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~ February No-Spend Challenge ~ We're tracking our spending and trying to only buy the necessities...Come join us!

11K views 560 replies 71 participants last post by  Amanda Williams 
#1 ·
This is a support thread to help you ~not spend your money~.

Everyone is welcome to join and you can start tracking your spending at any time. It doesn't have to be February 1st.

The plan is simple (although tough to execute):

1. Vow not to spend any money on unnecessary purchases.

2. Come on here everyday and record your spending.

We all record our spending in different ways. There are no rules. You record and update however you would like -- pick a way that will help you spend the least amount of money.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please write an introductory message when you decide to join our thread. We would like to know:

a. Who you are

b. Where you are going (your financial goals) and

c. How you plan to get there

Good luck MDCers!! Keep that money in your wallet.

 
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1
#457 ·
Lady in Red -- Congratulations!!!!!!!!!
:

01..

02.. $10 car wash
03..

04.. $42 diapers
05..
,
:
06..

07.. $40 Michaels for flowers and crafty stuff
:
08..
,
:
09..
,
:
10..
,
:
11..
,
:
12..
,
:
13.. $6.08 Chocolate Valentines Candy,
:
14..
,
:
15..
,
:
16.. $17 rib
17..
,
:
18.. $11 ice cream and candy
19..
,
:
20..
,
:
21..
22..
23..
24..
25..
26..
27..
28.. PAYDAY!

My goals:

14/20 No Spend Days

5/5 Let the Car Rest Days
:
8/28 No Diaperswappers
:[/QUOTE]
 
#458 ·
1 --

2 --

3 --
copay, piano and dance lessons
4 --

5 --

6 --
bills, 96.50 groceries, 3.75 coupons
7 --
24.67 ice cream, 2.50 toll
8 --

9 -- 38.55 homeschool books, 4.50 library fines, 34.00 gas
10 --

11 --

12 --
197.50 food co-op, 26.00 groceries
13 --
7.50 milk and ice cream for the kids
14 -- 40.00 bird seed, 7.50 meat
15 --
104.97 groceries
16 --

17 -- 16.00 swim goggles
18 --

19 -- 89.35 printer cartridge and paper
20 --
bills, 19.00 meat and eggs, 1.75 coffee
21 -- 50.00 day in the city with the inlaws, 34.93 lunch, 31.58 gas
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

My goals:

No new debt!
1850/1000 cc debt
261.47/400 groceries
197.50/200 food co-op (bulk goods/stockpiling)
65.58/100 gas
 
#459 ·
01-:
:$25 for the toybox for ds4.
02-
:$2.09
:
:
03-
:
:
04-
:$54 raw milk; $52 gas; $27.50 - credits paperbackswap.com; $2.36
:
05-
$6 to Party Playland; $35 on craft projects.
06-
: $100 food shopping
07-
:
:
08-
:
:
09-
:$150 food stores;
:2 library books, $28
10-
:
:
11
$14 Hair cut ds3; $1.98 for m&m's bribe
12
:$9.25 lunch for ds3 and i at;$2.09
:; $.70 library fines; $1.00 Dr. Seuss book
13-
: $110 food store; $5.50 for
: and bagel
14-
:
:
15-
:
:
16 -
:
:
17
: children's museum $6 on admission $2.09
:$20 on indoor trampoline; also toll fees w/ EZPass
18
:
:
19
:
:$32.75 for shoes for ds3....but they were 50% off and they are the best soft soled shoes for older toddlers i have found www.softstarshoes.com AND i only bought one pair.
$89 Food; $33.53 gas; $2.36
:
20
:another children's museum. $12 admission and tolls to/from (not sure how much b/c we have EZPass)

=No Spend
:=No Drive
:= Unexpected Spend Day
=Spent but only on budget items
Goals
8/15 No Spend Days
4/20 Decluttering/Organizing Days/30 minutes
3/8 Library Days
2/4 books
4/10 knit at least 30 minutes
17/25 eat at home
0/10 add things to CL
 
#460 ·
1:

2:

3: $29 pizza delivery
: $10 of a Target trip was
:
4:

5: $8 cookies and a Dr Pepper
6: $62 Land's End
7:

8:

9: $12 school shirt for dd, $4 latté, $5 Valentine's treats
10: $5 latte
11: $28 Amazon, $10 lunch out
12:

13: $7 bagel and latté
14:$44 clothes for kids
15:

16:

17: $36 spent, but all with bday cash

18:

19:

20:
:

100+/100 unnecessary spending
10/22 necessary or no spending
 
#461 ·
02/01:

02/02:

02/03:

02/04:

02/05:

02/06: $4 Unneeded sleeper for the baby (but it has mix tapes on it!
)
02/07: $5 Doughnuts, $12 McDonalds.
02/08:

02/09: $3.50 Shipping.
02/10:

02/11: $2 thrifting
02/12:

02/13:

02/14:

02/15:

02/16:

02/17:

02/18:

02/19:

02/20:


Goals:
16/20 No spend days.
$26.50/$100 Unnecessarily spent.
$200/$300 Saved for the midwife.
8/6 Receiving blankets made for babe.

