~November No-Spend Challenge~ We're trying to save as much as possible in November -- Come Join Us!

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

This is a support thread to help you ~not spend your money~.

Everyone is welcome to join and you can start tracking your spending at any time. It doesn't have to be November 1st.

The plan is simple (although tough to execute):

1. Vow not to spend any money on unnecessary purchases.

2. Come on here everyday and record your spending.

We all record our spending in different ways. There are no rules. You record and update however you would like -- pick a way that will help you spend the least amount of money.

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Please write an introductory message when you decide to join our thread. We would like to know:

a. Who you are

b. Where you are going (your financial goals) and

c. How you plan to get there

Good luck MDCers!! Keep that money in your wallet.

[fruitful womb]

a. Hello, my name is Michelle. You can quote me as ~fw if you'd like. My name is so common, you call it in a room full of people and at least 5 heads will turn.

b.

Where you are going (your financial goals)

we took a significant pay loss. We're learning to budget with a half the income now. Its tough with 5 kids but we'll get there. Trying to stay spiritually positive throughout this challenge is work yet to be done...

c.

How you plan to get there

hanging out here with you guys. STAY AWAY FROM STARBUCKS! or commit myself to a rehab. * organize better/declutter * and stay home except Mondays Wednesdays and Sundays (class days for the boys at the creative arts in action school and church).

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Who I am
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My name is Prudence. I'm a SAHM with three daughters. We have plenty of money ~~~IF~~~ I don't go out and spend it. I tend to do a bit of compulsive shopping and buy things that we don't need. I'm especially guilty of buying expensive clothing for myself.

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So...my finacial goals are:

1. To be conscious every time I spend money...hence these threads. I want to have some accountability and knowing that I'm coming on here everyday to report what I spent does give me some pause when I'm pulling out that debit card.

2. To spend my money purposefully -- I'm okay with spending if it is something my family NEEDS or is something that is going to give us a lot of pleasure. I don't want to spend money on X when we would be happier having that money for Y. I want to give a lot of thought to each and every purchase.

3. To be conscious that money I'm spending today means we won't have that money for the FUTURE. I don't get a lot of reward for saving money...it just doesn't give me the thrill that spending does...so I have to pat myself on the back regularly...otherwise I don't save.

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My plan:

To post on this thread every day.

To not spend money on frivolous things...I would like to have 20 days...yes, 20...where I do not spend any money at all.

Instead of shopping for recreation, I would like to workout (I'm also a compulsive exerciser...but this seems to be good for me, unlike shopping which hurts me) or spend time outside with the kiddos.

Also I would like to go five days without driving. Gas = money. I tend to forget that and zip around where ever I would like in my car. By setting this goal I hope to hold myself more accountable in that area.

Okay...we're off!!!

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Getting my chart ready...

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My Goals:

0/20 No Spend Days
0/5 Let the Car Rest Days :

[Natalya]

I'll try!

Hi ladies. I'm Natalya, a single mother to one 5yo boy.

I just looked at how much i spent this week (groceries, got a few movies, decided to buy some stuff at ds' book fair) and am appalled at how much i spent! I need to be more mindful as i spend my money and I would like to be able to put some money in savings. This will be great to keep me accountable.

besides the no unnecessary spending my three goals are:
1. cut grocery bill by 10 dollars each week. (I'm planning on cutting my grocery spending by planning more frugal meals, cooking from scratch, etc.)
2. buy no alcohol (self explanatory)
3. More thrift store searching for things we need. (I hate buying things new anyways, but mostly i've been too lazy to search for things second hand. I'm going to keep a list of things that we need that I can search for in thrift shops and try for those things a few times this month.)




1. no spending!
2. in budget grocery shopping, spent 69.00 for the week.
3. in budget spending- paid for ds' childcare and rent
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5. spent 10 bucks on roving. i thought about it for a few days and decided it was worth it.
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8. bought ds a treat for sitting through church.
9. paid for before/after school care
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[mommyto4grits]

I am Vicki, I have done this for the last couple month's, and am so proud of myself! Spent $1163 LESS in September than the month before.

My goals--Short term goals right now, an additonal $500 in savings by the end of the month. Pay off 1 small credit card. Pay only Cash for all Christmas Gifts.

How I plan to do this....
Not eating out!! Once or twice a month for DH and I to have a date night, all of us out to eat only when "kids eat free". Buying necessities and really thinking about purchases outside of necessities (will wait 24 hours for anything over $10), "gasp" cutting out my paper towel addiction- been doing great on this. Having at least 2 no-drive days a week.

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

[blueoveralls9]

I love clean slates!

I am a SAHM to 6 blessings and 1 soon to be here. My DH has just had his hours cut drastically for the winter so I am even more challenged to find bargains and keep our unneccessary spending down.

