~ March No-Spend Challenge ~ Budgeting our way to a pot of gold!

post #121 of 195

3/17/13 at 4:27pm

14 Posts. Joined 2/2013
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Quote:

Originally Posted by fifasmama

B
This is acting weird so,not sure how its going to show up.
3/12 paid 170 speech bill from savings. $25 co pay budgeted

Forums been not working right so missed a few day, got paid o paid some bills but jave stayed in budget.
3/17 its cold out and we felt like an adventure so we went to a free indoor mall playground. We ate in the food court but brought our own lunch so the only cost was gas which we already had. Now were getting groceries but its budget so cointing as no spend.

post #122 of 195

3/17/13 at 5:37pm

3,132 Posts. Joined 7/2004
Location: searching for my sanity
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Key

No Spend/ Budgeted Spending

Unbudgeted/ Unnecessary Spending

Did Something Frugal

1. $28 at McD's for lunch decluttered maternity clothes and baby clothes, passed along to DH's pregnant cousin

2. winter sowed 2 containers of echinacea seeds, ILs visited overnight and treated our family to dinner

3. planted 52 onion sets in the garden, ate leftovers for lunch and dinner

4. all meals had at home, finished off the leftovers for lunch

5. baked bread in prep for snow storm coming, but I didn't get the stew and additional bread done. Planted rainbow chard seeds in garden.

6. Snow storm, lost power, cooked stew, rice, and bread on grill. Kept warm using the woodstove.

7. No power, hubby went to store for breakfast cereal. Ran generator for fridges & freezer. Picked up more oil lamps and an extra gas can at WalMart & spent $75 on wood for woodstove.

8. Still no power, DD4 had a well baby visit, my mom watched the rest of the kids & washed the cloth dipes for me at her house. Spent $75 @ Target for additional drying racks, oil for generator, ash can for the woodstove, mini- LED flashlights for the kids, and new toilet brushes. Heated w/ woodstove.

9. Day 4 no power, hubby went to grocery store for hamburgers & hot dogs, my mom took my donations to the thrift store for me, acquired a set of fireplace gloves & fireplace tongs from my parents they no longer use, but proved quite handy for us.

10. Power was restored this morning!!! Winter sowed sprouted tomato seeds. Ended up ordering pizza for dinner.

11. 4 kids had dentist appts, all were cavity free Had our American Heritage Girls Joining Ceremony, made gluten-free rice krispie treats, was given all of the leftover potato chips at the end of the night.

12. DH forgot his wallet at home & needed gas for his car. Had to drive an hour (one way) to his office, kids and I had an unbudgeted McD lunch w/ him. Prepped 2 loaves of bread to bake in the morning.

13.

14. winter sowed 4 jugs today, chamomile, thyme, sage, and parsley

15. hung 2 loads of laundry to dry, planted shelling peas, snow peas, and more onions.

16. overspent on grocery grocery budget, $9 on Starbucks coffee. Hung 1 load of laundry to dry.

17. budgeted spend on felt for DS1's birthday gift (a Cub Scout brag vest). Hung 1 load of laundry

Goal for March 11/20 No Spend Days

post #123 of 195

3/18/13 at 3:20am

2,897 Posts. Joined 4/2007
Location: Home of the Screaming Pennies
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Goal = 10 No spend days this month

Progress = 5 no spend days so far

14..

15..

16.. $310 Running stuff

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Edited by Crunchy*VT*Mom - 3/19/13 at 4:56pm

post #124 of 195

3/18/13 at 5:17am

629 Posts. Joined 5/2005
Location: Rocky Mountains
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3/1: no spend

3/2: budgeted spending $8 coffee & tylenol

3/3: budgeted spending $30 subscription to Taproot magazine

3/4: budgeted spending $13 Whole Foods dinner, $47 groceries, $32 gas

3/5: no spend

3/6: no spend

3/7: eeeeek! String Cheese Horning's ticket $325 (on the CC, no less)

3/8: budgeted spending $24 groceries, $8 champagne, $8 tip for dinner

3/9: budgeted spending $11 groceries

3/10: budgeted spending $43 groceries

3/11: no spend got my tax refund checks in the mail today!! :)

3/12: no spend

3/13: no spend

3/14: no spend

3/15: budgeted spending $53 groceries, $40 gas, $39 sandals for DD (saltwaters--so stoked! ;)) + unplanned spending $100 for deposit for Waldorf charter school my kids got into next year! (woohoo!)

