No Spending in July ~ Want to save money? We'll help you. Please join us at any time. - Page 5

[Peacemamalove]

Hi I did it..and we were out getting groceries today Since it was the only day DH had off...All we got was food and I didn't buy anything else!!!! I did pick up some books though and was going to get them for the kids since they were so cheap but I put them back YES I put them back!!!:

Thanks for this !! .....Really thank you so much!!

[Metta&Karuna]

Originally Posted by JEB20005

Just want to add that while we are not financially tight right now I want to implement a workable budget so we can save more, track what we are spending on frivilous things so we can omit that spending and stop contributing to the rampant materialist culture we live in thus aiming for more sustainable living.

I think that's awesome. I have never been particularly materialistic, but what I learned when I suddenly got into a tight spot financially and had to set up a budget and analyze what I had been spending--is that my family and I were letting money just leak out in so many ways, ways that did not really increase our quality of life, and I just did not even notice them. Those invisible choices, that add up so much. I wish I could have learned this while I still had more income.

[scrapadoozer]

July 1

MIL & SIL are coming up for a visit this weekend. We've planned out all meals and are compiling a list of things we'll need. We need to be very careful in the wake of the car repair we had to pay for last week.

[Miasmamma]

Ok. Here's the scoop on me. My name is Erin and I am a WOHM who only works part time. My DH works full time. We make a decent amount of money, close to $4000 a month and have nothing to show for it. We have a lot of CC debt, but I've put the cards on a weekly payment plan along with the house payment. We are trying to cut out the essentials, so I am cancelling our DISH and my Audible.com subscription. That's $90 a month that I can put towards CC's.

There are somethings that I will have to spend on this month, but I'm trying to keep it at a minimum. I have at least two dog shows this month, but one is already paid for. I have the new Harry Potter on pre-order, and we have planned our date nights for this month as well. Other than that, it should just be the basics. I am trying to keep a log of what I spend, so we'll see what comes of it at the end of the month.

[TRIBE]

July 1- no spending! I guess it helps that I haven't left the house though it is only 5pm. I *almost* snagged a bed on craisglist for $40 which really would have been perfect for dh and I but I hesistated and missed it. Been trying real hard not to call about an antique table and singer sewing machine in table (i have a thing for antiques especially cheap!!).
I am planning to grocery shop on Tues when i can combine my trip with my produce/csa box pick up and shop the commisary instead of walmart, which is closer and well not supporting the bigbox. I don't think I will spend over $80 for 2 weeks but I really need to do my meal plan. I am going to an old HS friends house for the 4th, her dhand mine are stationed on the same sub, we haven't seen each other in 10 yrs, since hs so I am planning to bring something to it, just don't know what yet.

And I decided I will go ahead and put HP on preorder thru Amazon, its at half price and I don't think I can get that good of a deal even with my best buy card.

[angelcollector1]

1 day down 30 more to go. I almost didn't make it as I wanted to meet a friend for a late lunch/early dinner and then just decided I would fix something quick and stay home.

[FamilyFriendlyLife]

July 1: $20 b-day gift, $35.76 gas

Welcome to all the new mamas; good luck ladies!

Kim

[Pachamama]

I'm in! I work 2 jobs but dh is on summer leave until august, we get his unemployment but it's less than his salary so we're on a tight budget. We're also working hard to pay down cc debt.

One of my jobs is co owning a fair trade import shop so I'm always tempted to bring new items home, especially with the wholesale discount so that's my big challenge. Other than that I"m a pretty trifty chick, buying most all my and boys clothes second hand etc. Dh on the other hand not so thrifty. But he has elected to stay on a weekly allowance and give up his debit card for now. That's helping alot.

We have family visiting this month so we'll have to encourage the frugal day trips and family style meals at home. I also plan to keep us on track with the budget, setting weekly goals and keeping it updated. I also plan to do some decluttering around the house which should help uncover some forgotten toys and art supplies for the kids.

We can do it! Thanks for the support everyone!

[mackysmama]

I've been spending a lot of money the last few days but it's been for birthday gifts for my dd and for upcoming children's and friends birthdays. I did pay a $22 library fine yesterday but that was June. Today is a new month! I know I will be buying the new Harry Potter book and going to see the movie and probably a dinner out but these are budgeted for the month. My friend is coming into town next week but I am going to try to use free entertainment (museum memberships, pool membership, etc.) and to cook a lot. My partner and I are each getting a $10 a week allowance so I will save mine to use when my friend is in town.

July 1 - $78.35 at Whole Foods ($5.95 for gift, $6.20 for my lunch ); $19.95 on birthday gift, $30 on car gas (need to ask my partner for the total)

Total: Unneccessary spending: $6.20
Budgeted spending: $122.10

[Heidi]

Hi. I am new here. My husband and I have been on a budget for about 3 months now. (We have been using Dave Ramsey's envelope system)
The problem is we are just getting ready to fill the envelopes for the month of July and I am already trying to spend my clothing envelope ($20) and my blow envelope ($30). Hanna Andersson is having her twice a year sale and her long johns which look sooooo comfy for the winter are $30 instead of $70. Help!

[Amys1st]

be back to list my spending

[TRIBE]

$30 from $70 is a great price and since it gets very cold in CO and HA clothes have great resale value, honestly I'd say it's worth it. But I am not one to pass up a very good deal on an item I will need soon that I can eventually resell for as much or almost as much as I paid for it.