My financial goals for November 2009 are to put $500 in our emergency fund and pay $1000 to our snowball debt. I think it will be doable with a lot of penny pinching and really STICKING to the written budget. I have a small side business that I do from home and I will be amping that up this month too in hopes of additional profits.

0/500 Emergency Fund
0/1000 Debt Snowball

=No Spend Day
=Within Written Budget Spending
=Not budgeted but Needed
=Stupid Spending
=No Drive Day

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[Montana Mom]

Hi, I'm Montana Mom. Single parent to 2 darling children. I have a very low income. I am challenging myself to stick to actual expenses and 4 no drive days.

1. Expenses Due: Tithe, Rent, Debt Payment
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[nichole]

a. Hi! I'm Nichole, sahm to 2 boys, one of which goes to public school.

b. We are saving up an emergency fund and adding on an addition to my inlaws house. We like living together, but a lot of our stuff is in storage and would like more privacy. We save a lot of money by sharing the bills! I love it We took a pay cut kind of on purpose. It might sound stupid in this economy, but my husband's job was really stressful and we are happier now.

c. We cut our grocery bill in half, started eating at home more, stopped "shopping", etc.

I hope I have time to post. I did let the car rest a lot this week. It was hard. I did appreciate it more when I finally went somewhere. My son is sick so I did splurge on some gaterade and canned soup b/c I know he likes it and it will keep him hydrated. Other than that, I didn't buy anything today

[vivalamama]

, I'm Claire, I have 3 DDs , a sweet DH , and a spazzy dog

We are moving this weekend into a new rental. We are selling our house, we close on the 12th, and so in addition to DD1's birthday this month, we also have to pay half our mortgage, rent, and a security deposit (the rent and SD I just took out of our online savings and so need to repay ourselves once we close). We will be using our money from the sale of the house to pay off a car loan, all of my student loan, and part of my DH's student loan

We have some car repairs that need to get done. Big thing will probably be eating at home for the most part since I expect things will be chaotic for a while and I'll want to bail on cooking duty... also thanksgiving... try to spread out purchases over the next few shopping trips- already have a list so watch for specials. oh, and DD1 needs a gift for a friend's birthday, oops, make that 2 friends.
And we still need to shop for christmas and DD3's birthday (beginning of Dec), I need to get working on a budget for that. yipes!

ok, enough of the novel

My plan:
moving day 11/1-- pay for UHAUL, buy pizza lunch for friends helping us move, no other spending
make a budget for DD1's birthday, DD3's birthday, and Christmas.
go to cash system for a reasonable amount of 'fun' money for DH and I
put away debit and credit cards!
dinner out 2 times max, one on closing date for house to celebrate!
1 trip to costco <$150
2 CSA days $80
1 grocery trip/week <$85

key:
no spend at all
budgeted spend
excess spend

1- Moving day-
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4- DD1's b-day
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7- DD1's party
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12- Closing on house-
13- Record house sale-
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[Ruthiegirl]

a. Who you are

Ruth, SAHM to three.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals)

$1000 savings goal this month to help build our emergency fund

c. How you plan to get there

Ahhhh, the difficult part -- working an all cash system, sticking to the grocery budget and continuing to wear my old clothes when I really want to shop, shop, shop.




Savings 0/1000.00
Grocery/household 0/500.00

[quelindo]

a. Who you are

I'm a SAHM to Henry (4YO). My DH is an engineer with three kids from his first marriage -- we have his 16YO DD part-time and he's still paying child support for her.


b. Where you are going (your financial goals)

We were doing fine (though with an incredibly high mortgage -- I always figured we'd start paying it down more once child support ends in a few years) until I stupidly decided to go into a little bit of debt to have our living room decorated and get some raised beds built in the backyard. Then DH pushed and pushed to buy a new keyboard (he's a musician, too) and since he almost never asks for anything and he'd been wanting it for a long time, I said okay. I thought we'd be able to pay everything off in just a few months.

And then...we were hit with $3000 in car maintenance/repair bills, we realized we could no longer put off our chimney rebuild (water started leaking in, and with winter coming and snow melting off the roof, things will only get worse) to the tune of EIGHT THOUSAND DOLLARS (sorry to shout, but I'm in shock...) and now our dryer is not working! Murphy needs to move on...

c. How you plan to get there

I already have a pretty bare-bones budget set up for us. I have been a blackbelt frugalite in the past and while I have spendthrift tendencies, I know how to pinch a penny when I have to. I have started tracking our spending more carefully (I have a Freedom Account, though it's pretty depleted ATM) and want to be held accountable here as well.

I'd like to be more aware that the $10 I spend at Starbucks every now and then (sometimes it's an outing for me and DS) DOES make a difference. I want to try to find cheaper/free outings for us instead -- more utilizing the children's museum membership and the wonderful libraries around here, etc.

