~December~ No-Spend Challenge -- Is your shopping finished? Time to come join us! - Page 2

[micah_mae_]

12/1 We were traveling and I forgot to feed us breakfast before we left. Spent $15.
12/2 Today will be budgeted Christmas spending only.

---

0/20 No spend days

---

Key

Did something frugal at home
No spend
Budgeted spend
Unbudgeted Spend
Edited by micah_mae_ - 12/3/12 at 4:46am

[SweetSilver]

This month I am adding some smaller goals.  I'm going to post them a day or three in advance, and I get a Happy Little Dude-icon if I make it.

Last month I had about 12 No-spend days , and a handful of budgeted spending days .  I'm not even going to try to make a goal about # of days this-or-that because of the uncertainties of Christmas shopping, but I need to avoid  days.

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

Here's what actually happened:

12/1 Waldorf Winter Faire.  Cost went up--spent $35 .  Spent $8 on Christmas ornaments, so an itty-bitty .  Still, I packed lunch as planned, and made no other stops.  So I deserve something, and this little Bouncy-Dude is just right. 

12/2    No-spend day 

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

Here are the goals for the next 2 days:

12/3 This will be a no spend day

12/4 This will be errand day.  Must make good lists.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Got it.  My first day.  Hopefully there will be many more to follow.

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom 

My goal for the month = 15 no-spend days

My progress so far = 1 day

01..  $30 cross-country ski punchcard + 136 for new ski pants

02.. 

03..

04..

05

06..

07..

08..

09..

10..

11..

12..

13..

14..

15..  PAY OFF our 2nd Mortgage. 

[micah_mae_]

12/1 :cuss We were traveling and I forgot to feed us breakfast before we left. Spent $15. 

12/2 :eyesroll Today will be budgeted Christmas spending only.  

12/3 :eyesroll Oil change and I'll spend about $10 on the way home. Tomorrow should be my first no spend day!

 

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

 

0/20 No spend days

 

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

Key

 

:joy Did something frugal at home

:jammin No spend

:eyesroll Budgeted spend

:cuss Unbudgeted Spend

[FillingMyQuiver]

Key

  No Spend/ Budgeted Spending

  Un-budgeted/ Unnecessary Spending

  Crafted for at least 30 minutes

1.  Unbudgeted lunch out, budgeted grocery shopping.

2.      Didn't go anywhere.  DH fixed a faulty outlet in the kitchen, then we put together our free bed frame.  This is how we need to spend our weekends, getting household projects done, NOT shopping.

3.      Bought the very last thing on the Christmas gift list (I've been watching zuliliy for it for weeks now), but it was budgeted.  There shouldn't be anymore spending happening today, hopefully raking and garden bed upkeep will get done instead.

2/20 No Spend Days

3/20 Crafting Days

[CookiePie]

a. Who you are:  I'm Maria, Mama to 2 girls have been working part time for a few years.  Recently started a 2nd job that should become full time.  So far mostly working form home but that should change this month!

b. Where you are going (your financial goals) and:  We have been working on paying of CC debt, for longer than I'd like to say!  We are $1,900 away from paying it off!  I could not be more excited.  November was the 1st time I ever stuck to the thread for an entire month and it was a tremendous help.  Christmas shopping was much more well thought out and budgeted for!

c. How you plan to get there:  We are watching the budget very closely and keeping good records of every penny that we spend.  We used the snowball method to get rid of our cc debt and will continue to roll that into paying off vehicles, paying down house and building savings, bigger EF, start Roth IRA's for both of us, start contributing to DH's 401k again, & get a 401k going for me. 

December's Key: 

No spend-      Budgeted spend-        Went over or not budgeted-    Extra shift, freebee awesome deal-  Hung clothes on line

1.  Online Christmas shopping

2.

3.

Edited by CookiePie - 12/4/12 at 2:11pm

[tealsmith83]

Okay, I'm back in for this month, too.

49 year old mom of 1 DS and wife to DH

Work at the local school where DH teaches and DS attends

We are totally debt free (house included), but if we're not careful, the spending can quickly get away from us.

I did this last month, and felt like it really helped keep me more on track.  I'm not going to set a goal of a specific number of days this month because of the holidays, but will just try to do the best I can.

 = No spend/budgeted spend

 = Unbudgeted spend

1.    Breakfast out

2.    Lunch out after church

3.    Supper out tonight with a dear cousin who is going through a rough patch

Wow...my month isn't starting out too good.   Oh well, maybe I'll get it out of the way early! 

[SweetSilver]

This month I am adding some smaller goals.  I'm going to post them a day or three in advance, and I get a Happy Little Dude-icon if I make it.

