January 2011 No-Spend Challenge - Let's start the New Year off right! - Page 5

[Motivated Mama]

I wonder how long before I cave in and buy a DVD player (or 2). The one in the family room died a week ago. We haven't had one in our bedroom for over a year and the TV has just been sitting on the floor (not used). We do Netflix so we have lots of instant TV through our Wii and the movies that come in the mail, we can technically watch them on the laptop. How long can this go on?

[bellabear]

a.  Michelle mama to two dc.

b.  Pay off debt, not spend unnecessarily and save.

c.  By staying out of stores, cutting up all credit cards, meal planning, and going to try washing the clothes on cold (except bed sheets and diapers.)

[bellabear]

a.  Michelle mama to two dc.

b.  Pay off debt, not spend unnecessarily and save.

c.  By staying out of stores, cutting up all credit cards, meal planning, and going to try washing the clothes on cold (except bed sheets and diapers.)

Key:
- no spend
- necessary/budgeted spend
- unnecessary spend

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Edited by bellabear - 1/7/11 at 7:38am

[FillingMyQuiver]

Key:

  no spend/ budgeted spending

  unnecessary/ unbudgeted spending

  hung laundry to dry

January Goals

no spend days  4/20

eating out  0/0

loads of laundry hung to dry  2/8

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

2. 

3.   

4. 

[Motivated Mama]

Jan 1:
Jan 2:
Jan 3: $30 gas $21 tips
Jan 4:

Today, I had to stop myself from dling an itune for my iphone
DH will be bringing home some more tips tonight and we get paid Wed, Thu, and Fri
I've been really thinking about my Netflix subscription and my gym membership every month. Together they cost ~$23. I think that since they make me (gym), DH and the kids (Netflix) happy, we've got to keep them and I'm keeping them in my monthly expenses, i.e., not considering them a splurge.

[goldfinch]

I have already this month bought 6 books we didn't need. Total, about $3.50. Just confessing.

[Ambishop19]

Jan 1:

Jan 2:

Jan 3:   

Jan 4:We spent $60 on groceries, but we used the gift cards we got from my FIL for Christmas so I'm counting it as a no-spend day!

[Ruthiegirl]

Ruth, not a true no-spender.  More of a careful spender as my family of 5 moves internationally this month. 

 

Bought a few things for a going away party/wedding shower for friends.  Today and tomorrow are travel days for my family, so I'll be offline for a few.  Good work everyone and I'll check back in a few days.  

Jan 1 -- travel lunch

Jan 2 -- Household things for our old house

Jan 3 -- 2 straw bales

Jan 4 -- party supplies

Jan 5 -- moving day 

Jan 6 -- moving day

[Alyantavid]

1-1 $0

1-2 $60 snowboarding trip

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

1-4 $0

[Motivated Mama]

This will be another no-spend day for me. I won't be paying bills until Friday since the mortgage is due and I need to wait for all 3 paychecks to be able to afford it Then I'll pay more bills with the remainder.

DH found $20 yesterday that he thought he had lost and used it to put gas in his car today He also brought home another $28 in tips (only 1 1/2 hours of work), so that's $51 that I now have in cash. We never seem to hang onto cash, and I've never tried to regulate it, so this is a big deal

ETA: I forgot that I need gas, so I will put $20 of that cash in my tank

Jan 1
Jan 2
Jan 3
Jan 4
Jan 5

[three&me]

I need to be kept accountable!

a. Who you are

I'm Meg & I'm a 24-year-old SAHM to 3 boys going on 5, 3, and 2, with a girl(?) on the way. We've always been a single-income family, but luckily, because of where we live, we get a monthly cheque from the government for kids expenses (this equals about half of DH's monthly income). Because I stay at home, my spending is usually online - it's just too easy.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals)

-Pay off credit cards

-Save for DHs unpaid parental leave (2 weeks?)

-New roof fund

-Van fund

-Schoolroom fund

-Plan our meals & cut down on wasted food

I'd also like to declutter and avoid buying things that won't have a place to be kept.

c. How you plan to get there

I made a rough budget for 2011 (DH thinks I'm nuts) to plan debt repayment, birthdays, etc that I knew could be planned for. We have NO savings right now, but at the end of the year, with this proposed rough-draft budget, we'd have saved over $20,000. That's bare minimum spending, though, and I forgot to add in oil changes, etc. That money will be going toward a new roof, van, schoolroom, etc. but we'd still have some left and it'd be a great start.

 = No-spend day

   = Budgeted spending

   = Under budget!

