March No Spend Challenge

[triscuitsmom]

I can't believe it's March already!!! I didn't see this thread started yet, and I wanted to get my goals down.

This part copied from Crunchy*VT*Mom with permission

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 January 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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

[triscuitsmom]

a. Who you are
~Alison... mama to two fabulous little people with another on the way later this year. I own my own business and I need to really work to get sales up this month as much as possible.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals)
~We are DR people with a nice savings built up. We are looking to get our debt paid off now.

c. How you plan to get there
~Keep spending as low as possible this month, NO eating out except for two occasions which are already planned for, and DP needs to find a job

Goals for the Month of March
1. No unplanned spending: 0/31
2. No eating out that isn't already planned for: 0/29
3. Bring in extra money from my business: 0%
4. 450 items decluttered: 0/450
5. 13 days with exercise in them: 0/13

Key:
- No Spend
- Planned Spend
- Unplanned Spend
- All meals eaten at home
- Decluttered stuff out of the house
- Exercise

[_ktg_]

a: I'm Kate, a WOHM to 2 boys and a wonderful DH who is a SAHD. We are spenders, but trying to dig ourselves out of debt
b: We have 17k in CC debt and we are making progress in getting out of it. My goals for this month is to eat out 2x this month (lunch & dinner) and keep the unplanned spending to a minimum/none.
c: Work this thread, the DR thread and the home-cooked meals thread, and make the magic happen of actually not spending too much $$


Key:
= No Spend
= Budgeted Spending
= unplanned spending
= unplanned emergency spending

February:
28 - groceries $465
March:
1 - groceries $44, & repairs to car $55
2 -

Goals:
Eat out (dinner or lunch): 0/2
Groceries: $509/$500
Extra for CC: 0/$200
No Spend days: 0/20

[FillingMyQuiver]

a. I'm Jenn, SAHM to 4 under 6.

b. We're looking to have our $14000 in cc debt paid off by the end of this year and then want to move onto our Suburban (still owe about $10000 on that). We've been debt free before, but 1.5yrs ago, DS2 was hospitalized for 2wks and we foolishly put the med bills on our cc We also bought our first home 2yrs ago, and the cc balance has just been creeping upward. DH and I sat down and outlined our financial goals and are now intent on meeting them. We also have a few home projects we want to tackle, and want to cash flow them instead of using that dreaded cc.

c. STAY OUT OF THE STORES!!! This is our big one. I've started meal planning again to combat our eating out habit, but we need to just stay out of the stores so we don't buy random cr@p. We use the cash envelope system, but have a tendency to just take out the cc if we go over budget. Not anymore. We HAVE to stick w/in our budget. I also would like to cut our utilities down so we have extra to throw at our debt/ savings.

key:
no spend
budgeted spending
unnecessary/ non-budgeted spending
hung laundry

Goals for March
No Spend Days 0/20
Loads of Laundry hung dry 1/15
Eat out 0/2

1. $13.49 for groceries

[becoming]

Hey everybody! I haven't been here in a while, but I'm joining up this month & hopefully all the coming months.

I'm Lindsay from Louisiana. I'm a WAHM to three little ones, ages 8, 4, and 2. We're house/land hunting & need all the money we can possibly save.

My goals for this month are just not to go crazy with the money like I have in the past. I hesitate to set an actual spending limit, because in the past I've gone over the limit early on in the month, counted the month as a loss, and spent an insane amount after that. So I'm just going to do my best and see how it goes. Maybe next month I can set a realistic limit. The one goal I AM going to set is less than $250 on spring/summer clothes for the kids. (I'm starting their spring/summer wardrobes this month.)

Here we go Good luck to everyone!

[becoming]

March 1 - $33 dinner
March 2 - $20 gas, $23 movie/Wii game rentals
March 3 -
March 4 - $41 dinner, $22 movie & snacks
March 5 - $113 tuxedo rental, $30 dinner, $30 gas
March 6 - $35 dinner
March 7 - $27 movies (planned), $30 groceries

Doing terribly so far this month, but I'm not quitting... just trying to turn things around now.

[ps4624]

a. I'm Piper. I'm a SAHM to my DD Abigail

b. Financial goals are to cut unnecessary spending to save for a house. We would like to purchase in Jan of 2011.

C.
- Budget, budget, budget and stick to it!
- Good-bye Starbucks. Good-bye Target. Good-bye Etsy. Good-bye DSW. I'll miss you all
- I plan on looking at frugality as a game - how can I get what I want and spend the least amount of and/or no money getting it?

Key:

No purchase:
Budgeted purchase:
Unbudgeted purchase:

My husband is sooooo excited I'm doing this!

3/1:
3/2: stuck to the Target list!
3/3: stuck to the grocery list!
3/4: D@mn Starbucks! I am so ashamed - I can't even make it a week!
3/5:

[honey-lilac]

double

[honey-lilac]

a. Who you are
- SAHM / WAHM mom of 2 toddlers

b. Where you are going (your financial goals)
- We were debt free and had savings until several major setbacks in the last few months; for the first time EVER we are now in debt and that scares me! Trying to get rid of it before it gets out of control, and we'd like some savings as well (for a newer car than our 90's clunker)

c. How you plan to get there
- Fill our time with FREE activities, stay at home as much as possible to save on gas, and seriously moderate eating out / ordering in (though it is a great stress-reliever and keeps us sane, so we don't want to cut it out 100%) We also have THREE birthdays this month so we have to be careful about that.

