February 2011 No-Spend Challenge - the best Valentine is money in the bank!

[kathirynne]

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 February 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.

[kathirynne]

I got lax about posting my spending to the January thread, but I am feeling really good about the progress I made toward my financial goals last month, and I'm looking forward to keeping the momentum going in February.

a. Who we are We are a single parent family with 4 children and one WOHM mumma.

b. Where we are going (your financial goals) My savings took quite a hit (it was more of an annihilation) in 2010, and I also got behind on my bills.  I plan to be caught up on all bills (including the ubiquitous Student Loans) and have at least $1,000 in my savings account by the end of 2011.  So far, I am caught up on 2 of my bills and have 3 more to go to be completely caught up.

c. How we plan to get there   My budget is tight, but it works if I stick to it.  If I plan meals/grocery shopping, turn down the thermostat and the water heater when we don't need them to be on (i.e. during the day when no one is home and at night while we're sleeping), bring my lunch to work, and do all those other little thrifty things that add up, I will meet my goal. 

I've unearthed a few "Cragislist-worthy" items in my decluttering that I can sell, and some things to return for credit.  I have also just been accepted to write some articles for a local ezine.  I don't know how much they pay, (probably not much) but every little bit helps, right?

Goals:

*stick to the grocery budget - this mostly means planning meals, adhering to the meal plan and NOT eating out or ordering in.  It also means bringing my lunch to work, instead of paying $5 or more for a sandwich downtown.  (I got a cute little lunch tote for Christmas, so that should help me stay motivated to bring my lunch.)

*use the envelope system for "non-food" items (hygiene 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)

*make extra money a little at a time by selling clutter on Craigslist, returning things for credit, and writing articles for the ezine
 

*posting my spending (or, I hope, my LACK thereof) every day will also help by keeping me accountable.

My key:

  budgeted spending
under budget
true no-spend
  brought my lunch from home

  no drive day

turned down water heater when not needed

turned down furnace when not needed

over budget
unexpected spending
ooops! I fell off the wagon...

1 February:        

2 February:            

3 February:      

groceries - $42.78: 16 oz container sour cream, 2 Odwalla smoothies, 2 pears, 2 avocados, 1 tomato, 1 box Shredded Wheat, 1/2 lb bag shredded lettuce, 3/4 lb mixed nuts, 1/2 lb dried cherries, 2 CLIFF bars, 2 Luna bars, 10 oz bag of pretzels, 18 string cheeses (the last 6 items are for my daughter's school snack for at least the next two weeks)

4 February:      groceries (I didn't keep my receipt, but I'm still under my monthly grocery budget, so I'm happy with that...)              

       

5 February:        groceries (I didn't keep my receipts, but I'm still under my monthly grocery budget, so I'm happy with that...)

6 February:         groceries (I didn't keep my receipts, but I'm still under my monthly grocery budget, so I'm happy with that...)

7 February:         

8 February:  

9 February:

10 February:

11 February:

12 February:

13 February:

14 February:

15 February:

16 February:

17 February:

18 February:

19 February:

20 February:

21 February:

22 February:

23 February:

24 February:

25 February:

26 February:

27 February:

28 February:

Edited by kathirynne - 2/7/11 at 4:00pm

[FillingMyQuiver]

a.  I'm Jenn.  Pregnant, SAHM to 4 littles under 7yo, homeschooling 2 of them, trying to keep my sanity from day to day.

b.  DH and my financial goals are to be debt free.  We were on track at the beginning of 2010 to get it done, but then we let life get in the way.  We are now newly committed to putting every extra penny we have towards our debt (credit card and truck payment) or saving for our homebirth in April.

c.  * STAY OUT OF STORES!!!  This is our biggest culprit in spending.  We step into a store and BAM, we've spent $100 easily. 

     * Cut our electric bill by hang drying as much laundry as possible.

     * Trim the food budget (or stay within it) by meal planning.  I have a hard time with this, and I'm not really sure why   This should also keep us from eating out, the other major budget sucker.

