January No Spend Challenge~ Ringing in the New Year with $$ in our Pockets!!! - Page 21

[Ruthiegirl]

Anther no-spend day planned.  Getting a little boring, aren't I?  I mean what was it that I used to buy that ate up all of our money?  I couldn't even begin to tell you.  This month has been a real eye opener.  We'll save almost 35% of our take home pay and we aren't missing anything.  Makes me think we could be saving a lot more.  And we need the savings.  We have lived too close to the bone for too many years.  

I would really like some candles though.  I have burned every little nub of candle stub and am completely out now.  Dh's birthday is Friday and dinner by candle light is a bit of a tradition.  Or I could dig out some Christmas lights and tuck them into mason jars for a similar effect.  LIke this:  http://lavieenblanche.blogspot.com/2011/08/lets-talk-lighting.html Yep, I think I'll do that.  Wouldn't want to break a no-spend trend.  

My frugal act today -- made muffins for breakfast with extra to take to a playdate.  

  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 --   grocery shopping 

January 18 -- 

January 19 -- 

January 20 -- 

January 21 -- 

January 22 -- 

January 23 --     made snacks for play date

January 24

January 25

My goals:

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

Save 20% of Jan 18th paycheck -- nope, only made 16%

Do something frugal every day

Make every dollar matter

[JunebugsMom]

Originally Posted by Ruthiegirl 

I am right there with you.  I need new glasses, dh needs them and dd has one pair, but no back up.  I keep putting it off, because I know it will be a huge hit of cash.  I need to look into on-line places to buy glasses again.  I tried it once with Zenni Optical, but my crazy stigmatism makes it tough to get the prescription right. 

We've had great luck with Coastal and your first pair is basically free (of course there is cost for add-ons or special prescriptions.  but still really cheap and DH and I both love our glasses).

[JunebugsMom]

Oh man, stop me from spending money people!  I do some freelance work so my paychecks are not regular at all.  This morning I found out that I will be getting paid quite well for the project I am starting this week.  It will be a lump sum but I won't actually get the check for about 2 months.  This totally makes me feel like I should buy myself a treat (immediately), which is silly because I should just look at it like a regular paycheck that we need to pay bills with just like DH's paycheck.  Maybe when I actually have the check in my hands I will treat myself to something small.

[micah_mae_]

Key:

No Spend/Paying Bills 

Budgeted Spend 

Unbudgeted Spend 

Did Something Frugal at Home 

**18/25 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. **Add to this DH just told me I had to order him a new birth certificate or he can lose his security clearance so that's $30. Dang it.* So now I'm not paying a couple things until that one payment to ING comes back in a week. Gah.

January 16:  No more spending until I can fix the ING money issue, not even budgeted! Although I just remembered that I took out $100 to get the van fixed (we already bought the part) so I may just put that back in the bank until the other issue gets fixed then take the van in. The van can certainly wait, it's not emergent.  .

January 17:  About $5 for onions, garlic and ziplock bags for meat mixes.

January 18:  I was craving PB Captain crunch for dinner. I know, I know, horrible. $11 for cereal. Tomorrow I pledge to have a no spend day.

January 19:  $10. No excuses, we had coupons for kids meals and my son asked for a hamburger for dinner so I dug them out. The $10 was for DH and I.

January 20:   $12 for food and $50 for redbox..wth? I guess that explains why I found 3 redbox movies in DHs truck that he was supposed to take back and apparently never did. Ugh. Good thing we weren't overdrafted but that was so not in the budget. I'm pretty irate with him and with myself for being lazy about food lately. I'm struggling because I'm 7 months pregnant and late pregnancy fatigue has hit me HARD. I vow not to buy food again until payday, we won't starve I'll just have to ration the fruit for the boys. But I got the chicken mix in the freezer and 30 cups of broth.

January 21:   Made some meat mix.g 

January 22:   $8 for groceries..eggs, cheese, etc. Finished the last of the meat mix and got it in the freezer!

January 23:   Made a big batch of steel cut oats!

