I will not spend money today. No. No. No.
I'm getting my purse out of the car and locking it in the filing cabinet.
I'm giving DH the keys!
I will not spend money today. No. No. No.
I'm getting my purse out of the car and locking it in the filing cabinet.
Go CrunchyVTMom!!!!! You can do it!
I am not spending today either. The neighborhood kids have the day off for MLK day and my kids are campaigning against their homeschool lessons. I think we are having a fun day off and playing outside in the yard. These days with friends are few and far between, can't waste a good play day.
We have good news! We accepted the offer on our house! The deal seems pretty good, we would have liked a bit more money (who doesn't?), but really, I think we are very lucky to be able to sell without losing any money.
So, paperwork is signed. Now I need to start clearing out more stuff. I accomplished a goal and sold the freezer on Craigslist. Someone is coming to pick it up next Saturday. Fingers crossed that goes well. I have never sold anything on Craigslist. That will be $150 in our pocket.
We have food for dinner, just need to cook it. And I need to make a list of what needs to be done around here. Being busy means less spending for me.
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
16. Not going anywhere, no money should be spent. We haven't seen the sun in about a week, we've had 3 days of rain, and we're all going stir crazy in this house. Finished the 6 dozen cloth wipes, went through the wipe stash and pulled out the unusable ones, cut out the pieces to sew 2 wool pilot caps for the babe on the way
17. Didn't leave the house, "they" were calling for snow (we've gotten none). All meals eaten at home, DH worked from home so no gas usage, started sewing the wool pilot caps, started cutting some pocket inserts for DD3's Fuzzi Bunz (the ones we're using are falling apart).
18. $45 spent at Five Guys for dinner. Frugal things for the day: cut more pocket inserts for DD3's diapers, finished some leftovers for lunch, DH worked from home
19. $40 spent at grocery store, not budgeted. Going to try to work on serging pocket inserts and maybe some diapers for DD3. Will get 2 loaves of bread rising before bed for lunch tomorrow and hopefully gather supplies up to make soap, deodorant, and lotion bars tomorrow, too.
20. Ugh. $15 spent at store for new cheese grater, instant read thermometer, and a candy thermometer. DD3 is sick, so I haven't gotten much sewing or fabric cutting going. I *did* manage to make deodorant and our "boo boo lotion" yesterday. Went to the hardware store for lye, but they were already closed 
Soap making is on the agenda for today, along with lotion bars, and setting up some makeshift shelving down in the basement for our overflow pantry items. We have scouts tonight, so dinner will be quick sloppy joes over rice with homemade fries.
13/ 20 No Spend Days
7/ 20 Crafting Days
Lol! Totally! I have all (ALL!) of the neighborhood boys at my house right now. Total insanity. I am going to shoo them out in a few so I can serve lunch. I am not feeding all of these kids!
I am not spending today either. The neighborhood kids have the day off for MLK day and my kids are campaigning against their homeschool lessons. I think we are having a fun day off and playing outside in the yard. These days with friends are few and far between, can't waste a good play day.
We have good news! We accepted the offer on our house! The deal seems pretty good, we would have liked a bit more money (who doesn't?), but really, I think we are very lucky to be able to sell without losing any money.
So, paperwork is signed. Now I need to start clearing out more stuff. I accomplished a goal and sold the freezer on Craigslist. Someone is coming to pick it up next Saturday. Fingers crossed that goes well. I have never sold anything on Craigslist. That will be $150 in our pocket.
We have food for dinner, just need to cook it. And I need to make a list of what needs to be done around here. Being busy means less spending for me.
Great news! Good luck with decluttering in prep for moving!
Amen, sister
We took a free trip to our local bounce place yesterday, and I managed to avoid buying any snacks by informing the kids beforehand (repeatedly) that I would not be buying ANY food or drinks while we were out. I stuck to my guns even in the face of the candy spread they have in the lobby and told my youngest she could have trail mix in the car. She wasn't happy, but oh well! I do have to place my seed order via Baker Creek today before they start selling out, but that's necessary spending and comes out of the Home budget. Otherwise, we're staying in today, because it's COLD here this week!