     * DH and I are committing to the Compact.  We're going to take it month by month, but hopefully we'll stick to it for the whole year.  We really have ENOUGH and there is no reason for us to keep adding cr@p into our lives.

     * I've signed up for the 2011 in 2011 Decluttering Challenge and the 52 Projects Challenge.  The decluttering challenge will put things in perspective of what we have and what we actually *need*.  The 52 projects challenge will get me to use up the materials I have instead of going out and buying more crafting/ sewing/ knitting supplies.  Hopefully, both will help us hold onto our money tighter.

January was the first month I've made my No Spend goals, though we did eat out 2x in the month.  I'd like to keep up the momentum, especially since we'll be filing our taxes mid-month.  That will take care of our homebirth in April AND putting money aside for our bulk meat order in a few months.

Key:

  no spend/ budgeted spending

  unnecessary/ unbudgeted spending

  hung laundry to dry

February Goals

no spend days  0/20

eating out  0/1

loads of laundry hung to dry  0/8

[crazyms]

Who you are: I'm a sahm with two little ones and a third on the way traveling with dh for his job.

Goals: Our concerns right now are needing another car, a new camper, and funding the new baby (baby stuff and homebirth). We also have student loans and old debts that need to be paid off and I want to start working on that. Our long term goals are to pay off the land we have owner financed and develop it so that we can build a house.

How we plan to get there:

1. Reworking our budget.

Fixed Expenses:

Lower bills that can be lowered: car insurance, new cell phone provider for lower rates

Eliminate other bills if possible: One small finance bill that I want to pay off at least by next month, also need to list our old property for sale (if it sells this will eliminate lights/water/waste mgmt for that house and we can use the money from the sell to pay off our land note)

If those things can be done our monthly bills will be cut in half and we can put more money towards taking care of debt and savings.

Flexible spending:

I want to lower this but need a better account of what we spend on and how much we spend which is why I'm here. For this month the goal is to track what we spend and on what.

Gas: We need a better account of what this runs us so I can budget better. I have enlisted dh's help to get me receipts on these purchases this month.

Groceries: My plans to save money here are to: make better use of leftovers with meal planning and eliminate food waste, use cheaper meals and include more vegetarian meals for extra savings, buy less prepackaged products or higher cost products on our list.

Household: I want to track our household expenses and find alternatives to items that we can to eliminate some of these expenses and lower this cost.

2. Immediate expenses/concerns.

New camper, new car, homebirth/baby essentials

Our tax return will be used for some of this but we will need to save money to cover the rest of it asap as all of this really needs to be paid for and ready to go before the end of March for my sanity in anticipation of the new baby.

Goals for this month:

1. Track all spending to look for ways to save as listed above. I am mostly just trying to account for all spending this month but will note if there is any unbudgeted/bad spending.

2. Lower car use for me (no more than 6 days for the month)

3. No eating out.

Key:

  No spend day

Budgeted spending only

Unbudgeted/bad spend

Car day (only 6 allowed for month)

Ate out (Not allowed; will mark if I fail)

Let's hope it's a good month!!!

[Turquesa]

Sigh!  I hate how I start these challenges and don't complete them..... Let's give 'er another go. 

Me: Laura, SAHM to two who is THIS.....CLOSE...to finishing off an emergency fund of 6 months + worth of DH's income.  I say "plus" because I want the minimum required to open a money market account through my credit union, plus a little more to budget for taxes and insurance.  For those of you who follow Dave Ramsey, this is Baby Step 3. 

Goal: Complete taxes this month and send off for refund, which should either polish off our emergency savings or get us most of the way there! 

Getting There:

1. Shop at the Cheapy-Mart, not the fun, hip grocery stores with all of the snooty organic goods.

2. Lattes from the home machine only, please, Turq!

3. Call credit union for competitive rates on high-deductible home and auto insurance.

= Unbudgeted or unnecessary spending

= No spending or budgeted/necessary spending

= Home-cooked dinner

[Pumpkin_Pie]

Who you are: I am a WOH single mama to a nearly 4 year old very spirited boy.

