January No Spend Challenge~ Ringing in the New Year with $$ in our Pockets!!! - Page 14

[micah_mae_]

I bought 20 lbs of meat today. :shock: 11 lbs of chicken and 9 lbs of beef.

The chicken will be cooked with veggies then all shredded together and split into freezer bags to be used for any recipe calling for chicken.

I'll also use the bones to make a bunch of broth.

The beef will be split.

4 lbs will go to meat mix which is similar to the chicken mix.

I will also take 1 or 2 lbs of the finished product, mix it with 1-2 lbs of cooked lentils and season it for tacos (thus doubling the meat).

The other 5 lbs of meat goes into meat sauce mix which is more of a tomato based meat sauce. I use it for shepherds pie and such. 

I find it's a good way to increase veggie consumption and also makes dinner so fast when the meat is cooked.

I also bought:

TP for the year. 36 double rolls. We will go back to using family cloth and use the TP for when visitors come over.

Trash bags for the year (and got a $5 gift card for this one, used it for diapers).

Ordered cloth pull ups for the potty training guy. 

Ordered laundry soap for the year.

I'm glad I waited to stock up on toothpaste, I came home and went through the bathroom. I found 6 half used of grown up toothpaste, 3 half used kids toothpaste and 4 dentist samples! 

[sk8boarder15]

Originally Posted by micah_mae_ 

I'm glad I waited to stock up on toothpaste, I came home and went through the bathroom. I found 6 half used of grown up toothpaste, 3 half used kids toothpaste and 4 dentist samples! 

Somehow that happens here too! I always search the bathroom before buying toohpaste, theres always some down there! My DH asked me "Why are we using this hippie Tom's toothpaste?" I said, "Becuase it was under the sink!" 

[micah_mae_]

Originally Posted by sk8boarder15 

Somehow that happens here too! I always search the bathroom before buying toohpaste, theres always some down there! My DH asked me "Why are we using this hippie Tom's toothpaste?" I said, "Becuase it was under the sink!" 

I love Toms, lol. :)

To be more specific I had 3 half used tubes of Sensodyne, DH had 3 half used tubes of random crap and the kids had 3 half used tubes of their paste too. We're good for a few months!

I also found a bunch of soap!

[Ruthiegirl]

Well, not a terrible day.  I returned our things to Target and came away with $40.  $20 of it went to a birthday gift for a very special friend and $20 was for shoes for my baby who is now walking!  I cannot believe he is walking so soon.  He started a few weeks ago and he has been wearing socks, but I noticed that he is more and more determined to walk everywhere and well, that includes dirty streets and cold sidewalks and grungy airports.  So, new shoes for him.  

And I caved and got my son a haircut and of course his younger brother wanted one too, so 2 haircuts for $13 each plus a tip.  

I know this seems self-evident but I'll say it anyway, my kids are always costing me money!  But they are so, so terrific and fabulous and my boys are crazy cute with their new haircuts.  

And now I am officially broke for the month. 

Oh!  And the big news....we have an offer on our house.    Goodness, I think we might actually sell this place and make our big move.  

  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 --     delayed our grocery shopping for yet another day

January 10 --   grocery shopping 

January 11 --     shut down the heat due to warm temps

January 12 --     dh repaired kitchen faucet

January 13 -- 

January 14 --  $20 shoes, $20 birthday present, $30 haircuts

January 15

January 16

January 17

January 18  PAYDAY

My goals:

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

Save 20% of Jan 18th paycheck

Do something frugal every day

Make every dollar matter

[JunebugsMom]

1/14  finally a no-spend day!

frugal things:

I had to drop off a jacket at DD's preschool this morning and I really wanted to stop on the way home and get something to eat or drink.  but instead I went home and made popcorn. I brought the extra popcorn for the kids to eat after I picked them up from school.

DS needed an alarm clock for his room and we were thinking about buying one for him.  then I remembered that we had an old one in a box somewhere so I found it and it works fine.