2/2 Cotton caps made for babe.
 
#462 ·
1

2

3
$88 groceries
4

5
$20 gas
:$2
6

7
$20 eating out $7 groceries $30 date
$15 book $3 useless crap at target
8
$20 groceries $26 clothing $10 eating out
9

10
: $2
11
$18 pizza $68 groceries $20 gas
12

13
: $3 badge $30 eating out $20 magnetic chore chart $4 coffee $300 sony handycam $90 dh's entertainment $10 dd's valentine day gift
14
: $2 badge
$285 diapers
15
: $4badge
16

17
$78 grocery
$14
18
$18 gas
$5 candy
19
: $2
20
: $4.50
$21 car inspection (again)

:$3300 > credit card companys and we are now credit card debt free!

KEY/GOALS/TOTALS

No Spend 7/15

Necessary Spending

:Bring lunch from home 16/20

: Spent on badge at work $19.5/$10

Groceries/Household $261/$300

$1025/$300

$346
 
#463 ·
Ugh... we ate out again today! I am going food shopping tomorrow and we have to stop. Our stove broke and the replacement piece won't be here until next week, but we have to eat at home.

Also, I know next month's goal already. Buy nothing from Amazon!!!!! I over ordered diapers, so I have enough to last through the month. There is nothing else we need.

1st:
No spend!
2nd: $44 food; $24 gas
3rd:
No spend!
4th:
No spend!
5th: $16 on two bras and some measuring spoons (DH bought some groceries too and a meal out... $45/$30 )
6th:
No spend!
7th: $65 Nike; $60 cooking store; $26 gas; ate out for house showing $31
8th:
No spend!
9th: $380 food!
: $26 gas
10th:
No spend!
11th: $15 food
12th: $55 hair and shampoo
13th: $20 goggles
14th: Food $15 gas $26
15th: ipod $53, ate out $23
16th: Food $60 (included wheatgrass)
17th:
No spend!
18th: Running around for DH, ate out $22
19th: Working with DH again, bought bagels for lunch $30
; gas $25
20th: $30 dinner


Online: $44 diapers; $16 book for Valentine's Day
Misc.: Swim

Eating out: $166
Food: $560/$800
Gas: $127/$??
 
#464 ·
2/1 - $1 drink for dd
2/2 -

2/3 - $4.50 b-day gift (will take out of my fun money), $1.77 drink for dd, $4 milk
2/4 -

2/5 -

2/6 - $12.66 grocery (incl. $8 beer for dh )
:
2/7 - $113 big grocery shop incl. $20 household and $8 beer (no he didn't finish the other beer yet) dh did shopping so
: for me
2/8 -
:
2/9 - $5 grocery, $50 minutes for dh's phone
2/10 -
:
2/11 -
:
2/12 - $26.15 grocery/household
2/13 - $10 copay
2/14 - $86.53 grocery/household
:
2/15 -

2/16 -

2/17 -

2/18 -
:
2/19 - $8 b-day gift, $8 grocery (incl. $7 beer), $30 garden seeds
2/20 - $38.14 Frontier coop

no spend 10/21
: no drive 7/12
fun money spent $42.50/$50
all food and household $269.25/$400
not in budget $50 (phone); $10 copay
 
#465 ·
My key:

:=groceries
necessary spending (gas, health and beauty products, household products)
-unnecessary spending
-no spending

2/1-

2/2-
$11 lunch out
$40 Nails done
2/3-

2/4-
$47 Kmart for Maternity Clothes which were VERY necessary
2/5-

2/6-

2/7-

2/8-

2/9-

2/10-
$4.79 McDonald's bkfst,
: $4.86 lunches/snacks for work
2/11-

2/12-

2/13-
$20 Gas, $34.71 Diapers, V-day cards,mascara,
$6.76 Quiznos
2/14-
$7.65 dinner out
2/15-

2/16-

2/17-

2/18-
$7.50 Panera Lunch,
$4.37 Marble Slab,
: $8.75 Necessary Groceries
2/19-

2/20-
$25 manicure for my baby shower necessary since I want to look nice
 
#466 ·
On a positive note, Feb. 15th marked our one-year debt snowball anniversary; $236,180.99 of debt gone - wahoo! On a slightly more challenging note, DH just spent about $600 on a b-day gift for me - budget was $20-50. I am now the proud owner of a beautiful Nikon, but also wish we were $600 less in debt (though we have made great progress, there is much work still to do).

