~ ~ April No-Spend Challenge ~ ~ - Page 3

[FillingMyQuiver]

Key

  No Spend/ Budgeted Spending

  Unplanned/ Un-budgeted Spending

1.  what a great start to the month (heavy sarcasm)  $9 @ store for bread for lunch, $6 @ Home Depot for screws to attach my hoops to the garden beds

2.  So much for my preemptive No Spend day.  Drove to hubby's work to drop off his cell phone (1 hr away), had a picnic lunch w/ him & the kids (brought lunch), BUT came home and 1) didn't feel like cooking and 2) hadn't planned properly and didn't take anything out for dinner.  So, delivery pizza it was *sigh*

3.    Finally.  Didn't spend anything today, stayed at home and worked on adding hoop frames to the garden beds.

4.    Had a rough day, DH stopped and picked me up ice cream.

5.  $70 for Easter basket stuff.

6.  $20 budgeted ice cream treat

7.    did our monthly grocery shop, stayed completely in budget!!

8.    Easter, didn't spend anything.

9. 

10.   $22 spent @ Home Depot for potting mix, and misc supplies, budgeted.  HOWEVER, the driver side window motor broke while out.  Bringing the truck to the mechanic tonight.

11.   $275 for the mechanic to fix the window motor and an oil change.  We had $200 of it in the car repair fund, so $75 of it will need to come out of the debt snowball.

12. preemptive   We need to pick up our weekly milk order and THAT'S IT!!  No other errands, no opportunities for spending.
 

[Ruthiegirl]

Home with sick boys today.  No spending planned.  Pay day tomorrow!  Can't wait to send in a big cc payment.  

April 1 -- 43.31 wax ring for toilet, pane of glass for garage window

April 2 -- 20.98 quart of paint

April 3 -- 

April 4 -- 144.00 baseball gear, 30.00 yearly beach pass, 15.00 sunhat for baby

April 5 -- 2.25 coffee

April 6 -- 

April 7 -- 27.22 sand and bird seed, 90.00 spring baskets/craft supplies

April 8 -- 

April 9 -- 

April 10 -- 

April 11 -- 

April 12 -- 

April 13 -- pay day

Credit card payments -- 0.00/1700.00

Grocery money remaining till next pay period -- 0.00

House projects:

Fix toilet 

Fix window

Paint bathroom

Shelf in Bathroom

Curtain for bathroom

Paint kitchen

Bookshelf for kids' books

Shorten curtains to fit under bookshelf

Fire ring in garden

Compost bins

[jenn1970]

4/1:

4/2:

4/3: $1.74 on a blender.

4/4: $1.00 on the seventh edition of Psychology (Gleitman, Reisberg, Gross) college textbook to help son study for CLEP.

4/5: Was raining all morning. Decided not to go shopping.

4/6: $10 to church - budgeted - for kids' dinner and breakfast at lock-in.

4/7:

4/8: $20 - budgeted - added to regular church tithing for Easter.

4/9:

4/10: 62.89 in groceries/supplies.  Should not need to shop again until the 16th, except for purchasing some rye flour.

4/11:

4/12: Paid bills today, but nothing went over budget, thankfully.

Grocery budget for month: $62.89/$375 - $312.11 remaining.

[lactivistmama]

Not such a good day today, We went to swim practice and it was pouring rain and freezing. An hour and a half later.. we got hot coffee and chocolate. :( 

April 9th-    $45 to our local animal shelter (our dog got out and we had to pay to get her back) 

April 10th- 

April 11th- 

April 12th-  $10.70 Starbucks 

[Ruthiegirl]

Pay day!  Sent a huge payment to the cc and refilled the gas and grocery funds.  I am going to grocery shop today and it needs to be a carefully budgeted trip.  I overspent on the Spring baskets and need to make up $40 to stay on budget.  So, no extras this week.  

April 1 -- 43.31 wax ring for toilet, pane of glass for garage window

April 2 -- 20.98 quart of paint

April 3 -- 

April 4 -- 144.00 baseball gear, 30.00 yearly beach pass, 15.00 sunhat for baby

April 5 -- 2.25 coffee

April 6 -- 

April 7 -- 27.22 sand and bird seed, 90.00 spring baskets/craft supplies

April 8 -- 

April 9 -- 

April 10 -- 

April 11 -- 

April 12 -- 

April 13 -- 

Credit card payments -- 1400.00/1700.00

Grocery money remaining till next pay period -- 223.21

House projects:

Fix toilet 

Fix window

Paint bathroom

Shelf in Bathroom

Curtain for bathroom

Paint kitchen

Bookshelf for kids' books

Shorten curtains to fit under bookshelf

Fire ring in garden

Compost bins

Edited by Ruthiegirl - 4/13/12 at 9:12am

[diana_of_the_dunes]

I didn't think we were too far out of budgeting practice, but we're really not used to this...    It's sad, because we were only "off the wagon" for a few months, but we really got into the habit of eating out while I was too nauseated/gaggy to cook.  I'm still having big problems with not wanting to eat what I've brought to work, and even though I know I don't have to eat everything I want right when I want it, it's definitely my biggest hurdle right now.

