November No-Spend Challenge ~ Don't let little purchases gobble gobble up your savings. - Page 11

[FillingMyQuiver]

Everyone is doing really well!!!  Let's finish STRONG for the month, mamas!!!!!

[SweetSilver]

11/1)     Budgeted 

11/2)   No spend

11/3)  No spend

11/4)  No spend

11/5)      Almost no spend

11/6)      Groceries, a bit over budget

11/7)   Budgeted groceries, day 2

11/8)   Forgot more groceries, but budgeted.

11/9)    ....and some more groceries.  Gas.

11/10)    No spend

11/11)    No spend

11/12     Almost no spend

11/13    Budgeted groceries.  Planned trip for french fries and that ice vanilla soy.  Finished my no-spend hat!!

11/14    No spend.  Baked goodies.  

11/15    A few more budgeted groceries.  Riding lesson tuition.  Baked bread!!!

11/16    Budgeted groceries.  $11 Goodwill trip--not really worth it but could have spent way more.  Oops.  Forgot the coffee stand.    Oh well.  At    least we are sticking to our grocery list.

11/17   No spend

11/18    No spend

11/19    No spend

11/20     Groceries, a bit over budget today, considering how many days are left in the month.  Gymnastics tuition.  MIL visiting, we stopped at DQ after gym.  Not budgeted, but at $22 I'm not sweating this and I didn't count this against the food bill.  Gas.

11/21    No spend.  Staying home to bake pies and veggies for Thanksgiving.

********************************************

11/22    Stocked up on jello stuff for dd2 with an upset tummy.   Coffee stand at the start of our trip.  Not sweating this.

11/23    No spend.

11/24    No spend.

Food bill about $680 for the month.  Goal is under $750.  That includes eating out, coffee, etc.  12 no-spend days.  Not sure I have a specific goal about this yet.  Would like to turn more of my   days into   or .  I think we can make it one more day without spending.  Tuesday will be groceries and some promised paper for the girls (we homeschool).  What I'll do is make a list with them and try to stick to it.

[SweetSilver]

21. I went on a grocery shopping Extravaganza!  I spent $550 for the month I wanted to be closer to $450, but still not bad considering!  How on earth do you set your grocery budget anyway?   I have been tracking for the last 3 months Sept =$430, Oct= $725, Nov =$550

I started the same way you are--tracking, then setting a goal.  Ours is not a physical set-aside budget but simply a goal.  

One thing I have been doing that has evened out our spending on paper is for once-a month purchases (ours is Azure Standard, others do Costco, I'll also do this for the occasional Seattle coop trips) is that I divide the whole purchase into however many weeks between orders.  This is easy with Azure, because they have a set delivery date.  So, if I have 1 week before the end of the month, and the next delivery is in 5 weeks, I'll divide the total by 5, tack one week's total onto the current month and the rest on the next month.  This means I often start the month with a considerable amount, but it has evened out our accounting.  Now the amount differs by about up to $100, rather that $300.  I could be persnickety about this, with every purchase or case of soymilk, but that would be dizzying and unnecessary.

[honeybee80]

11/1: no spend 

11/2: no spend 

11/3: budgeted spending  Costco $130 (once a month trip), Grocery store $42, Stamps $9, Gas $33

11/4: no spend 

11/5: no spend 

11/6: no spend 

11/7: no spend 

11/8: no spend 

11/9: no spend 

11/10: budgeted spending  thrift store $13 - $3 (returned ski pants)

11/11: budgeted spending  $57 groceries, $37 gas,  $10 glass of wine (unbudgeted)

11/12: no spend 

11/13: no spend 

11/14: budgeted spending  $20 Christmas present for my parents (I'm gonna count it as budgeted, as it came out of my sinking fund)

11/15: no spend 

11/16:  $8 tequila drink (with club soda and pineapple juice--so yummy!  and so unbudgeted ;))

11/17:  $4 thrift store - did I really need the rainbow mug, vintage handkerchief, teacher magazine, and hand knit hat?  At least they were cheap ;)

11/18: budgeted spending  $45 groceries (less than I thought I would spend--yay!)

