~ March No-Spend Challenge ~ - Page 2

[jessiemom]

Went to Walmart last night to get some sale items I had seen in the flyer, stayed to my list and didn't get extras.  Stopped at McDonalds on the way home because the kids were hungry and I hadn't planned anything for supper :-( I'll have to make sure not to run errands at supper time again.  Got the guinea pigs grass too.  I will get gas today and our weekly groceries tomorrow and that should be it for this weekend.  Signed the kids up for their swimming lessons through the YMCA yesterday but they are free with our family membership so I didn't have to pay anything.

 

Originally Posted by jessiemom 

Hi I would like to join.  I am a mother to 5 kids, 9,7,5,3,18 months.  I babysit in my house during the week and find that I spend money on the weekend when we go out because I don't go anywhere all week.  My goal is to pay down my CC debt and build a better savings account.

1 -

2 - 28.00 at walmart for budgeted groceries, 18.00 at McDonalds for hungry kids (not budgeted)

3 - 8.00 budgeted for guinea pig food

4 -

5 -

6 -

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8 -

[my2girlz]

3/1 $96.17 at Target (some groceries, clothing, household items)

3/2 $289.xx at Costco (1x/month stop)

3/3 $48.25 movie theater (rare treat), $13.55 Starbucks, $474.10 at Babies 'r Us (planned, budgeted $500)

budgeted

$289.xx/$800 groceries

$150 gas

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Yes!  Three days into it...but finally I got that no-spend.  it feels nice.

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom 

01  $259 running shoes and workout clothes

02  $35 DVD player

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[mich]

Another day, no impulse spending. Some planned shopping and a budgeted dinner out with the kids.

I did have a setback when a package from Lands End came in the mail. A sweatshirt and pair of cropped pants. I loved the pants and thought I should get another pair. I did go to the site, looked at the pants, other colors. But I am very happy to report it lasted only 5 minutes, I made the decision to get the heck off their site!

The scary thing is that there are 3 other packages on the way to my house. An amazon order that was sent in 2 shipments and another package from Lands End, a back ordered sale item that just shipped. It's not very hard to avoid shopping online when I know something is on the way. The work will begin when they arrive, and I have no packages to look forward to.

It sounds so silly when I type it out. I'm a grown woman, with a family, children to raise, a husband, and a business to run. But I'm unhappy if the mailman isn't working to bring me a surprise?


Day 3 / tracked every purchase(iPod app), no unplanned spending!!

=3
=0

[Ruthiegirl]

Planned no-spend today.  We are all going to the cub scouts pine wood derby today.  Should be a ton of fun.  Nothing to buy there and no shopping planned.  I have dinner ready to go and meals planned for the week, so we are all set for a good low budget week.  

And....we finished our taxes!!!   Dh found an error I made in our deductions.  That was worth $800!   So we have enough to file our taxes right now!    So excited to be done with this.  I have been saving aggressively for the past few months, so this is a huge weight off my shoulders.  

Mar 1 -- 

Mar 2 --   

Mar 3 -- 9.54 3 pairs of jeans for dd, 10.60 goggles for lacrosse 

Mar 4 -- 

Taxes paid!  Now on to building the emergency fund and paying off the credit card.  

[jennmk13]

My name is Jenn, and this is my first time doing the No-Spend Challenge.  I have two kids, DS 4 and DD 16 months.  We are in debt pretty deep right now because my husband was out of work for so long, but he has a job now and we really want to get out of this debt.  Right now we are focused on getting one CC paid off by Nov. 2012.

March

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[my2girlz]

3/1 $96.17 at Target (some groceries, clothing, household items)

3/2 $289.xx at Costco (1x/month stop)

3/3 $48.25 movie theater (rare treat), $13.55 Starbucks, $474.10 at Babies 'r Us (planned, budgeted $500)

3/4 $60.01 gas, earned $61.xx at OUAC

budgeted

$289.xx/$800 groceries

$60.01/$150 gas

[mich]

Congratulations Ruthiegirl! Dh is working on our taxes this weekend. Last year we had a large refund, but 2011 was a good year for us so we may have a bill to pay this year. I'm really hopping we break even, maybe a small refund. 

Hi Jennmk13, I can relate to being in deep debt. 2008-2010 were really hard times, we are still recovering. I'm so gratefully that we did have an emergency fund and it took every penny of it to keep our house. We have replaced the lost income and are now paying off debt and trying to rebuild our emergency fund.  Congratulations on your hubbys new job!

3/4 no spend day!!!

4/

0/

[zebra15]

I need to join.  I can not do 'no spend' but I can do 'reasonable spend' LOL.  Anything hard core scares me and just means failure. I can not handle that.  

I am a single mommy to a great 11 yr old DS.  I have been out of full time work for 3 years now.  I do substitute teach whenever I can get work. (anywhere from 0-5 days a week). This makes it very difficult to plan $$.

I need to reduce all spending because the cost of fuel is killing me.

My student loans are on IBR.

DS has swim team fees of $75/month plus meet fees which vary but should run about $10 2x a month.

We eat out on Saturday- this is covered in my 'meal plan' thread.

The weather is changing and its going to be HOT here soon.  The thought of having to buy DS summer clothes scares the bejeebers out of me. (we live in AZ).  Not to mention the electric bill.

3/1  Rent $788  Swim team $75

3/2  Dinner Failure $10.12, Fuel $57

3/3 Grocery $ 10.xx, Lunch $10.50

3/4  Newspaper $2.19, postage $4.80

3/5  0.00

3/6  0.00

3/7 $25.50 for Disney on Ice tickets (discounted with homeschool)

3/8  Bill pay day

3/9  Target $15.xx  Plunger emergency and got Drano while I was there.  The bathroom is functional again!

