April No-Spend Challenge ~ Last day of our challenge. How did you do? - Page 10

[umarider]

Can't tell you how excited I am to have made this week's goal of 2 no-spends!


4/1 $27.61 Groceries, $10.15 pet/household, $39.09 Gas, $6 car wash/household
4/2 No-Spend day!
4/3 No-Spend Day!


2 no-spend days per week 1/4ish
3/30 no-credit card days
0 unbudgeted spending
Gas - $39.09/$220
Groceries - $27.61/$450
Household - $10.15/$125
Eating Out - $85

- budgeted spending
- no-spend day!
- unbudgeted, but necessary
: - didn't need it, but bought it anyway

[FraggleLover]

Today will be better

April 1 - $2.00
April 2 - $0.65
April 3 - $4.20 (for my little brother's school project)

I realise that I need to pack snacks for my husband and I as well as lunch. So I will buy some healthier ones over the weekend.

[Purplehaze]

Hi

Hi, I am sheila, sahm to 3 blessings... I have lurked and may have posted on this thread at some time in months past.

I am just aiming right now for a no spend WEEK, other than planned expences. Yesterday we budgeted $50 for food and we came in $5 under that! : yeah!

I just need to get thru this week with out getting anything. I keep trying to stay present, tell myself I have enough gas in my car, food in the house, I don't NEED anything.... I am having a really hard time with this. I have gotten into the bad habit of just buying what I want, wwhen ever I want and putting it on the debit card, which unfortunatly is backed up by a "line of credit" which is not good for me... So we need this week as a no spend week to let the Check book get the pay deposited and "even things out" . One thing that helps me is every time I have the thought that I want or need something, I ma writing it down on a lsit, that way I can just sort of let it go and stop trying to remember the item "for next week"....

I have made the decision that for me, I need to go debit card free, but I find this REALLY scary- like I hate the embaressment of having to put back groceries...

I have come up with a writen week by week budget that is very tight, tho it does allow a small amount of money for me and DH to just splurge on each week, but the rest fo the budget needs to be follwed exactly, to get us to our goals of paying off this line of credit, asap.

I am a big fan of the Cindy's porch web site- her motto is use what you have, and I find I HAVE so much! I have stuff to eat, stuff to craft with, stuff for my kids to do... I just have to get creative with it all...

Both my Ds need shelving in their rooms- to put their stuff on and keep Lil sis out of! I have some pine boards here, not as long as I had hoped for in the boys room, but I thik we can make some suitable shelving for free. I evan already have the paint for them, so that is this weekends project.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Today is Costco day...

The most dangerous day of the month for our budget.

I'm making a list this morning, and I'm going in there and getting FOOD ONLY and not even LOOOKING over in the gardening supplies....

Because you KNOW they must have gardening supplies in there right now.

Costco has a wiretap to my brain and I'm thinking we need landscaping stuff, so they are probably stocking it right now getting ready for me to come in there this afternoon.

Wish me strength! Just food. Just food.

[mamaof6]

4/01 budgeted spending: $39.76 groceries
4/02 No Spend Day!!!
4/03 budgeted spending: $193.71 groceries from Big Box; $4.70 coffee

Today should be a No Spend. I don't plan on going anywhere. Staying home is definitely the answer to not spending.

Jill


Key

No Spend
Budgeted Spending
Unbudgeted Spending

My Plan

Track Groceries: $233.47/$750
Track Gas: 0/$300
Track Coffee: $4.70/$25
Track Frivolous Spending: 0/$50
10 no spend days: 1/10
25 days no Big Box stores: 2/25
No Credit Cards: 3/30

[mamaof6]

Prudence: I hope all goes well at Costco today. Target and Costco have the same affect on me. I am drawn to clothing and unnecessary food items instead of gardening supplies. Stick to that list.

Jill

[CityChic]

April 1 - : Not starting out too well. $73 tax payment (which I forgot about) and $60 on baseball tickets (which we committed too a long time about, which I also forgot about). Ugh.

April 2 - : $5 on sweet and salty snacks (it's that time of the month and I caved )

April 3 - First no spend day of the month!

April 4 - : Pre-emptive. I know we have to buy a gift for a baby shower. We do not budget for gift money since it usually comes out of any freelance work I do, but that money has not come in so we will have to take it out of the regular budget.

Key;
No Spend
: Spend

March
Total overspending in March $478.33
Total no spend days - 20/31

February
Total overspending in February $666.45
Total no spend days - 14/29

[monkey's mom]

Prudence, just don't even LOOK! Seriously, I felt like I was in a VORTEX yesterday at Target. Like if I wasn't buying my family these items that I was not only denying us/them, but that I was a bad mother. My almost 3 yr. old does NOT need 5 pairs of shoes. It's just such consumer overkill. But everything is so shiny and cheap and the illusion of bringing that one thing home will make it all better is overwhelming for me. Gah!!!

[katheek77]

4/1 Doc: $125, groceries: $37.59
4/2 No spend No Drive Transferred $475 into savings.
4/3 No spend No Drive

2/21 No spend days
2/20 No drive days
3/28 No eat out days

$37.59/$150 groceries - I have a lot of food in the pantry and freezer from last month.
$475/$1493.70 into savings/IRAs/investments for month
$12521.88/17924.40 into savings/IRAs/investments for the year (so far, $7521.88 into savings, $5000 into IRAs)
Less than 225 miles for the month. 121,461 beginning mileage

[CityChic]

Originally Posted by Purplehaze

Hi, I am sheila, sahm to 3 blessings... I have lurked and may have posted on this thread at some time in months past.