11/19: no spend 

11/20:  $15 haircut 

11/21: budgeted spending  $21 drivers license, $34 oil filter for car,  $6 tea and cocomel (coconut milk caramel--delicious!!) while waiting for oil filter change

11/22: no spend 

11/23:  $21 herbal remedies for cough, $14 (on credit card!) more herbal stuff, $2.50 bottle of water 

Yeah, I pulled out my credit card yesterday and now I'm very close to going on a spending binge.  I think I'm actually gonna use it again today to buy those ski pants for DD that I've been talking about for months.  And I'm gonna have to use it for groceries today since the $21 I spent yesterday came out of my food money for the rest of the month.  I'm telling you, PMS makes me binge spend.  I'm definitely seeing a pattern with the time of the month I go on spending binges!  At least I'm aware of it now.  I also spent $2.50 on a bottle of water at the show I went to last night (at least I didn't buy a drink, plus I got to see the cute guy I've had a crush on forever who recently broke up with his girlfriend of almost 2 years ;)).  I could have brought my own water bottle in, but I didn't.  That was money that didn't need to be spent, but I needed water.  I even left after the first set because I'm feeling so crappy right now.  This cough needs to go away!!

Originally Posted by CookiePie 

21. I went on a grocery shopping Extravaganza!  I spent $550 for the month I wanted to be closer to $450, but still not bad considering!  How on earth do you set your grocery budget anyway?   

I'm in a slightly different situation than most of you, which means my grocery budget ends up being way less, since it's just me and 2 kids (and they are with their dad 1/2 the time).  I meal plan a month at a time and before I make my plan, I look at what I already have and try to plan some meals around that.  When I make my meal plan, I make a list of 'big' purchases that I will make at the beginning of the month (which could be things like olive or coconut oil, anything in bulk, meats, etc--bigger ticket items, so I can get that spending out of the way).  I also make 4 grocery lists, too, for the whole month, which I then add weekly upkeep items to as needed.  I also estimate what everything will cost on my lists, because then I'm not blindsided by a huge total when I'm at the store.  That being said, I am upping my budget for next month, as my previous budget was theoretically working, but I have been feeling deprived (not like we're not eating well, but like I'm not able to buy some of the things I really want to get).

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom 

You can also ask your Costco to buy local products.  Nationally Costco is pushing to do that.  Here in Vermont the Costco carries tons of local products...maple syrup, Green Mountain Coffee, Vermont beers (several brands).  If you request that Costco buy locally, and Costco DOES buy from some local vendors...you'll be helping those vendors out tremendously.  Because when Costco buys, they buy big. 

Good point.  Mine does carry a few local things, but I think I'm gonna forgo the membership this year (I can always go with my parents if I need to) and see what happens when I try to solely shop at the local health food store (which I've done in the past, but not with the level of meal planning and budgeting I'm doing right now).

[SweetSilver]

Another accounting trick for my food budgets is that I don't figure in the costs of camping food, big dinners, parties, homemade food gifts, etc.  Those costs get placed with birthday and gift spending goals, or if you have a separate "entertainment" budget, you could add food costs for parties to that.  

I know it's something of a clever accounting trick, but that's what my food budget includes: keeping the family fed--normal costs.  That's another reason why I include eating out into the food budget, unless it's something like a birthday dinner or MIL visiting on gymnastics night (and she will sometimes pick up the tab.  We do try to plan ahead better for this, but sometimes we get home too late and feeding us at home is less practical.)

[honeybee80]

11/1: no spend 

11/2: no spend 

11/3: budgeted spending  Costco $130 (once a month trip), Grocery store $42, Stamps $9, Gas $33

11/4: no spend 

11/5: no spend 

11/6: no spend 

11/7: no spend 

11/8: no spend 

11/9: no spend 

11/10: budgeted spending  thrift store $13 - $3 (returned ski pants)

11/11: budgeted spending  $57 groceries, $37 gas,  $10 glass of wine (unbudgeted)

11/12: no spend 

11/13: no spend 

11/14: budgeted spending  $20 Christmas present for my parents (I'm gonna count it as budgeted, as it came out of my sinking fund)

11/15: no spend 

11/16:  $8 tequila drink (with club soda and pineapple juice--so yummy!  and so unbudgeted ;))

11/17:  $4 thrift store - did I really need the rainbow mug, vintage handkerchief, teacher magazine, and hand knit hat?  At least they were cheap ;)

11/18: budgeted spending  $45 groceries (less than I thought I would spend--yay!)

