~ October No-Spend Challenge ~ The treat is having money in the bank. The trick is keeping it... - Page 2

[nina_yyc]

a. Who you are
I'm Nina, mom to Libby & Elliot. I'm going back to work as a video editor part time this month. This is going to be a big adjustment for everyone since my 4-day week includes weekends and my DH Wally gets to try his hand at being the SAHP two days a week

b. Where you are going (your financial goals) and
Stay on budget, on budget, and on budget. We're not in terrible financial shape and that's thanks in part to our small apartment and shared car. We save every month, but I have a hard time with the little things and I really want to keep the spendy-spendy on track so I have enough for the things I *really* want, not the crap that I regret buying.

c. How you plan to get there
I will come on here and track all my discretionary spending. I will bring my lunch to work every day and never ever go to Tim Horton's. I will buy 'wants' only if I have money at the end of the month, not at the beginning or the middle because I think I'm doing fine.

Goals:
$750 or less on household account
$125 or less on personal account

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Ahhh...off to a good start. It is actually rare for me to get a no-spend on the first day.

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My Goals:

1/15 No Spend Days
0/3 Let the Car Rest Days
0/25 Fast Food Free Days

[mamaluvs]

Hi Everyone!
I am a mainly SAHM to 2 wonderful kids. I don't usually venture into this area of MDC but something drew me here this morning. Now I know why! This thread is exactly what I need to get me back on track with spending.

Here are my financial goals for this month:
write down all purchases
spend less than $150/week on groceries
eat out/take out 5 times or less this month
only one trip to Starbucks per week (this is huge for me)
no clothing purchases for the kids-unless I find an awesome deal on winter coats/boots and a pair of jeans for DD (her current pair are getting very short)
start using the library again
research cheaper cable/tv options

Visit this forum more often!

10/1 $69.96 groceries
10/2 $0
10/3 $81.86 groceries

Week one grocerery total: $151.82
Starbucks:
Clothing:

[haurelia]

Hi all! I'd like to join in (for the first time!). I've been trying to stay on track but think this will help me a lot (if I remember and am able to get back to the thread daily )

I'm Heather, SAHM to Henry, 20months. My DH brings home the bacon, takes care of the yard and repairs, and I do pretty much everything else with our money and running the household.
We're new to having one income, and we are floundering a little. Having used up most all of our (meager) savings in a long-distance move to get a great job for DH near lots of family in a beautiful area of the country (Upper Michigan), we are having trouble climbing back on top of the barrel. We incurred some debt in making improvements to our home, which sucks, but was necessary. We're basically living check to check right now, and covering all the bills without using credit.

We'd like to get back on track with aggressive debt repayment, and rebuilding our emergency fund. Once we finish with small debts (credit cards and student loan), we'd like to focus on getting rid of the mortgage and transitioning to buying some land and living off the grid in 10-15 years.

We plan to get there with careful budgeting, limiting spending and minimizing expenses as much as possible. I bake our own bread, make yogurt, can/freeze surplus, fix almost all meals at home, and my husband can make or repair most anything. We are planning our garden for next year (we moved in June, so couldn't get one in this year and had a CSA instead). Thrift/second-hand shopping for clothes and household items, scrounge from discards from family and limit driving when possible (DH bikes to work most days, and I try to limit trips to town to 2-3 days a week when I can, although for socializing, it's hard to say no when you have a chance to hang with cool mamas who also have toddlers and want you to come over to knit and drink tea!). We will try to conserve energy with heat and electric and make use of the outdoors for family fun rather than spending $ on entertainment (except for Netflix for the occasional "date night at home").

I'm going to respectfully copy cyrusmama's key (I hope that's ok!).

= No spend or budgeted spending
= Unnecessary/unbudgeted spending
= No-drive day
= eat-at-home day
= packed a lunch, snack

I'll make another post to start tracking, because this one is too long already!

[haurelia]

01.. Refrigerator repair DH was unable to do. Boo. Paid the due monthly bills as per my budget. Ate all meals at home
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[OkiMom]

I didn't post last night. Ended up crashing early with a severe migrane.

