January No Spend Challenge~ Ringing in the New Year with $$ in our Pockets!!! - Page 6

[LoveOurBabies]

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom 

My daughter needs a black dress for a music recital.  I had a black dress in my check out cart from Land's End.  Not an expensive purchase, but I'm wondering if I couldn't find a black dress at a children's consignment store for less.  Hmmmm....  She'll only wear it one time. 

Going shopping is usually dangerous for me, but I may try it this one time.  With a list.  And a purpose.

Oooh I know how you feel. Shopping is a dangerous activity for me too.

Good luck mama! I know you can do it

[ariahsmum]

YES to a 2013 version.  Groceries and cooking are KILLING me.  We are in VT, a trip to the store is a one hour drive, we eat organic, and the two kiddos are eating every 2 hours so all I do is cook.  And shop.  Ugh.  I can't get food budget under $950 and I cook everything from scratch with exception of chips, tortillas, and some crackers.

[LoveOurBabies]

Originally Posted by ariahsmum 

YES to a 2013 version.  Groceries and cooking are KILLING me.  We are in VT, a trip to the store is a one hour drive, we eat organic, and the two kiddos are eating every 2 hours so all I do is cook.  And shop.  Ugh.  I can't get food budget under $950 and I cook everything from scratch with exception of chips, tortillas, and some crackers.

Do you have a camera in my house by any chance??

My kids have a super fast metabolism, are gluten free by necessity and need to eat every 2 hours max or they start to get crazy.. Our food budget is also through the roof. To me, getting it to $1500 per month is being on budget. Can you believe that?

Just to give you an idea, we had casserole for dinner tonight.. I cooked 7qt's worth in my dutch oven and two cups of rice in a seperate pot to go alongside the casserole... After dinner, 3/4 of that was gone. A casserole like that can cost me anywhere from $10-30 for the ingredients. Then once I factor in breakfast, lunch and healthy snacks in between for 6 people, it adds up quickly. $48 every day sounds like a lot at first glance but the grocery prices where I live (Australia) are disgustingly high.

[melissel]

Grrr...that same Starbucks again! I really am going to start driving a different (but longer) way. I have to pass by it twice a day until the 12th 

Key: 

No frivolous/unbudgeted spending: 

Unbudgeted spending: 

Ate at home all day: 

12/30: 

12/31: 

1/1:  

1/2:  

1/3:  $15 at Starbucks

1/4:

1/5:

[FillingMyQuiver]

So great to see so many new faces and previous participants returning!!!  I'm here reading, just have limited time for responding.  Plus, I'm roughly 2.5wks from my EDD and I'm becoming nestie, so my posting may be limited as I move into homebirth prep mode.

Everyone is doing great, and the small victories add up!!

AFM today, I need to stay away from zulily.  They've listed some organic merino infant wear and I WANT IT for the new baby!!  BUT, I have merino wool fabric downstairs in my studio and all the supplies I need to make the infant wear myself.  I'm just not motivated to sew

Today's goals are to blow up my birth pool, gather my birth supplies and extra towels, and maybe gather my pattern and wool for some wool onesies for the little one.

Tomorrow is DD2's 4th birthday and we're having family over.  I've got dinner planned, DH is going to pick up an ice cream cake on his way home from work, and I've already got her gifts.

[kathirynne]

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom 

My daughter needs a black dress for a music recital.  I had a black dress in my check out cart from Land's End.  Not an expensive purchase, but I'm wondering if I couldn't find a black dress at a children's consignment store for less.  Hmmmm....  She'll only wear it one time. 

Going shopping is usually dangerous for me, but I may try it this one time.  With a list.  And a purpose.

Do any of her friends have a black dress she could borrow?

[kathirynne]

Originally Posted by ariahsmum 

YES to a 2013 version.  Groceries and cooking are KILLING me.  We are in VT, a trip to the store is a one hour drive, we eat organic, and the two kiddos are eating every 2 hours so all I do is cook.  And shop.  Ugh.  I can't get food budget under $950 and I cook everything from scratch with exception of chips, tortillas, and some crackers.

Do you meal plan and make a list before you go to the store?  Can you just buy "the dirty dozen" organic, and buy the rest of your groceries conventional?  Are you an omnivore?  (I know that "good" meat is cost prohibitive.)  Do you have to accommodate any dietary restrictions?  Are you eating out of season produce?  (Strawberries in the wintertime will cost you dearly, for example.)  Do you put up food in the summer to eat in the winter?  Will your children eat beans?

Sorry for the third degree.  I'm just trying to figure out what your parameters are.

