August No-Spend Challenge -- Congratulations no-spenders!!!! You made it to the end! - Page 52

[sparkprincess]

Originally Posted by Beachlivnmom

July 25-
July 26- $7 lunch and smoothies at Costco. $39.02at Costco Nothing we needed. Bottle of wine, my inlaws just left and I wanted a treat, undies for ds, book for ds, and puzzle for ds. It was so hot here I basically went to get cool in the AC. Even the sand at the beach was hot, but the trades are back so it feels better today.

I took a pair of shorts back to the store and had it credited to my CC and made 2 payments on CC this month.

July-27 free ac at the library

I'm pretty sure that's a necessity!!

Oh, and it's August now.


Prudence, I'm so, so sorry to hear of your loss! :

[kalisis]

...Prudence, I;m so sorry for your loss. You will be in my thoughts.

August 26 - $12
August 27 - $41 on groceries $40 on lunch/dinner out (it was mad money that was stashed, but still...)
August 28
August 29
August 30
August 31

Goal - 53/100 groceries

[brennasmom]

Aug 27th: s, only $ spent was $4.75 from grocery budget for pasta & bread that I had forgotten. Ooops!!!!

[liangel]

8/1-
8/2-
8/3-$12.39 Ingles (Personal Items)
8/4-$10.30- Lunch/Dinner out
8/5-
8/6- $3.55-McDonalds
8/7- $72- floormats for my new car (I want my car to stay clean!!!!!)
8/8-
8/9- $37 Nails (Manicure/Pedi)
8/10-$5-Bunko, $6.50-Movie
8/11-$11.52 CVS personal items.
8/12-
8/13-
8/14-
8/15-
8/16-
8/17-
8/18-
8/19-
8/20-
8/21-
8/22-$26 on ebay. Okay, so I caved and won Melrose Place Season 2. At least I didn't pay full price
8/23- $1.46 Sonic root beer float
8/24-
8/25-
8/26-
8/27-

[nadia105]

Prudence I am so sorry you lost your sweet baby . Take care of yourself mama!

[nadia105]

August 1: ! Only spent on gas and groceries.
August 2: ! Didn't even go to the farmer's market like I'd planned
August 3: $20 at garage sales. All okay except for 50 cents for a Sprite . Also $57 on Shaklee stuff last night (necessary)
August 4: $31 at coop, $10 wasn't necessary
August 5: !
August 6: !
August 7: kinda . Unplanned take out, but covered by food budget
August 8: I spent a ton of $$, but only $16 was unbudgeted.
August 9: !
August 10: !
August 11: $9.75 at the local bakery for scones and cupcakes .
August 12: ! (83.55 on a Melissa and Doug coop, but that's budgeted -- christmas and bday gifts)
August 13: . $25 on a Glamourmom top on the tp and $44 on Dh's bday lunch, both allowed expenses.
August 14: $2.29 on Andes mints at Target - impulse purchase when I went to get breastmilk storage bags. $41 on diapers (pretty necessary, ds is barely fitting in his smalls)
August 15: !
August 16: $14.97 at Papa Murphy's. Technically w/in food budget, but not necessary.
August 17: !
August 18: : $200 Hanna Andersson
August 19: !
August 20: !
August 21: . Did have to get a prescription filled for abx to clear up mastitis, but that was necessary.
August 22: !
August 23: !
August 24: $5.50 for cupcakes and cookies , $6 garage sale purchases
August 25: Ice cream with inlaws, Dh paid, it did come out of cash though
August 26:! Spent $25 for BIL bday gift, budgeted
August 27: !

[Beachlivnmom]

Originally Posted by sparkprincess

I'm pretty sure that's a necessity!!

Oh, and it's August now.

Whoops

[SusannahM]

Aug 1 -
Aug 2 -
Aug 3 -
Aug 4 - $25 for double stroller, $3.14 for breakfast at Wendy's, $38.02 for gas
Aug 5 - $26.77 for gas, $6.40 for art supplies and a phone at Staples
Aug 6 -
Aug 7 -
Aug 8 - $29.75 for car inspection
Aug 9 -
Aug 10 - $14.53 on groceries
Aug 11 - $33.58 on groceries
Aug 12 - $8.52 on groceries, $2.75 on water
Aug 13 -
Aug 14 -
Aug 15 - $97.50 for health insurance, $6.16 for life insurance
Aug 16 -
Aug 17 - $38.45 for gas, $7.94 for training pants
Aug 18 -
Aug 19 - $59.36 for electricity, $14.15 for groceries, $2.67 at the Dollar Tree
Aug 20 -
Aug 21 - $50 for a wedding gift, $21.71 at Target
Aug 22 -
Aug 23 -
Aug 24 -
Aug 25 - $2 at a garage sale for random things, including a rolling desk chair
Aug 26 - $8.58 for groceries, $36.36 for gas
Aug 27 - $955.03 for rent and water bill, $64.40 for phone/dsl bill

Total: $1552.77

[SusannahM]

We're going to have a hard time reaching our goal of $1700 for the month, I think, considering we have about $100 coming out of DH's check on the 30th for life and health insurance, that leaves only $45 to spend this week on food and gas this week. Plus, I don't know if $20 my DH spent on a lunch earlier this month is going to get approved as an expense or not by his manager. Oh well, we should be close to the goal regardless.