In terms of a mid-month analysis, I haven't done as well as I'd hoped this month--still too many impromptu food spending instances--but as of today we're more than halfway through this pay period, and I still have $40 of my allowance left. This is pretty much unheard of! Usually by this point I'm pilfering money from our gas budget or borrowing from next period's grocery budget. So this thread has helped me quite a lot. I'll definitely be back for a February thread, and with renewed conviction.
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: $6 library fines, $38 dinner at Panera
1/17: $4 on gardening book, $7 on a quick lunch for starving kids
1/18: $4 on hot dogs at Costco in between activities
1/19:
1/20:
1/21:
1/22:
1/23:
1/24:
1/25:
Pre-emptive no spend. I've made it to 12:30 and usually that means I'm home free. Can't spend it if I'm not out and about.
and YEAH!!! I made my spend goal for this month. Now to see if I can exceed my goal...
My Goal = 15 No-Spend days
My progress = 15 No-spend day so far 
01.. $258 cross-country ski club for the kids
02..
03..
04..
05.. $40.09 Date Night
06..
07..
08..
09..
10..
11..
12..
13..
14..
15..
16.. $6 McDonald's
17.. $8 Buddhism book for Mothers
18..
19.. $19 Music
20.. $26 stuffed elephant
21
22
23
Lol! Totally! I have all (ALL!) of the neighborhood boys at my house right now. Total insanity. I am going to shoo them out in a few so I can serve lunch. I am not feeding all of these kids!
Yep, it gets crazy here too. All summer there was at least one extra kid at my house!!!
Pre-emptive no spend. I've made it to 12:30 and usually that means I'm home free. Can't spend it if I'm not out and about.
and YEAH!!! I made my spend goal for this month. Now to see if I can exceed my goal...
Way to go, Prudence!!
.
So my dog (who was the cause of unexpected spending this week) is now very ill and they don't know what is wrong. (Sorry if this is off-topic) but our budget for the month is totally blown now. Oh well, its worth it. Got home from the grocery store and he was panting hard, drooling, standing with an arched back and obviously in pain. I was worried about bloat, and took him to the vet, its not bloat, but at this point they don't know what it is. They did tests and there is some minor issues (not sure what) on the x-ray, and he has elevated RED blood cell count. Hes on IV fluids and pain meds for now and thats it. I won't go off topic about him again here, but I know there are a few of you that might be interested. You can follow his progress on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AidenWolfhound if you want to, so I can stick to the no-spend here. Today we are going to be spending lots of unbudget money, probably tomorrow too, if I'm not around a lot, its cuz I'm busy. I'm hoping later this week to get back on track. 
So my dog (who was the cause of unexpected spending this week) is now very ill and they don't know what is wrong. (Sorry if this is off-topic) but our budget for the month is totally blown now. Oh well, its worth it. Got home from the grocery store and he was panting hard, drooling, standing with an arched back and obviously in pain. I was worried about bloat, and took him to the vet, its not bloat, but at this point they don't know what it is. They did tests and there is some minor issues (not sure what) on the x-ray, and he has elevated RED blood cell count. Hes on IV fluids and pain meds for now and thats it. I won't go off topic about him again here, but I know there are a few of you that might be interested. You can follow his progress on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AidenWolfhound if you want to, so I can stick to the no-spend here. Today we are going to be spending lots of unbudget money, probably tomorrow too, if I'm not around a lot, its cuz I'm busy. I'm hoping later this week to get back on track.
Oh gosh, I'm so, so sorry! That's downright awful to not know why he is getting worse 
I'll be following his progress on facebook..
Tuesday 22nd January:
$3.69 on a loaf of bread
$306.98 / $ 1000 Grocery budget
$147.95 / $200 Gas budget
What I did today to save money:
Stayed at home and cooked from freezer/fridge/pantry
A WEEK IN REVIEW
My month begins on the 15th of every month as that's pay day and we are paid monthly.. I'm going to do a recap on the last 7 days. I couldn't wait another 7 days to do a mid monthly one.. I'm aching for some motivation to continue.
Any day where I spent on groceries and still come under my monthly allowance of $1000 is counted as a no spend day. For me, our groceries are right up there with mortgage and bills in the "essential" category.
