January No Spend Challenge~ Ringing in the New Year with $$ in our Pockets!!! - Page 9

[ariahsmum]

OMG.  I have yet to post a plan in this thread, but am reading each day and thinking about it.  My finances are complicated and I actually for the first time have income to decide how to spend.  We have a gob of debt to pay off.  As it is a new year, and we have a new situation, I have been working hard to do an updated budget and dh and I have been talking about priorities, strategies etc.  Until we have decided what to do, I have had the plan to have a no spend month as an exercise in restraint, consideration, need, etc.  I have been SOOOOO careful which is not typical for me.  And it has not been easy, but the longer I go (day 7!!!) the more pleased I am and more committed to going the whole month within our budget items only and saving every extra penny.

BUT.... I came home from a weekend away with the kids last weekend and dh announced with a grin on his face that two extra presents are arriving for me in the mail.  He doesn't buy stuff, so I had no idea what he was talking about.  He kept repeating himself with a mischievous smile.  He purchased stuff from Adam and Eve without us deciding on that together .  Of all the things to spend on, and botch our no=spend challenge!  I may just return the whole package unopened, then I can't possibly miss what I never had.

[birdie.lee]

.

Edited by birdie.lee - 5/13/13 at 12:07pm

[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. 

5.    $$ bought DDs's birthday cake and ice cream for DS2.  Blew up the birth pool, gathered birth supplies, & put crib together.

6.    $75 at Home Depot.  Shelves are working out so well in the kids' rooms, DH and I decided to put some in our room.  Making split pea soup for after birth from a ham bone my mom saved.

7.      Frugal accomplishments for today:  started cutting out cloth wipes to sew for new baby, packed all our snacks and brought our water bottles to the 3hr meeting today that I had to take the kids w/ me to, cooked dinner at home even though I was exhausted after my meeting, including greens from our garden we have in a low tunnel, pulled out next size up clothes from storage for DD2 and DD3 (still need to go through DD3's drawers to pull out too small clothing, hopefully tomorrow)

5/ 20 No Spend Days

1/ 20 Crafting Days

Edited by FillingMyQuiver - 1/7/13 at 5:54pm

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom 

My Goal = 15  No-Spend days

My progress = 5 No-spend day so far

01..  $258 lessons for the kids

02.. 

03.. 

04.. 

05..  $40.09  Date Night

06.. 

07.. 

08..

09..

10..

11..

12..

13..

14..

15..

16..

17..

18..

19..

20..

[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.

January 5: 

January 6: $24.70 on groceries (I got 4lbs of collard greens for $2.49!) from Whole Foods. I think I did pretty good! Also, $99 on part-time day care.

January 7:

[JunebugsMom]

1/7  I was sure I had a no spend day, but then I realized that DH left me with the car with no gas   $20.49 at the gas station.

frugal things I did today: used rosemary, sage, and a lemon from our backyard to make lemon herb chicken.  now I am making stock from the carcass. Sent off for 6 packs of free vegetable/herb seeds (only cost me 3 stamps, which I already had). Traded with a friend--gave her a big bag of lemons from our tree and she gave me some kids clothes and a small radio flyer wagon!

On the way home from picking the kids up from school I *really* wanted to go thru a drive thru and get a giant soda or iced coffee, but then that would mean buying for the kids too which would end up around $6 or $7.  Luckily I didn't.

[melissel]

I spent quite a bit today, most of it unbudgeted but necessary. $60 on clothes for my rapidly growing DD10 (though I'm going to return a few shirts), $13 on nuts and $6.50 on photos for our homeschool lessons at Costco (both budgeted for), $15 on sneakers for DD7, and $20 on a kitchen desk area organizer that ended up not quite fitting in my space, so it will probably go back *sigh* DH actually really wants me to keep the thing, because it looks so nice and is so useful in the space, but I don't see how I can make it work because it will necessitate me spending more money for a smaller inbox so it all fits. I don't know what will happen, but either way, it was not in the budgeted spending!

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:   $9 in library fines 

1/5:  

1/6:  

1/7:   $60 on clothes, $15 on sneakers, and $20 on desk organizer

[LoveOurBabies]

Originally Posted by micah_mae_ 

January 5:  My oldest is autistic and tends to obsess over things. Lately it's been Christmas lights. Tonight is the last night that we have a local light display, it's 5.5 miles of lights. We have been at least 5 times since Thanksgiving. So I took the boys tonight and I don't feel bad. :) $10 

That is really sweet!

Originally Posted by melissel 

Successfully bypassed the Starbucks even though I was starving, ate lunch with family, having delicious leftover soup for dinner (I didn't give anyone food poisoning ), and avoided Target! I will probably spend tomorrow though, because DD10 needs some pants that fit and because I need more than one pair of jeans to get through the rest of the winter. 

LOL @ didn't give anyone food poisoning..

You bypassed Target AND Starbucks??

