NoSpend January -- Ringing in the New Year with money in the bank

[Ruthiegirl]

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 January 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.

[Ruthiegirl]

Thought I would start off 2012 with a bang!  

a. Who you are  

I am Ruth, mama to 3 (soon to be 4 any day now!).  

b. Where you are going (your financial goals)

I have some big savings goals over the next 3 months.  We have to pay our taxes and while I used to have the money set aside to pay, we had to dip into it when our water line broke.  So, now I need to come up with some major cash before April 15th.  

c. How you plan to get there

We have nothing expensive planned over the next 3 months -- having a baby, planning the Spring garden, lots of kid activities and family time at home.  Everyone has enough clothes, though my ds will need some new shoes soon.  Food is budgeted, bills are budgeted, no traveling is expected.  So, assuming no disasters come our way, we should be able to make our tax goal with no problems.  

My biggest focus right now is simply to Keep the Budget!  

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

I'm baaaaaaack!!!!

a. Who you are
 

Prudence, SAHM with three daughters.  I participated regularly in these threads for YEARS but took last year off because I was on the computer too much.  But now I think I've achieved some balance and need the accountability that these threads provide.
 

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

We are out of debt but not really saving anything for our ~long term~ financial health, so I'd like to start a savings account.
 

c. How you plan to get there

Not buying a THING unless we need it.  I'm coming on here everyday to track.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

CONGRATULATIONS Ruth!!!!!!!

 

Originally Posted by Ruthiegirl 

I am Ruth, mama to 3 (soon to be 4 any day now!).  

 

[FillingMyQuiver]

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom 

I'm baaaaaaack!!!!

Welcome back Prudence!!

Originally Posted by Ruthiegirl 

Thought I would start off 2012 with a bang!  

a. Who you are  

I am Ruth, mama to 3 (soon to be 4 any day now!).  

Sending gentle and stress free labor vibes your way, Ruth!!

As for me, let's see if I can hold out for all of January.  I haven't been that successful the last few challenges, and we really need to get a handle on our spending.

a. Who you are

I'm Jenn, SAHM to 5 under 8.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals)

Our long term goal is to be debt free and have a fully funded E-fund.  Our CC and Suburban *should* be paid off by the end of the year.

c. How you plan to get there

STICK TO THE BUDGET!!!  DH's car needs tires, but we have the $$ saved up for them.  He may also need a few dress shirts for work, but we have a clothing budget to apply there.  We don't anticipate any other major spending needs, so I'm going to spend my time planning the Spring garden and knitting and sewing from my stash.

STAY OUT OF STORES!!  On the weekends, DH usually gets antsy and wants to get out of the house.  Somehow we always end up at some store like Target or WalMart and spend money we really shouldn't.  We need to stay out of the stores and find some other way to fill our time.

[Ruthiegirl]

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom 

I'm baaaaaaack!!!!

Hooray!!!  So glad to see you here.  You have been a great source of inspiration.  

Originally Posted by FillingMyQuiver 

Sending gentle and stress free labor vibes your way, Ruth!!

Thank you!   Gentle vibes are good...but at this point, I would take a couple of swift and hearty vibes.  Being a week over due is getting really, really old and I am so ready to give birth!   Come on labor.

On the bright side, being this pregnant makes it very easy to stay out of stores and keep close to home.  I had a major cleaning kick this morning, took down the Christmas tree, packed away the decorations, did a very thorough vacuuming of the living room....and still no signs of labor.  Ah well.  At least my house feels cleaner.  

Also, got the heating bill and it was $180 less than what I had budgeted, so I quickly moved that cash over to my savings account.  Nice to see that little bump so early in the month.  

Looking forward to a good month.  No spending....no spending...no spending.    

[Ruthiegirl]

Originally Posted by FillingMyQuiver 

a. Who you are

I'm Jenn, SAHM to 5 under 8.

 

Oh and I seriously love this sentence.    Big families always make me smile.  

[AnkaJones]

Hi All,

I'm back for another round.  Prudence, we've never met but I'm glad you're back -- you get mentioned every so often in these threads and I'm glad to finally meet you!  Ruthiegirl, good strong labor vibes headed your way.  I'm so excited for you. 

a.  Who you are: I'm Anka, WOH mom to my growing-too-fast 6 mo DS and wife to wonderful DH.

b.  Financial goals: big picture, I want my family to be able to spend lots of time together.  I didn't realize how important this would be to me until DS came along, and so I had massively indebted myself in order to go into the high-powered career of my dreams; now I want to ratchet things down a notch and am finding that nearly impossible with the student debt burden we have.  In the short term, that means getting our debts (>80k student loans between us) paid off and having an emergency fund.  Second big picture goal (again, a surprise to me until after I had DS) -- I wanna have lots of kids.  LOTS.  So you ladies posting with your big families are making me totally jealous!  Anyway, again, that pretty much requires that I ratchet down my career a notch.

