~November No-Spend Challenge~ Don't let little purchases gobble gobble up your savings! Come...

[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 November 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.

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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. Who you are: I'm Prudence. A SAHM with three daughters.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals): To pay off our mortgage. But more importantly, to be conscious of where I'm spending my money. I want to have money for the big stuff -- retirement, college for my kids, ease of mind at the grocery store -- so I have to watch what I spend on the little stuff.

c. How you plan to get there: This thread. Tracking my spending keeps me accountable. Giving up the fast food -- planning ahead and staying out of the drive-throughs. Staying OUT of the stores!

[dfunk98]

OOOH!! I was so hoping this would be up a day early!! I had done this successfully about a year or so back, but I really need to commit again. DH has been giving me a hard time about finances, lately, which are not as bad as he makes them but not ideal by any stretch. I'm here to make tings even better!!

a. Who you are-Danielle SAHM to 5yo DD and 3yo DS. I teach classes on the weekends and babysit a few days a week.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals)-My plan is to pay of three of our smaller bills this month (2 store cards +loc at bank=$615.77), only using the money I earn from babysitting. Once they are paid, I plan to take the money I would have spent on them to help dh pay off the larger bills. I also plan to bank the money from my teaching gig to pay for Christmas gifts so that we don't rack up the cc's again. Long term goal-PAY OFF ALL CC's-including DH's.

c. How you plan to get there-Paying off the bills IN CASH immediately when I get paid, ie. when sil pays me for watching my niece, I will go right to the store/bank to pay down the charge. This way, I will not have any cash to spend on unnecessary items. I will be taking $60 cash out of the bank each week to be used for necessities, which can only be shopped for 2x week-Tuesday and Thursday mornings when DS is in school. Our home life has gotten so busy with all of our activities, I'd rather not send any down time running to this store or that store.

I am really prepared to buckle down this month. I need to focus on my goals. I have just gone food shopping, so there's no need to go to the store for food. I'm going to fill my gas tank today and then we'll be on our way!!

Key-
=No Spend Day
=Necessary/Planned Spending Day
=Unnecessary Spend Day

[SilverFish]

i love these threads!

Who I am: SAHM to one 8 month old daughter.
Goals: Stick to my $400 grocery budget, cut down on unnecessary spending, work on finding ways to ADD to our income.

This month I'm adding a planned spending label, and cutting down on my no-spend days... I in no way met last months goal of 8 art/work days, so I'm making a new commitment to do that. I'm taking out the old discretionary spending budget, since i realized it was kind of arbitrary (and my DH was out and about spending money without me there anyway)... this month i'm just going to track all my spending and come up with a better, more specific spending budget for my own "fun stuff."

10 no spend days
10 art/work days
4 eating out days

$400 grocery budget
$0 FUN money

no spend day
unnecessary spending
budget spending day
art/work day

[Turquesa]

a. Who you are

Laura, mom to two toddler hellions.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals)

I'm on Baby Step 3 of the Dave Ramsey program, which involves saving up 6 months worth of income for an Emergency Fund. We're a third of the way there, thanks to this program. To track our progress, I even created and printed out my own graphic of a thermometer, and I love taking DD's red crayon and coloring in more mercury!

c. How you plan to get there

1. Keep posting here. You know what they say about washing an elephant...

2. Keep grocery store trips under $110.00 (including tax)

3. Come up with as many fun and free activities--in home and out--for my two little twerps.

4. Stay realistic as the Holly Jolly Days approach. I'll tuck half as much as I normally do into the savings account (because, dag nabbit, that still counts as saving!) and not admonish myself over it.

[Youngfrankenstein]

I MUST, MUST, MUST be here this month. I do okay with money but I've run up a bit of cc debt and I MUST pinch, pinch, pinch this month! It is not acceptable! I've also overdrawn my account by buying stupid things and not paying attention! DUMB!

a. I am a SAHM of 4 with a "paycheck" I get each week to run the household.

b. DH is great with money and I can be. I just get lazy and greedy and end up in this same boat over and over. We have paid off the cards several times.

c. I have plenty of money to live and enjoy life, but I don't have all of the money in the world! I think I need to respect the idea of "earning" something by saving up for it. I am commiting to a "No-spend November" to get back into the discipline of valuing what we have.