I have made the decision that for me, I need to go debit card free, but I find this REALLY scary- like I hate the embaressment of having to put back groceries...

I am a big fan of the Cindy's porch web site- her motto is use what you have, and I find I HAVE so much! I have stuff to eat, stuff to craft with, stuff for my kids to do... I just have to get creative with it all...

Welcome Sheila! Sounds like you have a lot of good ideas and a solid plan! I hoep you have a great month

[llamalluv]

04/01 - : $50 to giving cut cable and cell phone x 2

04/02 - : : walked 0.8 miles : bean soup and homemade bread free ink refill @ Walgreens

04/03 - : (Gary DROVE to the AT&T store right NEXT to the Walgreens and then didn't pick up our ink cartridge! No spending, though. fried rice with a small amount of shrimps (CHEAP!)

04/04 - : We have to drive to WW today - it's 2 miles away and no sidewalks to get there.

: - no spending
: - no driving
: - changed budget
- cut expense or scored a bargain
- finished UFO's
: - exercised
- cooked a meatless or less meat supper

[llamalluv]

Originally Posted by ladyinred

Lamalluv I love your use of icons! So festive

I'm practicing for when I have one of those babies that likes to see things bouncing while I NAK.

Oy! I have baby-fever SOOO bad!

[monkeys4mama]

Made it through the day w/o buying any junk! I even returned a bunch of things to the mall and walked through the mall w/ my dd. She wanted to, so I did. Let her play at the playland. She wanted to eat dinner, but I said no, we are eating at home. I did indulge her and myself with a soda and a coffee which cost $3.80 total. I don't feel bad about that. I thought it was a good, successful trip, even if it wasn't a total "no-spend" day.

[daekini]

Yay! We're all doing so well!

Good luck Prudence!

[JennaW]

4/1- $95.59 groceries at Safeway, $22.16 groceries at Trader Joe's, $30.01 on gas
4/2- No spend but did drive to volunteer work
4/3- $28.41 Jiffy Lube oil change (but I used a coupon!), $10.03 Trader Joe's beer & 2 box of mac n' cheese, $3.95 Long's for envelopes, $65.85 heartworm meds for pets (unexpected expense thought we had enough for this month)

Groceries $127.78/$350
Household $3.95/$20
Gas $30.01/$200
Pets $65.85/$116
Dry Cleaning $0/$40
Car Maintenance $28.41/$0

[daekini]

Wish me luck, ladies; I'm heading into the lion's den tonight!

I usually buy a couple of mochas, some food, and a book or magazine *every Friday night* at work! I may as well put a handwritten cardboard sign around my neck that says, "will work for lattes and pastry" because it probably costs a few hours of pay. So far I've been doing pretty well. I'm permitting myself *one* mocha (small) each week on Friday nights, and I'm going to take bread, cheese, and fruit to munch on at breaktime.

This is my first Friday night since starting the no-spend challenge!

And the bread will be homemade! I was a good girl today! When I ran out of bread this morning, I made my own rather than go to the other cleverly disquised trap - the grocery store - where I surely would have found other things I "needed".



Sheeesh! Are there no safe havens? You'd think that you'd be safe at your job and the grocery store. Think again!

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Good luck Alison! I think reminding yourself that your little Friday night treats = a few hours of work helps to keep things in perspective.

I went to Goodwill this morning to drop some things off and I went at 9 AM -- they are open for drop-offs at 9 AM, the retail store doesn't open until 10 AM.

I did that on purpose because Goodwill is a major trigger for me...everything is so cheap and buying used fits in with my beliefs (I'm a compacter at heart) but really I want April to be MY month...with no excess spending.

I still have Costco and Walmart and the health food store on my radar for today...but I'm allowing myself very little time so I must FLY through those stores, and I have that list.

I'm going to put up a pre-emptive

If I stick to the list, I get to keep the no-spend day. (I only record frivolous spending on this thread, and groceries aren't frivolous) I don't want to come back on here and edit ANYTHING.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

01..
02..
03..
04..

4/24 no-spend days
4/30 fast-food-free days
2/10 let the car rest days
6/20 items posted on internet to sell

[katheek77]

Can I just say that this challenge, even when I don't hit the goals, is doing a wonder on our budget?

I have the previous months' budgets on the computer (I just use the same basic one each month), and the difference from Oct-Jan (when I wasn't doing the challenge) and Feb/March (when I was) is just crazy:

To wit, a sample:

Groceries Avg: O-J $566, F/M - $382
Eating Out Avg: O-J $142, F/M - $115
Overall Non-bill spending (includes everything except rent/insurance/utilities/savings) : O-J $1516, F/M $1227
Savings: O-J $1284 F/M $1561 (not counting the tax return, which also went into savings).

This stuff WORKS! Holy cow!

[oetien]

Hi,
I am joining again this month. Last month was a good one, but I've been busy this past few days.

So, my budget this month:
- Groceries and household stuff: $400
- Misc. spending (I need clothes for dd, she only has winter stuff. I've been cooking a lot lately and I need some cookware): $150 (basically rollover from last month)
- I'll try no dining out again this month, but we'll see. I'll budget $50 for eating out/entertainment.
- Basically that's it. We've paid all the bills at the beginning of the month.

So, this month:
04/01 - no spend
04/02 - no spend
04/03 - no spend
04/04 - whole foods $25