April No-Spend Challenge ~ We're in the home stretch... - Page 8

[jewellz]

My key:
no spend day=
unnecessary spending=
no driving=
eat at home=
Used cloth diapers=

Goals:
1. Only go shopping/errands 0/8
2. Stretch out FS money=$0/$514
3. no eating out for lunches this month 0/0
4. major clean (and keep clean) 1 room per week, getting ready for baby's arrival 0/4

THUR 1st-no shopping -stayed home, baby sick.
FS=$0/$514
No driving=
goals=
1. 0/8
2. $0/$514
3.
4. nope

FRI 2nd-Costco & walmart + errands
goals=
1. 1/8
2. $193.51/$514 UGH, stocking up at Costco.
3.
4. nope. too many errands

SAT 3rd-no shopping -stayed home, baby sick.
FS=
No driving=
goals=
1. 1/8
2.$193.51/$514
3.
4. sabbath

Sun 4th-Easter!
no shopping -stayed home, baby sick.
FS=
No driving=
goals=
1. 1/8
2.$193.51/$514
3.
4. nope, too tired

Mon 5th
no shopping
FS=
Had to drive to appt
goals=
1. 2/8
2.$193.51/$514
3.
4. nope, too tired

[ambersrose]

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

1=missing ingredients for dinner caused a grocery run
2=
3=
4=
5=

[Auraji]

QOTD

1)I handle the finances. DP is TERRIBLE with money. If it was up to him, no bills would get paid and all the money would be spent on pizza, beer, cigs and video games.

2) And he agreed I should do it just because of how bad he is with them. Although it's hard for him to stick to my budget and understand that he cant buy video games every week, etc. It's hard for me to enforce it because he's the one that makes the money, so I always feel bad for saying no and I feel like if we're going to reach our goals I need to be more strict.

[Norasmomma]

Key:

no spend:
planned spend
all meals at home or made for us
unplanned spend

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Tonight, I made Indian tacos and fry bread, oh my how good they were. I made homemade refried beans, rice and the bread all from pantry items. We at least have a stockpiled home so it's not hard to come up with new and fun things to eat at home, plus I love cooking. I'm waiting for our FS to up, but since DH's income has changed I need to let them know that, it will actually get us more money. I have to say that while we are totally broke I feel blessed to spend so much time with my beautiful family.

[mamaofthree]

5th- although it was a nice dress i got for dd at a thrift store. lol had to go to the grocery store AGAIN. i think my kids need to stop eating food. ugh! put dh's on-line check in bank and moved 1/2 to savings!

h

[triscuitsmom]

Goals for the Month of April
1. No unplanned spending: 5/30
2. No eating out that isn't already planned for: 5/28
3. Bring in extra money from my business: 0%
4. 450 items decluttered: 17/450
5. 13 days with exercise in them: 4/13

Key:
- No Spend or only planned spending
- Unplanned Spend
- All meals eaten at home or shared with friends/family but didn't cost us anything
- Ate outside of the house (unplanned)
- Decluttered stuff out of the house
- Exercise

Apr 1: x 12
Apr 2: x 5
Apr 3:
Apr 4:
Apr 5:

[thesimplelife25]

Been out of town for Easter the last few days, so updating for this weekend now!

Key:
- no spend day
- made a credit card payment
- allowed meal out/take out
- meal out/take out outside of planned $ and # of meals
- earned money/gift card from completing a survey

1st-
2nd- , -$8320 towards credit cards
3rd- -$13.10 Wendy's, spent $55 on birthday gifts
4th-
5th- -$5 gift card to CVS from surveys -$25 mexican takeout

Totals for the month:
3/17 no spend days
$8320/$8800 credit card payments
2/6 meals out/take out
$38.10/$100 money spent on meals out/take out
$5/$10 money/gift cards earned from surveys

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Another QOTD...

Do you have any tricks up your sleeve to talking yourself out of spending?

How do you motivate yourself NOT to spend money?

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

I have a confession to make...that I want to make in the middle of our thread because very few people other than us no-spenders make it this far through our thread

At one point four years ago, my DH and I were $33,000 in credit card debt.

Yes...that is right...$33K

It was a mind-boggling sum and it was ALL on consumer goods. I dressed really well, our house was nicely landscaped, and we took a LOT of trips. Airline charges were a huge part of that bill. It was not pretty.

I buckled down though and slowly but surely pulled us out of the debt -- we are completely debt free now -- but it was really hard. I had to rethink the way I spent money. This thread helped (I paid off $16K with the help of the ladies on this thread...thank you ) because of that accountability.

But the main problem I had paying it off was that spending money is ~~~much~~~ more fun than making a credit card payment.

They are not even in the same league. I get NO reward from on-line paying a bill. But I LOVE a new pair of shoes.

So the trick I used to motivate myself was to make a blank pie chart with 33 spaces in it, and every time I sent off $1,000 to the credit card (and this usually took a few months) I would color a chunk of that pie chart in. That way I had a visual guide for what we were trying to do.

It was very satisfying when that entire pie chart was colored in.


(....to be completely honest, not nearly as satisfying as the new shoes...but at least it was SOMETHING).

That pie chart was my trick to motivate myself

[eirual]

Joining in!

eirual, mom to one, working PT. We've been doing DR for 7 mos now and have $1,600 worth left of debt to do away with (car's done, cards are gone, working on the LOC). Before we tackle that debt though, we need to stock-pile our cash for a move out East and DH's university tuition (starting FT in the Fall).

I've been avoiding this thread because spending happens, but as long as the budgetted necessities don't count, I'll giv'er a whirl!

key
no spend
budgetted spending only
ooops!