Goals: My main goal is to pay off my credit cards and to save up an emergency fund.  I moved into a new apartment last Saturday and I absolutely LOVE it here, but my savings are shot and the credit cards are racked up pretty high right now.  Moving has been much more expensive than I had planned for, but my income is higher than my expenses right now, so it is definitely doable to get back into the black in a relatively short period of time.  I will be getting back a sizable tax return which will get my two credit cards back down to a zero balance.

How I plan to get there:

1. Stay out of stores!  I just bought my last "new apartment" item (a vaccuum for this insanely high pile carpeted place) so have absolutely no need to buy any more "stuff" other than shelves and clothing bars for two more closets.

2. Get back on track with my budget that I was using very successfully for the past two months.

3. Meal plan much more carefully.  I use food stamps and only have $194 to work with.  I am going to try my best to not go over that budget for our meals for the month of February.  I do have a bit of a stock pile and plan to eat from that heavily while I figure out how to eat on the cheap with my small food allowance.

4. Drive less.  I realized I am spending nearly $20 every four days on gas and that is just insane.  I need to cut down on the trips out on weekends and in the evenings after I get home from work.  I also need to start picking up DS from daycare as I come home from work rather than making an extra trip home for a few hours and then back out to get him and back home again.

5.Hang all laundry.  I just installed retractable clotheslines in my new apartment and have drying racks too.  I have absolutely no excuse for using the dryer!  I don't own one anymore, and it only costs 50 cents to dry a load here, but I want to stop using it altogether.

6. Track all spending.  Here we go! 

Goals for February:

20/28 No spend days

27/28 No using the clothes dryer

My key:

= No spend day

= Planned spend

= Unplanned spend

= Used clothes dryer

[jimblejamble]

I'm in! I have rent, electric, gas, food, car gas, car payment, car insurance, internet/phone (one payment) and car payment. I'm going to try to keep all my spending just to those for February! I'm going to try paying for food with cash instead of my debit card so I won't be temped to pick up a few extra treats.

- budgeted spending
- splurge
- no spending
exercised

1 - $640 rent
2: - $50 grocery shopping, $35 gas
3:
4: $13 bought a pregnancy test... 4 days late but a negative test, what the heck is going on?!
5:
6:
7:
8:
9: $40 grocery shopping, $18 date night (mmmm Chipotle!), $10 at thrift store, and $80-something for our car inspection/registration (ugh!)
10:
11:
12:
13:
14: $18 Valentine's Day gift for hubbalicious, $12 went to dinner
15:
16: Went grocery shopping (C went in...I have no idea what he spent... $20 maybe?)
17:
18: $30 at Whole Foods, $35 gas bill
19:
20:
21: $1005 (triple car payment), $10 on seeds and organic potting soil at Home Depot... but hey, I'll save myself on herbs in the long run!
22:
23: $25 at Rancho Markets. $13 at Whole Foods
24:
25:
26:
27:
28: : Our electricity bill and car insurance auto-payments went in sometime during the last few days so I'll just log them in here.
Edited by jimblejamble - 2/28/11 at 5:32pm

[three&me]

I'm back this month. Hopefully it'll work a bit better.

a. Semi-homeschooling, SAHM to 3 (oldest will soon be 5) +1 due in April.

b. We need to save to get our roof done this spring/summer, get my licence, a van, build/furnish a schoolroom and move our oldest to his own room (new furniture) ...+birthdays, Christmas, & 2 new carseats. Our goal is to do all this and come out ahead - we won't have much left in savings, but we're starting at nothing anyway. February goals are to pay off the credit cards, save what we can, and stay out of stores (except groceries = every weekend)

c. We're couponing more, looking for deals. I need to start paying with cash instead of debit. I hang the kids clothes, but not ours due to time restraints (work clothes) and space, but I'm going to try. I'm trying not to buy things that won't have a place to go in our storage-limited house. I'd like to sell off a bunch of toys that we aren't using anymore, and I'm sure I could find other things. DH is struggling with how tight I've budgeted, but it works.