Tonight we are definitely cooking and eating at home.  DH has wanted quesadillas for a while, so we're having a salad, chicken quesadillas, refritos, and rice for dinner.  I've got to make a meal plan for the next week, too.

Key:

- True no-spend day

- spending within budget

- unbudgeted, but necessary

- Crap...

4/7 -   Chinese for dinner, so DS and DH could come visit me at work

4/8 -

4/9 -   Starbucks (had prepaid card from before I started recording)

4/10 -

4/11 - lunch out at work ($6 for pizza after I had brought my own food.   Crazy pregnancy cravings...).  Technically in-budget, though I'd wanted to not spend.

4/12 - Planned dinner out with ILs (our treat).  $48, $10 at farmer's market for chicken and broccoli

4/13 -   Staying home and cooking!

Goals

groceries - $85/$250 (for pay period)

eating out - $70.96/$75 (for month)

Sell baby clothes

Sell baby carrier

[lactivistmama]

April 9th-    $45 to our local animal shelter (our dog got out and we had to pay to get her back) 

April 10th- 

April 11th- 

April 12th-  $10.70 Starbucks

April 13th- 

[Ruthiegirl]

April 1 -- 43.31 wax ring for toilet, pane of glass for garage window

April 2 -- 20.98 quart of paint

April 3 -- 

April 4 -- 144.00 baseball gear, 30.00 yearly beach pass, 15.00 sunhat for baby

April 5 -- 2.25 coffee

April 6 -- 

April 7 -- 27.22 sand and bird seed, 90.00 spring baskets/craft supplies

April 8 -- 

April 9 -- 

April 10 -- 

April 11 -- 

April 12 -- 

April 13 -- 

April 14 -- 

April 15

April 16

April 17

April 18

April 19

April 20 

Credit card payments -- 1430.00/1700.00

Grocery money remaining till next pay period -- 203.61

House projects:

Fix toilet 

Fix window

Paint bathroom

Shelf in Bathroom

Curtain for bathroom

Paint kitchen

Bookshelf for kids' books

Shorten curtains to fit under bookshelf

Fire ring in garden

Compost bins

Edited by Ruthiegirl - 4/14/12 at 6:11pm

[lactivistmama]

April 9th-    $45 to our local animal shelter (our dog got out and we had to pay to get her back) 

April 10th- 

April 11th- 

April 12th-  $10.70 Starbucks

April 13th- 

April 14th- 

[Ruthiegirl]

Nice quiet weekend here.  Bought some gas for the lawn mower this morning, but that's coming out of the gas budget so counting today as a no-spend.  We have plans to hang out in the back yard, work on the fire ring and finish up some projects.  

The electric bill came in $30 under budget, so I sent that to the cc.  Another $370 and that card will be paid off!!!

April 1 -- 43.31 wax ring for toilet, pane of glass for garage window

April 2 -- 20.98 quart of paint

April 3 -- 

April 4 -- 144.00 baseball gear, 30.00 yearly beach pass, 15.00 sunhat for baby

April 5 -- 2.25 coffee

April 6 -- 

April 7 -- 27.22 sand and bird seed, 90.00 spring baskets/craft supplies

April 8 -- 

April 9 -- 

April 10 -- 

April 11 -- 

April 12 -- 

April 13 -- 

April 14 -- 

April 15 -- 

April 16

April 17

April 18

April 19

April 20 

Credit card payments -- 1430.00/1700.00

Grocery money remaining till next pay period -- 203.61

House projects:

Fix toilet 

Fix window

Paint bathroom

Shelf in Bathroom

Curtain for bathroom

Paint kitchen

Bookshelf for kids' books

Shorten curtains to fit under bookshelf

Fire ring in garden

Compost bins

Edited by Ruthiegirl - 4/15/12 at 12:21pm

[averysmomma05]

Key:

No Spend

Budgeted spend:

Unplanned:

Ate at home:

Hung out laundry:

My goals:

No spend:  2 of 20days

Hang laundry:0 of 20days

No eating out:2 of 29 days

We have a few things this month coming up:

Vacation:$1,000

Redo bathroom: $2,000

Grocery:$400

Eating out:$70/$50 blah over budget.