Tuesday 15th January: $15 Flowers for neighbour, $225 Electric mincer
Wednesday 16th January: No spend
Thursday 17th January: No spend
Friday 18th January: No spend
Saturday 19th January: $33 Lego on clearance
Sunday 20th January: No spend
Monday 21st January: No spend
Tuesday 22nd January: No spend
I know this doesn't have to do with no spend, but I came across it on a favorite blog of mine and thought I'd share. It's a good way to save $$ on those scrubbers and help the environment..
I know this doesn't have to do with no spend, but I came across it on a favorite blog of mine and thought I'd share. It's a good way to save $$ on those scrubbers and help the environment..
love it!
1/21
gas $38.71
soda $1.08
frugal things: made more lemonade using lemons from our tree, clipped coupons from Sunday's paper, roasted 3 large chicken breasts in the slow cooker for meals this week.
So, as a public school mom I have to say - I LOVE IT WHEN SCHOOL IS OUT :) I love, love, LOVE the extra time with my guys and we have a great time and avoid typical "kid places". Tomorrow I get 4 extra sweet boys and am up to a lucky 7
So here is my huge no spend accomplishment.....
We moved to our neighborhood about 3 years ago and for this 4 day weekend each year - one mom gets a block of rooms at Great Wolf Lodge. She gets a good price and it is super fun and we have gone the last 3 years to meet neighbors and whatnot, but this year....we went to a cabin my parents own in WV instead and the only money we spent was a little bit on gas and $8 to buy my parents the kind of wine they like as a thank you. In the past, between food and the room this weekend has cost us about $300.
My brother and his friends were there before us and he even called to ask if they should leave us their leftovers - so we didn't even have to use any groceries!!!
We had so much fun and the boys didn't seem like they missed out on the 50 plus family (seriously!!!) trip to Williamsburg. I wasn't sure how that would go because as much as the kids are lucky to have a little vacation cabin - when times were really tight, we once lived there for awhile so it is hard to spin it as a "vacation".
Key
No Spend/ Budgeted Spending
Unbudgeted/ Unnecessary Spending
Crafted for at least 30 minutres
1. Not exactly how I wanted to start the year/ month, but all well. Another $200 spent at Home Depot for more shelving for my kids' rooms, $40 spent at the grocery store while we continue to wrap our head around the food allergies.
2.
3.
4.
5. $$ 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
16. Not going anywhere, no money should be spent. We haven't seen the sun in about a week, we've had 3 days of rain, and we're all going stir crazy in this house. Finished the 6 dozen cloth wipes, went through the wipe stash and pulled out the unusable ones, cut out the pieces to sew 2 wool pilot caps for the babe on the way
17. Didn't leave the house, "they" were calling for snow (we've gotten none). All meals eaten at home, DH worked from home so no gas usage, started sewing the wool pilot caps, started cutting some pocket inserts for DD3's Fuzzi Bunz (the ones we're using are falling apart).
18. $45 spent at Five Guys for dinner. Frugal things for the day: cut more pocket inserts for DD3's diapers, finished some leftovers for lunch, DH worked from home
19. $40 spent at grocery store, not budgeted. Going to try to work on serging pocket inserts and maybe some diapers for DD3. Will get 2 loaves of bread rising before bed for lunch tomorrow and hopefully gather supplies up to make soap, deodorant, and lotion bars tomorrow, too.
20. Ugh. $15 spent at store for new cheese grater, instant read thermometer, and a candy thermometer. DD3 is sick, so I haven't gotten much sewing or fabric cutting going. I *did* manage to make deodorant and our "boo boo lotion" yesterday. Went to the hardware store for lye, but they were already closed
21. DH spent $6 at Chik Fil A for ice cream for the boys (there was some scheduling confusion w/ scouts and it ended up being canceled. All the other parents took their kids to Chik Fil A for ice cream and playtime, DH felt like the boys would miss out if he didn't go), $18 spent at Lowe's fro more cinder blocks for our "overflow pantry" shelves that DH started setting up. Soap is made, no lotion bars though b/c I realized I think my mom has the rest of the stash I previously made, I'll get them from her so I don't waste precious supplies on excess lotion bars. Cut DS1 and DH's hair. Made dinner at home, getting ready to start 2 loaves of bread for lunch tomorrow.
Tomorrow is my due date, not that it means anything since 4 of my 5 have come past their dates, but hey, it's to be celebrated. I'm hoping for labor soon, though.
13/ 20 No Spend Days
8/ 20 Crafting Days
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