September No-Spend Challenge: We're in the home stretch! Stay Strong Finish with us - Page 7

[Marisol]

Sept. 1 -

Not a very auspicious start. After having the goal of no eating out unless someone is treating me, DH insisted on a family outing to town for fast food. $18.94 later... *sigh*

My tiny discretionary spending amount available to me this month increased a little because our mortgage payment changed slightly. Starting at $175. Now down to $157.06 after the fast-food incident. I'll have to pay for DS's school lunches this coming week, and that will cut it down about $35. It's going to be tight.

Hoping for a better day tomorrow. We usually stay home all day on Sundays and staying home means not spending usually.

[FamilyFriendlyLife]

Sept. 1:

GOALS:
* Less than $150 in frivolous spending: month to date $0
* At least 20 days: 1/30
* No McDonalds: 1/30
* Avoid Target: 1/30
* Pack snacks/water for outings: 1/30
* NO library fines: month to date $0

Welcome to all the newbies in September, and welcome back to everyone from August and prior. Good luck to all!

Kim

[Beachlivnmom]

Sept 1 made 6.50 at my yard sale. Got rained out.

[mamimapster]

Hey there all!
I'm just in to post my first day and goals- I still have to read through the mega thread.

8/1-Bowling for kiddies 9.45

GOALS(thanks to those with wise ideas!):

1.At least 15 days: 0/30
2.Pack snacks/water for outings/School: 0/30
3.At least two no-car days per week 0/8
4.NO library fines: month to date $0 (have to pay 14.00 already)
5. Come here lots
6.Make lists and stick to them
7. Avoid buying my sweets and bake more.

Acceptable spending:
Village 50% off sale looking for- Dd winter coat/boots
Myself-Black dress shoes that fit with orthotics
lunch container (self)
Nice Blouse or jacket for R.H
Sellable Items
Meds for IVF round #3

Tally Of Evil 9.45

[ekblad9]

I SOOO need this! I'm out of control this summer! I've been to Starbuck's THREE times since yesterday morning! It's horrible! I used to pride myself on how little I could spend. It's not like we have it to spend either. It's really awful! I struggle with depression and spending is my drug of choice LOL. I have to stop!

My goals for September :

Use up all the food as best I can before going grocery shopping

Limit coffee out to free mocha Wednesdays at McDonald's (and don't buy anything while I'm there!)

Keep purchases to absolute necessities like food, gas, pharmacy, household goods.

My kids are set on clothes and shoes and the like so I shouldn't need to purchase anything like that.

Thanks for being here and for being inspiring!

[Chris10AS]

Sept 1:

Dh spent 30 bucks on groceries but that was needed.

[mumkenna&lucas]

ok..Today was not fabulous for me, but much better than normal..

No spend days: 0/20
No Diaperswappers: 1/26
Save $$: $150/700
Pay cc down $300: 0/300

I had to buy a textbook today..this was a necessity, but it was $85.00: I had expected it to be around $45.00

We mad very little $ at my in-laws yard sale $22.00, that dh has already spent $9.00 of.

[Bess]

1. Please introduce yourself and tell us anything you think it would help us to know about yourself.

I'm Bess, and I'm a half-time SAHM to a daughter in elementary school. I work while she's in school. DH works full-time outside the house.

2. Please tell us why you have decided to spend nothing (or spend significantly less) for the Month of September. Memorize these goals and recite them to yourself before all purchases.

We're working hard to pay off a lot of debt, for one. For two, my work schedule is sporadic and tends to make us "fall off the wagon," budget-wise, when I'm in a demanding work phase. We're getting back on the wagon after one of those phases now.

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?

Mostly, through serious budgeting. Making every penny go somewhere specific, even if that's just the bank account. We really like Dave Ramsey's allocated spending worksheets for this. In addition, when I've got less time at work, it frees me up to plan meals more carefully and to make more groceries from scratch. I'm also able to make gifts or shop sales and plan ahead for birthdays, holidays, and special events, as well as set aside time to get us to the library. I find those three things end up saving us a bundle, as most of our unnecessary spending is either at restaurants or bookstores.

Today was a spending day, but we kind of knew that going in, since we're still playing catch-up from me being at work so much last week. Breakfast was a prepared food from the store (more expensive than making from scratch) and lunch was out ($12 for all three of us, but still). We did make it to the library and checked out books we'd decided already to buy, so that's good. And we found a couple of movies to rent for free. Groceries tonight cost a bundle even with a meal plan and a list, since a lot of my time next week will still be spent in catch-up household stuff and in back to school activities. Not our best money day but far from our worst.

