~December~ No-Spend Challenge -- Is your shopping finished? Time to come join us! - Page 4

[SweetSilver]

Originally Posted by FillingMyQuiver 

and on the ice cream!!  Great job, Prudence!!

x2

Way to go!

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Thanks ladies!!!

I've written on my calendar "Go to bank and pay off second mortgage"  I'm going to take my daughters and make an EVENT out of it.

It has taken us seven years to pay this thing off (yes, SEVEN YEARS) -- it was a big loan -- and I want them to remember the day that Mom and Dad got completely out of debt and turned their lives around financially.

They opened up savings accounts at this same bank last summer.  So they can take their piggy banks with them and deposit coins in the coin counter (they like to do that) and put them in their bank accounts.

I want to keep the momentum going after this last debt is paid off.  I'd like to start turning the debt payment that I made every month into a savings account for something fun like a vacation or an RV.  That we will pay for with cash.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Lots of social events this weekend -- Two parties, one night out with friends, and two bonfire/Santa type events.

So we'll be busy.  And I'm going to need to do some spending today (unbudgeted) because I can't show up at these parties empty-handed.  Well...I could...but I'm not that person.

Today I'm visiting the grocery store for champagne and party food items. 

My budget is tight so I'll have to shop carefully.

[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. 

5.    Man, this month is hard to get a grip on.  Supper out, husband made 2 purchases (one at school and one on-line). 

6. 

[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. :(

12/5   I was good all day until I went through chick fil a. $17. I didn't even think about it! It was like...subconcious or something, afterwards I was like "NOOO, my no spend day!!!" Sigh. 

Stuff I did to be frugal at home: We had oranges with breakfast and I had lemon water, I put all the peels in a big jar and covered with vinegar to make a citrus cleaning solution. We are also making granola bars for snacks and I'm using the leftover granola bar stuff to make a homemade cold cereal for me to snack on after the boys go to bed (bran flakes, dried blueberries, cranberries and strawberries, chopped almonds, coconut). 

 

12/6   $5 on breakfast and I'm about to go to Wal Mart to get my 2 yo his own undies since he randomly decided to poop and pee on the potty today.

 

12/7   Well I'm traveling again today. I'm packing snacks and drinks for the boys and myself. I'll probably spend less than $3 on coffee/coke to stay awake. (It's 3.5 hours through central/west Texas..very boring and makes me literally fall asleep if I'm not careful).

Besides that though, no spend days will be plentiful do to the fact that we are out of money. :P

Oh I'm counting today as a no spend because the $3 will all be change scrounged up, not from the budget.

 

 

 

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3/20 No spend days

 

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Key

 Did something frugal at home

 No spend

 Budgeted spend

 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.

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).

5.      Stayed home, stayed away from online shopping, got a gnome for DD3 knit, will be working on more crafting after the rugrats go to bed.

6.      Stayed home again, no spending.  Lots of crafting for the holidays happening.

7.      REALLY wanted to get fast food for dinner but DH and I decided he'd make a quick run to the store instead.  $$ for groceries is in the budget, fast food isn't (especially when it's almost $40 for our family at McDs).  Made cookies with the kids for a cookie exchange I'm going to tomorrow.

6/20 No Spend Days

7/20 Crafting Days

[meandk0610]

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:

12/5:

12/6:   never made it to walmart

12/7:  

[meandk0610]

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom 

Thanks ladies!!!

I've written on my calendar "Go to bank and pay off second mortgage"  I'm going to take my daughters and make an EVENT out of it.

It has taken us seven years to pay this thing off (yes, SEVEN YEARS) -- it was a big loan -- and I want them to remember the day that Mom and Dad got completely out of debt and turned their lives around financially.

They opened up savings accounts at this same bank last summer.  So they can take their piggy banks with them and deposit coins in the coin counter (they like to do that) and put them in their bank accounts.

I want to keep the momentum going after this last debt is paid off.  I'd like to start turning the debt payment that I made every month into a savings account for something fun like a vacation or an RV.  That we will pay for with cash.

congratulations!!!

[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.  

12/5  Groceries $34.  That's $126/ $156 for the week ending Friday.

12/6   Online Christmas shopping.  I get a Dancing Banana today, but I don't know how I'm going to stick the Christmas budget dh and I agreed on.  

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

12/7   Had about $30 in this week's food budget left to keep on target for the month, spent $29.34!!  Ended up having our Dairy Queen dinner tonight, as we are getting home earlier tomorrow.  Tonight it was straight to bedtime stories.  Just look at that line of bananas!  Looks like a lineup of cheerleaders.  Awesome!

Here are the goals for the next 3 days:

12/8 We are going into town this afternoon for the girls' gymnastics showoff.  I've promised them a trip to the coffee stand.  I'll make sure we have chicken soup to heat up when we get home.

12/9  Christmas tree shopping.  

12/10  Not sure about Monday.  

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Ugh.  Waaaaaay overspent yesterday.  I haven't even tallied it up yet.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

I have to go balance my checkbook and enter it in the budget and then face the music.  I'm coming back here to update.

Ugh again.

I need to stay out of the stores.  That's it.  No more stores for me until after January 1st. 

Grocery stores only.  Period.  If I need something, I'm sending my husband out to get it.

My new goal until January 1st = SOS.  Stay Out of the Stores

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom 

My goal for the month = 15 no-spend days 

My progress so far = 3 days

01..  $166 ski stuff

02.. 

03..  $8.50 bagels

04.. 

05.. 