1:
2:
3: (clothing and grocery shopping within the budget. Trip for home improvement items, not in the budget $33)
4:
5: (movie outting with coupon and snacks within the budget. DH wanted to take us out to lunch. Nice, but a painful $45.)
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:
11:
12:
13:
14:
15:

[Hollysmom]

1 $20 lunch with my sister ~ this was planned however not necessary
2
3
4
5


4/20 No Spend Days
Frivolous Spending: $20

[dachshundqueen]

No spend day
Kept Meal Plan
Budgeted spend
Hang laundry to dry
Walked
FAIL

04/01 2 laps
04/02
04/03 2 laps Costco, bread outlet, and Kroger runs today - $115.07. DH bought stuff for the car we're trying to sell to make the A/C run. I bought a $1.50 hot dog/coke combo at Costco as I nearly passed out in line to pay - that would've really sucked big time. I'm off to go for a walk and walk off the 3 Cokes I've had today (2 were for the blood sugar crash).
04/04 Too much pollen to hang clothes outside, working on plan B. I'm sick so no walking. Took kid to urgent Care $60.00, popsicles (to bribe kids to take medicine), claritin D children's generic, children's tylenol.
04/05 Pollen count insane, no laundry hanging, no exercise (sick as a dog)

[Norasmomma]

Had to transfer $200 from savings to checking for bills, planned but I don't have to like it.

The money will be replaced when DH goes back to work, which hopefully is very soon

[greenmom4]

1-
2 -
3 -
4 -
5 - - had to buy soccer socks, jersey for my ds and dd. This was budgeted, though and they should last us for a few seasons.

I'm doing well packing lunch and breakfast for myself. That's been much more difficult for me than cooking dinner.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

I'm home sick today and whenever I feel sick I start thinking trashy food will help me feel better.

It didn't. Lesson learned yet again.

Back on the wagon as of right now.


01.. sos
02.. sos
03.. --- $14 snacks out with my daughter, Latte from starbucks
04.. sos
05.. sos
06.. sos $10.55 McDonald's
07..
08..
09..
10..
11..
12..
13..
14..
15..

Goals for April

1. 5/30 Stay Out of Stores (sos)
2. 4/20 No Spend Days

[FillingMyQuiver]

Key:
no spend/ budgeted spending
unnecessary/ unbudgeted spending
hung laundry to dry

Goals for April
no spend days 6/20
eating out 1/3
hung laundry to dry 2/10


1.
2. ordered our homeschool curriculum for next year. I'm putting this here preemptively to encourage me to NOT SPEND when I go out later
3. $50 bread, eggs for dying, and the last of the Easter baskets things at WalMart
4.
5.
6. ordered the last of the things I need for DS1's dinosaur party, was able to stay under budget AND found an online coupon code to save on shipping, also ordered our sunblock/ bug spray for the year~ unprepared for how DS1's soccer practice being at 5:30pm would affect us and got McD's for dinner.

[triscuitsmom]

Goals for the Month of April
1. No unplanned spending: 6/30
2. No eating out that isn't already planned for: 6/28
3. Bring in extra money from my business: 0%
4. 450 items decluttered: 22/450
5. 13 days with exercise in them: 4/13

Key:
- No Spend or only planned spending
- Unplanned Spend
- All meals eaten at home or shared with friends/family but didn't cost us anything
- Ate outside of the house (unplanned)
- Decluttered stuff out of the house
- Exercise

Apr 1: x 12
Apr 2: x 5
Apr 3:
Apr 4:
Apr 5:
Apr 6: x 5

[scrapadoozer]

I was terribly tempted to buy some clearance clothes for dd today. Cheap, cute clothes are usually completely irresistible to me, but this time, I just said no!

04/01
04/02
04/03
04/04
04/05
04/06

$0 Frivolously spent
6/20 No-spend days
6/30 Not buying clothes for my kids days
3/10 Loads of laundry hung out to dry
$51.14/$500.00 Groceries

[jewellz]

My key:
no spend day=
unnecessary spending=
no driving=
eat at home=
Used cloth diapers= (gotta clean out the diaper closet first)

Goals:
1. Only go shopping/errands 0/8
2. Stretch out FS money=$0/$514
3. no eating out for lunches this month 0/0
4. major clean (and keep clean) 1 room per week, getting ready for baby's arrival 0/4

Tues 6th-appt & shopping at walmart
goals=
1. 3/8
2. 239.71/$514
3.
4. nope

[colsxjack]

I would like to join.
My wife and I are usually pretty good at saving and not spending too much. Our downfall is eating out. We do this too much. Especially when we are tired and just cannot gather the energy to cook well.

Our goals:
only eat out/order in 2 times in the month. Meal plan and stick to the plan!
do not buy anything not necessary or planned for.
Make a shopping list and do not buy anything not on the list.
Hang the laundry when it is nice outside.
Not spend another cent on cigarettes!

So far this month I/we are not doing too well.
I bought a cute wooden puzzle for my daughter off of greenbabybargains.com Yes it was 60% off, but she doesn't need it. We also got take out on the way home instead of cooking one of the easy things on our weekly plan.

I/we really want to stick to our plans of not spending unnecessary money and saving as much as possible. We have bought a new home and will move in and start paying a mortgage in two months (which is higher than our current rent). We also want to curb unnecessary spending on things we do not need to live a simpler lifestyle and model a good lifestyle for our DD.

Legend:
planned meal
did not stick to meal plan / ate out
no unnecessary spending
bought something not needed/budgeted for
smoke free day

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.