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No Spend:
Budget spend:
Oopsies:
Eat at home(): 1/29
No drive days(): 1/20
Pack a snack(): 1/31
Declutter my life days(): 1/25
Working on presents/clothing days (): 1/25
Food budget 0/400
DH budget- 0/150
DD2's birthday budget- 0/40.00
Christmas budget: 0/500
Baby budget: 0/????
Organization budget: 0/100
Thrift store budget: 0/40
Personal spending: 0/100

[cyrusmama]

= No spend or budgeted spending
= Unnecessary/unbudgeted spending
= No-drive day
= eat-at-home day
= packed a lunch, snack



01.. = both dh and I ended up getting home late so we had dinner out , Fridays are our crazy day unfortunately
02.. , = went to a craft show, packed a lunch and stayed under the budget we allotted ourselves, buying 4 gifts for Christmas for a total of $7
03.. = ate at home, despite a trip to the er, sick baby
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05.. = stayed home all day
06.. = unexpected dr run but no meds needed
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[spiderdust]

a. Who you are
I'm mama to a toddler and a pre-teen (which can get exciting at times) and a college student who is pretty involved with some organizations at school. I'm out of the house several times a week, which makes a challenge like this trickier, but I keep wanting to do it. I often feel a little intimidated by these threads because some of you folks are amazing, but I'm going to make myself post all the same!

b. Where you are going (your financial goals) and
We've gotten hit with some horrible bills... not going into it too much right here, but we really need to make an effort to save as much as we can so we can pay down those bills and (if possible) rebuild our savings.

I'm struggling with what is a realistic amount to spend this much -- I'd love to say "NONE AT ALL!" but that's just not realistic this month. There's a birthday and some other expenses coming up (those kids are growing like weeds! why can't their clothes grow with them?!), but I can definitely spend less. I'm shooting for $800 or less for the month (monthly bills excepted).

c. How you plan to get there
I plan to report on all of our spending (other than the monthly bills). To help us spend less, we'll:

Eat at home or pack a lunch or snack for when we're not at home (the birthday may be the exception)
Try to spend no more than $35/week on groceries (or $50/week on groceries & toiletries combined)
Use our pantry/freezer stockpile so we can keep the grocery bill down
Only get "treats" (Starbucks, etc.) if we have free coupons or gift cards
Shift our library day to Saturdays (so we can walk to the library instead of driving over in a hurry after dinner before they close)
Walk or use public transit more (although I'm already trying to do that with going to school)

KEY (I'm modifying the one that everyone seems to be using):
= no spend day!
= budgeted spending
= unnecessary/unbudgeted spending
= walked or used public transit
= eat-at-home day
= packed a lunch/snack

And so, my month begins...

Oct 1st. $53.66!
Went to the grocery store to stock up on a few things, but didn't pay as close attention to what was going into my cart as I should have! I guess it could have been a lot worse since I used $23 in coupons, but still! At least we stuck to the plan of making dinner at home.

I'm still determined to do this, warts and all.

[FeelingBlessed]

After soccer, off to the exceptionally cool (and totally free) "Know the Coast Day". If anyone is in NH/ME/MA, check it out; they have a fab line-up of events and activities: http://www.unh.edu/knowthecoast/

10/1:

Necessary/in budget spending: 1/28
Do something to earn/save $: 1/31
Food: 0/$500
No Drive Days: 1/6
Practice gratitude: 1/31

[Turquesa]

= No spend or budgeted spending
= Unnecessary/unbudgeted spending
= No-drive day
= Had tea today
= Hung clothes on the line.

1. Ran errands. Forgot to pack snacks. Crashed with hunger and went to TCBY. Ugh! What a start. But . . .
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[Marissamom]

1. paid rent and spent $1.25 for DF to take the bus to work instead of driving. Used cloths instead of paper towels to clean up post-meal toddler and the counters and stove (baby steps, right?), sorted laundry into heavy (Jeans and towels) and light loads to reduce the amount of dry time. all meals and snacks at home

[liangel]

The last time I posted on the No Spend Thread was Jan 2010. So here I am again. I just get so busy that I forget to come on here and "report".

My name is Tiffany and I WOHM Parttime. My work hours vary- so I may work 40 hours one week and then 0 hours another. My little boy Nicholas is now 18 months old and a very busy toddler. I am hoping to really keep my unnecessary spending in check.

My key:

- No spend at all

- necessary spending (gas, food, car stuff)

- Unnecessary Spending

10/1-

10/2- $5.50 Sonic

[mommyto4grits]

My Key:
Budgeted, planned spending (includes groceries, gas, other necessary or well planned items- NOT impulse items)
No Spend
No Drive
Impulse, Unnecessary Spending
Eat Out
Oct.1- Groceries, consumables, and gas
Oct.2- rest of grocery shopping DH and I had a date night, I think dinner was overpriced, but it was good. And DH got steak, which I never make.

[melissel]

OK, last month was a bust, but now that we're back from our anniversary getaway and all birthdays have passed, I can get back in the saddle for October.

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Who I am: Melissa, a SAHM and homeschooling mom of two.