Hung the diapers outside to dry.

Made a big batch of steel cut oatmeal for my breakfasts this week.

[SweetSilver]

Originally Posted by Ruthiegirl 

Oh!  And the big news....we have an offer on our house.    Goodness, I think we might actually sell this place and make our big move.  

Good luck to you!

[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.  

1.5   No spend.  Stayed home.

1.6    Took away my reward for a no-spend because 1/2 of a stewed chicken was wasted, entirely avoidable.  

1.7  Hopefully the start to a better week. Added $7 to the FUNfund with the girls' leftover treat budget for the week.  Making bread; made my pot of smoky-bacon-y soupy beans.

1.8  Even though this was a big spend day, I'm giving myself this Happy Carrot because I stuck to the lists, and the girls stuck to their weekly treat allowance.  Only one entirely unplanned but not unwelcome purchase-- a new sudoku book for the girls to share, $6.

1.9    Basic groceries, but they keep coming.  Not sure how I'm doing yet.

1.10  Couple of forgotten groceries.  Thrift store $30.  Wool socks $16.  New battery for an old digital camera.    Dairy Queen, $13, because I messed up and we drove 40 minutes to what I thought was an open swim at the Y.  

1.11    Last of the forgotten groceries.  Totaled $203 for the week.  Not bad.  Could have been waaaaay better.  Added another $7 to the FUNfund again.  DD1 is really excited--we have saved $24 in 3 weeks.

1.12    No spend

1.13  

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

1.14    Haven't been very good packing snacks and lunches.  Hrumph!  Minor stops for groceries, household stuff like laundry soap and hair ties.  The girls got fresh money for their weekly treat allowances.  Stopped at DQ for their fries, and I was hungry enough to order a meal myself.  Nothing extravagant.  $36 basic groceries, $15 snacks, treats and eat out.  

I would *love* to keep the rest of this week's groceries to about $60.  We need no meat, no cheese, no coffee.  I could do this, in theory.

Finally finished the 2nd pair of mittens from yarn in my yarn drawer.  And we still have some cold weather left!  

Basic groceries= $466

Snacks and treats and eating out= $120

Groceries for homemade treats and celebrations= $33

=$619.00/ $920 for 5 weeks ending Sunday, 2.3

 

 

[eirual]

I am dropping the ball big time over here. I'm hoping to sell stuff and ease up in other areas of the budget so I don't throw us way off course.

[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.

9.    $6 on an amazon grocery order for soy free chocolate chips, sorghum flour, and chia seeds.  Frugal accomplishments for today: used amazon gift card from yesterday for majority of amazon order, cut DS2's hair, ate all meals and snacks out of the pantry/ freezer

10.     Planned food shopping list for Saturday, cut cloth wipes from upcycled flannel sheet and towels, DH picked up our bulk foods co-op order last night so I was able to make a loaf of gluten-free bread  for lunch and muffins for breakfast, also eating dinner at home, started taxes, opened windows in house to get some fresh air in (we're in a warm streak), took the end of the loaf of bread I made and set it aside to make gluten free bread crumbs

11.    DH made a pretty big purchase today.  We put it on our CC and will pay it off next month b/c it was a last minute, completely unbudgeted purchase.  Also bought some groceries.  Frugal accomplishments for today: wintersowed 5 containers (3 onions and 2 broccoli) using seed starting soil from last year and jugs I've been saving.

12.   Did our big, once-a-month grocery shop.  Apparently I wasn't paying as close attention when I made my list b/c I ended up buying quite a bit of duplicates of things we didn't really need, though they can go in the stockpile now.  We overspent our food budget by about $90, but I'm not sure how much of that is food cost increases, allergen free ingredients that are slightly more expensive, or a just a general need to increase the food budget that I don't want to come to terms with, .

13.   Had to pick up mailing labels for a project for DD1's troop.  It wasn't in the budget, but I told my co-leader I'd take care of it.