3/16: no spend

3/17: budgeted spending $40 groceries, $4 postage, $4 milkshakes for kids

post #125 of 195

3/18/13 at 5:39am

Thread Starter

3,371 Posts. Joined 6/2004
Location: Feet in the mud, head in the clouds
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No spend/Budgeted spend

Unbudgeted Spend

Save 30% of paycheck -- done!

Groceries -- 292.61/300

Gas -- 60/60 for van, 0/45 for car

March 1 -- groceries, gas, bills, and socks

March 2 --

March 3 --

March 4 -- heating bill

March 5 -- ice cream for kids

March 6 -- groceries

March 7 -- more snacks

March 8 -- more groceries

March 9 --

March 10 -- breakfast out

March 11 --

March 12 --

March 13 --

March 14 --

Save 20% of paycheck -- done!

Groceries -- 0/200

Gas -- 63.70/60 for van, 45 for car

March 15 -- dinner to celebrate selling our house

March 16 --

March 17 -- cat carriers for our move

March 18 -- planned

March 19

March 20

March 21

March 22

post #126 of 195

3/18/13 at 8:34am

68 Posts. Joined 5/2012
Location: AUSTRALIA
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Who you are?:
Student + DP and cat.

Where you are going (your financial goals):

Trying to save as much money as possible to build a little nest egg and move overseas.

How you plan to get there:

Here is a contracted version of our finances:

DEBT: ~$100,000 in student loans.

(Aren't going to pay it back until we start real full-time work because of the way repayments are set up in Australia. It would be more prudent to pay it off with pre-tax income when we are at the threshold than taxed savings because the discount for paying early is so paltry that we would be better off investing the amount for a return.)

GOAL: Don't get into any more debt. Don't get tempted by the shiny masters programme until we have better jobs in the field for a while.

SAVINGS:

-$5000 so far would like another $5000 by the end of the year.

-$2000 in emergency funds.

-$1000 in credit card for extra emergencies and online purchases.

GOAL: Invest savings. Save at least another $5000.

BUDGET: (If anyone's interested in cost of living in Australia here you go!):

-Monthly bills (internet = $70 + electricity ~$100 + gas ~$75 + 2 x mobile bill = $22 ) (TOTAL:~$65 a week usually less then this though and should be a little cheaper now that we negociated a better deal on these recently)

-Food and necessities $150... Realistically it actually ends up being closer to $250 because we eat out too much and it includes expenses like clothes and professional magazine subscription.

--18/03: Spent $80 on winter clothes and dinner tonight. >.<

GOALS:

Stick to the $150 p/w without padding the food budget with bread and pasta.

post #127 of 195

3/18/13 at 5:07pm

3,199 Posts. Joined 4/2011
Location: A stone's throw from the Chehalis River
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March 18

DH picked up some bread. The girls and I hopped in the car to pick up our CHICKS!!!!! (No ducklings today......) Just about nothing more fun than picking up new chicks to take home. We bought 6, plus feed, plus an extra heat lamp. After years of getting chicks, we finally don't have to spend a whole awful lot each year-- the only thing I had to pick up as far as stuff you don't expect to replace is some cheap-y thermometers for the brooder. Chicks and chick poo does a number on them!

= Oh, crap. Unexpected. Unavoidable. Huge.

= Minor damage

= No spend

= Doin' just fine

= planned but painful

Grocery target= $740

Remaining= $216

I need these things this month:

Materials for chicken tractors: plastic, boards, pipe, connectors, brooder thermometers, extra heat lamp bulbs, etc.

Photos from camera card

Herb starts, etc. for garden?