11/19: no spend 

11/20:  $15 haircut 

11/21: budgeted spending  $21 drivers license, $34 oil filter for car,  $6 tea and cocomel (coconut milk caramel--delicious!!) while waiting for oil filter change

11/22: no spend 

11/23:  $21 herbal remedies for cough, $14 (on credit card!) more herbal stuff, $2.50 bottle of water 

11/24: budgeted spending  $37 gas, $50 (some on CC ) groceries/herbal stuff, $20 (CC) even more herbal stuff (yes, this cough is THAT bad!), $53 (CC) ski pants for DD, oh and $15 (CC) mother blessing gift for a friend...uh, yeah, a little out of control with the credit card today...

I may just start categorizing my days as spend/no spend instead of no spend/budgeted/unbudgeted.  The good thing is that I can definitely pay off those credit card purchases pretty quickly (I rarely let myself carry a credit card balance, even when I decide to use it regularly).  I pretty much can't spend a dime until 12/1.  I'm out of cash and I shouldn't actually need anything until groceries next weekend.

Edited by honeybee80 - 11/24/12 at 5:49pm

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Originally Posted by FillingMyQuiver 

So close, just 3 more days to reach my goal!!    Here's to finishing strong the last half of the month.

Yeah!!!!  Go Jenn Go!!!!  I hope you reach your goal...you have an entire week to do it.  I KNOW you will. 

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Anyone who is still hanging with this thread by the last week of the month is a WINNER in my opinion. 

Even if you didn't get all the no-spend days you wanted, you are sticking with it...learning from your mistakes, keeping yourself conscious of your spending, figuring out what causes those spending binges (honeybee!), and just being more mindful.  It is HARD to track for a month.

(At least this is what I tell myself when it is obvious i'm not going to meet my spending goal for the month    ...but that's okay.  I'm soldiering on.)

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Today is a new day and a new chapter.  I'm going to make today my day and not spend a DIME.   

Plus I teach a class today so I'll be making some money (I'm an aerobics instructor) and earning some sweat equity.

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom 

01.. 

02.. 

03..  $195 Christmas presents

04.. 

05.. 

06.. 

07..    

08..  $87 Christmas cards and pictures

09..  $40 hair

10.. 

11..  $15 ski repair

12.. 

13..  $20 donuts

14.. 

15..  

16..  $57 Party food

17..  $40 Zumbathon + $9 Apple Ginger Cider

18.. 

19..  $20 Pizza Hut

20.. 

21.. $20 more pizza

22.. 

23..  $11.83  Giant stuffed Elephant

24..  $40  Out drinking with friends and eating food that is OH SO bad for me.  Everything fried.  Everything yummy.  It was worth every penny.

[honeybee80]

After an enlightening conversation with a good friend of mine today, I'm out on the no-spend challenge ;)  It makes me stay cooped up at home and in turn makes me obsessive over money, which is exactly the opposite of what I'm going for.  So I'm sitting here drinking my Bhakti Chai at the coffee shop by my house and feeling really good about it.  I'm just gonna go back to being conscious and social like I normally am and trust that it all will work out just fine ;)  Good luck to the rest of you to finish out the month strong!

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom 

01.. 

02.. 

03..  $195 Christmas presents

04.. 

05.. 

06.. 

07..    

08..  $87 Christmas cards and pictures

09..  $40 hair

10.. 

11..  $15 ski repair

12.. 

13..  $20 donuts

14.. 

15..  

16..  $57 Party food

17..  $40 Zumbathon + $9 Apple Ginger Cider

18.. 

19..  $20 Pizza Hut

20.. 