c.  How I am going to get there:  We're currently on the Dave Ramsey plan.  It seems like every month so far we've gotten more intense, until last month when we did some spending outside the budget for the holidays (although far, far less out of control than any prior Christmas).  So this month we're recommitting.  We even cancelled the cable (I know some of you ladies already do without cable, but for us this is a huge change... which I doubt we would have had the togetherness to do if it weren't for the inspiration we've found on these boards).  This month, the plan is (1) no unbudgeted spending, (2) work at least 4 overtime shifts, (3) when I am at home, be really at home and not thinking about work, (4) line dry laundry, (5) continue to find free/no cost things to do together as a family, (6) keep the house clean, warm and inviting so no one is tempted to go out and winds up shopping.  And, of course, post here every day to keep accountable!

I'm glad this thread is back!!!  Looking forward to a great New Year!

Anka

[dramallama]

Originally Posted by Ruthiegirl 

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 January 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.

Hi, I'm Maggs and I'm a SAHM of 2 little ones.

Our goal is to relocate to my husband's home country. In order to do this my husband will be quitting his job in February to coordinate the move, look full-time for work there, maybe visit a couple of times for interviews, sooo we won't have any income starting in February.  We have a lot in savings but we don't want to blow it all on maintaining a lifestyle while we are in transition, so we are cutting way back in January.

No spending on frivilous things like coffee, buying books, take-out or eating out, etc.  We just had Christmas so the kids are good for clothes and toys. I will allow myself the occasional coffee or drink with a friend.  The opportunity for this comes maybe once or twice a month and its my only break from being with the kids 24/7 so I'm not cutting that yet.

Jan 1:  No spend

Jan 2:  Had to spend $200 on a bridesmaids dress.  Wasn't expecting it since wedding isn't until the summer and wasn't expecting it to cost so much. Oh well, at least I can truly wear it again!

Edited by dramallama - 1/2/12 at 6:10pm

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

01.. 

02..  $14 Pizza Hut

03.. 

04.. 

05..   $50 Tequila (the big bottle)

06.. 

07..  $25 dinner out with friends

08.. 

09..  $15 Triple Sec

10.. 

11..  $5 McDonald's

12.. 

13.. 

14.. 

15.. 

16..  $15 Pizza Hut, $6 ice skating, $30 date night

17.. 

18..  $5 McDonald's

19.. 

20..  $10 Wendy's

21.. 

22.. 

23..  $59 Baffin Snow Boots

24..  $87  Swim suits and swim shampoo

25..  $15 McDonalds, $5 Subscription to Vegetarian Times

26..  $28  Eating out with friends, $24 Runner's World subscription

27.. 

28.. 

29..

30..

31..

My Goal = 20 no-spend days this month

My progress = 14 so far...

Edited by Crunchy*VT*Mom - 1/28/12 at 3:27pm

[Momsteader]

a. Who you are:  Holly Mama to three boys 15, 12, and 6 mos. I live in a rural farming community on 7 acres--population 250. We're 120 mi from the city round trip. We have chickens (hopefully some pigs this year too!) and a huge garden. We sell eggs and chickens to the 'city' nearby--live chickens for backyard chicken folks and eggs to a HFS (new to us this year).

b. Where you are going (your financial goals): I'm pretty set financially except for my mortgage, but I'd like to build some more coops/fenced areas for animals and get some pigs and a few more chickens and maybe quails and build a greenhouse. Also would like a few labor saving machines/tools that aren't necessary, but would be nice. I'd like to save more and reduce my food budget even more.

c. How you plan to get there: Stick to my list when I go to the city.  So, when I go to the 'city' I fall into the trap of "oh I might need that..." or "oh that looks good" and think I'd better get it while I'm in the city since I won't be back for a month.  I am going to stick to my list and if I 'need' something not on the list, it will have to go onto the next month's list!! I also need to write down each stop and make a total for the day. I also fall into the it's just $10/$15/$20 at x store but then when I make 5 of these stops on a trip, it adds up! Daily spending usually isn't a problem for me as I have not much opportunity locally and I can manage to resist online pretty easily.

Jan 1   No spending today. YAY!

[meandk0610]

a. single sahm/wahm to homeschooled dd(6).

b. financial goals: save as much money as possible to buy a house over the next few months. i will be buying a doublewide/modular and paying cash! we will not have a mortgage. also need to work on replacing my current income since we will not be living in this area any more.

c. the plan: buy only necessities and use the pantry/freezer to help with the grocery budget (way out of control). no eating out. no late fees at library. do my online training every day to work toward replacing my current income. do free "personal development/healing" work every day so that i can be more able to handle actually being an adult, taking care of us, and sticking with the rest of the plan!

tracking legend:

home cooked

personal development/healing

pantry/freezer used

no unnecessary spending

online training

declutter (stole the icon even!)

library late fee or eating out

unnecessary spending (hope not to see this one!)