06..  $215 Christmas...not even presents just wrapping paper, party food, extra stuff for our guests that are staying with us.  Stuff I can't even remember for 24 hours because it is so inconsequental...but it all ADDS UP to big spending.

07..

08..

09..

10..

11..

12..

13..

14..

15..  PAY OFF our 2nd Mortgage. 

[CookiePie]

Typically we would be able to payoff this last debt this month, however with Christmas spending & entertaining this month I'm thinking it might take more like 2 months, but that still thrills me.  I wanted to mention that I just got my electricity bill and it is a good $30 less than usual at this time of year!  The only thing that we have done differently is hang clothes to dry (almost exclusively).  Last month we  were so successful at doing this!  This month not so good so far!  If I fall behind on laundry & DH doesI'm going to make a better effort after seeing that bill!  

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. Made returns at Ikea, but I spent more than what I got back!

6.

7. Grocery shopped, got free tea at my favorite HFS

8. Christmas shopping,    work

[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).

5.      Stayed home, stayed away from online shopping, got a gnome for DD3 knit, will be working on more crafting after the rugrats go to bed.

6.      Stayed home again, no spending.  Lots of crafting for the holidays happening.

7.      REALLY wanted to get fast food for dinner but DH and I decided he'd make a quick run to the store instead.  $$ for groceries is in the budget, fast food isn't (especially when it's almost $40 for our family at McDs).  Made cookies with the kids for a cookie exchange I'm going to tomorrow.

8.      Cookie exchange and holiday crafting.  No spending.

7/20 No Spend Days

8/20 Crafting Days

[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.  

12/5  Groceries $34.  That's $126/ $156 for the week ending Friday.

12/6   Online Christmas shopping.  I get a Dancing Banana today, but I don't know how I'm going to stick the Christmas budget dh and I agreed on.  

12/7   Had about $30 in this week's food budget left to keep on target for the month, spent $29.34!!  Dinner at DQ tonight instead of tomorrow $16.

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

12/8     It had to happen sooner or later.  Groceries $89.  Planned trip, forgot to mention it, but strayed far from the list.  NOTE TO SELF:  DO NOT GO INTO THE TRADER JOE'S COOKIE AISLE WHILE HUNGRY!!!  Next time, pack a lunch and buy one flippin' candy bar, not 2 giant boxes of Christmas cookies (ate a lot of them, too).  Evil, I tell you.  Evil.  Add a promised stop to the coffee stand (only $4--dd2 wanted something, I did resist that getting something for myself) and last night's dinner at DQ, that puts us at $108 for the week that just got going!!!!  

It is not the giant overspending that is draining our bank account, it is little decisions that by themselves are no big deal, but added up amount to a whole lot.

Here are the goals for the next 3 days:

12/9  Christmas tree shopping.  

12/10  This will be no-spend.

12/11    Probably some groceries.  A little bit of Christmas shopping.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Originally Posted by SweetSilver 

It is not the giant overspending that is draining our bank account, it is little decisions that by themselves are no big deal, but added up amount to a whole lot.

So very, very true.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Two UGH days in a row!

Our car was broken into at a Christmas Party last night.

They didn't steal anything (my purse was locked up at home in our filing cabinet) but now we've got to get our car window repaired.  our insurance would cover this, but I suspect this will be under our deductible and we probably won't claim it.

Ugh.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

On a happy note, at least I was too busy socializing to spend any money!

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom 

My goal for the month = 15 no-spend days 

My progress so far = 4 days

01..  $166 ski stuff

02.. 

03..  $8.50 bagels

04.. 

05.. 

06..  $215 Christmas

07.. 

08..

09..

10..

11..

12..

13..

14..

15..  PAY OFF our 2nd Mortgage....hopefully.  Let's see how big this car repair will be.

[meandk0610]

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:

12/5:

12/6:   never made it to walmart

12/7:   

12/8:  went to Costco unbudgeted but used a Costco cash card that i got back from having HVAC done in June.

Edited by meandk0610 - 12/11/12 at 5:30pm

[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. :(

12/5 I was good all day until I went through chick fil a. $17. I didn't even think about it! It was like...subconcious or something, afterwards I was like "NOOO, my no spend day!!!" Sigh.

Stuff I did to be frugal at home: We had oranges with breakfast and I had lemon water, I put all the peels in a big jar and covered with vinegar to make a citrus cleaning solution. We are also making granola bars for snacks and I'm using the leftover granola bar stuff to make a homemade cold cereal for me to snack on after the boys go to bed (bran flakes, dried blueberries, cranberries and strawberries, chopped almonds, coconut).

 

12/6 $5 on breakfast and I'm about to go to Wal Mart to get my 2 yo his own undies since he randomly decided to poop and pee on the potty today.

 

12/7 Well I'm traveling again today. I'm packing snacks and drinks for the boys and myself. I'll probably spend less than $3 on coffee/coke to stay awake. (It's 3.5 hours through central/west Texas..very boring and makes me literally fall asleep if I'm not careful).

Besides that though, no spend days will be plentiful do to the fact that we are out of money. :P

Oh I'm counting today as a no spend because the $3 will all be change scrounged up, not from the budget.

12/8 Today I'm at my parents house and they tend to pay for anything while we're here. It makes me feel silly since I'm a grown woman but right now I will be grateful and I'll pay them back as we go on.

 

12/9 $6.25 on drinks for my parents and me after church.

 

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4/20 No spend days

 

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Key

Did something frugal at home

No spend

Budgeted spend

Unbudgeted Spend