21.. $20 more pizza

22.. 

23..  $11.83  Giant stuffed Elephant

24..  $40  Out drinking with friends

25.. 

26..

27..

28..

29..

30.. 

My goal = 20 No Spend Days

My progress =  14  days so far

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Originally Posted by honeybee80 

It makes me stay cooped up at home and in turn makes me obsessive over money, which is exactly the opposite of what I'm going for.  

Definitely not what you want to have happen.  Good luck to you too, honeybee and thanks for joining us this past month!

[FillingMyQuiver]

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom   Yeah!!!!  Go Jenn Go!!!!  I hope you reach your goal...you have an entire week to do it.  I KNOW you will. 

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Prudence

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom 

Anyone who is still hanging with this thread by the last week of the month is a WINNER in my opinion. 

Even if you didn't get all the no-spend days you wanted, you are sticking with it...learning from your mistakes, keeping yourself conscious of your spending, figuring out what causes those spending binges (honeybee!), and just being more mindful.  It is HARD to track for a month.

(At least this is what I tell myself when it is obvious i'm not going to meet my spending goal for the month    ...but that's okay.  I'm soldiering on.)

You're going to get VERY close to your goal, Prudence!!  It's hard, especially with kids, but you're getting more aware of your triggers and like you said, just keep pressing on.

Originally Posted by honeybee80 

After an enlightening conversation with a good friend of mine today, I'm out on the no-spend challenge ;)  It makes me stay cooped up at home and in turn makes me obsessive over money, which is exactly the opposite of what I'm going for.  So I'm sitting here drinking my Bhakti Chai at the coffee shop by my house and feeling really good about it.  I'm just gonna go back to being conscious and social like I normally am and trust that it all will work out just fine ;)  Good luck to the rest of you to finish out the month strong!

NOT what you want happening.  The No-Spend Challenges are good for me b/c I'm already at home most of the time, homeschooling my children.  The weekends are my weakness and online shopping and personally I *need* the accountability of other mamas.  But if I found I was becoming someone I didn't like, I'd stop in an instant.

Good luck to you, honeybee80.  I hope the challenge at least brought some of your spending triggers to light and will benefit you in the long run.

[FillingMyQuiver]

Key

  No spend/ budgeted spending

  Unbudgeted spending

  Crafted for at least 30 minutes

1.      Starting the month off right

2.     

3.   

4.    I've already spent a chunk on some Christmas presents for the ILs and DH.  I wasn't planning to spend this much, but the gifts I got are *perfect* for them and they're so incredibly generous with us, I don't feel the least bit sad or guilty about it,   Also, we're doing our big monthly grocery shop at Costco.  DH isn't coming w/ us, so hopefully I'll have an easier time sticking to the list and budget.

5.      DH had a dr appt and needed a prescription, thankfully we have a medical sink fund to cover the co-pays.

6.   

7.      I have got to stop going on zulily.  I just dropped another chunk on some probably unneeded Christmas gifts

8.   

9.    Budgeted spending today-  picked up DS2's birthday present.  Quite happy because we got it on sale AND had a gift card we were able to apply to it, so although I budgeted $100 for it, we only ended up spending OOP $75.  ALSO, I had a coupon for a $10 gift card if you spent a certain amount, so I have another $10 gc in my wallet now to apply to future gifts

10.      I knew today would be a spending day.  We bought "gifts" to fill our Operation Christmas Child boxes for church and we finished out the monthly grocery shop.  We went over the grocery budget because I let DH convince me to get lunch meat and I found a good deal on potatoes, 50lbs for $17, so I bought a sack.  Also, though I had intended on making DD1's birthday cake for tomorrow, I just don't have the time or energy, so we bought one.

11.      More Christmas gifts.  *sigh*

12.    Whew, finally.  Most of today was spent prepping for our scout pack meeting potluck.

13.    Not going anywhere today.  Hopefully I'll make some progress on homemade gifts.

14.      I altered a pair of maternity jeans today.  I hated the way they fit and I already had a pair of bootcut maternity jeans so I made them into skinny jeans to wear with my favorite knee high boots that I've been wanting to wear but couldn't b/c I had no skinny maternity jeans.  Yesterday I didn't make any progress on gifts. but today my intent is to sit and knit after dinner.

