January No-Spend Challenge -- Day of Reckoning. How did you do? What will you change for next... - Page 2

[frogguruami]

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"]1. Please introduce yourself and tell us anything you think it would help us to know about yourself.

I am Ann-Marie in Florida. I am a homeschooling mom of a 1st grader and a 3rd grader.

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"]2. Please tell us why you have decided to spend nothing (or spend significantly less) for the Month of January. Memorize these goals and recite them to yourself before all purchases.

I have a serious book problem and spend way to much on school related supplies.

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"]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?

First thing I am doing is planning our school work out for the month so I know what I need in advance and what I don't have. If I find that I don't have something I need I am going to look at what I do have and see if I can make do. At this point school supplies are NOT a necessity! LOL

[quelindo]

Originally Posted by Anarkissed Mama

I am constantly overspending on my allowance and I am so sick of it. I am sick of the emotional rollercoaster it puts me on and the way it promotes sneakiness, shame, more sneakiness.

[cincynana]

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

This is my first time posting, but I have been a lurker for quite some time
My name is Leeann and I'm from Cincinnati, Ohio. We have a 3.5 dd and I'm a sahm.

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

dh (Paul) and I did the Dave Ramsey plan 2 years ago. We did a great job and worked really hard to pay off all of our credit cards and dh's car. Mine is a fleece, but not an extremely expensive car. We also built up our savings, started a college fund for dd and put money into 2 Roth funds and dh's 401k.

This year has been a financial disaster. We've been going through infertility treatments (with insurance covering very little) and have spent roughly $20,000 (ie, almost our entire savings account). The good news is that this hasn't been financied. The bad news is we still haven't had success

dh makes a good income and I really want to do a better job of saving money and knowing where our money goes.

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?

Our goal plan for month 1 is to:
1. track our spending (and our waste) and set a good budget for Feb
2. ask the all important "do we really need this" question before buying and then wait 24 hours before buying
3. get check book into order
4. work together as a team instead of all the budgeting, paying bills, making financial decisions falling onto my lap.

I'm very excited to start saving money and learning to be more frugal!

[scrapadoozer]

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

Hi, I'm Jenny! I'm a married mom of one little girl living in very cold central Maine.

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

Well, we have to. We live in a very cold climate and my DH has a semi-seasonal job (stone mason) and his hours are cut just at the time we need more money to pay for heating.

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?

*Eat at home
*Stay out of the stores
*DO instead of BUY

Goals
...will fill these in later.

[earthgirl]

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

I'm a SAHM to a 13 month old DD. We live in Boston where EVERYTHING is overpriced!

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

We do our budget by the week and I am pretty good at sticking to it. I know I can do better, though, especially when it comes to eating out and grabbing coffee. My neighborhood is blessed/cursed w/ lots of local coffee shops & bakeries. This is my weakness, for sure.

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?

I am going to go 21 days w/out visiting a bakery or coffee shop. Any extra money leftover in our budget each week is going to go into our "dream fund". This will be money we use to buy fun things, go on a trip or whatever.



My Key:

True no spend day:
Spending w/in budget:
Spending out of budget:
Unplanned but necessary:
__________________________________________________ _______________

Spending:

1/1-
1/2- CVS purchase ($16.35 from household fund)
1/3- Grocery Order, Post Office ($74.87, grocery & misc. fund)
1/4-
1/5- ($43.49 rest of the groceries for the week)
1/6-
1/7- ($30 donation in honor of M. passing) ($50.37 Thatcher Farms bill) ($15 for toaster oven on craigslist)
1/8- ($27 Boston Organics order)
1/9- ($13.49 @ Harvest for baking supplies. Still falls in grocery budget, but SHAME! It was a totally unnecessary purchase!)
1/10- (Nstar bill $34.57, Good Neighbor donation $25, Johnny Foodmaster $5.25 household, Grocery Order $101.50)
1/11- (Java Jo's $2. Still in budget b/c you used money from an ATM w/drawl last month, but this was another unnecessary purchase! Bad, Earthgirl!)
1/12- ($21 at Fabric store, out of household/misc budget) (lunch in Chinatown $21.37 and it wasn't even that good. )
1/13- ($26 for the rest of groceries. Officially depleted the grocery budget for the week.)

[mamamilkers]

I'm a SAHM to two young girls (ages 3 and 1) and I also have total control of our budget (DF is self-admittedly terrible with money), so it's all on my shoulders to make sure we spend our money responsibly. A chore I welcome and also stress over.

