~~September No-Spend Thread~~ We're in the HOME STRETCH....you can do it Mamas!

[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 September 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]

I'm starting us early this month because I am ~~bound and determined~~ to keep track this month and to hold onto every last cent in our household.

a. Who you are: My name is Prudence. I am the Queen of Saving.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals): We have a second mortgage. It is large. But it is going to be PAID OFF by this time next year. In order to do that, I'm going to have to go hardcore. I need to stay out of the stores. I need to let my kids know this is going to be a lean year for them. I need to turn down the heat and start hanging laundry. We need to stop eating out and start cooking from home every ding-dang day. The people at Starbucks are no longer going to shout my name when I walk in the cafe. Because that loan is going to be paid off.

c. How you plan to get there:

1. Stay out of the Stores. SOS. Girls -- I love to shop. I'm not going to lie. I get TREMENDOUS PLEASURE from trolling the aisles and finding the perfect such-an-such to go with my whatever. I keep meticulous records (thanks to this thread) and I know that I spent $5,900 on clothing for myself last year.

Yes. You read that right. It is shocking for me to see it in black and white myself. So this next year, starting September 1st -- no more clothes for me. I bought enough last year to last me for a LOOOOOONG time, right? I need to learn to do other things with my time besides shopping. NO MORE RECREATIONAL SHOPPING.

2. Cook from Home Do you want to know the tally from last year for eating out? Okay...I do. ----> $1,289.73<---- Combine that with the clothing purchases and we could have paid off over HALF that mortgage last year. That is sobering for me. And the truth of the matter is I can only remember about three of those meals. Eating out needs to be a special treat for our family, not an every week thing.

3. Record my Spending Here. On this thread. Because keeping records and keeping track holds me accountable. Starting today this thread is going to see me every.single.day until that mortgage is paid off.

Please join me -- I need the moral support.

[trumpcard]

I am joining this thread finally. I have lurked for months and months and now I am taking the plunge.

A. Introduction
I am trumpcard a new SAHM to my beautiful baby girl. We relocated for a new job shortly after DDs birth and went from owning a 1000 square foot house in the Desert Southwest to owning a 2200 square foot house in the Midwest. We also gave up my income at the same time we gained a child. All sobering financial changes but I am the budgeter and I know we can afford it as long as I plan.

B. Goals
Get on a budget. We are still not sure of DHs take home pay from his new job. He doesn’t get his first paycheck until October 1 and is only paid once a month for 9 months. I can find out his take home pay sometime early in September to get us on a strict budget.
Change our lifestyle from the former DINK life we used to lead to a more conservative one as a young family with a big house and one income.

C. Getting There
Save the “extra” money we are keeping from a low tax rate until the end of this calendar year (our mortgage will go up after our house in reappraised in December to impact our January mortgage, right now we are saving approximately $400 a month from what it will be.)

Reign in the “new house” spending. We have a bit of profit from the sale of our old house that we did not roll into our new mortgage. It is what we have been living on for the past 3 months and I would like to leave the rest of it in the bank for a rainy day instead of picking up more clutter for our new, bigger home. (You know--new towels, lamps, frames, etc for the new house plus the temptation of new stuff for DD.)

Put DH on an allowance each week. (He is onboard with this thankfully!)

I still have a few planned expenses for the coming month but it is time to reign in the extra stuff. Hope to stay accountable through this thread.

[Jenn_M]

I can't tell you how many of these challenges I've dropped out of but I'm ready to try again!!!

a. Who you are
I'm Jenn, I have 2 girls (ages 7 and 3) and am expecting baby #3 in early January. I WOH about 30 hours per week.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals)
We would just like to get ahead and have some breathing room. On paper it looks as if we should have money to spare but somehow we're always living paycheck to paycheck.

c. How you plan to get there
Stick to a grocery budget. Avoid unnecessary purchases. Use it up, make it do, or do without.

I'll be back when I decide what my actual goals are.. such as no spend days and the actual grocery budget.

[Turquesa]

Me:

Turquesa, 30-something SAHM to DD, age 3 and DS, age 1.