14.   Pack meeting pot luck at scouts, except it was "Bring your fave pizza from your fave pizza place" night.  Ugh, we can't have pizza now because of DS2's allergies, so I packed sandwiches on homemade gluten-free bread and made gluten free rice krispie treats for dessert.  Picked up 50lbs of potatoes on the way home ($17).

10/ 20 No Spend Days

2/ 20 Crafting Days

[delightedbutterfly]

Jan 13: $40.79 on groceries (although this was mostly "man" food) and he got me another Slurpee but must have paid cash And I'm sending him out for dinner again (and not feeling guilty about it) because I do NOT have the energy to A)cook and B) face the mess in the kitchen from DH cooking over the last couple days... I cleaned the bathroom and did laundry today... my energy is GONE! Probably around $30...

Jan 14: DH *did* come down with it late last night so while he missed a day at work it looks like he is doing better! I'm sleeping in the guest bed again tonight... MUST make a *new* mattress in here a budget item, this one used to be my grandparents and it was an extra guest bed at my parents... I can't hazard to guess how old it is but it is horrible!!! However we didn't spend today, I still had my DC kid (mom figures he'll end up sick with this eventually anyways) and we ate all "meals" at home!

$40.79/$200 weekly grocery budget
$0/$?? weekly stuff budget
$0/$?? weekly gas budget
$30/$?? weekly eating out budget (would like this to be $50 a week to start, with a goal of $100 a month but that could be unrealistic)
$27.89/$50 monthly dog budget

[LoveOurBabies]

Well today sucked. I either have very little self control when it comes to 'want' or it turns out there are more important things in life, than counting every penny. I dipped into our savings account (EF) today, because I've already distributed all the money that was budgeted for this month.. I purchased a big ticket appliance ($225) after deciding once and for all that I was going to make our own minced beef and sausages. I don't have a food mincer or a even food processor of any sort (unless you count a knife as a food processor), so I couldn't make do with what I already had. I also don't have anyone to borrow a mincer/processor from. I'm probably making excuses but I think I had no choice in the matter other than to buy one. So I did. I bought the cheapest electrical one that had consistently good ratings. I figured that it would pay itself off in time, not necessarily financially, but through good health. The cheap $3 per lb minced beef that I was planning to purchase to use in most of our meals is not the healthiest option (fat content is nearly 20%) and I really don't like the idea of feeding my children pink slime either.

Dh keeps saying that we need to get back to grassfed and organic, considering we are consuming a fair bit of meat every day.. Right now, I can't justify the cost, but at least mincing our own lean steaks (a lot of pesticides reside in the fat) will be far better than buying pre-made minced beef with who knows what inside.

I also spent $15 on flowers. They were for my neighbour, whose child passed away. I think she needs the flowers more than I need the $15.

Tuesday 15th January:

$225 spent on mincer

$15 spent on flowers

$52.32/$1000 on groceries

Things I did today to save money:

Absolutely nothing. But I did put a smile on a face who was dealing with loss and gave myself some peace of mind about what I would be putting in my children's tummies every day.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Originally Posted by Ruthiegirl 

Oh!  And the big news....we have an offer on our house.    Goodness, I think we might actually sell this place and make our big move.  

  Yeah!!!!!!!  Congratulations Ruthiegirl!!!!!!!!     I hope the offer is what you want and that everything goes through smoothly!!!!  Yeah!!!!!

Originally Posted by FillingMyQuiver 

14.   Pack meeting pot luck at scouts, except it was "Bring your fave pizza from your fave pizza place" night.  Ugh, we can't have pizza now because of DS2's allergies, so I packed sandwiches on homemade gluten-free bread and made gluten free rice krispie treats for dessert.  Picked up 50lbs of potatoes on the way home ($17).

Good work, Jen!