   = Unbudgeted/Unnecessary spending

1/05:  (actually made money with a price adjustment & a return! this will pay for a bookcase we were planning to buy)

1/06: 

Progress:

Paid to credit cards: $120/$2300

Groceries $0/$295

Savings  $100/$250

Edited by three&me - 1/6/11 at 7:21am

[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

1/04   $20 for baby clothes

1/05   Going out to dinner (gift card) and a movie 

Goals:

Work lunches  $4/$60

Groceries $132.58/$500

Savings  $400/$500 

[HerRoyallHighness]

A. Who I am: I'm me. Married, no kids (yet).

B. Goal: Save money and live more comfortably on our current income.

C. How to get there: Cut out unnecessary spending.

I especially want to do this now that I just got hit with a $300 doctor bill yesterday. Ugh. Hopefully my AFLAC will cover at least most of that, but until that comes in, it'll have to come out of pocket. So that means no buying things we don't need and any "found money" goes into the grocery/gas fund.

I will be going to the grocery store today, but I am keeping my total under $60.

[FillingMyQuiver]

Key:

  no spend/ budgeted spending

  unnecessary/ unbudgeted spending

  hung laundry to dry

January Goals

no spend days  5/20

eating out  0/0

loads of laundry hung to dry  3/8

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

2. 

3.   

4. 

5. 

[Turquesa]

I'm Laura, a stay-at-home mom  to two cute little twerplings. 

My goal is to finish off the emergency fund (allllllllmost there!) of 6-months worth of DH's income. 

I will get there by shopping at the Cheapy-mart, making my own lattes at home, curbing my yarn purchases , and coming here to record

= Blew it with unbudgeted spending

= Kicked butt with only budgeted or no spending
 

1. $36.00 haircut; $10 book

2. No spending today

3. Cut hair to fix the crappy cut that I got on the 1st ($25.00), $66.00 groceries

4: Nada

5: $10.00 eating out because I didn't pack a lunch

6: $10.50 budgeted lunch and $8.50 unbudgeted breakfast

Edited by Turquesa - 1/6/11 at 12:41pm

[ButtonGirl]

We spent $19 tonight on dinner...I have been very sick and not up to cooking. Oh and $25 at the doggie daycare. Hoping to make tomorrow and Friday no spend days. Saturday will involve $80 spent on infant CPR class for hubby and me; we'll also have to buy a couple 2 litres of soda for a friend's get together Sunday. That should be it though!

Edit - hubby bought juice today for the sickie family. Feeling a bit better today and was able to make awesome veggie stir fry for dinner. :)

Edited by ButtonGirl - 1/6/11 at 5:08pm

[Motivated Mama]

Meg - good luck on that girl

I'm coming up on needing to buy more diapers and pull-ups. We have a huge cloth diaper stash that we used for 2 years, but I got lazy when my baby got sick. I really should pull them out. This challenge should be my motivation, right? OK, going to pull out diapers now...

[nwmomof2]

I bought a Starbucks gift card for myself today (using xmas $ my grandma sent me). My intention is to limit my coffee habit this way, but still allow myself the occasional coffee. I am planning to make my $20 card last for the month of January. When it's used up, no more Starbucks for me (until the new month). Oh, these little games I play with myself.....

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  no spend!

1/5  budgeted spend - some household supplies (soap, dog food for pet food drive at DD1's school (we don't have a dog!), b'day gift for DD2's preschool friend, art supplies for school project, 2 grocery items, Starbucks gift card

1/6  Trying for another no spend tomorrow. Entering it here early will help motivate me!

[nomad-at-heart]

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.

hi micha-maeh,

thank you for the advice. that actually sounds very yummy, and I think  I will give it a try, as soon as I get some instant coffee...

ooh boy, my no spend challenge really is a challenge...

Jan 1) 35$

jan 2) 150

jan 3) 60 $ for family time

jan 4) 35$ gas

jan 5) 0! yeah! but have I mentioned that DH's laptop broke yesterday? so we need a new one- he's an it-guy and needs it for work. Crap !

take care,

nomad

[diana_of_the_dunes]

Okay.  I adjusted the amount I want to save upwards after DH and I had a financial talk last night.  I think we're on the same page, and we're both really motivated to get our ugly bathroom remodeled   

We skipped the movie we had planned on and went to Menards to buy materials to make some shelves in the basement for our food storage.  It wasn't in our budget right this minute, but we could afford it.  We both have some tin foil hat-type leanings, and our basement is so messy right now that it makes me crazy.  As part of the decluttering/purging/cleaning binge we're on, we felt that we should make these new shelves while we have the time and motivation. Since we'll still be able to meet our savings goal, we decided to go for it.

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

1/04   $20 for baby clothes

1/05   Going out to dinner ($20) and a movie,   bought materials for food storage shelves in basement ($70 out of savings)

1/06   projected      pprojecpr

Goals:

Work lunches  $4/$60

Groceries $132.58/$500

Savings  $330/$600