I also want to WALK more, even though it's getting cold. The more I let the car rest, the better.

And finally, I want to be better about our grocery spending. We already almost never eat out and make almost everything from scratch, but we do sometimes waste food that we forget about (leftovers left too long) and I could be better about menu planning.

My Key:

No Spending
Necessary Spending
Unnecessary spending
No Car Day

[mama_ani]

I've tried to do this before and failed but now I've had a major life change (suddenly a single mum of five) so I really need to do this. I no longer have a vehicle so that itself will help reduce unnecessary spending since I have to walk/bus everywhere with my kids and have no desire to hump extra stuff around on my back!

a. Who you are
I'm a SAHM to my five kids ages 14, 13, 11, 3.5 and 1.5. I homeschool my 11 year old, the older two go to school and the younger two make life crazy

b. Where you are going (your financial goals) and
My goal is to keep trying to pay off debt as I've been left with the lion's share of our debt as a couple. I also want to start an emergency fund.

c. How you plan to get there
I have created a strict budget, I made up a menu for all meals & snacks, I'm making a grocery list to go with it - simple meals but nutritious. I'm trying to simplify our living. I've also gone to a cash envelope system

= no spend day
= necessary spend
= unnecessary spend

[gothnurse3]

I have tried to do this numerous times and have been unsuccessful BUT things are REALLY different. I am going all cash...what it boils down to is I have to work with the money I have or I will be forced to go back to work. I have been a SAHM of 3 kids since August. I want to be part of this support system.

[highlandmum]

Joining in...maybe I'll actually stick w/ it this month....

I'm Jenny, and my goals are pretty simple:: dh and I are stuck paying back a debt of about $3,000 over the course of the next three months (great, huh? Over Christmas....) and we need to be frugal anyway, because we are trying to pay off debt in order to build a house and take some much needed vacations...
My goal is to not spend any money at all, except::
Groceries/Household-$150/week
AND on 11/6 I have a small list of things we need that I have budgetted to buy, and then again on 11/13, and again on 11/27 (I'll post what exactly these items are later...I don't have my list in front of me)
I need to call and schedule deferrment on my student loans for 6 months.

My 'key'::
No spend
Budgetted spend
Over-spent, or spend on a non spend day:

good luck to all!

[_ktg_]

Back again... I'm loving this thread, as it helped me curb those extra purchases!!

Intros: I'm Kate, a WOHM, & P/T grad student with a wonderful partner who is a SAHD to our fabulous boys (3 & 10months).

Goals: This month is to live within our budget. This is our second month with a mostly cash budget ala DR and the envelope system. Other goals are:

• 15 "no spend" days as I was soo close to 12 days in October, I think I can push a bit harder and eek out those additional days.
• 3 - Eating Dinner out days
• $500.00 for groceries
• No spending for the holidays until we set a budget!!! - I'll update the goal for this later

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Method to accomplish these goals: I can do this as long as I set limits, live within the limits and realize that Murphy loves to visit ... often!

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

[mommyto4grits]

I am Vicki, I have done this for the last couple month's, and am so proud of myself! Spent $1163 LESS in September than the month before. Spent $740 more in October than in September, so I need to get saving!!

My goals--Short term goals right now, an additonal $500 in savings by the end of the month. Pay off 1 small credit card. Pay only Cash for all Christmas Gifts.

How I plan to do this....
Not eating out!! Once or twice a month for DH and I to have a date night, all of us out to eat only when "kids eat free". Buying necessities and really thinking about purchases outside of necessities (will wait 24 hours for anything over $10), "gasp" cutting out my paper towel addiction- been doing great on this. Having at least 2 no-drive days a week.

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

Groceries $70

1st- :

[quelindo]

I think it's close enough to the end of the day to report.

We had a rollercoaster day, thinking our dryer was broken, but DH finally decided that we blew something on it yesterday and it just needed time to "reset" itself. Whatever. I'm just glad it's working again! However, it did give me incentive to fix the retractable clothesline that had some cracked plastic (I drilled holes in the plastic and fed wire through to hold it back together) and get me hanging some laundry again.

I also did all my meal planning for the week, using mostly things we already have here. And I planned my week with DS, matching errands up to when we'll be on that particular end of town anyway.

11/1:


My Key:
No Car Day
No Spending
Necessary Spending
Unnecessary spending

[mama_ani]

1 -
2 - - paid rent
3 -
4 - - bought sinus meds for oldest daughter
5 - - bought bus tickets for my daughter & garbage tags
6 -
7 - - bought diapers & clementines


= no spend day
= necessary spend
= unnecessary spend

[Ruthiegirl]

Nov 1 --
Nov 2 --
Nov 3 --
Nov 4 --
Nov 5 --


Savings 0/1000.00
Grocery/household 0/500.00