Goals for the Month of March

1. No buying new
2. NO drive-through
3. Stay at home when possible

Key:
- No Spend
- Planned Spend
- Unplanned Spend
- Drivethrough
- All Meals Made at Home
- Decluttered stuff out of the house
- No-drive day

My Spending
1 - - 10.47 @ restaurant
2 - - 145.00 for Groceries
3 - - Doula certification fees - $85 & Anniversary dinner $65
4 - - This year's garden seeds - about $50
5 - - Thrift store and not one but TWO meals out, OMG...
6 -
7 - stuff for kids mostly and a pressure canner and two candles
8 -
9 - - 19.99 @ restaurant
10 - - garden supplies
11 -
12 -
13 -
14 -
15 -
16 -
17 -
18 -
19 -
20 -
21 -
22 -
23 -
24 -
25 -
26 -
27 -
28 -
29 -
30 -
31 -

DH's Spending
1 - 5.22@ McDonalds
2 - $59.06 for Video Games
3 - - McDonald's Coffee
4 -
5 - - McDonald's Coffee
6 - - McDonald's
7 -
8 - - McDonalds - Xbox console (!!!! super )
9 -
10 - $70 for Video Games - WTH enough video games already?!
11 -
12 -
13 -
14 -
15 -
16 -
17 -
18 -
19 -
20 -
21 -
22 -
23 -
24 -
25 -
26 -
27 -
28 -
29 -
30 -
31 -

[milosmomma]

a. I'm Jessica, WOHM to 2 kids (and TTC #3). DP & I both woth full-time, but we can't seem to save any money! DP is a spender and, while I'm not as much, I'm not very good at reigning him in. We've made the decision to buy an investment property and fix it up while his parents rent it from us. It's a mutually beneficial set-up (they have a solid place to live, we have free child-care), and the monthly money won't be coming out of our pockets, but we have some preliminary costs to pay.

b. We have a load of CC debt, and we need to eliminate it.

c. Simply, we need to stop spending on little things every day. No lunches out, coffee made at home, free entertainment. DP recently quit smoking, so that'll be a HUGE savings. Feb was an eventful month, and April will be packed with stuff. March should be pretty quiet, so hopefully we can stay low-key and get some stuff done around our house.


I've been here on and off. Hopefully I can really stick with it this month!!!


3/1 $6.96 McD's milkshakes

[ps4624]

Seriously? I commit to the challenge and then find out Intuitive Jaimie is doing readings for a small fee???

Why didn't I budget for a reading?!?!?!?

[iowaorganic]

Hi!

1. I am IO- a sahm to 3 youngsters. We are a farm family who are going through some changes. I have never had to really worry about this before- but now need to.

2. My goals are to rebuild our cash reserve- which is pretty well depleted right now.

3. No unnecessary spending for me- and limiting DH's spending(perhaps a weekly allowance?). I need a hair cut and some product, groceries (need to meal plan much, much more), and that is about it. No diapers (I cd- but buy pullups for night for DS1), no starbucks, no dangly earrings. Perhaps 2 meals out after church if I can scrounge together some coupons.

3/1- $0.
3/2-$0
3/3-$17 supper after church because we couldn't get going in the afternoon to eat at church... grrrrr. and $83 for groceries.
3/4-$0
3/5-$8 McDs

[kalisis]

I'm here for the whole month!

a. Who you are - single WOHM to 2 kids. I don't have childcare expenses, but a host of other ones, for sure. I am expecting a large tax refund this month and although I would like to pay off a couple of smaller credit cards completely, I think the better plan is to put that money in savings and continue with the payment plans I have already arranged. I like to think of the creative ways in which I can use the money I do have each month since too much denial makes me go into crazy, I have to stock up and buy everything I can in case we run out mode. So instead of listing the spending I'm NOT going to do, I am going to list the things that are allowed.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals) and - pay off cc debt and then work on savings (above the EF).

c. How you plan to get there -

1. Eat out lunch only 1x/week - 0/4
2. Weekly grocery budget of $100 (can include eating out in this on weekends I don't have kids)
3. Spending allowance of $50/week and that includes dry cleaning
4. $100 budget for party on Saturday, the 6th
5. ONE Amazon purchase of less than $50
6. Hutch for Kitchen is ok, do not spend more than $200 (ok - 169)
7. ONE trip to the thrift store, spend no more than $75
8. Coffee at McD's 1x/week: 0/4
9. Budget of $100 for party, on the 20th

Week 1
1-
25 @ Friendly's for dinner (special treat out w/my mom)
169 for hutch
2-
3-
4-
5-
6-
Eating Out Lunch: 0/1
Grocery Budget: 0/100
Spending: 25/50
Coffee: 0/1
Special Party Budget: 0/100

