~~ June No-Spend Challenge ~~ How Low can you Go?

[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 June 1st. Now is a good time to start.

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.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

a. My name is Prudence and I'm a SAHM with three daughters. My husband is a teacher so in the summer we go lean and mean. We really have to watch our money...so June is here and I'm ready for the challenge.

b. Our financial goal is to pay off our last remaining debt -- a second mortgage. It is not a large debt, but I want it GONE. So I'm trying hard to save money this summer to throw it at that debt.

c. I plan to get there by tracking my spending. When I know I have to come on this board and write it down, I don't spend as much. The whole accountability factor.

My Goals:

0/20 No-Spend Days
0/5 Let the Car Rest days

[phathui5]

a. Who you are

Liz, homeschooling mom, birth doula.

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

Saving up 6 months worth of expenses in an emergency fund is our current goal. We're at $8000/$18000 so far.

c. How you plan to get there

By using dh's salary to pay for things and putting his comission in savings.

[bluebirdiemama]

a. Who you are
My name is Jen, I have two kiddos

b. Where you are going (your financial goals)
We are trying to save up so we can move

c. How you plan to get there
cut unnecessary spending, save as much as we can




0/20 No Spend Days
0/3 Saturdays w no yard saling
0/15 Made from scratch (bread, muffins, or other)
0/25 Excercise in the morning
0/5 Articles of clothing mended


No Spend:
No Yard Sales:
From Scratch:
Excercise:
Blew it:


Budgeted spending:
Food and household--- $500
DH personal---- $75
Me personal---- $50
Recreation---- $50

[Ruthiegirl]

Hi Prudence!


a. Who you are

I am Ruth, mama to three.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals)

We are broke this month! No money is flowing right now while we pay for a roof repair. Literally, every penny is siphoned off to pay for the roof. So, my budget is squeaky tight.

c. How you plan to get there

Our CSA starts up this month, so we will be getting a box of veggies each week. Our garden is pumping out veggies too, so we are good on produce. I have lots of rice and beans and our milk is prepaid, so I think we will be able to shave the grocery budget down to TP and incidentals and maybe a chicken or two.

I will line dry more. With the summer heat coming, I know we will be running our air conditioners more. I am going to try to offset that added expense a bit.

The kids have a ton of stuff to do. There is no need for me to spend any money on activities this month. Dh will be doing field work all month at a remote site, so he has no need for spending money either. The whole family is going on financial lockdown.

My biggest goal is to check in here every day. I got off track in May and stopped checking in. Losing my accountability lead to more spending than I am comfortable with.

[FillingMyQuiver]

I'm back. I fell off the wagon in May and spent too much

a. I'm Jenn, SAHM to 4 kiddos under 6, homeschooling 2 of them.

b. We're really trying to pay down our CC debt, and we're doing okay at it, but I'd like to be more aggressive with it. In order for that to happen, we have to seriously curb the spending. It got a little out of hand last month, but now I'm back and ready to take control again. Our BIG goal is to be debt free other than the mtg w/ a sizable EF, but that will take a few years.

c. Staying out of the stores is key. PLANNING is also pretty important for us. DH has been working long hours so I've been keeper of the budget and master grocery shopper lately. I need to plan better so we can start cutting spending. I'm also trying to counter our AC usage by hang drying the laundry. Now that the tree pollen has calmed down, I can move my racks outside and hopefully use the dryer even less.

We're going on vacatin end of the month to my MILs. We've budgeted gas, a day at Sesame Place, and eating out once or twice. We HAVE TO stick to this budget, as we have another vacation in August planned w/ my family.

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

Goals for June
no spend days 1/20
eating out 0/2
hung laundry to dry 1/10

1. Last soccer practice, brought sandwiches for kiddos, came home and making DH his dinner now.

[bluebirdiemama]

6/1-- spent $ on sending a swap, and a few $ at the grocery store


0/20 No Spend Days
0/3 Saturdays w no yard saling
1/15 Made from scratch (bread, muffins, or other)
1/25 Excercise in the morning
0/5 Articles of clothing mended


Budgeted spending:
Food and household--- $5/$500
DH personal---- $2.13/$50 ---yay he agreed to cut!
Me personal---- $9/$50
Recreation---- $50

No Spend:
No Yard Sales:
From Scratch:
Excercise:
Blew it:

[Ruthiegirl]

June 1 --
June 2
June 3
June 4
June 5
June 6
June 7

Goals for the month:

Tight budget!