What I Want:

I'm a recent Dave Ramsey convert. We are proudly debt-free, except for our mortgage. Our two long-term goals are:

1. Save for emergency fund, 6 mo. worth of DH's salary.
2. Pay off mortgage in 5 years

How I'll Get There:

1. Record spending religiously....here, of course.
2. Two no-drive days per week.
3. Join the Pantry Challenge
4. Read and incorporate advice from The Tightwad Gazette.
5. Limit grocery bill to $135 while working hard to lower that amount.

Good luck, Mamas! I love you for all of your support.

[Siennaflower]

Joining in this month!

a. Who you are

My name is Danielle, I'm a SAHM to 7yo dd1 and 9mo dd2. Dh is in the Navy and we were relocated to VA last year after spending 5 years in a very low COL area. It's been a culture and sticker shock experience, to be sure. We have three more years before dh retires and we need to get all our debt paid off, plus I need to go back to school sometime in the next year.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals)

Right now our main goal is to pay down debt. We started out with four credit cards and are now down to two. They're whoppers though and will take probably two years to pay down completely.

c. How you plan to get there

We're following Dave Ramsey's snowball plan. This month will be our first month really following a strict budget. Which means...

1. Eating at home and following a meal plan. Yes, that's right, no more blowing off meal preps and going out for Chinese. Every night. I'm really, really bad about cooking. I like to do it but hate to clean up. Yep, I'm lazy. This will probably be the hardest step for me.

2. Staying out of Target except for essentials. I like their store brand items or else I'd stay away completely.

3. Weekly grocery shopping at the commissary. I hate going there but it is cheaper. I will be supplementing with a few store brand canned goods.

4. Using cash envelopes and paying with cash. Except for gas, which will be budgeted for the debit card. I'm not waking up a sleeping baby to take her into the cashier to pay for gas .

We do have some car maintenance coming up and dd1 needs shoes for school this month. Apart from that though we are sticking.to.the.budget. And not a penny more

[vannienicole]

a. Who you are

I'm Vannie. Single, student mama to 2 littles. I work part time as a lab tech in a geology lab and will start substitute teaching here in a week or so. I am going through the final (FINAL!) stages of a divorce that has dragged on since Jan 1. We've been separated since Jan. 1 of 2009, so I've been doing this on my own for a while. I am broke broke broke after all this litigation and am now trying to get my feet back on the ground.

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

I need emergency savings and to pay off a bit of debt. I have $1182.92 in regular debt to pay off and about $1200 in legal fees. I just want them all paid off. I have no CC debt and no open cards (they closed them). Right now, I just want to get caught up on bills, however and put a little money aside.

c. How you plan to get there

Just simply spend no money. No eating out, which i mainly do already. I will be blogging a bit about this as well.

[pbjmama]

I'm back! After several months off I need to get back on the wagon.

a. I'm PBJ, sahm, wife, etc.

b. September is a 3 paycheck month for us. Every year I intent to do specific things with the 'extra' paycheck. But then it vanishes. Hmmm? I'm joining this month to make sure that money doesn't just vanish. I need to plan where the money will go.

c. Simplify. Only buy what we need. I'm going to do a pantry challenge, clean out my closet and consign some old clothes, do a childrens consignment sale and donate some items to a garage sale. Oh, and file our FSA receipts. I have a big problem with buying clothes/stuff for my kids. I need to take inventory but I think they have all they need for fall. DD may need a pair of warm shoes/boots. Other than that, no buying clothes for kids this month!

I think maybe I will go to cash only for purchases beyond gas/groceries.

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom

1. Stay out of the Stores. SOS. Girls -- I love to shop. I'm not going to lie. I get TREMENDOUS PLEASURE from trolling the aisles and finding the perfect such-an-such to go with my whatever. I keep meticulous records (thanks to this thread) and I know that I spent $5,900 on clothing for myself last year.

I can SO relate to this! Especially finding the perfect such-and-such to go with my whatever! Yikes. Its like you are in my brain!