[mama_y_sol]

Hi everyone! This is my first time hopping onto one of these challenges-but i am a long time lurker.

a. I am a SAHM to 2

b. I'd like to start consistently saving money to add to our savings account. Some months we are saving nothing, many months we are dipping into our savings. We have no debt but struggle to save anything. I would also like to stick to my budget of $200 a week for grocery shopping.

c. By holding myself accountable for every purchase. I love to go to the thrift store and buy something for a dollar, but it all adds up and I know this.

[mama to B]

I am in!

a. Who you are: Ashley mama to one busy little b!

b. Where you are going (your financial goals): To save a 5000 EF and advenually turn into into 8000. Long term: save for my retirement, down payment on a house and my dds education

c. How you plan to get there: Track all my spending and cut the crap! Stop wasting money on JUNK!!

- Budgeted Spending
- No Spend days
- Unbudgeted spending

15 No Spend Days
5 Eat Out days
8 Let the car rest days
350 Grocery Budget
200 Extra Savings

[MrsTittlemouse]

A. I am a mom of 2- ds10 and dd 6.

B. I am using this month to track EVERY dollar spent! This is the first time I have ever given myself a grocery budget, so it is not too lean at $500. I want to see what happens with that much allowance, as it is much less than what I spent last month.
I also do not want to incur any more late fees ever.
I am also working out a Christmas budget this week and hope to have most of my shopping done by the end of the month.
C. I am going to do this by posting here. Updating my spending records several times a week, in fact, I would love to make it a daily habit. Making a meal plan and cooking enough for lunches.


-no spend days
-budgeted spend
-unbudgeted spend
-no drive

15 no spend days
8 no drive days
5 sell my stuff days
8 craft/enrichment activity ready after school days
30 tracked spending days
0 late bill days (ie- I am staying aware of things!)
$500.00 grocery budget

[mommyto4grits]

I am in! I did this challenge last month and it is great. I keep track of daily itemized expenses on my computer. But I like to come onto MDC and report a daily spend/no spend/frivalous spend day.
I'm Vicki a stay-at-home, homeschooling Mom of 4 girls.

My goals this month are to...
Get as close to an extra $500 in savings as possible
Cash Only- NO Credit Cards
Eat out 1x per week
Make more foods from scratch
Keep an itemized, running list of "wants" and research/plan before we buy
10 No Spend Days


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

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Okay, not off to the roaring good start I was hoping for, but I have a nice clean month ahead of me so I'm not getting discouraged yet. Instead I'll think of this as my LAST fast food run this month.

01.. $9.98 Wendy's
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My Goals:

0/20 No Spend Days
0/5 Let the Car Rest Days
0/20 Fast Food Free Days

[Turquesa]

Well, no time like the present! Here we go:

= No spending or budgeted/necessary spending

= Unnecessary/unbudgeted/optional/"junk" spending

1. $25.00 sprinkler blow-outs
2. $20.00 in books. One of them I had to buy because DD destroyed it in the store.

[MrsTittlemouse]

It was a lot harder than I thought to spend less than 125.00 at the store for the week. I think we are still going to need to buy bread and veggies during the week and have already spent 130! Note to self- lasagna is NOT a budget friendly dish.
Since I am just starting to budget I am adding to my key for things that I am adding to the budget that aren't impulsive.