Groceries 0/300

[phathui5]

6/1-

Spent nothing today. Not a penny.

[lach]

I'm in, though today was a failure. And after a three day weekend when I spent nothing! Oh well.

I'm a SAHM to two, expecting a third. We had a lot of unexpected expenses pile up in the past few months (including needing to replace DH's car), and have to start making payments on DD's preschool this month. We've been far too lazy about eating out, spending a bit extra here and there for conveniences (paying $22 for the parking garage near where I want to go, as opposed to walking a mile in perfectly nice weather for the $10 lot), and it all adds up. I'd like to have 15 no spend days this month, and 25 days of spending nothing on eating out.

1. Field trip to a local museum. $8.50 for museum tickets (saved over $20, though, using the library's pass), $27 at gift shop on books, $8.75 for parking. Oh, and 51 cents for the souvenir penny. Also, $700 on car payment (we pay 2x what we owe to pay it down quicker)
2. $117 on groceries and $25 on lawn care
3. (I even returned $37 worth of stuff at Old Navy!)
4. $40 at JoAnn's, for my DD's birthday dress and July 4th outfits for both kids.
5. $16.50 on tights and bobby pins for DD's dance recital. Still need to buy makeup and hairspray (don't think I approve of this). And $80 at Amazon on books for the kids.
6. $50 on gas $30 on pastries. But well worth it, because they're amazing and we got enough for 2 days. And we had a very active and fun-filled day and didn't spend any other money.
7.
8. Field trip to the city: $12 for parking, $10 for lunch for me and fruit for the kids (I packed them most of lunch, but we were out of fruit)
9. $306 on swimming lessons for the kids this summer. On the plus side, this will help fill up our summer with something pre-paid, so I won't be spending lots of extra then. And it's 8 weeks of 3x a week for DD and 1x a week for DS, so it's a pretty good deal imo. And $60 towards the class gift for DD's teachers. $20 to celebrate that it's the last day of school. $80 to the cleaner. And now we're totally out of money until next Tuesday so there are going to have to be some no-spend days!
10.
11.
12. A ton of money on food ($30 for lunch and $40 for dinner) on food out because it was my
13.
14. $20 on a babysitter so DH and I could go to my ultrasound
15. $220 on groceries (eep); $3 at Jo-Anns, $55 at Dover Books, and $130 at the toy store.
16. Paid bills! $260 on car payment, $130 on water bill, $548 on excise tax, $80 on milkman, $250 on electricity (2 months worth... oops). Also, $70 on mulch and a trellis for the garden. $50 on gas, too. $117 at Gymboree, but they were having an amazing sale. I got 25 items including 2 winter coats, and DS is basically all outfitted out for next winter now. $47 at Janie and Jack (will return something), $5 at H&M, $35 on a babysitter. $80 on summer sandals for me: but, seriously, it's been literally YEARS since I bought summery shoes, and these are the first pretty much ever that aren't cheap flip flops. I'm getting too old for that! They're not as comfy as they used to be. $7 on lunch, $18 on our 2nd dinner because the kids were hungry at the mall.
17. Another bad day. $95 on Gilt for shorts for DD, a birthday/housewarming present for my sister, a birthday gift for DD's friend, and a baby gift for a friend. So I guess that's not actually a bad deal: I did have a $25 credit, too. Also $100 on sewing supplies from Martha Pullen. Then all the cash in my wallet at the Farmer's Market, and that had to be close to $60.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22. $800 to DD's preschool
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.