[meandk0610]

key:

no spend-     

budgeted spend-       

over budget or not budgeted-   

hung clothes on line-

used the fireplace at least part of the day

1/1:  

1/2:  

1/3:  

1/4:   really woke up too late to do a good fire, though. I'm not sure it will be down to embers in time to close the flue before we go to work. So far, so good but I realized today that I need to buy my high-potency vitamins for my adrenal fatigue and I only have $10 for supplements this month due to school having been closed. Maybe I'll see what kind of multivitamin I can get for that at Costco and live with that until I save up money for the Dr. Rind or Dr. Wilson stuff.

1/5:

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Snowy day.  I'm home from work and we're not leaving this house until tomorrow.  I love being all snuggled in.  Good for the budget, too.

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom 

My Goal = 15  No-Spend days

My progress = 3 No-spend day so far

01..  $258 lessons for the kids

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[micah_mae_]

Key:

No Spend/Paying Bills 

Budgeted Spend 

Unbudgeted Spend 

Did Something Frugal at Home 

**6/25 No Spend/Budgeted Spend Days**

**$180/$180 Grocery/Med Budget**

December 28:  Paid rent, electric, water, adt, credit card and van payment for $1,232. But our van payment is now current so we're current on all bills! 

December 29:  We'll be spending the day with the inlaws. 

December 30:  Budgeted spend on pizza, we got home from out of town at dinner time and I needed to buy groceries! We also got some snacks for the road but my dad had given us "coke money" for the trip (I had gone to the store for him and he told me to keep the change).

December 31:  Ah groceries. I spent $150 almost even on food, herbs, meds and wipies. My DH will be going to the other store here in a bit to get our milk and produce. My unbudgeted spend was a pair of sweat pants on sale for the little one who didn't have any (and it's cold enough he needs warm pants around the house). They were $4. I also got 3 packs of toss and go sippy cups for $6.

January 1:  Well I was going to send DH to the post office but it's closed, so no spend!

January 2:  Found out that when my dentist talked me into a "deep clean" it turned me into a periodontal patient and my insurance doesn't cover all periodontal cleanings so I have to go every 3 months to be tortured and can't stop being a periodontal patient until I "get better". Sigh. $30 copay for that today. $9 for stamps. $22 for paper kitchen items (plates/bowls/etc) and tissues because I'm trying to get over the flu and can't keep up with the house. Sigh.

January 3:   I'm still getting over the flu and now DH has gastroenteritis (Lord help us) so another day inside until we have speech therapy at 1:30. We only have $50 left and I'm not touching it! Next pay period will be more challenging because I'll have more $$ available which makes it harder not to spend it! For my frugal thing done at home I made a quadruple batch of steel cut oats for breakfast and divided it into qt sized jars for quick breakfasts later this week. :)

January 4:  Alright..*shame* I'll put the worst things first: Movie for the boys $10, donuts for breakfast $7 and workbooks from targets dollar section because we haven't been able to afford our home school curriculum yet $4. I also got floss (the string kind since the stick kind I've been using apparently don't work well) $3 and instant potatoes $4. Now to go hide in shame.

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[birdie.lee]

.

Edited by birdie.lee - 5/13/13 at 11:57am

[daricsmami]

January 1:  and  $14 on gas; I decided to use up the change in my house to buy gas for the next two days 

$92.05 on groceries and personal items (lotion, diapers). I let my oldest throw me off track and I bought two items that weren't on the list. Not a big deal, but I really wanted to stay at around $85. 

January 2:  I only brought lunch to work even though I worked a 12 hour day.  I'm getting off of work now; I'm going to zoom home as fast as I (legally) can so I won't be tempted to make a food detour...

January 3: 

January 4:  I totally forgot I was behind on my car payment so I had to make a double payment: $590.28. I also spent $33.01 on gas and had to pay back a loan from my parents of $400. So after paying day care on Monday, I'll have about $75 until I get paid in two weeks... :( My oldest son needs a haircut and I still need more groceries.

[ariahsmum]

Kathirynne, 

No worries, I don't feel like you gave me the third degree.  Like a pp, in addition to being organic (mostly- with few exceptions) we are also feeding one kiddo GF and casein free, and me and dh are GF.  Pricey.  We are omnivores, largely purchase chickens from a local farmer once a year, buy milk and eggs at the farm.  Only very seldom eat red meat.  Kids are FINE with beans.  I try to avoid large amounts of soy.  We grow a large garden in summer (short VT season) and put all kale, corn, and beans aside in the freezer.  In winter we purchase broccoli and local salad greens as well as basic veggies like carrots, cuke, celery, peppers, beets and potatoes when they run out.  We have a surfeit of squash still.  Fruit is unfortunately out of season purchases like bananas and sometimes oranges and organic grapes for a treat when they have em.  We store apples, but are not a fruit-heavy family.  We do buy through a buying club once a month, but we are still lucky to get by with less than $950.  It is HARD to do.  We cook most everything from scratch and the budget does not include going out- which is extremely rare.