January 24:

January 25: 

January 26:

January 27:

January 28:

January 29:

January 30:

Tomorrow we're going to the childrens museum but the tickets will be budgeted for and we're packing our own food so should be a good day!

[SweetSilver]

Originally Posted by JunebugsMom 

Oh man, stop me from spending money people!  I do some freelance work so my paychecks are not regular at all.  This morning I found out that I will be getting paid quite well for the project I am starting this week.  It will be a lump sum but I won't actually get the check for about 2 months.  This totally makes me feel like I should buy myself a treat (immediately), which is silly because I should just look at it like a regular paycheck that we need to pay bills with just like DH's paycheck.  Maybe when I actually have the check in my hands I will treat myself to something small.

Start "spending money" on paper instead.  Make a list of what you really want around the house but don't absolutely need (in my house the towels are getting scrappy, the sheets are all mismatched and the dishes are getting chipped up).  Maybe you want pay for a special event instead.  Figure out what you can afford, do research as to where you are going to make the purchase and when (for the best deals).  Keep this list, modify it, and when that check comes in, make those purchases.

[SweetSilver]

/ = Excellent

 /  = Not so good, but not so bad, either

 / = Very, very bad

1.16 

1.17 Just some OJ and candy bars for dh.  I normally don't count those, but if they show up on the grocery store receipts, then I do.

1.18   Big day out-- and family swim made us hungry!  We bought a lot of snacks from the co-op.

1.19   No spend.  Staying home.  

1.20   No spend.

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

1.21   Open gym, $10 came from our FUNfund, and lunch at DQ.  The girl's fries were out of their budget.  $9.50

1.22  Grocery stops @coop and regular store:  we did pretty well, the girls' snacks out of their budget, few other treats.  I'm not going to make my 5-week goal, but if I shopped more carefully like I have been doing this last week, I'm sure we would do a little better.  

=$842/ $920 for 5 weeks ending Sunday, 2.3  Doesn't look like I'm going to make this.  

[delightedbutterfly]

Originally Posted by delightedbutterfly 

 = No Spend   = Groceries/Gas/Ok spending  = Unnecessary spending   = Exercised   = Ate all meals at home

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! 

Jan 15: Finally got out of the house today. Slept better last night! Did horrible on the no spend... Bought myself and youngest breakfast out $17 and then spent  $69 on much needed fresh groceries and $30 on a home decor item, was supposed to be $35 but when I got there she told me to only give her $30... It's a local at home mom business and she makes amazing stuff, a total splurge yes but I had already agreed to purchase before the new year, she was just away until now. I'm taking the other $5 and putting it towards our EF 

Ok so basically this whole week has been a bust. I was still super sick on Wed and Thursday... only today (Friday) have I started to feel better at all...

Jan 16: bought myself a smoothie $4.48 basically anything to try and get something into me. Of course when I'm sick I crave c*ap food and trying to get *any* nutrition is hard. Spend $11.20 on a couple things my mom wanted me to pick up. I have to mail them to her so it's going to cost me postage too :(  Then I bought myself lunch $11.59 as I had some alone time as my youngest was at a playdate.

Jan 17: Still not feeling well. Spent $7 :) on DD's drop in gym fee. Then bought us lunch out at $12.61 and then we went and watched DD1's skating with her school and I bought us all smoothies afterwords $14.39. We then went grocery shopping $34.31.

Jan 18th: I'm FINALLY feeling about 85% better! And although I need a trip to a box store the roads are horrible at the moment so it's only been a school drop off/pick up kinda day. So yay!  and 

Jan 19th: Date night. But we haven't had one in months. So it's all ok spending here! $66.67 on dinner, $13.31 on Dessert while we were trying to extend the date... sad I know but no good movies were playing so we went to the Casino and DH promptly lost $60 in less time than it took me to lose the $20 I kept going up and down on. And we paid the Babysitter $40. 

Oh and I know it looks like we didn't buy gas but I'm going to have to look at DH's account because I think he put gas in the car...