You deserve a

Originally Posted by micah_mae_ 

January 7:  Today is my birthday and I'm feeling kind of down so I've decided that I want to go to starbucks later and get a tall drink and wander Target by myself for some peace. :) And my mom just told me she wants to send me an "e-gift card" so I don't have to buy it myself so yay! A no spend day! The e-giftcard thing is cool, you can email someone a giftcard and they just print it off and use it like a regular gift card!

Happy Birthday micah mae!   

[LoveOurBabies]

Monday 7th of January and Tuesday 8th of January:

$153.47 on budgeted groceries (various things, some for use immediately or for this week, some for pantry/freezer)

= $195.07 remaining for groceries this week.

What I did to save money:

Today our temperature soared to 108. We have no air con and two shitty fans. I also suffer from heat induced migraines.. Considering the circumstances, I'm going to say that staying home and making lunch & dinner will go down as an accomplishment today! It was so tempting to escape to the beautifully air conditioned mall and spend the entire day there (and spent a lot of $ in the process - I'd have to fill up gas, pay for parking, buy food, be tempted a thousand times over by stuff on 'sale').

We also got by with icy water - Woohoo, kept my freezer sugar free. We got through the heat as frugally as possible.. I'd wet everyone's face with cold water periodically and we'd all stand in front of the fans drinking our icy water. I kept a cold washcloth atop my head and on my forehead. Also had a strong (homemade) iced coffee.. It seemed to help ward off the migraine.

I have the beans soaking for tomorrow's lunch and dinner. I'm very forgetful and I usually don't remember to soak them until just before dinner (which is pointless) and means we can't have good nutritious, inexpensive beans for dinner. Again.

I bought some good quality milk for half price and whacked it in the freezer for those times we run out of milk prematurely. I also bought 24 cans of our fav tuna on sale and that's sitting nicely in my pantry. I'm currently scouring the sales to see what else I can stock up on. As we are gluten free and I can't bake to save my life (my poor cookies), there isn't much leeway for stocking up on regular sale items. I'm always looking for that lone super special that never seems to come around.

Anyone else have a gluten free pantry? If so, what is in yours?

[CookiePie]

I fell WAY off the wagon with this thread in December!  I have been so tired and stressed that I have not been planning ahead and I have even been buying lunch at work almost everyday!  I'm going to only buy lunch once a week from now on!  I have to get back on track with this thread asap!  We paid off our last CC last month, but now I have the Christmas balance that I hope to pay off this month.  I think because we are just about caught up on CC debt I am feeling like I can spend, but in reality we have to save.  We are going to plan a vacation, savings for Christmas Club,  Beef up EF and start Roth IRA's for both of us.  Seeing the $ add up in the last week on food out is scary!  We ate just one week into January and we have spent $78 on eating out!  We normally eat out maybe once a month!

No spending       Budgeted spending    Did something to save $ or make extra $         Hung clothes on the line

January 

01 

02  Groceries Bought lunch $5.31

03  Bought lunch out $5.31

04  Filled my tank with gas, paid for my DD's school sport fee,   bought lunch $6.50, went out for dinner with a gift card DH won but went over by $35@

05  Exchanged a Christmas gift, for bras that I was in dire need of, found on clearance $5 each I got 4!!!! Bought Chinese $20

06  

07     Bought a few things to make lunches during my lunch hour, also bought my lunch $6

08        Started reading DR, sat down to go through January spending & make some changes!  

09   

10

[micah_mae_]

Originally Posted by LoveOurBabies 

That is really sweet!

LOL @ didn't give anyone food poisoning..

You bypassed Target AND Starbucks??

You deserve a

Happy Birthday micah mae!   

Thanks!

[JunebugsMom]

Originally Posted by LoveOurBabies 

. As we are gluten free and I can't bake to save my life (my poor cookies), there isn't much leeway for stocking up on regular sale items. I'm always looking for that lone super special that never seems to come around.

Anyone else have a gluten free pantry? If so, what is in yours?

We are gluten free as well.  The main things I stock my pantry with--tuna, canned salmon and crab, nori (to make sushi), RICE (tons of it), oats, dried beans, nut butters, potatoes.  I also tried quinoa and millet, but no one else in the family wanted to eat it

[melissel]

Originally Posted by JunebugsMom 

We are gluten free as well.  The main things I stock my pantry with--tuna, canned salmon and crab, nori (to make sushi), RICE (tons of it), oats, dried beans, nut butters, potatoes.  I also tried quinoa and millet, but no one else in the family wanted to eat it

You might keep trying with the quinoa. No one here liked it at first, but after I made it a few times with saucy meals, they started to tolerate it. Now they love it! I also had to buy a pre-bagged, pre-washed kind, because the kind I was buying in bulk at Whole Foods and rinsing just wasn't tasting that great. Our Costco sells a delicious kind that is weird-taste-free, LOL!

[melissel]

Originally Posted by LoveOurBabies 
LOL @ didn't give anyone food poisoning..

You bypassed Target AND Starbucks??

You deserve a

 Thanks! Yesterday and today were big fails, though *sigh* I'll report in later.

[Ruthiegirl]

Home with a sick kiddo.  I am blue to see my boy feeling crummy and his coughing is awful.  Lots of iced juice and hot tea and quiet time on the couch.  