Last month I had about 12 No-spend days , and a handful of budgeted spending days .  I'm not even going to try to make a goal about # of days this-or-that because of the uncertainties of Christmas shopping, but I need to avoid  days.

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

Here's what actually happened:

12/1 Waldorf Winter Faire.  Cost went up--spent $35 .  Spent $8 on Christmas ornaments, so an itty-bitty .  Still, I packed lunch as planned, and made no other stops.  So I deserve something, and this little Bouncy-Dude is just right. 

12/2    No-spend day 

12/3    No spend day

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

Here are the goals for the next 3 days:

12/4 This will be errand day.  Made my lists--mostly groceries, plus allowing myself a new set of Christmas baubles to replace the scratched up ones I'm hoping to retire.  Paper supplies for homeschooling.

12/5 I'm not planning to spend today, but we often need an extra day or two to cover all the stops to get the groceries we need.  So, possibly a spend day.  I'm home today, and dh rarely makes silly purchases for us.

12/6 This will be a no-spend day as we are all home.

At some point, I need to get online to order Christmas presents.  Waiting for the free-shipping deals, if that comes up on a planned no-spend day, it won't be an "oops".  DH and I talked about Christmas budgets, and my goal is to stick with them, however hard it may be.

[SweetSilver]

I just wanted to share these pictures because I'm so freakin' proud of my no-spend, hand-crafted wreath-- and since it's wrapped with jute twine, it's 100% biodegradable to boot!

  My Quality-Control Manager checking on my bamboo base.  The bamboo would make a pretty cool wreath by itself, but my daughters wanted a traditional wreath.

Wow!  Did I make that??  Pine prunings from dh's work.  Oddly enough, though I live a forest, I wasn't able to find enough good branches to make a wreath (we live in a *big* forest and the prettiest branches are about 20 feet off the ground!)

And decorated--not exactly Martha Stewart as the ornaments are the crap I don't want on the tree, but the girls won't let me get rid of.

So, to save myself $15 (though that's only part of the reason I made it), I made a wreath worth around $100!

[tealsmith83]

 = No spend/budgeted spend

 = Unbudgeted spend

1.    Breakfast out

2.    Lunch out after church

3.    Supper out tonight with a dear cousin who is going through a rough patch

4.    Hopefully I'm not jinxing myself, but today should be a no-spend day.

I just wanted to share these pictures because I'm so freakin' proud of my no-spend, hand-crafted wreath-- and since it's wrapped with jute twine, it's 100% biodegradable to boot!

 SweetSilver that is so awesome!  Love those wreaths!

[meandk0610]

a. Who you are:  sarah, mom to dd(7). we homeschool and i work PT as director for a local after school child care program where i can take my daughter. we're homesteading too!

b. Where you are going (your financial goals) and:  working on trying to stay current. i don't get paid when school is out so i'll have to keep the budget super tight due to the 2 weeks off for christmas/new year's break. it's already hand-to-mouth pretty much here so i'm not sure what's going to be able to bend.

c. How you plan to get there:  i already track everything. i plan on line/rack drying as much as possible. i turned the heat down to 64 from 66 yesterday. we have a heater in the bedroom (i share with dd) that we'll put on 68 when we got to bed. i made a menu plan yesterday. we don't have all of the food on the plan but i do have food that i can substitute until we can get to the store. i need to try to keep all of our grocery bill in our food stamp allowance this month and next month. i have also told my supervisor that i can take extra hours in the central office child care if they need anyone. i've also started hanging our outfits together so that we can (1) have an easier time getting dressed and (2) rotate our clothes so that i wash them every other wearing instead of each time.

key:

no spend-     

budgeted spend-       

over budget or not budgeted-   

extra shift, freebee awesome deal-   

hung clothes on line-

12/1:   

12/2:   

12/3:

12/4:
 

[FillingMyQuiver]

Key

  No Spend/ Budgeted Spending

  Un-budgeted/ Unnecessary Spending

  Crafted for at least 30 minutes

1.  Unbudgeted lunch out, budgeted grocery shopping.

2.      Didn't go anywhere.  DH fixed a faulty outlet in the kitchen, then we put together our free bed frame.  This is how we need to spend our weekends, getting household projects done, NOT shopping.

3.      Bought the very last thing on the Christmas gift list (I've been watching zuliliy for it for weeks now), but it was budgeted.  There shouldn't be anymore spending happening today, hopefully raking and garden bed upkeep will get done instead.

4.      Budgeted spending today, but I feel   DS2 has a virus that ended us up in the dr's office (rash & fever), had to get him an Rx for some steroid cream for his flaring eczema, stopped at the grocery store and grabbed some quick things for dinner (thankfully there's money in the food budget).

