January 2011 No-Spend Challenge - Let's start the New Year off right! - Page 4

[micah_mae_]

Originally Posted by nomad-at-heart 

Hello,

can we join, too?

It's my first time in this section, but our bank accounts could really use some boost in this new year...

1.) Who we are?

It's me, a part- time working mom of a wonderful daughter and a fulltime working dad.

2) where do we want to get?

Finally, have the 6 months of income as savings just in case something should happen... And also have some money for extras like our immigration or eating organic (which we just started, we'll see if we can stick to it) or maybe even a vacation...

3) How?

Cut out most unneccesary spending. We're big with that: coffee, eating out, malls... I don't even konw if we can cut out all unnecessary spending because we seem to be addicted to that sort of burning money. I think sometimes we just feel like we deserve it, and then, we just spend money... So this is my first attempt in 2011 to at least be tracking where the money goes....

I have already been doing meal planning for quite a while and try to always take my lunch with me to work (and so does dh)- that really helped but seemd not to have been enough. We'll see...

Jan. 1) 10 $ at coffee shop  15 $ movie rentals, but that was good and needed for our inner peace, so I won't complain

Jan 2) 140 groceries online. They should last for one week, so we're good (yes, unfortunately, groceries are so expensive around here). 

But, again: 10 $ at coffee shop  Around 10 $ eating out  570 $ daycare , but that was planned.

Thank you for your inspiration:-)

Cheers,

nomad

I am the coffee addict in our family, I have found that if I crave Starbucks I can mix my homemade hot chocolate mix with a tsp of instant coffee. Not the same but it takes away the craving and it's super cheap. I tend to drink it every day because I'm also on ww and it's only 2 points as opposed to a cafe mocha at 8.

[ButtonGirl]

OK, so this is one of my biggest issues, and hubby and I really want to get out of debt, so I'm in...

a. Who you are: Kelly, first time mom to beautiful daughter (4 months), American transplanted to Canada (yay!) married to hubby 4 years now.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals): My desire is to pay off debt and learn how to live within my means...something I've rarely managed to do in my life. I don't want to leave that legacy to my daughter...and I want to get rid of the daily guilt that debt brings to my mind.

c. How you plan to get there: We've definitely been working on our spending the past several months and made some improvement, but it's still a long road to go. We seem to be good at doing well for awhile, then falling back into terrible habits and staying there for too long until we renew our resolutions. I would like this pattern to stop...but I think I really need to take it one day at a time.  So today, no spending...and I'll be back to post what happens!

My main pitfalls...ordering in when I'm too tired/lazy to cook, overspending on groceries due to bad planning, and buying stuff for the daughter. We pretty much have everything we need for her right now so my goal is to stop getting things just because they're so darn cute!

It's really nice to be part of this community... :)

[diana_of_the_dunes]

My key:

  No spend

  Spending within budget

  Over budget, but necessary

  Not necessary, not budgeted

1/01   (well, I bought Starbucks with a gift card I got fir Christmas...)

1/02    Ate dinner out at work with DH, DS, and in-laws

1/03     Grocery shopping

Goals:

Work lunches  $4/$60

Groceries $/$500

Savings  $/$500

[Tradd]

I'm in! I'm a working single 41 yo chick, no kids. Looking at needing $$ to put towards major dental work, as well as maybe paying for a wedding (mine!) a year or so the future!  Having items on hand at home for quick b'fasts and easy to make lunches is a key thing for me. Also, drinking tea and water at work will keep me caffeinated and out of the soda vending machine. Helps wallet AND waistline! My budget bugaboos are grabbing something for breakfast/lunch at work or even on the way home. If I can tame that budget monster, I'll be golden (as our former governor the crook would say!).

Yay = no spending day

1/1 - yay!

1/2 - yay!

1/3 - $.80 pack of cookies from vending machine at work for b'fast

        $4.18 for Subway lunch - just for a 6" turkey sub! I sooo need to go grocery shopping tonight!

1/4 - $1.25 soda from machine at work. I had a massive headache and cold caffeine seems to kill them in their tracks (I'd already had tea)

Edited by Tradd - 1/4/11 at 10:17am

[nwmomof2]

1/1 budgeted spend - long johns and socks for kids

1/2 no spend

1/3 big budgeted spend day - groceries, supplements, carwash (which I hate to pay for but was desperately needed), b'day gift for my mom. Sold some books at used book store.