3/10 $40.xx grocery, $60.00 dinner out , $10.00 postage

3/11 $2.19 newspaper  $50.00 fuel

3/12

3/13

3/14

3/15

3/16 $16.00 haircuts  $12.00 dinner

3/17

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3/20

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3/30

3/31

** unplanned in RED

Edited by zebra15 - 3/16/12 at 3:46pm

[averysmomma05]

3/1-

3/2-4.99 on a PPV movie for my sick daughter. 42.xx grocery

3/3-48.xx grocery (budgeted)

3/4-$5.xx on hotdogs at the quick stop,drinks,candy

3/5-

Lets hope today is a no spend because I don't plan on leaving home.

[FillingMyQuiver]

Key

  No Spend/ Budgeted Spending

  Unplanned/ Un-budgeted Spending

1.    Off to a good start

2.    Had to take DS1 to the dr.  Appointment was right at lunch time and since it was last minute, had to stop for lunch.  $20 @ McDs.

3.    We went to IKEA   $80 later, we came home w/ 2 step stools (kind of needed), pkg of juice glasses, 6 tea balls. and a steaming pitcher for our espresso machine (none really needed at all)

4.    Went to parents' for dinner, brought dessert and wine $30

5.  preemptive .  It's snowing here and I'm not leaving the house.

*sigh*  I really need these next few weeks to be no spend so I can throw more money at our debt.  I'm frustrated to see these no spend days the last 3 days.
 

[Ruthiegirl]

No spending today.  Cold, wet, sleety outside, nice day to stay home and warm.  

Mar 1 -- 

Mar 2 --   

Mar 3 -- 9.54 3 pairs of jeans for dd, 10.60 goggles for lacrosse 

Mar 4 -- 

Mar 5 -- 

[my2girlz]

3/1 $96.17 at Target (some groceries, clothing, household items)

3/2 $289.xx at Costco (1x/month stop)

3/3 $48.25 movie theater (rare treat), $13.55 Starbucks, $474.10 at Babies 'r Us (planned, budgeted $500)

3/4 $60.01 gas, earned $61.xx at OUAC

3/5 $35.07 Walmart (groceries), $13.17 Cub Foods (groceries) $17.00 Great Clips (dh's hair)

budgeted

$337.24/$800 groceries

$60.01/$150 gas

[mommamelissa]

a. Melissa, WAHM/SAHM, wife, mother of one and another on the way

b. become debt-free (I have educational debt) and put 20% of income into savings/investments.

c. tracking all spending, accountability, careful budgeting, gardening, making my own cleaners, etc. open to ideas :)

March

1. no spending

2. no spending

3. $25 date night -- not budgeted

4. $22 birthday gift for mom -- not budgeted

5. no spending

6. bill pay day 

[FillingMyQuiver]

Key

  No Spend/ Budgeted Spending

  Unplanned/ Un-budgeted Spending

1.    Off to a good start

2.    Had to take DS1 to the dr.  Appointment was right at lunch time and since it was last minute, had to stop for lunch.  $20 @ McDs.

3.    We went to IKEA   $80 later, we came home w/ 2 step stools (kind of needed), pkg of juice glasses, 6 tea balls. and a steaming pitcher for our espresso machine (none really needed at all)

4.    Went to parents' for dinner, brought dessert and wine $30

5.  .  It's snowing here and I'm not leaving the house.

6.  another preemptive

[averysmomma05]

3/1-

3/2-4.99 on a PPV movie for my sick daughter. 42.xx grocery

3/3-48.xx grocery (budgeted)

3/4-$5.xx on hotdogs at the quick stop,drinks,candy

3/5-$72.xx on groceries (budgeted)

3/6- Not buying anything today and will make $20 at my side job tonight.

[mich]

Yesterday was some budgeted food shopping, an un planned lunch out, and a planned pizza party with friends. My eating out budget is used up and it's only the 6th, yikes! I never stay within my eating out budget, I should just bite the bullet and make it bigger. But every month I think I'll try again. 

I'm doing our once a month to trader joes today. After that I should be set with food in the house for a few weeks. 

Food $225/ $600 budget

Eating out $112/$100 budget

Gas $0/ $150 budget

Clothing $103/100 budget (no clothes this month/used for local grass fed meat from farmer)

Extras $0/$50 budget

Totals $440/$1000= $560 available

[Ruthiegirl]

Counting today as a no-spend though I did spend $50 on an unplanned ER visit.  Ds chipped a small bone in his ankle and is now booted and on crutches for the next few weeks.   

Funny, a few months ago I would have pulled out a credit card to cover the co-pay.  I am determined to not put stuff on the cards, especially when I can pay cash for them.  It does mean that I will need to stick to my budget carefully this month which is what I had planned anyway.   I lucked out and had a bit extra money since the heating bill came in under budget.  Whew!   Grateful to have the money when I needed it.  

Mar 1 -- 

Mar 2 --   

Mar 3 -- 9.54 3 pairs of jeans for dd, 10.60 goggles for lacrosse 

Mar 4 -- 

Mar 5 -- 

Mar 6 -- 

[my2girlz]

3/1 $96.17 at Target (some groceries, clothing, household items)

3/2 $289.xx at Costco (1x/month stop)

3/3 $48.25 movie theater (rare treat), $13.55 Starbucks, $474.10 at Babies 'r Us (planned, budgeted $500)

3/4 $60.01 gas, earned $61.xx at OUAC

3/5 $35.07 Walmart (groceries), $13.17 Cub Foods (groceries) $17.00 Great Clips (dh's hair)

3/6 $0!!

budgeted

$337.24/$800 groceries

$60.01/$150 gas

[zebra15]

Doing well, 2 no spend days in a row.  GO ME !!