15.      I feel pretty safe giving myself a No Spend for today.  I finished a scarf last night and hopefully later today I'll finish the main body of another gift.  I'm determined to keep up the momentum I've built over the last few days.

16.    Feeling good today.  DH is working from home and it's always iffy w/ him around because he wants fast food for lunch.  Today I stuck to my guns and we ate from the pantry.  Now to figure out dinner.

17.    I knew we were going to spend money today, I'm just not sure whether to count it against me or not.  It was DS2's b-day and I needed to pick up last minute food items for his b-day dinner, cupcakes, and dessert,  We bought other groceries (all on sale and pantry stocking) and bought a bunch of can/ boxed goods to donate to the Cub Scouts outside the store collecting for the local food pantry.  All unbudgeted, but we'll use/ eat everything we bought.

18.      Ordered DD2's b-day present (she's in early January).  Totally budgeted, felt good getting it done early before the hub-bub of the Christmas season AND baby prep that will be happening late next month.

19.      I *looked* at zulily today and convinced myself that I didn't need to buy anything.  When the littlest went down for her nap, I sewed patches on a couple scout shirts (a side thing I do for the parents in our pack that *hate* to sew.  I make some change for it, and feel good about helping out), AND I sewed a new top for me.  Used up some stash fabric I've been saving and now I have a cute new top that will take me through the rest of the pregnancy and after.  DH worked from home and really wanted McD's for lunch but then recognized how we need to stick to the budget.  for small feats!!

20.    Not sure if I'm going to get to knitting tonight, hoping to, but we're prepping to go out of town to the ILs for Thanksgiving and I've got to work on packing my rugrats.

I've been trying to harness my inner "Prudent Homemaker" and am going through how I can frugally prep for this trip.  I have some pumpkin puree in the fridge I need to use up so I'm baking pumpkin bread and muffins to have for breakfast before we leave and for snacking.  I'm trying to use up the leftovers to minimize our food waste before we leave.  I'm making a list of things DH and I are going to price out on Black Friday (I know we'll spend $$ that day), like basic undershirts, jeans for DH, possibly a laser printer (we homeschool and print a lot in b/w, a laser printer will seriously save us $$).

21.      Budgeted lunch and snacks out for our trip.  Got to make quite a bit of progress knitting a gift.

22.  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!   DH's cousin and I go to Michael's every year I visit so I know I'll be spending.  I've made a list and my goal is to *stick. to. the. list*  Oh, and I got work done on some presents.

23.      DH and I went shopping.  We hadn't budgeted for it, but we knew we were going to spend anyway.

I'm proud of myself for sticking to the lists I made for shopping on Thanksgiving and Black Friday.  I got some really good deals from sales and coupons.

24.      Breakfast from the local bagel shop (budgeted), and the day spent with my younger brother and his girlfriend (we only get to see him a couple times a year).  Already got my knitting in for the day

25.    Trip home.  Budgeted spending on lunch, had to make a quick grocery stop for half and half, bread, and beer for DH   Going to try and squeeze in my knitting after kiddos are in bed.

18 No Spend days and 18 Crafting days.  So close, just 2 more days to reach my goal!!    Here's to finishing strong the last half of the month.

[tealsmith83]

No spend =  

Budgeted spend = 

Unbudgeted spend =  

1.      Supper with my grandmother

2.    No spend!  Yay me!  

3.        Oh well...can't be good every day...

4.No spend!

5.       Chicken feed, stock up on gasoline while it's down to $3.17/gal.  On the upside, resisted eating out for supper!

6.No spend!    4 out of 6 so far...pretty good!

7.  Woohoo!   Tomorrow SHOULD BE a budgeted spend.  

8.    Ordered new carpet for the LR.  Big spend!  Supper at McDonald's.  Will hope for a better day tomorrow.

9.    No spend!   6 out of 9

10.     Spent today (groceries, gas, breakfast, snack money for DS for his class, etc.)  

11.    Lunch at Arby's

12.  No spend!

13.     Budgeted spend on school trip to Chicago.  Woohoo!

14.  