Progress:

Credit cards: $1121/2311 paid

Groceries: $0/300 ($100 of this is milk )

Savings: $0/300

 = No-spend day

   = Budgeted spending

   = Under budget!

   = Unbudgeted/Unnecessary spending

1 

2

3

4

5 

6

7 - midwife appt = buying iron supplement ($30-ish)

[crazyms]

Wow! I'm inspired by the tight grocery budgets. This is the main area I can make some real savings right now and I'm working on it. I would love to be able to get all our groceries in $300 or less in a month.

The $20 every 4 days for gas seems like a dream too! I don't spend much on gas since I rarely get out with the kids and I'm working on not using the car but a few days a month. I only spend money if I do! Dh works 7 days a week though so that is a huge gas expense! Especially with his truck and it's a diesel so even higher than gas. I'm terrified of what is happening with gas prices again. Ugh! Once I get the new vehicle though he'll be using mine mostly to commute since it'll be cheaper on gas.

[VisionaryMom]

a. Who I Am:  I'm a self-employed mom to 2 kiddos - a 4YO and a 6YO. DH works FT. I'm also a FT student, so I have *loads* of free time.  We had to pull DD from daycare unexpectedly yesterday, which means no daycare fees but also that I have to work with DD alongside me. 

b. Where I'm Going: We are literally going somewhere! We're moving to Durham, NC in May 2012. By that time, we hope to have paid off several things: 2 small cc bills (combined balance: $1800); 3 loans (combined balance: $13,100); 1 cc (balance: 9,800); and various medical bills (roughly $3,000). These (except the medical bills, which are from 2010) are remaining debts from years ago when we were AWFUL with money and made some stupid, stupid decisions. With the time frame of the move, we're hoping that's motivation.

c.  How I Plan to Get There: I am filing taxes this week. Because I didn't make as much as I'd hoped in 2010, we'll be getting a refund of around $1900. That will help pay off some things. We were eating out WAYYY too much and did much better in January. We cut out food budget by about 1/3. (I won't even share the numbers because they're embarrassing.) I'm hoping to cut a bit more in February. We also had 2 weekend "fun activities" planned, and I'd like to stick to just those. We have plenty we can do to get ready for the move, so no one will be bored around here. Boredom is our biggest budget buster.

Goals for February: 

1. Pay off Beneficial (loan w/ $1,050 balance).

2. Pay Home Depot card down to $650.

3. Pay Orchard Bank card down to $500.

4. Try to figure out the CVS card system. Give couponing  a real try. 

5. Make some decision on DD's care & my office (which I probably won't keep if dd will be with me...). 

[OnEarth]

This is my first time doing this, I'll be really glad if it goes well!

Who I am:. I am a full time student, parent to almost 2 year old DD who stays home with us, and full time student DH.

Where I'm Going: We're living off financial aid while we're in college, do to some bad budgeting we spent way more of the money than we should have and now have to make a pretty small sum last through August. My big goal is to make that happen.

How I Plan to Get There: Do 20 hours of volunteer work so I qualify for an extra $500 grant, cut expenses wherever I can, make do, sell anything not tied down!

Goals for February: I've already paid most of the major bills for Feb, so there won't be much showing up here for budgeted spending.

1. Do 6 hours of volunteering

2. Sign up DD for Parent's Morning Out so we have time to study

3. Spend no money on food out or on amazon.com 

4. Take DD's old clothes to consignment

5. Figure out where I can cut costs

6. Work out budget with DH for now till August

No Spend Day!