Our family goals are to save all of our own money for our August 2008 wedding (no credit cards, no help from anyone else!). We are socking most of our extra money in to debt and the wedding right now and after the wedding we hope to be free of all of the DF's debt that is in collections and on our way to saving for the down payment on our first home. It's very exciting, indeed!


My goals this month are:

1. Have at least 22 no-spend days.
2. To keep our grocery and household items within the budget ($300 every two weeks).
3. Under $200 in frivolous spending (if any at all!)
4. At least 800 minutes of exercise.

I used to list other goals, but these are really the two I need to work on and struggle with every month, so these are the two I will focus on!

Since I'm lazy and want to track all of my personal goals in one place, I will include my fitness goals here for the month, as well My goal this month is 800 minutes of exercise!

KEY:
=true no-spend
=spending within the budget
=out of budget spending

September: 17 no spend days and $365.75 in frivolous spending
October: 23 no spend days and $251.00 in frivolous spending
November: 17 no spend days and $260.50 in frivolous spending
December: 23 no spend days and $240.60 in frivolous spending

[sandygirl]

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

I'm Sandygirl, single mom to DD age 15mo. We live with my mother, and my father just walked out on us after 25 years of marriage to my mother.

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

We're over $900 short a month now that my father walked out and took his pensions. And thats the barebones cutting everything out version of the budget.

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?

No spend on anything unneeded! Try to keep the food amount down below the FS allotment. Figure out 2 new sources of income. Cook meals at home and plan ahead.

[meandk0610]

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

I'm a mostly SAHM with 2 paper routes that I take dd w/ me on. Married w/ 4 dogs (1 terminal and 1 AKC that we will breed soon) and 8 budgies (2 breeding pairs, 3 juveniles, 1 new chick).

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

We've been consistently going over budget for several months, using up savings, and it's got to stop before it hits bottom.

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?

A. Not going to any stores. Even grocery will be piecemeal as we run out of stuff.
B. Got a sewing machine for x-mas so will be sewing family cloth for me and dd.
C. I finally put together a meal plan last week with breakfast, lunch, snacks and 14 dinners (plus 2 once/month meals) including listing sides for the dinners. Most of them I can make with what we have.
D. Put leftovers by sooner! I've lost the remainder of 2 hams recently by trying to eat them "just 1 more day."
E. Unplug everything I can.
F. Try to keep thermostat lower and use curtains/sunshine appropriately (can't lower very far because of animals). Also, I plan to make some solar heating boards for a couple of windows using cardboard, aluminum foil and dark spray paint.

sarah

[frog]

1. I'm frog. My partner (turtle) and I have been involved in these threads in the past and we're back. I work outside the home full time, turtle's at home full time right now. She's looking for work right now. No tadpoles just yet.

2. Credit-card debt.

3. My goals are to see this through for the whole month with 20 no-spend days. We're also participating in the pantry challenge and we've vowed to eat at home every day, with exceptions for possible social outings.

[annethcz]

Originally Posted by mamamilkers

Since I'm lazy and want to track all of my personal goals in one place, I will include my fitness goals here for the month, as well My goal this month is 800 minutes of exercise!

I was thinking about doing the same thing- this is a fabulous idea! I'm going to have to think about my health/exercise goals and add them to my January checklist.

[FeelingBlessed]

1. My name is Kim; our family includes DH, DD (12/03) + DS (9/06). I am PT sahm/PT wahm/PT wohm; kiddos are with DH when I go to the office. Ramping up a consulting business and DH is in school + working, so our already busy schedules are getting a little more full. Have been with this group since June, and the resulting savings have been terrific.

2. Want to attack the debt snowball consciously, continuously, and with great intensity (perhaps not gazelle intense, but something pretty close to it).

3. Game plan:
* Set + meet goals for consulting
* Sell/donate unneeded items
* Stay OUT of Target
* Grocery shopping every other week only
* Work out a meal plan + try to stick to it a majority of the time
* Pack snacks + water whenever we go out
* No more late library materials!
* ORGANIZE! Majority of overbudget/frivolous spending can be prevented with improved organization.

GOALS:
* Less than $100 in frivolous spending: month to date $0
* At least 25 days (no spend or spending w/in budget): 0/25
* Avoid Target: 0/31
* Pack snacks/water for outings: 0/31
* NO library fines: month to date $0
* Stay within grocery budget: $0/$430

Past Progress:
June: 20 days; $210.42 frivolous; $519.54 groceries; $117.55 eating out
July: 16 days; $325.62 frivolous; $825.40 groceries; $112.84 eating out
Aug.: 23 days; $144.47 frivolous; $593.09 groceries; $643.07 eating out
Sept.: 22 days; $128.37 frivolous; $598.19 groceries; $121.48 eating out
Oct.: 25 days; $139.55 frivolous; $472 groceries; $129.55 eating out
Nov.: 25 days; $192.50 frivolous; $608 groceries; $101 eating out
Dec.: 28 days; $55.20 frivolous; $503 groceries

GREAT TO SEE THE VETERANS BACK FOR MORE FUN; WELCOME NEWBIES!