1/4

1/5

[FillingMyQuiver]

Key:

  no spend/ budgeted spending

  unnecessary/ unbudgeted spending

  hung laundry to dry

January Goals

no spend days  3/20

eating out  0/0

loads of laundry hung to dry  1/8

1.    At the IL's out-of-state so no laundry done.

2. 

3.   

[annethcz]

Jan 1: No spend

Jan 2: Budgeted spend

Jan 3: No spend

[justmama]

Who I am: I'm a single mom to 3.  Working part-time, getting child support, living debt-free finally.  I'm here becxause I got into a car accident last week and my deductible is going to break my tiny financial situation.

The goal: no spend for 2 weeks starting today other than paying my mom the $60 I owe her for my 2 daughters' birthday presents and my deductible if that comes due in the next 2 weeks and maybe a tank of gas.  Driving a rental so I'm not sure how long the gas will last.  We should be fine with everything, even groceries.

The plan:  Stay OUT of stores.  Not hard, I'm super super busy anyway.  Drive as little as possible.  Make this tank of gas LAST.  I need the willpower to stop picking up little htings here and there for the kids for treats when they behave in stores.  I've been relying on those bribes and it's bad for my parenting and bad for my wallet.  Need to take 2 weeks to get my parenting and my finances under control.  I'll re-eval in 2 weeks with what spending we need to do.  There will be no non-necessary spending for hte month but no spending at ALL for 2 weeks other than what's outlined above.  Joined the pantry challenge and homecooking challenge to also keep me on track there as well since food has typically been my weakness.

thus far, today.  No spending at all.  Free zoo day with my 3 year old.  Planned out cakes for birthdays for 2 of my kids this week.  Have everything needed.  My mom provided half of our dinner tonight when I loaned out my oldest to her for some manual labor. :) (she helped bring in a cord of wood and stack it with my dad). 

[justmama]

Originally Posted by micah_mae_ 

Originally Posted by nomad-at-heart 

Hello,

can we join, too?

It's my first time in this section, but our bank accounts could really use some boost in this new year...

1.) Who we are?

It's me, a part- time working mom of a wonderful daughter and a fulltime working dad.

2) where do we want to get?

Finally, have the 6 months of income as savings just in case something should happen... And also have some money for extras like our immigration or eating organic (which we just started, we'll see if we can stick to it) or maybe even a vacation...

3) How?

Cut out most unneccesary spending. We're big with that: coffee, eating out, malls... I don't even konw if we can cut out all unnecessary spending because we seem to be addicted to that sort of burning money. I think sometimes we just feel like we deserve it, and then, we just spend money... So this is my first attempt in 2011 to at least be tracking where the money goes....

I have already been doing meal planning for quite a while and try to always take my lunch with me to work (and so does dh)- that really helped but seemd not to have been enough. We'll see...

Jan. 1) 10 $ at coffee shop  15 $ movie rentals, but that was good and needed for our inner peace, so I won't complain

Jan 2) 140 groceries online. They should last for one week, so we're good (yes, unfortunately, groceries are so expensive around here). 

But, again: 10 $ at coffee shop  Around 10 $ eating out  570 $ daycare , but that was planned.

Thank you for your inspiration:-)

Cheers,

nomad

I am the coffee addict in our family, I have found that if I crave Starbucks I can mix my homemade hot chocolate mix with a tsp of instant coffee. Not the same but it takes away the craving and it's super cheap. I tend to drink it every day because I'm also on ww and it's only 2 points as opposed to a cafe mocha at 8.

That sounds yummy!

[micah_mae_]

Originally Posted by justmama 

Originally Posted by micah_mae_ 

Originally Posted by nomad-at-heart 

Hello,

can we join, too?

It's my first time in this section, but our bank accounts could really use some boost in this new year...

1.) Who we are?

It's me, a part- time working mom of a wonderful daughter and a fulltime working dad.

2) where do we want to get?

Finally, have the 6 months of income as savings just in case something should happen... And also have some money for extras like our immigration or eating organic (which we just started, we'll see if we can stick to it) or maybe even a vacation...

3) How?

Cut out most unneccesary spending. We're big with that: coffee, eating out, malls... I don't even konw if we can cut out all unnecessary spending because we seem to be addicted to that sort of burning money. I think sometimes we just feel like we deserve it, and then, we just spend money... So this is my first attempt in 2011 to at least be tracking where the money goes....

I have already been doing meal planning for quite a while and try to always take my lunch with me to work (and so does dh)- that really helped but seemd not to have been enough. We'll see...