Necessary Spending

Food Out/ Unnecessary Spending

Volunteered

[FillingMyQuiver]

Key:

  no spend/ budgeted spending

  unnecessary/ unbudgeted spending

  hung laundry to dry

February Goals

no spend days  1/20

eating out  0/1

loads of laundry hung to dry  0/8

1. 

[Motivated Mama]

a. Who you are: Wife and mother to three young children, an emergency veterinary technician on the weekends, a graduate public health student, and a future physician.
b. Where you are going (your financial goals): Build a $1000 emergency fund, work on better grocery budgeting since we are no longer receiving food stamps, and chip away at our massive debt.
c. How you plan to get there: Decrease spending in every way possible, work as many hours as possible, and budget.

Key:
True No-Spend
Necessary Spend
Splurge

2-1 Groceries

[melissel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turquesa 

Sigh!  I hate how I start these challenges and don't complete them..... Let's give 'er another go.

Oh, I hear you. I was finally so embarrassed at how I kept dropping out that I told myself I couldn't start another one! But I did so well with Kathirynne's home cooking challenge in January that I'm going to jump back in here too.

a. Who you are:

I'm Melissa, a HSing, freelancing, SAHM mom to two lively little girls and wife to the love of my life, who works his tail off to keep me home with them

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

For the next few months, our only financial goal is to conserve, conserve, CONSERVE. I was lucky enough to be able to quit my FT job around this time last year, and we were not as careful with our emergency fund as we really should have been. It's down to an amount that I'm just not comfortable with, and while my freelance is reliable and contributes, I want that money to be "bonus" money that we can use to build savings instead of paying for monthly expenses.

c. How you plan to get there:

Again, conserve, conserve, CONSERVE! I've been working hard to find places to stop the financial bleeding. I've started using coupons in earnest again, being careful about our leftovers and packing DH's lunches, stopped going to stores unless absolutely necessary (it helps that I'm a total homebody), we cut off our cable TV and landline, canceled our home security system, and decreased our Netflix plan, we're looking into lowering our insurances, etc. Now I need to keep all of this going, keep the couponing happening, sell the few things I have that are desirable, and as others have said, stay out of the stores. Basically, I need every penny doing its job and only its job--nothing extra!

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

Key:

No-spend day =

Cooked at home =

Necessary spending =

Wasteful, unnecessary spending =

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

2/1:   What a way to start the month! I did get a good deal on discount movie tickets though, and the girls have been begging to go to the movies for awhile (I promised them I'd take them to see either Tangled or Voyage of the Dawn Treader months ago ). Otherwise, my only spending was at the grocery store, stocking up on some necessities and using some awesome coupons (ground turkey at a grand total of $0.29 a pound to supplement a bunch of my meals for the next few weeks, cheap feta cheese with great coupons, my shampoo at a great discount, free organic lemonade--anything but water is an exceedingly rare treat around here). And now I'm about to go out and get DH some much-needed cold medicine with a CVS gift card.

2/2:

[crazyms]

02/01:

Well I made through day one LOL. No spend here didn't even leave the house and cooked dinner from scratch with the home cooking challenge so yay! Tomorrow is going to be a car and spend day because I have to run errands for the month.

Tomorrow I will: put gas in the car, pick up two W2s, place an ad in the paper to sell our property, check in with the post office, and start paying bills for the month. I will also probably be going Thursday or Friday to run more errands for the month but we'll see. I really need to file our taxes quickly after I get those W2s but will probably go to someone to do them so that will require the trip Thursday or Friday. We'll see what I get done tomorrow though. I also need to pick up a few groceries tomorrow (our fresh stuff for the next week or so) but I plan to pack snacks, drinks, and lunch for me and the kids so that we don't spend on picking up stuff to eat while out and about. (We have to drive to our home town from our current work location so it's a little drive and I'm bad about us eating out or picking up drinks/snacks on these trips. Ugh let's hope I do better tomorrow.)