$144.10/$200 weekly grocery budget
$157/$?? weekly stuff budget
$0/$?? weekly gas budget
$170.05/$?? 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

 = No Spend   = Groceries/Gas/Ok spending  = Unnecessary spending   = Exercised   = Ate all meals at home

Week 4 Jan 20-26

I made a realization this week. We're going to spend money. But my goal is to SPEND LESS. I'm trying and with being sick that really through us for a loop. But It's payday tomorrow and the amount of money left over in the account is INCREDIBLE! It will pay off another good chunk of our CC and LOC and my saving for our BEF is going awesome! So I'm actually really proud of us. Yes we could cut back more. But it's our first month and life still happens! I like my weekly totals as it's really helping me see where our money is going!

Jan 20: Stuff: $32.73 (Birthday party present and toiletries), $19.32 random stuff, $5.60 (75% off Christmas cards for next year, 30 total and that's how many I think I'll send out) Eat Out: $8.40 and $25.88 Groceries: $94.97  

Jan 21: $40 Gas  

Jan 22: Had to go to a Dr's Appt 2.5 hours away and so we always do our "big" shopping at the same time (ie Costco and other stores we don't have here). Eat Out: $ 14.55, $15.75 and $8.37 Stuff: $33.57, $8.40, $10.50, $155.90, $19.73 Gas: $64.03 

Jan 23: Going for a no spend day today! In fact I deposited my last couple weeks of babysitting cheques and withdrew the money straight to our cash BEF.  

$94.97/$200 weekly grocery budget

$280.20/$?? weekly stuff budget
$104.03/$?? weekly gas budget
$72.95/$?? 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

[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

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.

22.    DS2 had a follow up allergist appointment today.  Breakfast was homemade muffins in the car on the way to the dr, lunch was sandwiches on homemade bread, dinner will be from the pantry and freezer.  Cut the soap and set it out to cure.  I'm not giving myself a Crafting Day yet, but I'm hoping to get some pocket dipe inserts done or maybe start knitting a pair of mittens for DD3.

23.   I'm spending money in 30 minutes.  We're getting take out.  I have NO motivation to cook or even think about cooking.  I'm tired, I have a headache, and I'm so incredibly cranky.  I didn't get any crafting done last night, hopefully tonight I'll cast on for DD3's mittens, she desperately needs them.

14/ 20 No Spend Days

8/ 20 Crafting Days

This last half of the month has been terrible for spending for us.  I need to get back on the wagon.  Something needs to give in my motivation to stay on course.

[melissel]

Originally Posted by FillingMyQuiver 

23.   I'm spending money in 30 minutes.  We're getting take out.  I have NO motivation to cook or even think about cooking.  I'm tired, I have a headache, and I'm so incredibly cranky.

Ugh, here too. I set aside money for a lunch out tomorrow, but now I'm not going, so I may spend it tonight on dinner. And I don't even have being 9+ months pregnant as an excuse!

[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!

16     Spent about $100 on Frontier Co-op, put $100 in savings account AND...PAID OFF FINAL CREDIT CARD FROM CHRISTMAS EXPENSES!!!! Yahoo!

The DR Debt Snowball method has served us well!  We have had many bumps in the road and hiccups along the way, we didn't give up using CC's all together & I just started reading DR's book this month!   

17  

18  

19     Spent more than I should have on groceries, will limit to produce, and dairy for the rest of the month!  Made a gallon of homemade yogurt for $3.50

20     DH bought a subscription to Ancestry.com last year with his Christmas money, It just auto renewed!  $149

21 

22 

23    Brought change to the coin machine at my bank $17.42!  Opened kids student bank accounts with 5% interest on up to $1000! 

[JunebugsMom]

1/23

 Groceries $60.22

 Coffee drink $2.80

frugal things: The kids planted some seeds in the garden--lettuce, beets, carrots, onions. 

[melissel]

Almost ordered dinner in, but I managed to make it through with chicken apple sausage and salad I had DH pick up on the way home. Woohoo! I promised the kids lunch out at our favorite sushi place tomorrow though, so we'll be spending there, and I have some more library fines to pay and a book to mail. Should be back on track for Friday though...