4/3- I didn't go anywhere so didn't spend anything. Ate at home also.,

4/4-

4/5-Payday aka Bill day. paid the bills $700 worth,paid the girls tball registration fee $50,did some spending at the dollar store on few food things we needed I didn't want to go to another store. So, going to take that from the grocery budget. $48.xx.  spent $6.50 on pizza for the kids and $26 on Mexican food for me and the hubby. Might not be going on vacation next week after all. Might just do a day trip somewhere and go ahead and start the construction on our bathroom since hubby will be off work 5 days. Got a lady coming to pick up 5 of our puppies tomorrow so that will be alittle extra money and we got a refund of $20 for overpayment to tax dept.

4/6- hubby is working a 16 hr shift today and I am home carless.Not going to spend anything.

4/7-$40 for Easter baskets,$20 halves for pizza that night with parents,$12 haircut hubby,$20 lunch at mcdonalds. BLAH!

4/8- stayed home all day.

4/9-$14 at grocery store, deposited a check for $2,904 for the bathroom stuff. Vacation is out my phone died on me so I have to buy a new one soon.

4/10-$200 at walmart

4/11-

4/12-

4/13-

4/14-

4/15-the  reno has started on our house and they have been to the lowe's store at least 10 times so I can't keep up with how much my hubby has spent so far. I think we are up to $1100 in supplies, $400 in labor charges. Should be complete today. I have to get groceries.

[diana_of_the_dunes]

Yesterday was both a good and bad day for the budget.  Good because I spent $6 on apples and canned 17 pints of applesauce (plus what we ate  ).  We also ate leftovers for lunch and had a good grocery shopping trip thanks to awesome sales.  But by the time I was done with all the shopping and canning, I was exhausted, so we ended up eating out.  I'm frustrated that we're over budget, but trying to cook last night would have taken energy and effort I just don't have with this pregnancy and its complications.  I should probably feel more guilty than I do, but right now taking care of myself is worth more to me than our eating out budget.    Since we're way under budget on groceries, the money will come from there.  ((But I haven't changed my bottom line yet, as looking back, I think DH may have taken it out of his "play money" envelope instead))  Today should be better, since DH and DS are eating at MIL's, and I packed my lunch and lots of snacks for work.

In happier news, we finally did our taxes and found out our refund will be over twice what it was last year.    We're going to take a few hundred dollars and put it towards house projects we'd like to wrap up before the baby gets here, and the remainder (over $2000!!) will go into savings.

Key:

- True no-spend day

- spending within budget

- unbudgeted, but necessary

- Crap...

4/7 -   Chinese for dinner, so DS and DH could come visit me at work

4/8 -

4/9 -   Starbucks (had prepaid card from before I started recording)

4/10 -

4/11 - lunch out at work ($6 for pizza after I had brought my own food.   Crazy pregnancy cravings...).  Technically in-budget, though I'd wanted to not spend.

4/12 - Planned dinner out with ILs (our treat).  $48, $10 at farmer's market for chicken and broccoli

4/13 -   Staying home and cooking!

4/14 -   $56 for groceries, $13 at farmer's market for apples, sausage, spring mix, and spinach; dinner out after an exhausting day

4/15 -

Goals

groceries - $131/$250 (for pay period)

eating out - $70.96/$75 (for month)

Sell baby clothes

Sell baby carrier

[jenn1970]

4/1:

4/2:

4/3: $1.74 on a blender.

4/4: $1.00 on the seventh edition of Psychology (Gleitman, Reisberg, Gross) college textbook to help son study for CLEP.

4/5: Was raining all morning. Decided not to go shopping.

4/6: $10 to church - budgeted - for kids' dinner and breakfast at lock-in.

4/7:

4/8: $20 - budgeted - added to regular church tithing for Easter.

4/9:

4/10: 62.89 in groceries/supplies. Should not need to shop again until the 16th, except for purchasing some rye flour.

4/11:

4/12: Paid bills today, but nothing went over budget, thankfully.

4/13: Bought rye flour, $3.99.

4/14:

4/15:

Grocery budget for month: $66.88/$375 - $308.12 remaining.

[Celtain]

a. I am a WOH solo mom to 4 awesome kids. 21DD, 13DS, 10DD, 7DS

b. I would like to save enough money in the next year to put a down payment on a house. I will start saving right after I pay off some outstanding bills. (Got a couple of whoppers here :( )

c. I figured out that if I work 60 hours a week I will be able to live off what I make and be able to bank every penny of the kids survivors benefits. I'm a little late in the month, but better late than never!!!!

key

 no spend

 necessary spend

 unnecessary spend

April 16th ...
 

[Ruthiegirl]

Bought a new shirt for myself and a bike lock for ds so he can ride his bike to school. 