Jan. 1) 10 $ at coffee shop  15 $ movie rentals, but that was good and needed for our inner peace, so I won't complain

Jan 2) 140 groceries online. They should last for one week, so we're good (yes, unfortunately, groceries are so expensive around here). 

But, again: 10 $ at coffee shop  Around 10 $ eating out  570 $ daycare , but that was planned.

Thank you for your inspiration:-)

Cheers,

nomad

I am the coffee addict in our family, I have found that if I crave Starbucks I can mix my homemade hot chocolate mix with a tsp of instant coffee. Not the same but it takes away the craving and it's super cheap. I tend to drink it every day because I'm also on ww and it's only 2 points as opposed to a cafe mocha at 8.

That sounds yummy!

It is! I use this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/hot-chocolate-mix-ii/

Then I add a tsp of salt and a package of instant chocolate pudding. I also send the powdered milk through the processor so it dissolves better. After drinking it I can't drink regular hot chocolate!

[Motivated Mama]

1/1
1/2
1/3 DH put gas in his car $30, and brought in $21 in tips.

[Ambishop19]

Jan 1:

Jan 2:

Jan 3:  Like the previous poster, my husband delivers for his second job, but he made enough in tips to cover gas, so I thought about counting it as a no-spend day, but I guess I'll do this smiley for budgeted spending.

[micah_mae_]

Jan 1:

Jan 2: =$30

Jan 3:

I'm going to have to spend today. Our cd player for the bedroom crapped out and Corbin can't sleep without the hypnobabies music playing so I have to get a new cd player. It's been playing 24 hours a day for about a year.

[edensmama]

a. Who you are:    We are WAHM, WOHD, dd 6 years, ds 2 years.  We hope to conceive this year

b. Where you are going (your financial goals) and:  Financially we would like to pay off our credit card about ($3500) and pay off my car about ($1000) so dh can get a new (used) vehicle.  Hope to have have at least $1000 in savings by the end of the year.

c. How you plan to get there:  Dh has interviewed for a new job and we are hoping that he gets it.  I plan on doing meal planning, growing a vegetable garden this summer.  Also sticking to the budget and grocery list.

1/1 ~ $5.79 on Slurpee's 

1/2 ~ $10 on prescription for ds

1/3 ~ No spend, No drive day

1/4 ~ No spend day 

1/5 ~ budgeted spending food and such 

1/6 ~ un spend, lunch.  Frames, $11.75, $17 on snacks, pop and velcro to make reusable ziploc bags.   

Edited by edensmama - 1/8/11 at 5:15am

[justmama]

Originally Posted by micah_mae_ 

It is! I use this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/hot-chocolate-mix-ii/

Then I add a tsp of salt and a package of instant chocolate pudding. I also send the powdered milk through the processor so it dissolves better. After drinking it I can't drink regular hot chocolate!

wowza.  Now you are a-speakin' my language!  I am off to make that RIGHT NOW.  Delish.
 

[Alyantavid]

1-1 $0

1-2 $60 snowboarding trip

1-3 $15.83 home repair stuff, $25 groceries, $68 Costco

[nwmomof2]

1/1  budgeted spend - long johns and socks for kids

1/2  no spend

1/3  big budgeted spend day - groceries, supplements, carwash (which I hate to pay for but was desperately needed), b'day gift for my mom. Sold some books at used book store.

1/4  On here early - planning for a no spend day. Will take DD1 to school bus, come home with DD2 and do some house cleaning and decluttering/organizing. Then DD2 to preschool in the afternoon. No stores planned for today.  

1/5

[ltlmrs]

1.

2.

3.

Key:

  budgeted spending
true no-spend day
bad bad bad

[ButtonGirl]

We ended up going out for dinner on the 3rd, but used a gift card, so only payout from us was tip.  Hubby went grocery shopping today...I am not sure how much he spent cause I am at home sick :(  But what he bought covers the meals for hte rest of the week so no shopping again until next week (hopfully!)

[Tradd]

I'm not including spending on groceries, etc. I went to a newer Aldi by me last night on the wya home from work and got a good amount of stuff for $28. I got ingredients for tacos that will last me several meals, some frozen French bread pizza for work lunches. The price on the bagels FLOORED me. I usually buy the Brownberry (always cinnamon raisin swirl flavor) packaged ones in the bread aisle. $2.50 for 6 at Target. $4 at regular grocery store. Aldi version - something like $1.30. They weren't as soft as the Brownberry ones, but 25 seconds in the microwave solved that problem!