I'm sorry about the miscarriage, Prudence. ((((HUGS))))

[SusannahM]

These are the things I see on our expenditures that weren't totally necessary:

$25 for double stroller
$3.14 for breakfast at Wendy's
$6.40 for art supplies and a phone at Staples
$7.94 for training pants (could be using cloth diapers instead, I just needed a break from all of DD's poo since I'm frustrated as it is about potty training her)
$21.71 at Target (although I'm going to return about $6 worth of this)
$2 at a garage sale

Total - $66.19

Things that might be less or gone next month:
$29.75 for car inspection
~$35 in gas - we're going to make one less trip to Dallas
$10 less on phone bill (they billed us the wrong rate for DSL this time)

Things that will be more or didn't have expense this month:
~$50 for car registration
$64 more for rent increase
$20 more for electricity since we've been using the air conditioner

So, I expect a $74.75 decrease in some things, and a $134 increase in other things, so a net increase of $59.25.

Hmmm, since $1700 is already challenging, I don't know if I'll be able to meet that goal or not next month. I might have to increase it to $1750.

On a good note, though, today I made my first batch of homemade laundry soap. I'm interested to see how it works. I put in fake Oxyclean (part washing soda, part sodium perborate) instead of just straight washing soda, since I had it on hand. Umm, should have remembered that sodium perborate basically makes hydrogen peroxide when mixed with water, and soap is basically organic. So, mix hydrogen peroxide with something organic and you get

(well, that's the closest picture I could find to a volcano, kind of like the ones we made in elementary school. Yep, science experiment in my kitchen!)

[FamilyFriendlyLife]

Aug. 1:
Aug. 2:
Aug. 3:
Aug. 4:
Aug. 5:
Aug. 6:
Aug. 7: $4.30 McD fries/shake
Aug. 8:$4.30 McD - another Pavlovian stop post-mtg
Aug. 9:
Aug. 10:
Aug. 11:
Aug. 12:
Aug. 13:
Aug. 14:
Aug. 15: $3.22 McD
Aug. 16: $3.33 McD
Aug. 17:
Aug. 18:
Aug. 19: $21.47 sweatshirts for the kids b/c I forgot to pack
Aug. 20:
Aug. 21: $36.50 takeout in blatant attempt to avoid cooking
Aug. 22: $50 dinner
Aug. 23:
Aug. 24:
Aug. 25:
Aug. 26:
Aug. 27:

Progress on Goals:
* Less than $200 in frivolous spending - August to date: $123.12
* At least 20 days - 20/31
* NO McDonald's - 23/31
* Pack snacks + water for outings - 18?/31
* Avoid Target - 25/31

I went 25 days without Target, then caved yesterday. Had some items to return, + some necessities to buy, so could not see driving all around if I was already there. Good news is I stuck to my list. Went back today for a cordless phone (had been on our list + was on sale); unfortunately will have to go back once again to return phone as both handsets started smoking when I plugged in the battery packs.

Kim

[FamilyFriendlyLife]

Prudence - so sorry for your loss...

[kalisis]

Kim, this is really great.

Progress on Goals:
* Less than $200 in frivolous spending - August to date: $123.12
* At least 20 days - 20/31

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Okay, successful August no-spenders...time for us to start thinking about September.

Are you going to continue your spending awareness into September?

What are your ultimate financial goals? Why are you doing this? What are you working toward?

It is always good to revisit these goals and adjust them as necessary.

I'll post the September thread a few days before September starts because that way newbies can think about these things before the month starts and they can get September 1st off to a good start.

I'm definitely going to insert a car-use goal into my no-spending plan next month.

Thank you so much for going through August with me!!!

Here's to a stellar last few days of August.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Can somebody post those questions again? The ones you are supposed to ask yourself before you buy something?

Because I want to put those in our next thread so I can remember them.

Also...someone had a statement about things not being a safety net, money is the safety net.

Which one of you said that? I want to put that at the top of our next thread too...

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Found it:

more things are not security...money is a safety net...not things...

-- imahappymama

[allgirls]

Okay, successful August no-spenders...time for us to start thinking about September.

Are you going to continue your spending awareness into September? Right now as I do the end of every month I am shopping for the next month's non perishables. I buy them monthly because I have to drive to the cheaper stores so to make it worthwhile and to save gas I go to one city for some things and another city for the rest. Once that is done my only spending should be on perishables.

I do expect a few extras in September due to 3 kids starting school and there are always things like student card, lunch programs etc.

What are your ultimate financial goals? Why are you doing this? What are you working toward?I need to save $10000 in 2 years so I can go back to college when my youngest starts school.

ETA...my plan is to fill up my gas tank tomorrow...that gas has to last me until the 20 of September...and hopefully beyond.

If I can do this then we won't need to borrow. Plus...I have too much stuff so I really want to cut down on that.

I am looking forward to September.

[frog]

My goals for September:

Continue on the limited credit card plan: We're using the credit card ONLY for car-related expenses.

Continue to sell off baby stash: That's underway at MDC's Trading Post.

Host successful yard sale: Scheduled for 9/14-15.

"Found money": All money from freelance work, tie-dye sales, yard sale and diaper liquidation is to go toward credit card debt.

[becoming]

August 27:

I'm so sorry, Prudence.

[mrskennedy]

August 1 Paid rent and saved for oil bill
August 2 Got PayPal interest
August 3
August 4
August 5
August 6 $103 budgeted for groceries, etc
August 7
August 8
August 9 $34 budgeted for groceries for next 2 weeks
August 10
August 11
August 12
August 13
August 14
August 15 made $20, spent $18.90 on supplements
August 16
August 17
August 18
August 19
August 20
August 21
August 22
August 23
August 24
August 25
August 26 Made $13.63
August 27 $29.99 sattelite, $72.42 electric, $38.02 phone/internet--all budgeted, made $13.23, submitted articles for review
August 28 made $7.09