[mamamoon89]

a. Who you are
I am a student mom, I'll be finishing undergraduate school in June. I live with my partner and 2 year old. My family helps me out financially because it is too hard to go to school full-time and work, and too expensive to finish my degree going to school part-time.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals)?
I don't have any debt or mortgage, but I do want to reduce my spending as much as possible: since I'm not working anymore, I am going to burn through my savings paying for daycare for the next nine months unless I reduce my budget. I have already stopped buying things like clothes that I don't need (I didn't spend much on that area in the first place. I want to spend less on grabbing take out, buying snacks when I'm out, etc (my "eating out spending" is usually about $60-80 a month).

c. How you plan to get there
Spend more when I buy groceries will save me money later: for a long time, I've been obsessed with doing EVERYTHING from scratch, it's cheaper, better for you, reduces packaging so better for the environment. This is great and most of the time works out very well, but there is always a couple of times a week where I am tired, already really hungry, not feeling great, cranky, etc and spend 15 bucks ordering pizza or sub sandwiches. If I stock up on canned soup, premade veggie burgers, boxes of mac&shreese, I am saving money even though they are relatively expensive. Any one of those things costs $2-5/for the three of us to eat, which is pricier than if I made it from scratch, but cheaper than $15 for takeout.
Eat more vegetables. I already paid for my CSA, so I am getting them whether I eat them or not.
Taking the bus more instead of driving and wasting gas.
Stop going to the cloth diaper store to "look around" and then come out have spend $18 on some fancy new diaper wrap I can't afford.

[kathirynne]

a. Who you are

I am Kathirynne, WOHM to 5 great children - 4 of whom I birthed, and the 5th of whom just recently joined our little tribe.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals)

I need to get back on track with my finances, pay for the many upcoming birthdays and holidays and save a cushion for emergencies.

c. How you plan to get there
I will make this happen by sticking religiously to my budget. It works on paper, I just have to work it in real life. Posting to this thread every day will help to keep me accountable.

Goals:

*stick to the grocery budget - this mostly means planning meals and adhering to the meal plan, NOT eating out or ordering in

*use the envelope system for "non-food" items (hygeine supplies, cleaning supplies, et cetera)...when the envelope is empty, that's it for the month

*reduce the bills that are not "fixed" - water and power are the biggest targets; I think my phone bill (LANline) is probably just about as low as it can possibly be (local phone service only...no long-distance or other features)

My key:

budgeted spending
under budget
true no-spend day
over budget
unexpected spending
ooops! I fell off the wagon...



1 September
Rent: $950

Monthly shop at Target: $40
*2 pencil sharpeners
*2 scissors
*birthday gift for my daughter (the world's CUTEST piggy bank....for $10!)
*bag of 100 cotton balls
*2 bottles shampoo
*2 bottles cream rinse
*2 cans shave gel
*2 tubes toothpaste
*1 stick deoderant
*2 string cheeses (for my daughter's school snack)

Snacks for Shakespeare in the park: $8 (normally, I bring treats from home, but I didn't get it together this time)

T-shirt for my (very persuasive) daughter at Shakespeare in the Park: $15

2 September
Power bill: $363.17 I am REALLLLLLLY working on reducing this to $150 for next month.

3 September
groceries: $24.46
*2 Odwalla smoothies (breakfast on the run for my daughter and me)
*1 HUGE muffin (school snack for my daughter)
(Actually, I'm feeling torn about these - on the one hand, I could MAKE both of these items at home, probably for less than I paid this morning. On the other hand, I am still well within my grocery budget for the week, we were in a real rush this morning, and it's better than McDonalds - or no breakfast at all.....Maybe I need to streamline the morning schedule to give her more time to eat breakfast at home?)
*oatcakes (for my desk at work)
*soup (for my lunch today)
*wasabi powder (because we're making sushi this week end)


ETA: I feel a little less guilty about my "questionable breakfast purchases" this morning, because I found a brand new, still-in-the-wrapper lampshade near the dumpster at my office this afternoon....now I don't have to buy one to replace the broken one on my front room lamp...so, it sort of evens out, maybe??