Maybe we should start a new thread for food... I know this might be of topic with this thread.  Feel free to move the post if need be!  

[wildmonkeys]

For some reason I can't copy my old post today, but today 1/4 is....finally a   

[phathui5]

No spending for me today! I was in class from 9-5, then came home to hang out, so I didn't have a chance to spend anything. I've successfully avoided drive-thrus so far this month, so no spending on the way to/from work.

[sk8boarder15]

January Spending. 

NO SPEND - 

Budgeted Spending - 

Unquieted Spending - 

Dec 29 - 

Dec 30- 

Dec 31 - 

Jan 1-    

Jan 2 - 

Jan 3 - 

Jan 4- 

Today I paid the mortgage, and I took my son to homeschool open jump and paid in cash my DH found around the house (WIN). Ate entirely at home (though more processed than I would like. Great day as far as finaces go though. Got a check we didn't expect for an over payment to the insurance comapany.  

[SweetSilver]

/ = Excellent

 /  = Not so good

 / = Very, very bad

12.31    Errand day.  Groceries/ eat out= $55/ $18/ $28    Forgot to record library fines--  22 DOLLARS!

1.1    No spend.  Staying home.  Nothing's open.  But I'm taking it anyway.

1.2   Happy Veggie for now, because we kept snack and treat purchases to a minimum.  Azure Standard order.  Co-op stop.  

1.3    Stop at Burgerville for dd2--she ate 5 fries, I ate a burger and fries.  Oh well.  DH took dd1 out for a taco.  $20

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

1.4    Just groceries, but not sure how I'm doing so far.  Mostly basic groceries, $30, and $2 on a yummy chocolate treat.  Used the girls' snack fund for some of the groceries, and I've accounted for that already at the beginning of the week.  

I started making yogurt, and I made an edible batch but I practically cooked the stuff.  So, I bought another quart of plain yogurt to make a fresh batch.  My fridge is filling up with failed yogurt experiments, all edible fortunately and I do eat a lot of yogurt but it's getting a bit silly.  I'll get it figured out and that will eventually cut the price in half at least.

I need to buy honey.  I usually buy 5 gallons from a local producer.  Not sure how I'm going to figure that into the budget when it lasts me nearly 2 years.

Basic groceries= $296

Snacks and treats and eating out= $60.50

Groceries for homemade treats and celebrations= $18

=$374.50/ $920for 5 weeks ending Sunday, 2.3

[JunebugsMom]

Well I have been lurking but I might as well post so I can keep myself more accountable :)

a. Who you are

Married mom of 3 (7,4,10mos).  I do part-time freelance work from home.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals) and
Right now we are just living from paycheck to paycheck.  I am working on reducing our monthly spending, especially food (and the little things, which always add up)

c. How you plan to get there

Keeping track of every penny I spend.  Meal planning.  Grocery shopping once/week with coupons.

no spend

planned spending

oops!

1/1  (spent my Christmas money on *me*. it was only $50)

1/2  spent $33 at IKEA for stuff that we didn't really need (DH is a bad influence.  he claims we need everything).   $134 on groceries.  If this lasts us a week that will be great.

1/3  spent $7 shipping for some free diaper covers that someone is giving me.  I don't feel too guilty about this one.

1/4  turned all of our change into an amazon gift card.  Instead of buying something for myself (since it feels like "free money"), I ordered tp and dishwasher tabs (both really good prices).  So I am happy about that.

 

[FillingMyQuiver]

Key

  No Spend/ Budgeted Spending

  Unbudgeted/ Unnecessary Spending

  Crafted for at least 30 minutres

1.    Not exactly how I wanted to start the year/ month, but all well.  Another $200 spent at Home Depot for more shelving for my kids' rooms, $40 spent at the grocery store while we continue to wrap our head around the food allergies.

2. 

3. 

4. 

3/ 20 No Spend Days

0/ 20 Crafting Days

Didn't accomplish ANY of my goals today   Really have to try to get them done tomorrow before family comes for dinner.

[LoveOurBabies]

Saturday 5th January

$38.00 on budgeted groceries (food, cleaning supplies)

$15.00 on petrol

=$58.04 remaining for groceries this week.
 

What I did today to save money:

Not much.. Listed some items on ebay, partially ate out of our freezer.. Tomorrow will be no spend, unless I need more cleaning supplies. We're up to the 'unpacking and cleaning' part of the renovation now..