[Anarkissed Mama]

I know it's not January yet, but thought I would celebrate that the only $ I spent today was a $1 donation to the coffee hour folks at church.

Feeling determined and ready for the challenge. (and scared...) Hey new mama thanks for the hug.

[bwylde]

Hi, it's been a while since I did the no spend threads, but I need to get back on track. I probably won't be an active poster as half the reason I left before was the thread got crazy busy and I only get on every few days now (and there were hundreds of posts a day!!)

I am Carla, SAH-homeschooling mom to a 5yo boy and a 3yo girl. DH works part time as a grocery cashier, so things are tight and have little wiggle room (mostly due to our money leaks). Fortunately we don't have a cent of debt, so that helps!

I want to go no spend again so we can start putting money back into our savings account. We stopped so we could afford Christmas but now that the C-word is over, I am ready to hop back on track

I do have $20 I plan to spend at the ceramics store. They were closed over Christmas and that is something I have been waiting for and the kids can't wait to get something to paint as well . Cash is in my purse and ready to go, it's been planned out for weeks already.

I plan not to step foot into any dollar stores. If there is something I truly need, I will get DH to pick it up on his way home. I cannot leave without spending about $20 on things we "might" need. In stores I must go to, I will avoid my temptation areas. I can live without much more than I give myself credit for. I will be spending less on groceries and also doing the pantry challenge. We are well stocked so it will mostly be sales of things we need and fresh stuff.

I will find more to do at home; clean/declutter, get organized, hang out with the kids, do crafts (provided I have the materials on hand), get around to doing that sewing I've been putting off, call a friend, ect... If all else fails, there's always the library .

I am getting excited about this. I miss doing it before and felt so good when I had a month full of :

[Siennaflower]

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

My name is Danielle, I'm a ft college student and Mom to a 4yo dd as well as navy wife.

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

My dh will be deployed for most of the next year and with the extra money he is getting we are really lighting a fire under our TMMO. We're really gazelle, selling off everything we don't absolutely use, canceled cable and we're selling our truck as well. I want to make every single cent count. I've spent several months tracking our spending and setting up a workable zero budget. This is our year and I'm ready to get out of debt for good.

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?

I have set up cash envelops for the following categories:

Groceries: $200
Extras: $200 (this is a sinking fund for everything that isn't a monthly expenditure such as oil changes, movies, hair cuts, clothing, shoes, gifts, flea meds for the pets, etc...anything not used is saved and will serve as the Xmas fund)

I am leaving my check card, credit card and check book at home. I've realized my biggest money leak is buying fast food lunches because I don't take the time in the morning to eat breakfast so by the time my classes are over I'm starving and not willing to wait until I get home and can warm up some lunch. It's cost me up wards of $100 a month!! So I'm making it a priority to eat breakfast. It's sad that I would go out of my way to make sure dd eats a good, healthy breakfast but I didn't take five seconds to grab a muffin on my way out the door. Watching what I spend has definitely rearranged my priorities!

[baileyandmikey]

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

Hey, I wanna join in. I am Kristin, mother of two, and wife to dh. We are currently trying to get our finances in order to make a HUGE life move to NY. We have to get our bills paid off, and get some money saved up for this change, as we will not be working for two straight years, yet we will be in school full time. We already live on a limited income, and live according to a budget, I just need help cutting back... so all help is appreciated.

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

I have a budget planned out, and need to stick with it, I will update that info asap.

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?

I plan to actually stick to the budget, yet I have to be a little flexible when it comes to spending on gas, as the gas prices change daily. Other than that, we SHOULD be able to stick to the budget, and with some help cut back in some areas... ie grocery spending, eating out, frivolous spending etc.