1/1

1/2

Edited by meandk0610 - 1/1/12 at 5:39pm

[JPiper]

**

[FillingMyQuiver]

Key

No Spend/ Budgeted spending

Unplanned/ unbudgeted spending

30min spent decluttering

1.  We're at my ILs until tomorrow, DH and I ran to Target for MIL for popcorn, I picked up stockings and eye makeup for DH's formal office party on Saturday, all of it was put on a GC I got for Christmas, so no $$ out of pocket.  I REEEALLY wanted to buy some other stuff that we REEEEALLY didn't need, but I resisted

[meandk0610]

Originally Posted by FillingMyQuiver 

Key

No Spend/ Budgeted spending

Unplanned/ unbudgeted spending

30min spent decluttering

1.  We're at my ILs until tomorrow, DH and I ran to Target for MIL for popcorn, I picked up stockings and eye makeup for DH's formal office party on Saturday, all of it was put on a GC I got for Christmas, so no $$ out of pocket.  I REEEALLY wanted to buy some other stuff that we REEEEALLY didn't need, but I resisted

oh! tracking decluttering is a great idea! stealing it! (thanks!)

[MonkeyPrincess]

Happy to be joining this thread! The last two years we paid whatever was latest whenever we happened to get paid, due to me apprenticing, my husband being out of work and me beig in a serious car accident. I am back to work and my husband has a job with a regular paycheck, thankfully. We have no debt but also no savings at this point.

A. I am a midwifing momma to five kids.

B. We created a solid budget based on our minimal combined income. We will be caught up on bills, have an emergency fund, a non-emergency fund and start building credit to purchase the home we are now renting by the end of January.

C. We also commited to writing down every penny we spend, and I think joining this thread will help me do that. The forums have been so helpful to me wrt decluttering and maintaining my home and I'm hoping the same will be true for our finances.

I am a horrible consumer by nature so I rarely buy things unneccesarily, but we do have a list of things we do need so I need to be focused and mindful of my spending.

I plan to: not settle for anything less than the exact thing I'm searching for, only bring into the house whats on my list, repurpose items, accept offers from/exchange with friends, check freecycle, search craigslist and shop at thrift stores. Rare exceptions to buy at a store, although I do have a small list for Ikea when that money is available in the budget.

I also need to plan meals, have enough leftovers available for lunches and quick options for me when I am leaving for births. Its a full month and getting food out is definitely a budget killer for me.

And Ruthiegirl, so glad to see you here! Thanks for starting the thread. Nice strong labor thoughts coming your way, momma!
Edited by MonkeyPrincess - 1/1/12 at 6:35pm

[nwmomof2]

Happy to be joining this thread again, it's been a while since I've done a no-spend month, and I am looking forward to starting the new year with some financial grounding and commitment.

a. I'm Suse, mostly SAHM (I tutor a few hours a week) to DDs 5 and 8, married to a wonderful frugal guy. We are fortunate to have a good income, no debt (other than our mortgage), an emergency fund, and a comfortable life. My DH started a new job a few months ago, which is allowing us to have some breathing room in our budget. This is great news after his last job gave him a 20% salary cut for the last year.

b. My financial goals are to stick to my budget, live off DH's old salary amount, putting the difference into savings each month.

c. How I plan to get there: I plan to have set shopping days each week for groceries, errands, etc. Don't shop on non-shopping days, stay out of stores. No on-line browsing out of boredom. My kids are set for clothes and shoes, I plan to buy no clothes for anyone this month. (And none for myself for at least the next 4 months. This is a weakness for me, and I am determined to overcome it.) I will record every dollar I spend (I've done this for the past year, it does help). Instead of spending, I want to exercise, read, take a walk, write in my journal, declutter, the list goes on. 

Good luck everyone!

1/1  No spend! 

[angela1435]

a. Hi!  I'm Angela.........mom to 3 kids.  We are a military family looking to turn around our spending habits. :)

b. Right now I am trying to cut down on spending, coupon more and put away some money in savings.  

c. Stay away from stores unless they are absolutely needed.  Don't go in the store without a list.  Stick to the list!  I went to a coupon class recently and I really got amped up about it.  So I have been trying to stick to sales and use coupons.  

Ahhh..........hoping I can stick to this.  I am excited.  :)

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Things have changed at MDC since i was last on here. 

Before they always had crunchy mdc adds at the bottom of the page that didn't really apply to me, but NOW they have a scrolling ads at the top from websites I regularly shop at. 

Backcountry.com ~~~~  THAT place is my weakness.  AND it is showing me stuff that I was considering buying.  Yikes.  I'm going to think of it as my personal challenge not to click on that website.

Even though it is freezing cold in Vermont and they are showing me all kinds of warm vests and down jackets in my favorite color (purple). 

Today is grocery shopping day for my family.  I've made a list.  My goal for the day is to stick to it.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Just out of curiosity -- what ads are scrolling at the top of your thread?