15.  

16.  

17.  

18.  

19.  

20.    budgeted spend - Christmas presents

21.    b-fast and lunch out while shopping for furniture

22.   Won't be going anywhere other than thanksgiving at my parents so I'm posting this ahead of time.   Happy Thanksgiving everyone!    

23.    Black Friday shopping.  Budgeted Christmas money.

24.  

25.            13/25  On track to meet my personal goal for the month.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Originally Posted by tealsmith83 

      13/25  On track to meet my personal goal for the month.

Yeah tealsmith!!!!  Hold strong!!!  Just five days left.  

[CookiePie]

Budgeted         Not Budgeted/went over      Saved $, got freebee, paid something off, worked an extra shift           hung clothes out         

November
1.  DD2 sport workshop $62  budgeted   Working an extra shift tonight    and just  

2 *   No spend day! I resisted getting lunch out after school.  Instead I came home and made eggs & toast. I hung 2 loads of laundry   Picked up extra shift

3  * No spend day! 

4    Bought $10 of groceries, also got budgeted wood heating pellets and

5   *   No spend!   Working an extra shift

6   * Working an extra shift today

7  * No spend!  I'm working an extra shift tonight!

8. *   No spend! Worked extra shift

9.  Budgeted spending on groceries

10. Budgeted raw milk & dry goods from bulk bins

11.* No spend. Made a really frugal venison soup with soup bones veggies and barley I'm becoming so aware of how much barely worn stuff gets thrown in by line drying  

12. * No spend Deep cleaned my kitchen.  Culturing a batch of yogurt and making homemade granola

13. *   No spend

14.    Got a couple Christmas gifts out of Christmas fund, and other household needs.

15. * No spend

16.  Bought budgeted wood pellets. I called oil company today & lowered our budgeted monthly oil payment since the furnace just heats our water now.  Got paid for all those extra hours that I worked last week, I made more that I thought         

17. * No spend

18.    Bought DD the coat she wanted online 50% off!!! I went CVS-ing with my sister for some great deals.  I ended up with some Christmas gifts, a few stocking stuffers (both out of the Christmas budget) and some household stuff.  I also have extra care bucks to go back there with.  Not giving myself a sad face because the deals were amazing and I will save the next times I go there.  I haven't CVS-ed in so long so starting this up again during Christmas shopping is a good idea!

I got lots of venison from my Dad and a tons of soup bones!  I love soup!!!!

19. * No spend!     Making 2 gallons of Kombucha today and making stock   May edit if I make it to the grocery store today!

20. Went grocery shopping and with the "Prudent Homemaker" in mind I bought 3 turkeys!  And plan to go to another grocery store today and get another one!  I read that Nov-Dec is the best time to buy Turkey.  Why not stock up for the rest of the year?  We have a good sized stand up freezer in the basement that I want stocked up for the winter.  I think that even with these stock ups I will still come out under budget, as we are nearing the end of the month.  I also bought more clothes hangers, we are running out, I hang clothes on hangers to dry in the house when the weather is too bad to hang on the line outside.  But today was nice so I got to hang out on the line today

21. I went on a grocery shopping Extravaganza!  I spent $550 for the month I wanted to be closer to $450, but still not bad considering!  How on earth do you set your grocery budget anyway?   I have been tracking for the last 3 months Sept =$430, Oct= $725, Nov =$550

22.    I did a load of laundry in the am hung it out   then headed to the high school football game.  We went to our family's house for dinner, with pies in hand, we came home late, tucked the kids in bed, then got online to determine if I wanted to venture out & brave the crowds.  I decided to stay home, there was really nothing that looked good to me and last year I stayed home for BF & got lots of Cyber Mon deals!  I spend about $80 online got free shipping & 40% off for DD1. 