4 September
GROCERIES! (for the whole month, tyvm): $452

5 September

6 September
school supplies: $9.60

7 September

8 September

9 September

10 September

11 September

12 September

13 September

14 September

15 September

16 September (I'll spare you the gorey details.....)

17 September
school snacks for my daughter for next week $9.95

Tallies:
*groceries (food): $485/$475
*non-food: $49.60/$50
*out-of-budget spending: $132/$0

[APBTlover]

Hi! I did one of these a couple of years ago... I'm long overdue for another try!

a. Who you are
I'm a SAHW expecting our first baby in early October!

b. Where you are going (your financial goals)
Right now, DH has a truly awful commute 5 days a week. He's really looking to find something closer to home, even if it's not as secure and/or doesn't pay as well. So the most urgent goal is getting our savings pumped back up (since we've paid out of pocket for our midwife) so that our minds can be at ease if he decides to jump ship at the end of the year.

c. How you plan to get there
I know there's very little that I actually need, so why all the spending? I've got to start sticking with the budget, but the BIGGEST thing is food. DH hates going out or getting take out, and I honestly don't even enjoy it except for once a week or so when we go to one of our favorite restaurants, so how/why are we racking up all of these restaurant bills? It's nuts. Meal planning is my new best friend.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Originally Posted by trumpcard

He doesn’t get his first paycheck until October 1 and is only paid once a month for 9 months. Change our lifestyle from the former DINK life we used to lead to a more conservative one as a young family with a big house and one income.

Welcome trumpcard! My husband gets paid on a 9 month calendar as well. He's a teacher. That 9 month thing is actually a blessing for us because it means I have to budget ~carefully~ every year to get us through those 3 dry months. What does DINK mean?

Originally Posted by Jenn_M

I can't tell you how many of these challenges I've dropped out of but I'm ready to try again!!!

Haha! Me too, Jenn! Good to "see" you again...good luck this time!

Turquesa -- You are a regular, thanks to sticking with us! And being an inspiration with your debt-freeness. I'm re-reading the Tightwad Gazette too because she inspires me.

Welcome Danielle and Vannie!

Originally Posted by pbjmama

I'm back! After several months off I need to get back on the wagon.

c. Simplify. Only buy what we need. I'm going to do a pantry challenge, clean out my closet and consign some old clothes, do a childrens consignment sale and donate some items to a garage sale. Oh, and file our FSA receipts. I have a big problem with buying clothes/stuff for my kids. I need to take inventory but I think they have all they need for fall. DD may need a pair of warm shoes/boots. Other than that, no buying clothes for kids this month!

Hi there PBJ! Yes, me too. I've been keeping up the thread, but not really ~following~ it, you know what I mean? I've been off the wagon and just watching everyone else ride by me.

I had an eye-opening kids-inventory moment last week. My oldest daughter wanted some Keen slip-on shoes for the winter because here in Vermont they wear snow boots to school but then need warm slip on shoes for their classroom work. Well, I found some online at Sierra Trading Post and they were a good price (around $20 which is fantastic for Keens) so I bought them. Then I thought...hmmm...those look familiar. Did a shoe inventory the next day. We have over ~~~60~~~ pairs of little girl shoes. Granted I have three girls and they all share shoes, but seriously? 60? And as you can imagine where this is going -- we already OWNED that exact pair of Keen slip on shoes IN MY DAUGHTER'S SIZE. How sobering is that?

If I spent more time organizing my life and less time doing on-line shopping, things like this wouldn't happen.

Originally Posted by mamamoon89

my "eating out spending" is usually about $60-80 a month

Taking the bus more instead of driving and wasting gas.

Stop going to the cloth diaper store to "look around" and then come out have spend $18 on some fancy new diaper wrap I can't afford.

Welcome Mamamoon! We can help you with the eating out. Just be sure and come on here and "fess up" when you do spend that money (because you will...no spend is a learning process) don't give up just because you eat out a few times...climb back on that wagon and keep going.

You could also make some goals for yourself very specific like: take the bus X times this month. Or stay out of the diaper store 20 days out of 30 days (or whatever is reasonable for you)

Welcome back Kathirynne! You are a regular.

Originally Posted by APBTlover

Hi! I did one of these a couple of years ago... I'm long overdue for another try!

but the BIGGEST thing is food. DH hates going out or getting take out, and I honestly don't even enjoy it except for once a week or so when we go to one of our favorite restaurants, so how/why are we racking up all of these restaurant bills? It's nuts. Meal planning is my new best friend.