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-no spend days
-budgeted spend
-unbudgeted spend
-added to budget spend
-no drive

0/15 no spend days
0/8 no drive days
0/5 sell my stuff days
0/8 craft/enrichment activity ready after school days
1/30 tracked spending days
0 late bill days (ie- I am staying aware of things!)
130.20/$500.00 grocery budget

[mama to B]

1- Groceries - 80.18
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- Budgeted Spending
- No Spend days
- Unbudgeted spending

15 No Spend Days
5 Eat Out days
8 Let the car rest days
80.18/350 Grocery Budget
200 Extra Savings

[diana_of_the_dunes]

a. Who you are
Diana, full-time working, married, mama of 1.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals) and
We have a $1000 emergency fund, which a year ago was $6000. Some of it was spent while I was on maternity leave, but lots of it went to medical bills, car repairs, and vet bills from my dog being hit by a car. Plus we are in the middle of a home renovation. Thankfully, we have no debt outside of the mortgage. But I spend too much on my Starbucks habit, plus I have a hard time passing up good deals on secondhand baby clothes on ebay. We need to remodel our bathroom by next year to prevent further water damage, plus we are talking about TTC #2, so we'd need extra in the bank for me to be off work. We make way too much money to have this little in the bank, and I'm sick of just frittering it away.


c. How you plan to get there
Stop looking at Gymboree clothes on ebay. $20/week for work lunches, to be spent on food or coffee (if I can't contain myself). Bring lunch at least 4 out of 6 work days (I work 6 on, 3 off). $500 on groceries. $500 in savings. 15 no-spend days.

= no spending!
= necessary, budgeted spending
= necessary, unbudgeted spending
= unnecessary, unbudgeted spending

[diana_of_the_dunes]

1- mortgage payment, $32 for pizza to thank our niece and nephew for help with yardwork (comes out of entertainment allowance)
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= no spending!
= necessary, budgeted spending
= necessary, unbudgeted spending
= unnecessary, unbudgeted spending

[IngaAnne]

a. Who you are I'm IngaAnne, currently SAHM of a 17m old boy. I was laid off in July.
b. Where you are going (your financial goals) The goal is to stick to the new budget to avoid spending more than my husband takes home per month, plus have a little left over to build up more savings.
c. How you plan to get there We've refinanced the house, changed tax brackets, and cut out a lot of extras. I've been tracking every cent of our spending for the past couple months to get a better grasp on exactly where the money is going. With these changes and a lot smarter shopping habits, we've already cut out close to $1000 per month with the possibility (and need) to cut out even more. My husband and I sat down the other day and now have a new budget that seems completely doable. My goal is to stick to the budget 100%. This means cutting out the impulse buys like candy, chips, and fast food. I go to get groceries every Saturday and go to Target once a week. We have a $100 a week grocery budget and a $150 a month Target budget for diapers, TP and whatnot. I must avoid any extra trips to the store and only buy items on the list. I've alotted myself $10 a week of "allowance" to spend on whatever (like candy or french fries), but hopefully I'll avoid the junk food and save up the money for something fun. If all goes well, we'll have at least $200 left over per month for savings *crosses fingers*

1 - Today, I spent $25.70 at Target. Grocery shopping was over the weekend and technically prior to the start of the month, but we're counting it for November since the food is being eaten this week $95.91 - Planned Spending

Grocery Spending - 95.91/500
Out to Eat Spending - 0/80
Target Spending - 25.70/150
Other Spending - 0/100 (to be used for sump pump service later this week)

[nwmomof2]

Who I am: Suse, former teacher and now SAHM to 2 fantastic daughters, ages 7 and 4.5, and wife to an amazingly frugal guy. He was frugal before it was "in" to be frugal. I'm back again for this month, my 3rd month on the thread. I fell off the wagon at the end of October, and stopped recording every single purchase. But now I'm looking at my cc bill (I put all purchases on my cc and pay it off completely every month), and am realizing that being accountable to this thread helps me spend less.

My financial goals are simple: live beneath our means (spend less than we earn), put $500 in savings each month (which will go towards college savings for DDS at the end of the year), stay in my food budget, and stay within my household budget (which includes items like gifts, which seem to really get me every month). Buy no clothes for any family member (including me) this month - we are fortunate to have what we need.