3/20 No Spend Days

4/20 Crafting Days

[CookiePie]

December's Key: 

No spend-      Budgeted spend-        Went over or not budgeted-    Extra shift, freebee awesome deal-  Hung clothes on line

1.  Online Christmas shopping

2.

3.

4. Worked from home.  Made yummy turkey soup with T-Day leftovers from the freezer

5. Going to return some impulse buys at Ikea, but I also have to put a list together for a few Christmas gifts!  Hopw to keep myself in check, this is an easy budget buster for me!

[micah_mae_]

12/1  We were traveling and I forgot to feed us breakfast before we left. Spent $15. 

12/2  Today will be budgeted Christmas spending only.  

12/3  Oil change and I'll spend about $10 on the way home. Tomorrow should be my first no spend day!

12/4  Ok so I spent about $95 on groceries which is $5 under budget even though $7 was unnecessary stuff and I spent $7 at starbucks because my kids pushed me to my coffee point. :(

 

 

Tomorrow will be a no-spend day because we will be staying home all day! And Thursday should be the same!

 

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

 

0/20 No spend days

 

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

Key

 

 Did something frugal at home

 No spend

 Budgeted spend

 Unbudgeted Spend

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom 

My goal for the month = 15 no-spend days

My progress so far = 2 days

01..  $30 cross-country ski punchcard + 136 for new ski pants

02.. 

03..  $8.50 Bagels

04.. 

05

06..

07..

08..

09..

10..

11..

12..

13..

14..

15..  PAY OFF our 2nd Mortgage. 

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Sweet Silver -- LOVE those wreaths!!!!!!! 

[SweetSilver]

This month I am adding some smaller goals.  I'm going to post them a day or three in advance, and I get a Happy Little Dude-icon if I make it.

Last month I had about 12 No-spend days , and a handful of budgeted spending days .  I'm not even going to try to make a goal about # of days this-or-that because of the uncertainties of Christmas shopping, but I need to avoid  days.

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

Here's what actually happened:

12/1 Waldorf Winter Faire.  Cost went up--spent $35 .  Spent $8 on Christmas ornaments, so an itty-bitty .  Still, I packed lunch as planned, and made no other stops.  So I deserve something, and this little Bouncy-Dude is just right. 

12/2    No-spend day 

12/3    No spend day  Made that awesome, no-spend, handcrafted Christmas wreath you can see on post #29.

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

12/4  Groceries $92  Stuck to the lists!!   I just didn't make the very best lists.  Forgot a couple things.  Started 2nd pair of no-spend mittens from yarn sitting in the bottom of the yarn drawer for 10 years.

Here are the goals for the next 3 days:

12/5 DH will be picking up a couple of forgotten groceries.  No big deal, this always happens.  I will still earn a Dancin' Veggie.

12/6 This will be a no-spend day as we are all home.  Maybe I'll get to the online Christmas shopping.

12/7  This will be a small spend day, stopping by Trader Joe's for juice, etc.

This month, I am breaking my monthly grocery goal (this month $800 because I tanked so badly) into smaller weekly goals--more like guidelines.  After the Azure Standard order, this leaves us around $156 per week.  Groceries include regular eating out expenses, which are marginal.  Most of the food we buy is organic, and allergies leave us eating a lot more meat and fewer vegetarian (and cheaper!) protein sources.  That jacks the bill up, though even last month's total, just shy of $900, is a major improvement.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Originally Posted by micah_mae_ 
Did something frugal at home
 

Micah -- this is a good idea!  I like that you have that as one of your goals.  That seems like celebrating the positive to me and that helps to not feel deprived.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Originally Posted by CookiePie 

We have been working on paying of CC debt, for longer than I'd like to say!  We are $1,900 away from paying it off!  I could not be more excited.  November was the 1st time I ever stuck to the thread for an entire month and it was a tremendous help. 

Maria!!!  Sooooooooo close!!!!!!!  Good job.  Do you have an idea of how long it is going to take you to pay off that last $1,900?  Way to go, Mama! 

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Wow.  December is a very hard month to watch your spending.  Wow.

Today I'm going to Costco.  I would very much like to go to Costco without any children because toys are living large in that store this time of year.  but I've got to take them.  grrrrr....

And my friends are planning a lot of nights out -- I'm a very social person and I don't like to live like a hermit...but I keep reminding myself how much more fun it is going to be AFTER January 1st when I can go out without that second mortgage hanging over my head.

I just declined a couple of invitations.  That was hard.

But these are short term sacrifices.  My friends will still be going out in January.  And February. And so on...

I just need to hold that money tight for a few more weeks.

TODAY....my goal.... is to go to Costco with a list.  Buy only the things on my list (exciting things like milk and cat litter) and if I buy ONLY that necessary budgeted stuff, then I get a no-spend for the day. 

(See SweetSilver you are influencing me with the mini-goals! )