Originally Posted by LoveOurBabies 

I purchased a big ticket appliance ($225) after deciding once and for all that I was going to make our own minced beef and sausages. I don't have a food mincer or a even food processor of any sort (unless you count a knife as a food processor), so I couldn't make do with what I already had. I also don't have anyone to borrow a mincer/processor from. I'm probably making excuses but I think I had no choice in the matter other than to buy one.

This is hardly a splurge item.  What is money for if not to provide for your family and feed them well?  sounds like money well spent to me.

And I'm sorry to hear about your neighbor's child.  That is very sad.  Most certainly that is money well spent as well.

[LoveOurBabies]

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom 

This is hardly a splurge item.  What is money for if not to provide for your family and feed them well?  sounds like money well spent to me.

And I'm sorry to hear about your neighbor's child.  That is very sad.  Most certainly that is money well spent as well.

Thanks! And you're absolutely correct.. What good is money if it doesn't serve the people you love? Thank you for providing that bit of perspective. I tend to have tunnel vision and hit my goals just a bit too strong (often to the detriment of everything else).

[melissel]

Is multiquote not working for anyone else? Grr.

No spending yesterday--school at home all day and dinner at my parents last night, plus I learned what the job I'm going to be doing for my mom looks like. Easy peasy! Should be the same here today, though I may go to the grocery store. That's in the budget, though, since the pay period turned over last Friday. Oh, and we need to pick up our farm co-op food too, but again, that's in the budget. So hooray!

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

1/8:  $40 on desk organizing supplies, $15 on pizza for dinner

1/9:   $42 on black loafers, $2 library fine

1/10:  $25 on lunch out

1/11:  $25 on bagels and lunch, $25 on pizza for 6

1/12:  $23 on Moe's for dinner

1/13:  

1/14:  

1/15: 

1/16:

1/17:

1/18:

1/19:

1/20:

Edited by melissel - 1/15/13 at 7:13am

[micah_mae_]

Key:

No Spend/Paying Bills 

Budgeted Spend 

Unbudgeted Spend 

Did Something Frugal at Home 

**15/25 No Spend/Budgeted Spend Days**

**$480/$480 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! 

January 9:  Staying home today, it's cold and rainy. I think I'll make a big batch of breakfast food later.

January 10:  Got some birthday money and got a couple things for myself and the boys but since it's not budgeted I'm not counting it. We also got enough for a year membership to the childrens museum so I'll be buying that on Monday!

January 11:  Doing these next few days in advance, we'll be staying home except for church on Sunday and nothing to buy there!

January 12:  A friend gave me her extra bountiful basket! I'm trying to keep my kids out of it so I can make strawberry/carrot muffins for snack. :)

January 13: 

January 14:  PAYDAY We are so spending money but it'll be budgeted..$465 on bills (cell/internet, insurance, adt), $250 on the gas card, $23 to the army for an overpay, $30 on haircuts for the kids, $45 on diapers, $55 on cloth pull ups, $80 for a years worth of laundry soap, $20 for school stuff, $70 savings for Christmas, $185 in our savings jar and $21 in the kids savings jar. Phew. I also have to go grocery shopping but I'll do that later this week. Speaking of which, I've increased our food budget so we can buy some meat in bulk.

January 15: I'm gonna take a spend day today. I have to get a new tea kettle. We drink hot beverages a lot. I drink hot lemon water in the mornings and hot chocolate at night (I get munchies and hot chocolate is so much cheaper than buying snack food!), DH makes instant coffee probably daily. I've been using a small pan but it's always dirty from cooking and I may sound lazy but when I want hot water I just want hot water, lol. I will go and just get that and also get our gas money on a gift card. I'm also irritated because I accidentally put twice the amount I was supposed to in our Xmas fund and it's ING so I can't transfer half of it back out until the 22nd. We're supposed to be going to the childrens museum in Austin but I don't know if the money will be there yet now thanks to my irresponsibility. Sigh. 