Ways to meet my goals: Stay out of stores! Avoid online "window shopping." Exercise instead of thinking of things to buy, cultivate gratitude for all I have. Enjoy free/low cost hobbies like walking/running in the woods at the end of my street, cooking (esp. baking), reading books from the library, develop an at-home yoga practice which I used to have but have lost. Declutter a few cupboards in my dining room.

Also, I have had a very hard time with TRUE no spend days in months past, and I didn't give myself credit for days where I made budgeted for/planned purchases, so this month I will change that, and record the planned/budgeted spending as its own category.

Here we go!!

1. oil change, gas for car
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planned/budgeted spending
true no-spend
frivolous spending

Goals:
0/400 groceries (doesn't include milk delivery or prepaid CSA)
0/50 eating out (including coffee)
0/100 household
0/500 put in savings
1/30 not buying clothes days
1/15 stay out of stores days
0/10 true no-spend days
1/20 planned/budgeted spending days

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Originally Posted by Turquesa

$25.00 sprinkler blow-outs

Laura -- this is a mystery to me. What is a sprinkler blow-out?

Originally Posted by MrsTittlemouse

Note to self- lasagna is NOT a budget friendly dish.

mmm... But it is so goood.... Maybe you could compensate by making less-expensive meals a few nights this week. Lasagne is worth it.

Originally Posted by diana_of_the_dunes

We have a $1000 emergency fund, which a year ago was $6000. Some of it was spent while I was on maternity leave, but lots of it went to medical bills, car repairs, and vet bills from my dog being hit by a car.

Welcome Diana! sorry to hear about the declining emergency fund. Car repairs are just plain irritating. That was very kind of you to take care of your dog that way.

Stop looking at Gymboree clothes on ebay.

Is this a hobby for you? Because if you enjoy looking for bargains on ebay, and what you find are actually bargains -- then I would not be so hard on yourself.

Your children are ~always~ going to need clothes. What if you changed this habit from looking for baby clothes (which you probably have plenty of) to looking for cute size 2T 3T 4T clothes?

Then you get to continue doing what you clearly enjoy -- recognizing that for many people (and this may be you) this is a hobby -- but you are also planning ahead and dressing your children in quality clothing. Gymboree stuff doesn't go out of style quickly...those are nice clothes. In three years your baby will still be dressed nicely in the bargains you are finding today.

Plus eventually you can change your hobby from shopping for gymboree stuff on ebay to SELLING your baby stuff on ebay.

Originally Posted by IngaAnne

a. Who you are I'm IngaAnne, currently SAHM of a 17m old boy. I was laid off in July.
I've been tracking every cent of our spending for the past couple months to get a better grasp on exactly where the money is going. With these changes and a lot smarter shopping habits, we've already cut out close to $1000 per month

Welcome IngaAnne! I'm sorry to hear about the layoff. Shaving $1000 a month out of your budget is impressive! Good luck and we're glad you are with us.

Originally Posted by nwmomof2

I'm back again for this month, my 3rd month on the thread. I fell off the wagon at the end of October, and stopped recording every single purchase. But now I'm looking at my cc bill (I put all purchases on my cc and pay it off completely every month), and am realizing that being accountable to this thread helps me spend less.

Welcome back Suse! We all fall off -- me too, pretty much every month. But we're extending a hand to help pull you back on. Welcome back!

Buy no clothes for any family member (including me) this month

Stay out of stores! Avoid online "window shopping."

Exercise instead of thinking of things to buy.

Enjoy free/low cost hobbies like walking/running in the woods at the end of my street, cooking, reading books from the library, Declutter a few cupboards in my dining room.

I need to add these verbatim to my goals.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

This has the potential to be a ~stellar~ day. If I set my mind to it (and I'm setting it...right now) I could avoid driving the car.

Our polling place is the high school so I could even walk to vote.


01.. $9.98 Wendy's
02..
03..
04..
05..
06..
07..
08..
09..
10..
11..
12..
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15..

My Goals:

0/20 No Spend Days
0/5 Let the Car Rest Days
0/20 Fast Food Free Days [/QUOTE]