April 1 -- 43.31 wax ring for toilet, pane of glass for garage window

April 2 -- 20.98 quart of paint

April 3 -- 

April 4 -- 144.00 baseball gear, 30.00 yearly beach pass, 15.00 sunhat for baby

April 5 -- 2.25 coffee

April 6 -- 

April 7 -- 27.22 sand and bird seed, 90.00 spring baskets/craft supplies

April 8 -- 

April 9 -- 

April 10 -- 

April 11 -- 

April 12 -- 

April 13 -- 

April 14 -- 

April 15 -- 

April 16 -- 

April 17 -- 8.00 shirt. 5.00 bike lock

April 18

April 19

April 20 

Credit card payments -- 1430.00/1700.00

Grocery money remaining till next pay period -- 120.60

House projects:

Fix toilet 

Fix window

Paint bathroom

Shelf in Bathroom

Curtain for bathroom

Paint kitchen

Bookshelf for kids' books

Shorten curtains to fit under bookshelf

Fire ring in garden

Compost bins

Edited by Ruthiegirl - 4/17/12 at 8:39am

[Celtain]

Ruthiegirl, I like your idea of having house projects on here as well, kind of a double accountability!!!! Mind if I steal?

[Ruthiegirl]

Originally Posted by Celtain 

Ruthiegirl, I like your idea of having house projects on here as well, kind of a double accountability!!!! Mind if I steal?

Please do.  I am sucker for a good to-do list.  

I would like to be able to cross a few more things off of my list.  I need motivation to come to me as easily as a list does.  

[Celtain]

Originally Posted by Ruthiegirl 

  I need motivation to come to me as easily as a list does.  

LOL, AMEN to that!!!!!

ok, here goes.....

Purge the filing cabinet

Clean the car

Go through the kids books and leave them with only age appropriate stuff

organise the under bed boxes, so they arent spilling clothes all over the floor!!!!!

make a monthly dinner menu, pasta 3 nights a week is getting to be a bit too much!!!

get rid of all the old sporting goods, hopefully by selling it to Play it again sports.

I am sure there will be more, but that's my start!

[Ruthiegirl]

Home day here.   Not totally a no-spend day.  My neighbor had mulch delivered and bought too much.   I am buying her leftover mulch at a good price, just need to haul it.  I have money set aside to do this, so budgeted spending.  We will be putting our house on the market soon, so this is all part of the home improvement plan.

April 1 -- 43.31 wax ring for toilet, pane of glass for garage window

April 2 -- 20.98 quart of paint

April 3 -- 

April 4 -- 144.00 baseball gear, 30.00 yearly beach pass, 15.00 sunhat for baby

April 5 -- 2.25 coffee

April 6 -- 

April 7 -- 27.22 sand and bird seed, 90.00 spring baskets/craft supplies

April 8 -- 

April 9 -- 

April 10 -- 

April 11 -- 

April 12 -- 

April 13 -- 

April 14 -- 

April 15 -- 

April 16 -- 

April 17 -- 8.00 shirt, 5.00 bike lock, 6.00 library fines

April 18 -- mulch for yard

April 19 -- 

April 20 -- 

Credit card payments -- 1430.00/1700.00

Grocery money remaining till next pay period -- 61.80

House projects:

Fix toilet 

Fix window

Paint bathroom

Shelf in Bathroom

Curtain for bathroom

Paint kitchen

Bookshelf for kids' books

Shorten curtains to fit under bookshelf

Fire ring in garden

Compost bins

Edited by Ruthiegirl - 4/21/12 at 5:34am

[jenn1970]

4/1:

4/2:

4/3: $1.74 on a blender.

4/4: $1.00 on the seventh edition of Psychology (Gleitman, Reisberg, Gross) college textbook to help son study for CLEP.

4/5: Was raining all morning. Decided not to go shopping.

4/6: $10 to church - budgeted - for kids' dinner and breakfast at lock-in.

4/7:

4/8: $20 - budgeted - added to regular church tithing for Easter.

4/9:

4/10: $62.89 in groceries/supplies. Should not need to shop again until the 16th, except for purchasing some rye flour.

4/11:

4/12: Paid bills today, but nothing went over budget, thankfully.

4/13: Bought rye flour, $3.99.

4/14:

4/15:

4/16: $90.79 in groceries/supplies. Should not need to shop again until the 24th.

4/17:

4/18: $2.14 at dollar store for new colander and measuring cups.  (Better Homes and Garden brand.  Hope they last for awhile.  I do hand wash dishes, so that should help.  Didn't absolutely need them, but have wanted to replace old ones for some time.  Am "stealing" this amount from the grocery budget.)

Grocery budget for month: $159.81/$375 - $215.19 remaining.