeted spending
- unbudgeted & emergency spending

I am going to start with the past few days.....

10/5: - 14/375 groceries
10/6:
10/7
10/8- ALMOST. Went to Target and only bought 1 item not on my list, sidewalk chalk for my kids. When I recorded it, I made sure to take it out of "toys" budget.
10/9: (spent $15 on groceries, we're at $150 of $375!)
10/10
10/11
10/12
10/13
10/14
10/15
10/16
10/17
10/18
10/19

You guys are inspiring me!
I was reading on a thread about a bunch of DIY projects to insulate your home (insulated curtains, etc).... Instead of running out to purchase supplies for curtains, or ordering them online, I thought about and made a plan. First, I'll practice with my sewing machine a bit, and THEN, if I think I can do it easily, then I will make a list and buy what I need at JoAnn's or whatever, but I won't make a separate trip to the store.....I will go when I am already in the neighborhood.