[imnotsupernanny]

September 1: $65 on bus pass for work

I stopped at the store for a Starbucks "coffee drink" on the way to my babysitting job tonight. I felt pretty and I smelled good so I thought I should treat myself

: $2.48

I have $90 in my wallet now and at least $70 of that will go onto some bills and debt. I looked over my budget and a more realisitc goal to be debt free is Febuary 28th. I was hoping it would be before the 2008 though. So I will try and get some extra jobs lined up.

[imnotsupernanny]

Originally Posted by brittneyscott

Okay I'm done for the day. Won't be leaving the house again.

Day 1:
spending:
$5.54 at Burger king (there's my 1 meal out this wk. and I spent less than half what we usually do. That's progress!)
$70 in gas for DH's truck (over my wkly budget but a full tank that should last almost all month and result in being under the monthly budget - yeah!

savings: still at $295.75.

Off to declutter house now to keep myself busy and OFF the internet sites!!!

Good for you spending 1/2 of what you normally would at BK!! My friend and I order a lot of food in. I'm trying to get us to get in the habbit of not ordering so much. Like no drinks b/c we can have water or the genric soda I have and no fries if I have some I can make here.

Good for all the mamas who did well today!!! The mamas who think they did badly,don't worry you can always start again tomorow!

[brittneyscott]

Day 2: savings: 145.25 (the rest of my money from work)
spending: $0 -- well so far, we'll see after I get up today.

Monthly totals:
Spent: $75.54 (still in budget)
Savings: $441.00

[kalisis]

Sep 1 -



My goals this month:

No online buying - 1/30
No McD's (make and take my own coffee) - 1/30
Groceries - 0/$500
Thin babywearing stash - at least 0/3 wraps
Pay off paypal credit card - 0/$456

Spent at KMart yesterday, but was necessary and budgeted for. I also moved the refund for the Kozy coop that got cancelled to my bank account so I can write a check to that cc I'm trying to pay off. I also looked through my babywearing bag and found way more than three things I can sell.

[michelle524]

I'm Michelle. I just quit my job with no alternate plan. My evil boss didn't like working mothers or women in general and after 4 years of fighting, I had had enough and resigned.

And then we found out we had a hole in our underground oil tank that requires $11,000 in remediation. :

I have a PT WAH job and I'm trying to get another. We have emergency $, but it's not enough. MIL and FIL are lending us the money, but I don't want that hanging over my head. Money was going to be tight before the oil tank thing, now it's really tight. We're not in the hole (well, except for the $11,000 ) and I'd like to keep it that way!

Yesterday, 9/1, we spent $45 on gas, $4 at Dunkin Donuts (DH does not get the concept of the no-spend September) and $3 to play a game at a BBQ. Today we have to buy a bday present and cold medicine (: ) but I'm hoping to keep that to $15. I was supposed to make cookies as the present, but I figured not a good idea with the cold. I'll keep my tab though and we'll see how it goes!

Oh, my plan: We did a big shopping last week, big sales and triple coupons! I saved $90 and spent $100. This seems loke a lot, but it will keep me out of the store so there will be no spending there on things we don't need and we won't ""need" to get take-out, which we did 2-3 times per week. I'm also planning to stay home as much as possible and consolidate errands to save on gas.

[becoming]

September 1 -

We did eat out for lunch, but I had already planned for that. (We always eat lunch out on grocery shopping day.)

[newmainer]

Originally Posted by mum4boys

In the month of August my cuisnart grind and brew the grind function stopped working. I love my coffee maker its one of my few indulgences. Same day my blender cracked. It looks like I need to just buy a new one. Its 20 years old. My dryer died two days ago. Not only did it die it took 1/2 a load of the babies clothes. They caught fire and burned. The dryer was not fixable. I bought the parts before dh took it apart and to return the parts we have to pay 20% restocking fee, sigh. So we had to buy a new dryer, which I was not in the market for. Dh wanted to buy a $20 used one but I am not willing to take the chance with it burning a load of clothes. Besides I do not think its bad that we have had 2 dryers in 18 years and the first one was used. So anyway I am really trying to get my house decluttered. I am neat freak but we just had a year from Hell and one of the things we did not do is throw things out. I try to do it every 6 months. Okay my point is, the vacuum cleaner died. Dh worked and worked on it. I have all carpet. I have no money for a new one. I cannot live without a vacuum cleaner.

Ugh... that' sux! i feel like this is the pattern that derails us often as well- be it the car needing work, the property taxes coming due, and some other huge expense- all in the same week! it can be discouraging.

Originally Posted by fourlittlebirds

How about dying them? Dye costs less than new shirts. Or, tie-dying to camouflage the spots!