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:   $481 for three exams and two sets of frames and lenses at the eye doctor

1/23:  

1/24: 

1/25: 

[LoveOurBabies]

Originally Posted by LoveOurBabies 

My month begins on the 15th of every month as that's pay day and we are paid monthly.

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

Wednesday 23rd January: No spend

Thursday 24th January: $23.80 on burgers

Thursday 24th January:

Well, I did it.. I got my 24 day long wish - Chicken burgers from McD's. I can't believe I gave in after I had bypassed it so many times and resisted!!! I'm sooooo disappointed with myself. I had 3 burgers and dh had 2 and we're both meant to be losing weight. I mean really, who has three burgers in a row and says they're on a diet? Ugh. I'm not doing well with this deprivation thing. We had such a low cal day yesterday that I felt like I was literally starving and begged dh to go out and get burgers at 2am. My entire days worth of cal's was 400 before the burgers. I'm exclusively breastfeeding a 9mo baby boy (he doesn't like solids) and I'm tired of the breastfeeding hungries! My tummy is rumbling all day.

$23.80 Triple cranky face because it was unbudgeted, bad for our health and not conductive to my other goal of losing weight.

I'm going to pull this one out of the grocery budget instead of general savings, because I'll feel the sting a lot more this way. I think I'm also going to get some high cal foods I can throw into the oven for a quick midnight fix (I'll take it as lesson learned).

$428 / $1000 Grocery budget

$147.95 / $200 Gas budget

What I did today to save money:

Ate from home (apart from the burgers at 2am)

Soaked beans for tomorrow's dishes.

[SweetSilver]

Originally Posted by CookiePie 

23    Brought change to the coin machine at my bank $17.42!  Opened kids student bank accounts with 5% interest on up to $1000! 

!!!!!!!??????? You just inspired me to inquire at our bank.  5????? percent??????  Awesome!

[LoveOurBabies]

Originally Posted by 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

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.

22.    DS2 had a follow up allergist appointment today.  Breakfast was homemade muffins in the car on the way to the dr, lunch was sandwiches on homemade bread, dinner will be from the pantry and freezer.  Cut the soap and set it out to cure.  I'm not giving myself a Crafting Day yet, but I'm hoping to get some pocket dipe inserts done or maybe start knitting a pair of mittens for DD3.

23.   I'm spending money in 30 minutes.  We're getting take out.  I have NO motivation to cook or even think about cooking.  I'm tired, I have a headache, and I'm so incredibly cranky.  I didn't get any crafting done last night, hopefully tonight I'll cast on for DD3's mittens, she desperately needs them.

14/ 20 No Spend Days

8/ 20 Crafting Days

This last half of the month has been terrible for spending for us.  I need to get back on the wagon.  Something needs to give in my motivation to stay on course.

You poor thing I can't imagine what it must be like to look after 6 little ones (including the one in your belly)! I'm having more than enough trouble with four little ones. Hope you feel better soon mama. 

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Having no money in the bank makes these no-spend challenges a breeze! 

Trying to put a positive spin on things....  

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom 

My Goal = 15  No-Spend days

My progress = 18 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

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[CookiePie]

Not sure what is happening MDC  I'm getting multiple posts form 1 post!!!!

Edited by CookiePie - 1/24/13 at 9:37am

[CookiePie]

dupe post!

[CookiePie]

I have no clue how I got multiple posts!!!

[CookiePie]

Originally Posted by SweetSilver 

!!!!!!!??????? You just inspired me to inquire at our bank.  5????? percent??????  Awesome!

Yes we switched the kids accounts from the credit union to my friends bank (she told me about the students savings club at the %5 rate).  It was for students between the ages of 5-21, the rate is on up to $1000, after that regular crappy rate applies.  They gave free piggy banks to the kids and welcomed the to use the coin machine.  They also told us about $10 incentive that they usually offer for a summer reading challenge!  We will be looking for that this summer!  It might be worth calling around to see if any local banks offer something similar!  We kept the minimum $5 balance in both kids credit unions because we didn't want to close those accounts.  They do offer great loan rates and free checking & I though it was wise to keep them open!