23. * BLACK FRIDAY NO SPEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

24. Today I'm taking DD2 shopping and out for lunch.  We have been planning this for some time, so it is budgeted!  If I do any shopping it will be for Christmas gifts and will come from my Christmas fund!  I let DD pick out a small gift for her Big Sis & Daddy.  I also bought a new clothesline at local hardware store with 50% off coupon, mine is fraying so badly that it is going to snap at any moment.  I was so glad to find and take advantage of the coupon!  DH redid the clothesline and I cant wait to use it!!!

 25. * No Spend!  I went to NYC with my boss, on business & didn't spend a dime!

26.    Today I'm looking for cyber deals to make best use of my budgeted Christmas spending!

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Suprise snowstorm = wet, slippery roads out there.

I'm giving myself a pre-emptive no-spend because I have no plans to leave this house today, now that I'm back from work.  Its snuggle up by the fireplace time.

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom 

01.. 

02.. 

03..  $195 Christmas presents

04.. 

05.. 

06.. 

07..    

08..  $87 Christmas cards and pictures

09..  $40 hair

10.. 

11..  $15 ski repair

12.. 

13..  $20 donuts

14.. 

15..  

16..  $57 Party food

17..  $40 Zumbathon + $9 Apple Ginger Cider

18.. 

19..  $20 Pizza Hut

20.. 

21.. $20 more pizza

22.. 

23..  $11.83  Giant stuffed Elephant

24..  $40  Out drinking with friends

25.. 

26.. 

27..

28..

29..

30.. 

My goal = 20 No Spend Days

My progress =  15  days so far

[FillingMyQuiver]

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom 

Suprise snowstorm = wet, slippery roads out there.

I'm giving myself a pre-emptive no-spend because I have no plans to leave this house today, now that I'm back from work.  Its snuggle up by the fireplace time.

I wish this was us today.  I could use some fireplace snuggle time, but alas, it's well child checks for some kiddos and scouting tonight.  Stay warm, Prudence, and have some tea for me

Key

  No spend/ budgeted spending

  Unbudgeted spending

  Crafted for at least 30 minutes

1.      Starting the month off right

2.     

3.   

4.    I've already spent a chunk on some Christmas presents for the ILs and DH.  I wasn't planning to spend this much, but the gifts I got are *perfect* for them and they're so incredibly generous with us, I don't feel the least bit sad or guilty about it,   Also, we're doing our big monthly grocery shop at Costco.  DH isn't coming w/ us, so hopefully I'll have an easier time sticking to the list and budget.

5.      DH had a dr appt and needed a prescription, thankfully we have a medical sink fund to cover the co-pays.

6.   

7.      I have got to stop going on zulily.  I just dropped another chunk on some probably unneeded Christmas gifts

8.   

9.    Budgeted spending today-  picked up DS2's birthday present.  Quite happy because we got it on sale AND had a gift card we were able to apply to it, so although I budgeted $100 for it, we only ended up spending OOP $75.  ALSO, I had a coupon for a $10 gift card if you spent a certain amount, so I have another $10 gc in my wallet now to apply to future gifts

10.      I knew today would be a spending day.  We bought "gifts" to fill our Operation Christmas Child boxes for church and we finished out the monthly grocery shop.  We went over the grocery budget because I let DH convince me to get lunch meat and I found a good deal on potatoes, 50lbs for $17, so I bought a sack.  Also, though I had intended on making DD1's birthday cake for tomorrow, I just don't have the time or energy, so we bought one.

11.      More Christmas gifts.  *sigh*

12.    Whew, finally.  Most of today was spent prepping for our scout pack meeting potluck.

13.    Not going anywhere today.  Hopefully I'll make some progress on homemade gifts.

14.      I altered a pair of maternity jeans today.  I hated the way they fit and I already had a pair of bootcut maternity jeans so I made them into skinny jeans to wear with my favorite knee high boots that I've been wanting to wear but couldn't b/c I had no skinny maternity jeans.  Yesterday I didn't make any progress on gifts. but today my intent is to sit and knit after dinner.

15.      I feel pretty safe giving myself a No Spend for today.  I finished a scarf last night and hopefully later today I'll finish the main body of another gift.  I'm determined to keep up the momentum I've built over the last few days.