And apparantley Amazon is not my friend. I did pre-order Hp saving me half price on it, but then I also bought 2 books for me (The Secret and Playful parenting, both to read when I take the kids to the free parks so I don't shop out of boredom) and a book for the kids that I heard rave reviews on. So $65 including tax, gift wrap on the HP book and free shipping.
July total so far
Necessary money spent $17.99 for HP
frivolous money spent $47 at Amazon
I'm not very good at self control

[tarheelbaby]

July 1-
Came home after church and spent a quiet day at home. I have some errands to run tomorrow, so I'll be out, but I'm going to pack a bag w/ snacks and drinks to keep from doing the drive-through dash when we get hot and tired.

Originally Posted by brooktosea

Thinking about having a yard sale. thought that might be a fun way to kick start things.
Someone wrote about decluttering. Could you talk about that somemore. I think that goes hand in hand with no spending. It seems like in our country we have a tendancy to shop for recreation. I read once that the best way to save money is to go for a bike ride in a park everytime your tempted to go to a mall to just "pick up that one thing that turns into 20 things".
I'm sure we have all bought toys for our kids to find it ignored not to long after and felt like we wasted our money.

today I avoided buying wrapping paper for a wedding gift and my daughter and I made our own paper. Turned out much more personal maybe not very elegant but cute.

I posted a little about this, saying that I am trying to declutter some since we are likely to move early next year. I'm going through the house/closets/outside storage and trying to weed out things. For me, one of my biggest things is saving DS's clothes. I am trying not to be so sentimental and am only going to save my favorite things. The rest I'm going to try and sale or donate. Also, we just have some junk laying around that's our old stuff our parents gave us when we moved out. Like, why is my husband hanging on to old baseball cards, when he doesn't collect them anymore and none of them are valuable? Why am I hanging on to old college textbooks or old videos we don't care about anymore? So, I'm trying to get rid of all of that all the while making an effort not to buy more stuff (hello, Target!) and clutter back up again. Just because Target/Pottery Barn/Williams-Sonoma says I "need" it doesn't mean that I do. That goes hand in hand with not living a materialistic, consumerist lifestyle to me. (Although I do have my shopping weaknesses, I am only human, after all.) I'm trying to think very hard about NEED vs. WANT. I hope that makes some sense.

[CandyApple]

Good day here. Decided to change our plans, a friend and I opted for a long walk with the kids instead of cruising the art fair. Spent $1.50 on a wooden toy @ a yard sale, and then stepped on it on in our yard, breaking it. It was technically a June purchase cuz I used just car change left over from last month, but it was unneeded!

July 1: 1.50 wooden toy

[Beachlivnmom]

We ate lunch here and made sure to pack plenty of snacks and H2O for an afternoon at the beach. We only spent $25 on gas. Tommorrow is grocery day. my friend and I split stuff so i am shooting for $20-$30. The gas from today should last for a few days.

[Daisie125]

July 1st

Necessary: $9.99 - groceries to get us through the week
Unnecessary: $0.00

So far so good! It does help that we are pretty much broke until Friday

[Om Girl]

July 1: $20.00 on fast snacks house hunting today.

BUT, we found our dream house!!!! Just like I knew we would...1/2 blk from a park, 1 blk from co-op, walkable distance to restaurants, coffee, college : and more Great neighborhood, oh...so perfect...hopefully getting it inspected tomorrow!

And, we returned ERGO DH is , but it's useless unless we can both wear it. Also, returning TCOYF to B&N because TRIBE found me a copy on TP for $9.00! Thanks mama!

[TRIBE]

Congrats mama on the house! It happened just like that for us too, very 1st house we looked at, quiet neighborhood community on the rise, beach and lake access, backyard backs up to a greenbelt so no backyard neighbors ever, nice back yard with room for running, swingset and gardens, even an rv parking spot we are going to turn into the kids basketball court. It's a bit out of our budget since interest rates went up but we didn't lock in our rate yet as they are coming down.

Glad I could save you $ on that book. if I had my househld goods I could have given you mine for shipping since I am no longer in need but that won't happen until the end of the month.

[TRIBE]

Frugal meal plans!!!

Boredome and actual peace and quiet lead me to doing some searches tonight and look what I have found

http://menus4moms.com/index.php

http://frugalunderground.com/frugal-meal-planning/

http://www.thechristianwoman.com/art...gal-index.html

http://heart4home.net/kitchen.htm

http://budgetdial.blogspot.com/2006/...l-recipes.html

one of my fav frugal sites is down but she has a few other sites avail
http://free.prohosting.com/hbhw/ you can websearch hillbilly housewife and find some other sites by her.

[SusanInItaly]

1. Please introduce yourself and tell us anything you think it would help us to know about yourself.
Hi! I'm Susan, we just moved to Hawaii and DH is active duty and about to deploy until next May. I'm hoping to really save and pay some bills while he's gone. We'll see. We run a very tight budget because we have a home in Florida that is "under rented", meaning I'm getting less than my mortgage and expenses on it, so we are losing money on the house. (about $400 a month). I also lost my job in the move (I was working PT nights/weekends) and have no plans on regaining employment since DH is leaving. So, that loss of income has caused some financial tightness.

2. Please tell us why you have decided to spend nothing (or spend significantly less) for the Month of July. Memorize these goals and recite them to yourself before all purchases.
1-I need to save money for home repairs instead of stressing out over every little repair (including regular maintenance).
2-I want to pay off our credit card debt. We don't have that much but I still hate it.
3-Get said C/C's paid off and start Roth IRA for me since I don't work outside the home. Also save for travel.
4-Finally and most important, to get outselves out of the paycheck to paycheck habit that has plagued us our whole marriage. I want to stop wasting money on fast food and junk.


3. No spending is hard work. You need a plan. Please tell us your game plan -- how do you plan to approach no spending for a month?
Avoiding stores basically. Doing free or cheap summer things with the kids.
Fast food once a week and we share.
Not leaving the neighborhood. Not driving anywhere I don't need to go.