Having a sick kid has been good for my wallet.   Just sitting at home and keeping things relaxed -- I cooked up the beans I soaked yesterday and made some lentil soup for dinner.   We were supposed to grocery shop today, but instead are eating up our odds and ends.  My frugal act today -- skipping the grocery store.  I think I can put it off for another day or two while we eat beans and soup.    

  No spend

  Budgeted spend

   Unbudgeted Spend

  Do something frugal at home

January 1 --     lowered temperature on hot water heater

January 2 --    $10.50 food at airport    soaked beans for dh and kids

January 3 -- 

January 4 -- 

January 5 --   

January 6 --   $3 tea at airport

January 7 --   well baby check up    soaking more beans for meals, lowered heat 2 degrees

January 8 --     delayed our grocery shopping for another day

January 9

January 10

January 11

January 12

January 13

January 14

My goals:

Save 50% of Jan 4th paycheck -- done!

Save 20% of Jan 18th paycheck

Do something frugal every day

Make every dollar matter

 

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Spent a ton on groceries at the grocery store.  But it was all food.  And folks around here like to eat.

I consider that just part of my job.  The cost of doing business for a SAHM.

So that doesn't count against me.

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom 

My Goal = 15  No-Spend days

My progress = 6 No-spend day so far

01..  $258 lessons for the kids

02.. 

03.. 

04.. 

05..  $40.09  Date Night

06.. 

07.. 

08.. 

09..

10..

11..

12..

13..

14..

15..

16..

17..

18..

19..

20..

[micah_mae_]

Key:

No Spend/Paying Bills 

Budgeted Spend 

Unbudgeted Spend 

Did Something Frugal at Home 

**9/25 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.

January 5:  My oldest is autistic and tends to obsess over things. Lately it's been Christmas lights. Tonight is the last night that we have a local light display, it's 5.5 miles of lights. We have been at least 5 times since Thanksgiving. So I took the boys tonight and I don't feel bad. :) $10 So usually we eat oatmeal 3-4 times a week and sweeten it with maple syrup. Well real maple syrup is expensive, so today I cooked 3/4 c frozen berries with 1/4 c water and 2 T maple syrup. Blended it all together and voila, healthier "pink" oatmeal even yummier and cheaper. 

January 6:  Staying home today..marriage drama, 30 weeks pregnant, a 2 yo and a 4 yo..I'm worn out. :(

January 7:  Today is my birthday and I'm feeling kind of down so I've decided that I want to go to starbucks later and get a tall drink and wander Target by myself for some peace. :) And my mom just told me she wants to send me an "e-gift card" so I don't have to buy it myself so yay! A no spend day! The e-giftcard thing is cool, you can email someone a giftcard and they just print it off and use it like a regular gift card!

January 8:   Not much to tell! Later I'm making a big batch of muffins I think, breakfast is hard for me being 30 weeks pregnant.

January 9:

January 10:

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January 29:

January 30:

[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. 

5.    $$ bought DDs's birthday cake and ice cream for DS2.  Blew up the birth pool, gathered birth supplies, & put crib together.

6.    $75 at Home Depot.  Shelves are working out so well in the kids' rooms, DH and I decided to put some in our room.  Making split pea soup for after birth from a ham bone my mom saved.

7.      Frugal accomplishments for today:  started cutting out cloth wipes to sew for new baby, packed all our snacks and brought our water bottles to the 3hr meeting today that I had to take the kids w/ me to, cooked dinner at home even though I was exhausted after my meeting, including greens from our garden we have in a low tunnel, pulled out next size up clothes from storage for DD2 and DD3 (still need to go through DD3's drawers to pull out too small clothing, hopefully tomorrow)

8.    $17 spent at grocery store for milk, pasta, and a jar of sauce (not frugal, I usually make my own sauce, but hey, we didn't eat out ).  Frugal accomplishments for today:  went through DD3's clothes, separated all of the clothes I've pulled from the drawers the last few weeks and started a donation bag, raked half my front yard and moved the leaves into the garden beds, dug a trench and buried 5 gallons of kitchen scraps in one of the beds, brought our change to the coinstar machine and got an amazon gift card.

6/ 20 No Spend Days

1/ 20 Crafting Days

[LoveOurBabies]

Originally Posted by JunebugsMom 

We are gluten free as well.  The main things I stock my pantry with--tuna, canned salmon and crab, nori (to make sushi), RICE (tons of it), oats, dried beans, nut butters, potatoes.  I also tried quinoa and millet, but no one else in the family wanted to eat it

Hehe.. Yeah we had some resistence to Quinoa as well. I've found they will tolerate Quinoa flakes but not so much the seeds. I might take Melissel's advice and just keep trying.

Re: Oats.. Aren't they full of gluten? I've heard of gluten free oats but I haven't been able to find them (even in health food stores).

[LoveOurBabies]

Originally Posted by melissel 

 Thanks! Yesterday and today were big fails, though *sigh* I'll report in later.