February Goals:

1. Track all spending

2. No more than 6 car days

3. No eating out

Key:

  No spend day

Budgeted spending only

Unbudgeted/bad spend

Car day (only 6 allowed for month)

Ate out (Not allowed; will mark if I fail)

[three&me]

Progress:

Credit cards: $1121/2311 paid

Groceries: $0/300 ($100 of this is milk )

Savings: $0/300

Hang-dry: 0/20 (not cloth dipes)

 = No-spend day

   = Budgeted spending

   = Under budget!

   = Unbudgeted/Unnecessary spending

1 

2  DH spent some $ at the convenience store. Movies, and a magazine for each of us. Thoughtful, but he didn't realize I could easily go to the library           and photocopy some knitting books rather than pay $$$ for a magazine. Really, this isn't UNbudgeted, as it comes out of his gas money for the week, but he'll probably need to replace that money now.

3

4

5 

6

7 - midwife appt = buying iron supplement ($30-ish)

[OnEarth]

This is my first time doing this, I'll be really glad if it goes well!

Who I am:. I am a full time student, parent to almost 2 year old DD who stays home with us, and full time student DH.

Where I'm Going: We're living off financial aid while we're in college, do to some bad budgeting we spent way more of the money than we should have and now have to make a pretty small sum last through August. My big goal is to make that happen.

How I Plan to Get There: Do 20 hours of volunteer work so I qualify for an extra $500 grant, cut expenses wherever I can, make do, sell anything not tied down!

Goals for February: I've already paid most of the major bills for Feb, so there won't be much showing up here for budgeted spending.

1. Do 6 hours of volunteering

2. Sign up DD for Parent's Morning Out so we have time to study

3. Spend no money on food out or on amazon.com 

4. Take DD's old clothes to consignment

5. Figure out where I can cut costs

6. Work out budget with DH for now till August

No Spend Day!

Necessary Spending

Food Out/ Unnecessary Spending

Volunteered

1.

2. $40, Diapers & cat food.

3. Gas

4. I'm calling it that because I managed to leave my wallet at home even though it was rainy and cold and I knew I would REALLY want a coffee when I was on a break at school. Of course, then DH went and bought cigarettes but I'm not counting that as otherwise I wouldn't have any no spend days!

Edited by OnEarth - 2/4/11 at 4:00pm

[OnEarth]

oops, double posted somehow.

[Pumpkin_Pie]

double post when I tried to edit my old post.  Not sure why that happened??

[Pumpkin_Pie]

Originally Posted by Pumpkin_Pie 

Quote:

Not off to the greatest start, but I am at least not spending very much money.  I went to the Salvation Army yesterday looking for a new coat, as mine has a broken zipper and it is COLD and SNOWY here right now.  I ended up buying one off a sale rack to salvage the zipper from for my old coat, so $5 for a really good sports zipper is pretty good.  I needed to either repair the zipper or buy a new coat, so that was a planned spend.  I also found a basket that DS can use for his bike, and I have been searching for birthday gifts for him.  At fifty cents, I was pretty happy about that one, and is also a planned spend.  I did splurge on a beautiful pink paper star lantern though for a dollar.  Totally didn't need it, but I LOVE it!  Also forgot that I bought DS's main birthday present last night online.  An Anne Moze Three Billy Goat's Gruff set.  He is going to flip!

Today was a snow day, so no work for me and no school for DS.  I really needed to get to my bank's ATM to deposit a check, and instead of driving, we walked there instead.  2 hours of exercise, no gas used, but I did end up having to buy DS a treat and some water in order to get him there and back.  Not a total success, but it was a fun way to spend the morning.  Hoping tomorrow is a true no-spend day!

1. $1 at Salvation Army $5.50 at Salvation Army, + $37 on DS's birthday present

2. $4 on treats out on a walk with DS on our snow day. 

3.

4.

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6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

Goals for February:

20/28 No spend days

27/28 No using the clothes dryer

My key:

= No spend day

= Planned spend

= Unplanned spend

= Used clothes dryer