Total spent on eating out: $155
Total spent on other splurges: $728.76
Total spent on educational materials: $462.50
Total spent on necessities (bills, gas, groceries, home maintenance): $2695
5/30 no spend days

[Arianwen1174]

Count me in! I think posting here will help a lot.

a. I'm Michelle, married to Cory. We're TTC, and that is one big reason I know we need to be better about spending.

b. My biggest goal is to hit the end of the month with cash in hand. Hopefully next month's goal will be "bigger" than that, but it's a start. Especially because we'll have guests for at least a week, possibly a couple weeks. My younger son and his friend will be with us while they look for an apartment of their own.

c. 15 no-spend days this month. Avoid spending by staying out of stores and planning meals well. Avoid overspending by only taking the cash needed for what's on the list. Stay away from Amazon!

My key:
No spend
Budgeted spend
Unplanned spend
Walk (my first 1000 minute challenge!)

[eirual]

a. Who you are

-Laurie, working PT, with big changes on the horizon (DH quitting his job in July, putting our place up for rent, moving out East for DH to attend University....hoping I can manage to get a teaching job out there....if not, plans B-F include doing what it takes to make ends meet).

b. Where you are going (your financial goals)

-Trying to build a cushion since we're leaping into the un-known.

c. How you plan to get there

-Limit spending, Build savings. We're going to be moving back in with my parents for a month and renting our place out while we're gone...the plan being to drastically reduce bills and save money rather than spend it.

*****************************************
Last Month's un-budgetted spending: $144
*****************************************

1:* (I ordered books from a book order........I will pay for them tomorrow)



*=spent $1-3 of budget leftovers ($1.60/20)
______________________________________________
Un-budgeted spending ---/$100
Moving/final house repairs: ---/$700
______________________________________________

[Smocked]

I'm Smocked and I worried about the future of dh's job so we are saving our pennies more than ever in case of a worse case scenario. My goal for this month is to have 1/3 of the month be no spending excluding bills and necessary food. Ah, and dd's birthday is this month I tend to go overboard on parties so I'm going to try to cap it off at $100 for everything including food.

1: $6 for dd's birthday party

[Ruthiegirl]

Planning another no-spend day here. I am going to try and squeak another few days out of my fridge and pantry. I have greens in the garden and garbanzos and tomatoes in the pantry and am making this for dinner:

http://www.ivu.org/recipes/african/t...n-style-j.html

I have basmati to serve with it. That should get us through today.


I also lowered the heat on the water heater. It was cranked pretty high and I'd like to see our bill lower for June.


Have a good day everyone!

[mommyto4grits]

I'm Vicki, mom of 4 girls, I did this challenge the last few months.

My goals--Continue to add money to Savings. Pay cash for Homeschool Curriculum this month.

How I plan to do this....
Not eating out!!
Buying necessities and really thinking about purchases outside of necessities (will wait 24 hours for anything over $10).
Having at least 2 no-drive days a week.
Stay out out of the stores!
I will also count gas or groceries as no spend, as long as it is budgeted for, and not junk.
Get on MDC often, that really seems to help fuel my frugalness.

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

1-

[Hollysmom]

a. Who you are

Kristine, WOHM to 3 beautiful girls

b. Where you are going (your financial goals)

Want to pay off some debt and get some more money into savings

c. How you plan to get there

Only spend on necessities....May is always a terribly expensive month for us with Mother's Day and 3 Birthdays. June has to be very frugal

[Hollysmom]

Off to a good start...

June 1 -


1/20 No Spend
$0 Frivolous Spending

[greenmom4]

I'm joining in again for June. Tracking our spending really helped me and we're back in a routine now where I can do this again.

[phathui5]

6/1- $0
6/2- Budgeted spending: $40.13/gas, $79/groceries

[FillingMyQuiver]

Well, I broke my cell phone today So we'll be heading out to the Verizon store to see what my options are. I'm not happy at all *sigh*. I did get another load of laundry hung out.

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

Goals for June
no spend days 1/20
eating out 0/2
hung laundry to dry 2/10

1. Last soccer practice, brought sandwiches for kiddos, came home and making DH his dinner now.
2.