16.    Feeling good today.  DH is working from home and it's always iffy w/ him around because he wants fast food for lunch.  Today I stuck to my guns and we ate from the pantry.  Now to figure out dinner.

17.    I knew we were going to spend money today, I'm just not sure whether to count it against me or not.  It was DS2's b-day and I needed to pick up last minute food items for his b-day dinner, cupcakes, and dessert,  We bought other groceries (all on sale and pantry stocking) and bought a bunch of can/ boxed goods to donate to the Cub Scouts outside the store collecting for the local food pantry.  All unbudgeted, but we'll use/ eat everything we bought.

18.      Ordered DD2's b-day present (she's in early January).  Totally budgeted, felt good getting it done early before the hub-bub of the Christmas season AND baby prep that will be happening late next month.

19.      I *looked* at zulily today and convinced myself that I didn't need to buy anything.  When the littlest went down for her nap, I sewed patches on a couple scout shirts (a side thing I do for the parents in our pack that *hate* to sew.  I make some change for it, and feel good about helping out), AND I sewed a new top for me.  Used up some stash fabric I've been saving and now I have a cute new top that will take me through the rest of the pregnancy and after.  DH worked from home and really wanted McD's for lunch but then recognized how we need to stick to the budget.  for small feats!!

20.    Not sure if I'm going to get to knitting tonight, hoping to, but we're prepping to go out of town to the ILs for Thanksgiving and I've got to work on packing my rugrats.

I've been trying to harness my inner "Prudent Homemaker" and am going through how I can frugally prep for this trip.  I have some pumpkin puree in the fridge I need to use up so I'm baking pumpkin bread and muffins to have for breakfast before we leave and for snacking.  I'm trying to use up the leftovers to minimize our food waste before we leave.  I'm making a list of things DH and I are going to price out on Black Friday (I know we'll spend $$ that day), like basic undershirts, jeans for DH, possibly a laser printer (we homeschool and print a lot in b/w, a laser printer will seriously save us $$).

21.      Budgeted lunch and snacks out for our trip.  Got to make quite a bit of progress knitting a gift.

22.  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!   DH's cousin and I go to Michael's every year I visit so I know I'll be spending.  I've made a list and my goal is to *stick. to. the. list*  Oh, and I got work done on some presents.

23.      DH and I went shopping.  We hadn't budgeted for it, but we knew we were going to spend anyway.

I'm proud of myself for sticking to the lists I made for shopping on Thanksgiving and Black Friday.  I got some really good deals from sales and coupons.

24.      Breakfast from the local bagel shop (budgeted), and the day spent with my younger brother and his girlfriend (we only get to see him a couple times a year).  Already got my knitting in for the day

25.    Trip home.  Budgeted spending on lunch, had to make a quick grocery stop for half and half, bread, and beer for DH   Going to try and squeeze in my knitting after kiddos are in bed.

26.      2 of the kiddos have well child checks and we've got scouting tonight.  There will be NO money leaving my hands or account.

19 No Spend days and 19 Crafting days.  So close, just 1 more day to reach my goal!!    Here's to finishing strong the last week of the month.

[SweetSilver]

That fire sounds wonderful!  I miss our woodstove terribly.  One day, one day....

Today and tomorrow we are grocery shopping, and the Azure order comes in, so both these days will be spending days.  I know dh will stick to the list (that can be a problem sometimes, if the lists aren't 100%) but tomorrow I take the girls out on errands.  I also plan on picking up a picture frame for dh.

No-spend projects:

Started knitting mittens for the girls from some yarn purchased 10 years ago for stocking projects which I never started.  We need mittens now, and lots of them since the snow we do get occasionally is wet.  I think I can do these without buying new needles.  

My friend helped me mark a hem for a nice wool skirt I bought from the thrift store years ago, but it's far too long.  It's a wonderful a-line--very flattering.  Haven't worn it in 3 years and I need a new skirt.  I'm down to 1 good one, one scrappy one and 2 pairs of pants.  This will make a huge difference.

Baking some goodies for the girls and dh for the week.  DH is bringing home chocolate chips !