Where I'm going: After much hard thinking and discussion with DH, I've realized that I really want to move from this house. To do so, we need to save a shocking amount of money. I know that the odds are completely against this ever happening, but I'm going to operate as if I can make it happen by pre-paying as much of our recently refinanced mortgage as we can. That way, if we can sell this house and make back our money to move, I'm happy. If we end up staying here, then we put a nice big dent in our mortgage anyway. In short, I'm working for my dream house!

How I plan to get there: Eliminating wasted food and utilities (as in, I need to stop forgetting about the laundry so that I end up needing to rewash stinky loads!). Being more careful about bringing water and snacks to events and on outings. Menu plan more effectively, and STICK TO MY MENU PLANS. Sell some stuff--I probably have $500-$600 in marketable items here, and we could really use the money AND the extra space. Organize my time more effectively to fit in as much freelance work as possible (and still stay sane). Keep working my survey opportunities to put together some more gift card money in preparation for Christmas.

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Short-term goals:
No-spend days: 0/20
Grocery budget: $0/500
Weekly meal plans made: 0/4
Income from surveys/sales: $2
Daily save/earn money activity: 1/31

Legend:
No-spend day:
Planned spending only:
Unnecessary spending:
Practiced gratitude:

10/1:
10/2: (ate at home all day, completed a survey for $2)
10/3: (library fines)
10/4:
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10/6:
10/7: (soccer sign-up fees)
10/8: (GS monthly fees)

[melissel]

Originally Posted by mommyto4grits

Keep an itemized, running list of "wants" and research/plan before we buy

I need to do this too. I keep meaning to make a section of my planner for things like this so I can keep an eye out for deals on things I've been looking for, as well as a section for keeping a detailed, in-the-moment itemization of spending. I think this month is the month!

Originally Posted by FeelingBlessed

...transitioning from a 32 hr/wk gig leading a nonprofit to WAH as a freelance writer/editor (DH works FT + is in school FT)...

* Do Something DAILY to earn/save money: (0/31)
* Practice gratitude daily

Congratulations on your new work situation! WAH can be very hard, but it really is better than the alternative (on most days, anyway!).

And I love the two ideas I quoted here. If you don't mind, I'm going to incorporate them into my daily plans. (If you do, please don't hesitate to let me know!) I especially need the gratitude reminder. I know I have much to be thankful for, but I tend to get sucked down into the whinys more often than is acceptable!

[FeelingBlessed]

Originally Posted by melissel

And I love the two ideas I quoted here. If you don't mind, I'm going to incorporate them into my daily plans. (If you do, please don't hesitate to let me know!) I especially need the gratitude reminder. I know I have much to be thankful for, but I tend to get sucked down into the whinys more often than is acceptable!

Please go right ahead + incorporate these concepts; it's wonderful to hear others running toward similar goals!

Kim

[FeelingBlessed]

Sand in my toes, smile on my face, happy monkeys, glorious day. Though we hit the coast, get to count as a no drive as we have my niece (+ the minivan that accompanies her) this weekend. Also get $0 food spending as Grammy insisted on springing for the ice cream stop.

Kim

10/1:
10/2:

Necessary/in budget spending: 2/28
Do something to earn/save $: 2/31
Food: 0/$500
No Drive Days: 2/6
Practice gratitude: 2/31

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

That gratitude thing is a great idea, Kim! I look forward to reading your posts.

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My Goals:

1/15 No Spend Days
0/3 Let the Car Rest Days
0/25 Fast Food Free Days

[scrapadoozer]

10/01
10/02

2/20 No-spend days
2/31 Not buying clothes days
$0 Frivolously spent

[fustian]

Today was a really spendy day. Technically, it was planned purchases, but I'm feeling really cruddy about it since it came out to more than I expected. I've been wanting to put in a veggie garden for several years, and decided to go with square foot garden raised beds, but man is it expensive to fill those boxes. I got half of what I need today and I'm going to have to spend about the same amount on Monday to get a load of compost delivered. I could save money by loading up the trailer myself instead of delivery, but I think my pregnant body would stage a revolt. It's angry enough at me this evening for hauling the stuff I did today and planting all my fall bulbs. Normally I'd get DH to do the lifting for me, but he's working like a madman to get our barn finished out back before the snow hits.

On an up note, I de-cluttered and deep cleaned the kitchen today and it looks great! I really want to dump some clutter before the baby comes, so I'm adding a goal of 5 trash bags of stuff out of the house (donated, chucked, whatever) this month.

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2. Groceries, gas, and $200 at the gardening centre on supplies.

1/15 no spend days
0/$400 added to savings
1/5 bags of clutter gone

Legend:
No spend
Only planned/budgeted spending
Unnecessary / unplanned spending