Welcome back APBTlover! Me too with the meal-planning. I just ordered that book Feeding Your Family for $75 a Week from the meal-planning thread because I am NOT eating out anymore just for convenience.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Getting set up for the September 1st launch:

01..
02..
03..
04..
05..
06..
07..
08..
09..
10..
11..
12..
13..
14..
15..

My goals:

0/20 No Spend Days
0/10 Let the Car Rest Days
0/20 Stay Out of the Stores SOS (this includes on-line shopping)

[ltlmrs]

I fell off the bandwagon in July because we went on an unexpected almost free vacation. But, I have to get myself back on track..

a. Who you are: I'm a PT WOHM to a 2 yo.

b. Where you are going:
- Get and stay out of debt
- Move towards being a SAHM full time
- Have lots more children
- Buy a house with some land

These aren't in any particular order, but those are our basic financial goals and the things I have to remind myself of every time I'm faced with a decision to spend money. It's hard though.

c. How you plan to get there:
- Stick to the budget no matter what. I'm the budget breaker. We always have this lovely budget, but then I overspend on groceries or go to the thrift store or something.
- Be honest with DH about money. I'm terrible about buying things out of the budget and not telling him. Nothing major, but things add up.
- Start making Christmas presents. Last Christmas I ended up buying a bunch of stuff because of poor planning. I need to figure out what I'm going to make and make it!
- Meal plan. I cook mostly at home, but I tend to like to do things on the spur of the moment. That leads to rushing to the grocery store at the last minute to get something I don't have on hand or worse: pizza. And the sad thing is that I usually have homemade pizza dough and sauce in the freezer, if only I had though ahead enough to defrost them when we feel like eating pizza I'm thinking of at least doing a more general nightly theme type plan.
- I completely stopped exploring WAH opportunities in August. I need to get back to writing my blog and apply for some online jobs. The quicker we can add to the debt snowball, the better!!!
- Walk more. Get to bed on time and wake up early (I've actually found that when I'm more rested I end up spending less money, go figure). Read/study more (there are so many things I could be doing other than spending money!!!)
- Keep track of my spending via Quicken. I've had the program for years, before we married even, and have tried using it from time to time. I must stick with it!

Key:
No spend
Budgeted spend
Cooked without an unplanned run to the grocery
Unplanned spending The goal is to have 0 of these by the end of the month.
Worked on blog or online job stuff
All chores done for the day, esp the dishes
Worked on a crafty project
Early to bed, early to rise
Walked instead of driving and/or exercised

[Pumpkin_Pie]

a. Who you are Hi there, my name is Kim and I am so determined to get my spending under control. I have attempted these threads so many times in the past and always fall off the wagon. I am currently unemployed (actually still do work about 3-4 hours per week at my church), so things are pretty lean. I am crossing my fingers that I find a job, or unemployment comes through. I have been three weeks without a paycheck and am seriously pinching pennies until they scream. I completely splurged and and spent $12 at our local fair, but that is the end of spending until after I start having some sort of income. I love thrift store shopping, but my son has waaaaaayyyyy more clothes than three kids need, and I am doing just fine for the most part. I just need to stay home more so I don't have the temptation to go into stores, and I also need to find a way to budget for trips to the thrift stores rather than just stopping every time I pass by one.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals) and
I want to build up a $1000 emergency fund ASAP then I want to make sure I have a fun-money budget that I DON'T GO OVER. Small goals, but that is where I am at. If I can make these happen over the next two to three months, I will feel pretty successful.


c. How you plan to get there
I plan to first of all find a job that works for my schedule and DS's preschool schedule. I will not compromise on a job that makes me crazy, but I am going to work my butt off to find something what will work. I am also going to come on here every day to report my spending. I am also thinking of starting an actual physical envelope system. I just need to find a system that works for me, and this is next on my list of things to try.

Here we go!

September No-Spend:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.


Goals:
20/30 no spend days
10/30 stay home days
Use up 30 cans of food from basement stash (lots of things down there that I can eat but don't *want* to eat necessarily.
create and start using an envelope system
30/30 not use the dryer (actually haven't used it at all in over a month already
30/30 not use the a/c (my apartment is obscenely hot upstairs)

[nadia105]

Me!