Week 2
7 -
8 -
9 -
10 -
11 -
12 -
13 -
Eating Out Lunch: 0/1
Grocery Budget: 0/100
Spending: 0/50
Coffee: 0/1

Week 3
14 -
15 -
16 -
17 -
18 -
19 -
20 -
Eating Out Lunch: 0/1
Grocery Budget: 0/100
Spending: 0/50
Coffee: 0/1
Arbonne Party Budget: 0/100

Week 4
21 -
22 -
23 -
24 -
25 -
26 -
27 -
Eating Out Lunch: 0/1
Grocery Budget: 0/100
Spending: 0/50
Coffee: 0/1

Week 5
28 -
29 -
30 -
31 -
Eating Out Lunch: 0/1
Grocery Budget: 0/100
Spending: 0/50
Coffee: 0/1

TOTALS
Running for the month: 194
Groceries:
Gas (this is separate and paid for by my parents):
Target (also separate):

[Ruthiegirl]

Hi all, new month!

This is going to be a different kind of month for me. I do need to spend some money and would like to keep track of it. So, this is a 'spend money on necessary things and not unnecessary junk'.


Big goals this month:

HUGE food co-op order. We order food 4 times a year, this includes all of our rice, beans, g/f flour, oil, sugar, nuts, spices, oats, etc, etc, etc.

We are painting our garage this month and I am keeping track of what I spend. Paint and supplies will run me about $500.

We are planting our garden and I need to place an order for more peas and potatoes. I am also checking out a load of compost to see what that would cost.

We need a few homeschooling supplies as well. Paper, printer ink, next set of math books...about $100.

Because of those big expenses (planned and budgeted), I need to tighten up the rest of our budget. So, my big goal this month is to reduce the frivolous spending. I spent nearly $200 last month on coffee for me and treats and toys for the kids.

Mar 1 -- painting supplies
Mar 2
Mar 3
Mar 4
Mar 5
Mar 6
Mar 7


Planned spending:

Paint and supplies for garage -- 74.18
Food co-op
Garden supplies


No frivolous spending!!!!!!

[sweetjasmine]

I'm Aileen, wife, mother of one, stepmother to five (youngest two stay with us part time), grandmother to two precious babies and a soon-to-be third.

Continually building up savings. I was a single mother for many years without much help from the ex and had my own clueless issues regarding my finances so I don't have much to show financially right now. We are looking to trade in the car for a new one maybe this year. Hubby won't go for used anymore but we are saving for a large down payment. We have one cc, all others are paid for and closed.

Keep my spending under control. I've done pretty well the past several months except for an occasional lapse here and there. I review our budget from time to time to see where we can further cut expenses and/or throw more into savings.

Budgeted spend
No spend
Unnecessary or over-budgeted spend

March
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

[pwit]

I just want to say I like your little smiley face calendars you all have made to keep track! Just looking at how you all have put this together is motivating and I might have to join you all soon!

[triscuitsmom]

Goals for the Month of March
1. No unplanned spending: 0/31
2. No eating out that isn't already planned for: 0/29
3. Bring in extra money from my business: 0%
4. 450 items decluttered: 0/450
5. 13 days with exercise in them: 0/13

Key:
- No Spend or only planned spending
- Unplanned Spend
- All meals eaten at home
- Ate outside of the house (unplanned)
- Decluttered stuff out of the house
- Exercise

Mar 1:

[ambersrose]

a. Who you are
Amber, a thirty something, homeschooling SAHM with two little girls and a tag along dog called Limerick. We live in a small mountain town
b. Where you are going (your financial goals)
I want to pay off $1100 in credit card debt and a $20,000 car note. I also want to develop spending/lifesyle habits that allow us to stay out of debt in the future.
c. How you plan to get there
-stick to budgeted spending items
-eat at home or bring from home
-drive into the city only twice a month
-make due with or fix what we have and buy needed items second hand
-use the free bus service or walk during the day for trips in town so my husband can take our more fuel efficent car to work

no spend day =
no drive day =
budgeted spending =
unbudgeted spending =


MARCH
1=
2=
3= (groceries and Baker Creek seed order)
4= (baby wipes)
5=
6= (thrift store buys $5, homemade b-day gift add on $3, girls night out at the movies tonight $12.50)
7= (groceries under budget!)

no drive days tally= 4/31

[_ktg_]

a: I'm Kate, a WOHM to 2 boys and a wonderful DH who is a SAHD. We are spenders, but trying to dig ourselves out of debt

MARCH

Key:
= No Spend
= Budgeted Spending
= unplanned spending
= unplanned emergency spending

February:
28 - groceries $465
March:
1 - groceries $44, & repairs to car $55
2 -
3 -

Goals:
Eat out (dinner or lunch): 0/2
Groceries: $509/$500
Extra for CC: 0/$200
No Spend days: 0/20

[FillingMyQuiver]

key:
no spend
budgeted spending
unnecessary/ non-budgeted spending
hung laundry

Goals for March
No Spend Days 0/20
Loads of Laundry hung dry 2/15
Eat out 0/2

1. $13.49 for groceries
2. $13.64 on half.com for gardening books