I"m doing this as well... i have a big pile of stained shirts and "off-whites" that i'm going to dye up. need to do something with all that dye i bought in the Dharma coop !

Originally Posted by Curlita

1: Stayed under budget on stops at hardware store, co-op, and vitamin store -- although spent $3.42 on faux M&Ms with the intent of separating them into three servings to snack on at work. Came back to office and ate all three servings. But have a $5 mail-in rebate on paint from hardware store!
figure out how to cheaply accomodate M&M habit... one plan tested and rejected.

Originally Posted by peachpie

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"]
Mu husband asked for a divorce several weeks ago. Nothing is finalized yet and we're still living in the same place for financial reasons.

I'm so sorry I hope that you get the support that you need...

Originally Posted by michelle524

And then we found out we had a hole in our underground oil tank that requires $11,000 in remediation. :

Ack! :

and I thought us needing a new roof to the tune of 5,000 was bad....

Ok, now i can report on me ;D

Yesterday was great. only spend 3.99 for milk on my way to work, and then we had a super, super busy night (i bartend at a small restaurant 2x a week) and i left before everyone had cleared out, but it was looking like we each were taking home over $200! I"ll find out on Monday. That would be good, because dh's first paycheckk is already pretty much gone between mortgage and all the bills that are due before the 15th.

My goal is to put the balance of dh's 2nd paycheck that comes on the 15th to one of our cc's (minus a few others that are due btw. 15-30th) and more or less live week to week off what i make at the restaurant. On paper, its' totally do-able. In practice... hard!!

Dh is off at the hardware store with the kids to give me a quiet morning. So, there will be money spent there, but it's all to finish our shed renovation into his office (he works here at home) so there's no stopping that. But, he did come back b/c he forgot to take his list and when i found out the kids has only had toast : i whipped up some eggs for them to eat in the car. Sigh, he just doesn't get the kid-food thing. hopefully this will keep him from buying them food in town.

re: the tracking thing. i'm horrible at it. i have tried many things and we are just bad at keeping up. need to find something that works.

[***Heather***]

Originally Posted by michelle524

And then we found out we had a hole in our underground oil tank that requires $11,000 in remediation. :

If you're short on cash, you could always check to see if there are any government programs etc to help you fix the problem. I know there are some grants and things in Canada to help low income people with environmental/health risk problems or if your house has no insulation and you're literally freezing. Not sure if you'd qualify, but it's something to look into.

Originally Posted by imnotsupernanny

Heather I just picked up 2 really nice shirts at my local Frip Prix Renisance! Both were $3.99 but %40 off! Both are new looking and big names! I love that! If you have one near you take a look and see what you can find.

Sounds like some good deals, but I don't have a store nearby.

I just put $19 on a closed internet account. The company sucks and that's why I closed the account but they charged me a hug amount to cancel it early. They just sent me a notice too,in French! Even though they know I told them all letters should be in English. (I'm in Quebec) I think it can be paid in full in 1-2 weeks though.

I'm curious, which company is it? I have Videotron right now and I'm not very happy with them. And yes, they keep sending info in french when we've asked for english. Most recent letter was another rate hike.

[***Heather***]

I'm still trying to add up our purchases yesterday at the farmer's market.

Sausage 12
maple butter 4
apple bread 4.5
Zucchini 3
peppers 3.50
cheese/bread 12
Strawberries 2.75
OMG $41.75 :
It's coming out of my grocery allowance. Not that the stuff we bought will feed us for very long. But it was fun.

Sept 1
Sept 2

This month:
Groceries 41.75

[***Heather***]

whoops!

[imahappymama]

[QUOTE=ekblad9;9065339]
Use up all the food as best I can before going grocery shopping

Limit coffee out to free mocha Wednesdays at McDonald's (and don't buy anything while I'm there!)


Whoa! Where have I been? Free mocha Wednesdays!!?

We make a game at the end of the week/month to stretch our food supply. We take the food out of the cabinets and pantry and line it up on the counters. We add in the food from the fridge and freezer. We each take turns making meals by combining stuff. I was amazed at how much stuff we had put away and forgotten about! It also teaches the kidlets how to be creative and cook with what we have and not be soooo picky!

[DiannaK]

Sept 1 --- so/so day ..
Of COURSE, while on the way to work, forgot that I wasn't supposed to spend any money, and stopped and bought my daughter a Webkinz. ($13)
However ... while going through DD#2's closet, found a $25 check for her from her bday. Also .. I have a huge tub of clothes to take to the consignment shop.. estimated at least $75!

Now .. on to Day 2