[swellmomma]

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

I am Brandy, I am a single mom to 4 kids ranging from 3 months to 9 years, I homeschool them and am getting ready to open a dayhome when my mat leave ends

2. Please tell us why you have decided to spend nothing (or spend significantly less) for the Month of January. Memorize these goals and recite them to yourself before all purchases. Because I am a shopaholic an I want to save that money frivoulously spent to buy a new set of livingroom furniture

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? post here and activity stay out of the stores, what I cant see I can't buy right? of course how I am going to stay of ebay is another issue. I will however not stop from participating in the MDC co-ops. also I will not spend over the $$ value of the gift cards I received

[Jess A]

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

My name is Jess, and I'm a SAHM mom to three kids--8, 4, and 1. We have a budget that should work except that we go over it most of the time. We tend to be very busy, and my youngest is pretty high-needs, so by the time dinner rolls around, I'm spent and we eat out too much. Same with lunch.

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

I'm working on spending less. I'd like to get a handle on the budget and rein in spending . . . our budget works on paper but never in our life. We need to use less credit (it's not a lot by any stretch, but I'd love to get by on just cash).

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?

• Pack snacks and water wherever we go.
• Not run around so much that I'm too tired to make lunch from scratch.
• Limit eating out to one dinner and one lunch a month.
• Keep quicker foods on hand for nights we don't feel like cooking from scratch.
• Write down everything I spend.
• Limit trips to stores.
• When planning free outings, keep them free. Picking up lunch on the way home or stopping in at the craft store does not keep the outing free .
• For outings that cost money, I am planning them at the beginning of the month and sticking to our budgeted amount.

[Usually Curious]

I'm going to try this. I am looking forward to tracking ALL spending.

I'm a homemaker and homeschooling mom to five kids plus one disabled adult cousin. My dh works in ministry, which has been a huge financial adjustment to us.

Our 'budget' is like a leaky sieve. We have got to do better about making it to the next paycheck. Often we are at $0 balance or worse, negative balance, before the next paycheck comes. Plus, dd goes to college next year and we'd like to be able to help if she needs it. Lord help us if she decides to get married - we have no wedding fund.

I'm totally stealing Jess A's plan - it's excellent!

Pack snacks and water wherever we go.
Not run around so much that I'm too tired to make lunch from scratch.
Limit eating out to one dinner and one lunch a week (we use lunch dates to keep our 18 year marriage happy).
Keep quicker foods on hand for nights we don't feel like cooking from scratch.
Write down everything I spend.
Limit trips to stores.
When planning free outings, keep them free. Picking up lunch on the way home or stopping in at the craft store does not keep the outing free .
For outings that cost money, I am planning them at the beginning of the month and sticking to our budgeted amount.

[mom2dea]

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

Hello all I am back for the 3rd month in a row . I am Sarah Mom to 4 childern and wife to Joe .

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

We a are trying to pay off debt .

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?

Goals :
/20 No spend Days
/160 On gas for the whole month
/2 = /40.00 eating out days (1 at church and 1 while waiting for the evening service )
Save 160.00 for the dentist
Pay off 1 credit card
I would love to track my exersice gols here as well So /15 days where I take the girls for a walk around the lake .

I am sure there is more That I am not thinking of, when I do I will update it here .

[MissLotus]

I have eyed this thread the past few months, but now I'm joining. Managing my finances better is one my top 3 resolutions for 2008. I have a scary student loan, but first will pay off my credit card. That is my financial goal this year; that and to maintain my emergency fund.

1. Please introduce yourself and tell us anything you think it would help us to know about yourself. I'm a single mom (divorced this past year) and I do, fortunately, get a decent amount of child support; I'm trying to maintain my freelance writing schedule so that I can be there for my son when school's not in session, as not much childcare is to be had in the area for after-school, vacations, days off, etc (and of course it's just me at home if he's sick, etc. and I have no family nearby). So I struggle with, "well, I could work more...but who's going to be there...etc," so meanwhile, I scrimp and save to maintain the status quo!

2. Please tell us why you have decided to spend nothing (or spend significantly less) for the Month of January. Memorize these goals and recite them to yourself before all purchases. I simply can't rack up more credit card debt, and it so easily spills over into that. I must pay off my credit card this year, so that I can concentrate on my student loan after that. I've racked up credit card debt, but somehow I am very good at not touching my emergency fund.

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?

I already do a budget each month. My plan now is to be better at tracking how much money I spend; I'm going to jot down each day's spending my calendar to get a sense of where the money goes, and hope it will kick my butt into gear. I want to do the pantry challenge. I want to be better at finding coupons for the things I do buy. Will try to go to the grocery store just once per week. Will tryyy to eat out/take-out just once per week. Sometimes we feel kinda isolated and we need that outlet, though!

I might hit the post-Christmas 75% off sales, but will only get things to give as gifts later, saving money ultimately. Other than that, NO NEW STUFF in January aside from basic groceries! No entertainment out.

That's all I can think of for now!