January 16:

January 17:

January 18:

January 19:

January 20:

January 21:

January 22:

January 23: 

January 24:

January 25:

January 26:

January 27:

January 28:

January 29:

January 30:

[CookiePie]

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   Bought groceries

10  

11      Went to mall with my sister bought myself lunch $10

12     Bottled two dozen bottles of Kombucha & made two gallons of tea to brew more kombucha!

13  Got free tickets to local theater!  Spent $14 on water & snacks

14     Picked up a few things from grocery store

15     Sending DH to the cheap grocery store today for a couple more things that will help to stretch the food that we already have!

Edited by CookiePie - 1/15/13 at 8:29am

[wildmonkeys]

LoveOurBabies - I am sorry to hear you have a neighbor who lost a child - that was money well spent.

RuthieGirl - Congrats on the offer! That is great news!

I have been working a lot and have been super busy for the last several days so I have only spent money on bills (water, medical) and some groceries - none of which was bad spending.

In good news - the money we spent on the garage is working out wonderfully! We painted and built shelves all weekend and cleared out a lot of old junk and it makes such a difference. For the little amount of money we spent - I am thrilled with the change in the space and I can tell that the two rooms that back up to it are warmer :)

[Mamma2Addison]

Originally Posted by LoveOurBabies 

Things I did today to save money:

Absolutely nothing. But I did put a smile on a face who was dealing with loss and gave myself some peace of mind about what I would be putting in my children's tummies every day.

I think it was money well spent!

[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.

9.    $6 on an amazon grocery order for soy free chocolate chips, sorghum flour, and chia seeds.  Frugal accomplishments for today: used amazon gift card from yesterday for majority of amazon order, cut DS2's hair, ate all meals and snacks out of the pantry/ freezer

10.     Planned food shopping list for Saturday, cut cloth wipes from upcycled flannel sheet and towels, DH picked up our bulk foods co-op order last night so I was able to make a loaf of gluten-free bread  for lunch and muffins for breakfast, also eating dinner at home, started taxes, opened windows in house to get some fresh air in (we're in a warm streak), took the end of the loaf of bread I made and set it aside to make gluten free bread crumbs

11.    DH made a pretty big purchase today.  We put it on our CC and will pay it off next month b/c it was a last minute, completely unbudgeted purchase.  Also bought some groceries.  Frugal accomplishments for today: wintersowed 5 containers (3 onions and 2 broccoli) using seed starting soil from last year and jugs I've been saving.

12.   Did our big, once-a-month grocery shop.  Apparently I wasn't paying as close attention when I made my list b/c I ended up buying quite a bit of duplicates of things we didn't really need, though they can go in the stockpile now.  We overspent our food budget by about $90, but I'm not sure how much of that is food cost increases, allergen free ingredients that are slightly more expensive, or a just a general need to increase the food budget that I don't want to come to terms with, .

13.   Had to pick up mailing labels for a project for DD1's troop.  It wasn't in the budget, but I told my co-leader I'd take care of it.

14.   Pack meeting pot luck at scouts, except it was "Bring your fave pizza from your fave pizza place" night.  Ugh, we can't have pizza now because of DS2's allergies, so I packed sandwiches on homemade gluten-free bread and made gluten free rice krispie treats for dessert.  Picked up 50lbs of potatoes on the way home ($17).

15.   Set aside pieces from yesterday's bread loaves to use for breadcrumbs, finished cutting out rest of the upcycled baby wipes (over 6 dozen total, we totally need them, the wipes I'm using now are falling apart & some are approaching 8yrs old) hopefully I'll get them serged up tonight, made sure the hose/ siphon for the birth pool was clean, also started a crockpot full of chicken stock from 2 frozen carcasses

11/ 20 No Spend Days

3/ 20 Crafting Days

Edited by FillingMyQuiver - 1/15/13 at 4:43pm

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Still at home with sick kiddos.

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom 

My Goal = 15  No-Spend days

My progress = 13 No-spend day so far

01..  $258 cross-country ski club for the kids

02.. 

03.. 

04.. 

05..  $40.09  Date Night

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