Deposit for Girl Scout day camp

Easter presents

post #128 of 195

3/18/13 at 6:41pm

629 Posts. Joined 5/2005
Location: Rocky Mountains
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3/1: no spend

3/2: budgeted spending $8 coffee & tylenol

3/3: budgeted spending $30 subscription to Taproot magazine

3/4: budgeted spending $13 Whole Foods dinner, $47 groceries, $32 gas

3/5: no spend

3/6: no spend

3/7: eeeeek! String Cheese Horning's ticket $325 (on the CC, no less)

3/8: budgeted spending $24 groceries, $8 champagne, $8 tip for dinner

3/9: budgeted spending $11 groceries

3/10: budgeted spending $43 groceries

3/11: no spend got my tax refund checks in the mail today!! :)

3/12: no spend

3/13: no spend

3/14: no spend

3/15: budgeted spending $53 groceries, $40 gas, $39 sandals for DD (saltwaters--so stoked! ;)) + unplanned spending $100 for deposit for Waldorf charter school my kids got into next year! (woohoo!)

3/16: no spend

3/17: budgeted spending $40 groceries, $4 postage, $4 milkshakes for kids

3/18: no spend

My class went on a field trip to a candy factory today and I almost gave in and bought some candy at the shop there, but held strong and didn't! We ended up getting some free broken gigantic candy canes anyway, so it worked out great PLUS I had a treat to bring home for my kids :) I did some marathon cooking last night so that I don't get tempted to just order takeout after my surgery, so I'm hoping to be set for the rest of the month for food--I made some breakfast stuff, plus a bunch of dinners that will give me leftovers for lunch, so I'm really going to try for quite a lot of no spend days for the rest of the month, as I will be pretty immobile (just need to watch any online spending!)

post #129 of 195

3/18/13 at 9:50pm

14 Posts. Joined 2/2013
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Quote:

Originally Posted by fifasmama

Forums been not working right so missed a few day, got paid o paid some bills but jave stayed in budget.
3/17 its cold out and we felt like an adventure so we went to a free indoor mall playground. We ate in the food court but brought our own lunch so the only cost was gas which we already had. Now were getting groceries but its budget so cointing as no spend.

3/18 wet and miserable today, took the kid to the playground at thw close mall. Used threrest of fun money $5 to let hwr ride the train. Not from bank account, She loves trains so totally worth it.

post #130 of 195

3/19/13 at 6:14am

Thread Starter

3,371 Posts. Joined 6/2004
Location: Feet in the mud, head in the clouds
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Should be another today. A bit of schoolwork this morning and I am going to clean an area of the attic. I have a lot of hand-me-downs to pack up and I can get started on the toys as well. It will be warm this afternoon and we'll get out for a big playdate with the school kids.

Ahhhh, nice, easy day. I love these kinds of days...a bit of work, a bit of play and lots of time with my kids. And no pressure to spend any money.

No spend/Budgeted spend

Unbudgeted Spend

Save 30% of paycheck -- done!

Groceries -- 292.61/300

Gas -- 60/60 for van, 0/45 for car

March 1 -- groceries, gas, bills, and socks

March 2 --

March 3 --

March 4 -- heating bill

March 5 -- ice cream for kids

March 6 -- groceries

March 7 -- more snacks

March 8 -- more groceries

March 9 --

March 10 -- breakfast out

March 11 --

March 12 --

March 13 --

March 14 --

Save 20% of paycheck -- done!

Groceries -- 0/200

Gas -- 63.70/60 for van, 45 for car

March 15 -- dinner to celebrate selling our house

March 16 --

March 17 -- cat carriers for our move

March 18 --

March 19 -- should be another

March 20

March 21

March 22

post #131 of 195

3/19/13 at 7:20am

2,544 Posts. Joined 3/2004
Location: Our house is at home.
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Doing well staying on track! :) Extra happy because I've been to the hospital twice this month and I am now on bed rest, so blowing the budget could have been *very* easy with all the extra trips to and from the hospital (an hour away), meals out for convenience, etc.

post #132 of 195

3/19/13 at 7:30am

3,132 Posts. Joined 7/2004
Location: searching for my sanity
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