A. Who you are
I'm nadia, mama to 3, 4 in april. I'm working between full and part time as a baker right now, but don't want to after the babe is here.

B. Where are you going?
We need to pay off some cc debt (which we have NEVER had before) that snuck up on us when we bought our new house in April. SO many unexpected expenses came up and we need to pay it OFF!

C. How will you get there?
Budgeting (I am good at this) and sticking to it (I am REALLY bad at this). I just added up eating out expenses from last month and we spent $586 on eating out! Eye opening for sure. And not very justifiable when we get a huge veggie box from our CSA every week. I am pg and have a hard time finding things I want to eat, so some eating out is going to happen, but nowhere near that much!

Goals:
$250 or less eating out
$250 or less Target/household
$600 groceries

I'm sure I will think of more, but I need to start kind of small or I will throw in the towel

[MrsMike]

a. Who you are Jenn, mama to 4 yo DS. I'm trying this out again. I tried at some point last year and failed. I really need to get us back on track. I had a miscarriage in April and have been very depressed. As a result, I let my house go to crap and I have barely cooked meal since then. I've probably cooked a total of 10 meals since April. Dh cooks on Tuesday nights because I work, but that's it. I used to pack all of DH's lunches, but we've resorted to getting take out (we meet him for lunch everyday). I don't make breakfast. I rely on yogurts, oatmeal and cereal. I have wasted a ton of food in the past few months. Veggies and fruits end up rotting and getting tossed. It's very shameful because I am soooooooo against that. It's hurting us financially and it's hurting our health. In addition, I tend to shop more when I'm depressed so I've bought tons of crap that we do.not.need.


b. Where you are going (your financial goals) I just want to get my spending under control and save money. My savings is pretty much nil and I want to get that built up ASAP.


c. How you plan to get thereEat out less and cook way more. I plan to control my spending and not buy useless junk. I also plan to use my debit card less and stick to using cash for most things.

[spatulagirl]

a. Who you are

My name is Kate. I am a SAHM/homeschooling mom to three kids, expecting #4 end of February.


b. Where you are going (your financial goals)
I plan on saving $1000 this month to go into saving, as well as make a $3000 payment on the credit card.


c. How you plan to get there
I am going to do this by following the budget and keeping track of it here and on Pear Budgeting. I am going to try harder to find used clothes for my kids and stay away from Gymboree which is my downfall. Gas is something I cannot cut my budget for as my kids have either baseball, speech therapy or homeschool co-op. The only way to stay home is to cancel appointments.

I will not be eating out at all except for one meal when DH and I do a date night. DS is going on an elimination diet on Wednesday so we can't eat out anyway. I will need to be more organized. I also want to do more knitting, homeschooling and decluttering to keep me busy. Also more park dates with friends that are fun and free.

-----------------------------------

Ok, I am aiming for 15 no spend days. Baby steps.

September No-Spend

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3.
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14.
15.

[nadia105]

I just did the math and our daily average was almost $20 per day eating out -- holy crap!

I also happened to look at the cc statement and saw that we have paid almost $500 in interest charges this year! In the past, we never carried a balance, this is not good. I did see that I could take some $$ from our 'sinking fund' type account, so that brought the balance down 18%. Here's tp knocking off the final 82%. It's not possible in one month for us, but I can get a *very* good start.

[ltlmrs]

Setting this up now because I'm starting the month a day early since tomorrow is grocery day for me and it's on this month's budget.

Key:
No spend
Budgeted spend
Cooked without an unplanned run to the grocery
Unplanned spending The goal is to have 0 of these by the end of the month.
Worked on blog or online job stuff
All chores done for the day, esp the dishes
Worked on a crafty project
Early to bed, early to rise
Walked instead of driving and/or exercised


September Budget & Goals:
$0/$350 food
0 eating out days!
$0/$60 miscellaneous expenses (of which $30 will be haircuts for me and DH; I'll probably need to get some fall shoes for me and I'm sure something else necessary will come up)
$0/$300 gas (DH drives a lot for work and my car is a gas guzzler ; anything not used at the end of the month goes in the car maintenance fund)