Kim
:

Feb. 1:

Feb. 2:

Feb. 3:

Feb. 4: $7.12 toys/movies @ Goodwill
Feb. 5:

Feb. 6:

Feb. 7:

Feb. 8: $47.65 late fees/cd replacement fee (for a cd we returned, but after first returning the empty case, and the library lost the cd, but anyway...)
Feb. 9: $4.48 toys @ Goodwill, $41.26 @ Michael's, $5 parking ticket
Feb. 10:

Feb. 11:

Feb. 12:

Feb. 13:

Feb. 14:

Feb. 15:

Feb. 16:

Feb. 17: overbudget food
Feb. 18:

Feb. 19:

Feb. 20:


FEBRUARY GOALS:
* Write Daily: 13/28
* Less than $25 in frivolous spending: month to date $105.51
* At least 25
days (no spend or spending w/in budget): 17/25
* NO library fines: month to date $47.65 / NO parking tickets: $5
* Stay within grocery/eating out budget: $631.23/$600
* ORGANIZE/declutter (lack of organization = spending): 20/24
* Exercise (feeling good = decreased emotional spending): 13/24
* Meal plan created: 0/4 weeks
 
#467 ·
You paid of 236k of debt in one year? HOLY CRUD!!! I need to come to your house and take lessons.


dh and I had a depressing talk about our salaries... we own our own business, and I don't think we can expect to give ourselves any raises in 2009 (we both make minimum wage currently). The business is not going to fail, in fact our other employees make 100k+, but this will be a whole year of personal scrimping to keep us operating in the green.

So, rather than waiting for my White Knight to start pulling in the big $$$ again, I need to move beyond survival mode and start addressing my priorities - like paying off the 25k mortgage still left on our house in WA, the I-don't-even-know-much left on the car, paying into the kids' 529s again, and saving up the 13k I will need to pay my MIL in December as interest on our current house (she was kind enough to lend us the money to buy the house, but must charge a reasonable rate of interest lest the IRS hit her with huge gift taxes).

So. Time to add a savings goal!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Feb 1: Put $100 into farmer's co-op account, to draw on over the month
Feb 2: $10 raw milk at dairy, $38.27 groceries, $27.23 Floradix, $7.83 Subway, $48 on Shalach Manot bags for Purim fundraiser, $5 on mailing labels, $6.50 on facial cleanser
Feb 3: $22.99 on haircuts for kids, $12.19 at Mickey-Ds because I didn't pull it together enough to have lunch before we left the house
Feb 4: $ lunch with SIL (MIL usually picks up the check, but was sick today), $10 for a toybin for dh's office, $63 groceries, $27 reimbursable baby groceries for SIL
Feb 5: DH took DS to the circus, so $62.85 for tickets, and MIL gave them spending money for snacks, etc.
Feb 6:

Feb 7: $88.83 for groceries
Feb 8: $19.17 for gas
Feb 9: $50 at the salon (mani, pedi, eyebrows). So not worth it.
Feb 10: went to the zoo (we have a membership), packed a lunch, BUT spent $7.42 for breakfast at Mickey-Ds
Feb 11: $3.42 at Starbuck's , $66.36 at Whole Foods, $2.64 for Valentines to distribute to the kids' classmates, $88 on soaker hose, spigot divider and chard seeds for garden, $25 on redworms for compost pile, $25 donation to high school
Feb 12: $4.45 at Starbucks
Feb 13: $16 gas, $12 Mickey-Ds while traveling
Feb 14: walked around Colonial Williamsburg for free, $17.57 lunch
Feb 15: $25.20 admission to Jamestown, $6.53 at the snack bar, $31.49 for a sweatshirt for ds because I stupidly did not pack one , $18.89 groceries
Feb 16: $19.80 Berkeley Plantation admission, $19.03 gas, $6.06 Wendy's while traveling, $14.11 more gas while traveling
Feb 17: $8 for raw milk at the farm (price went down! Yeehah!)
Feb 18: $32 groceries
Feb 19: no-spend, and I got some stuff going in the garden!

Feb 20: $5 on breakfast, $13.72 at the nursery, $22 taking the rabbi out to lunch. Not a crazy splurge day, but why didn't I make time for breakfast at home?
:
Feb 21: Aaaaugh. $41.42 for dinner. It was totally our turn to buy the takeout, but it hurt, it really hurt...

Goals:

406/500 on groceries
119/100 on garden
1/15 no-spend days
Total Spending Goal: 1500 non-bill spending (1092/1500 so far!)
 
#468 ·
1st: Food Groceries $30, Fast Food $6
2nd: $4 Fast food
3rd: No spend
4th: $10 homeschool
5th: $32 food groceries
6th: $66 Food Groceries, $16 Homeschool, $28 Home Groceries, $9 Lunch
7th-9th: No spend
10th: $46 Olive Garden
11th: No spend
12th: Co-op Order $78
13th-14th: No spend
15th: $12 Eat out, $45 Groceries, $12 Homeschool
17th-21st: $100 Homeschool (mags and Ikea)
$163 food grocery, $8 personal care grocery
$14 fast food

Totals: Food Groceries $414
Personal Care Groceries: $8
Homeschool: $138
Fast Food: $45
Hubby's Idea Olive Garden: $46
Home Improvement: $28
 
#469 ·
1

2

3
$88 groceries
4

5
$20 gas
:$2
6

7
$20 eating out $7 groceries $30 date
$15 book $3 useless crap at target
8
$20 groceries $26 clothing $10 eating out
9

10
: $2
11
$18 pizza $68 groceries $20 gas
12

13
: $3 badge $30 eating out $20 magnetic chore chart $4 coffee $300 sony handycam $90 dh's entertainment $10 dd's valentine day gift
14
: $2 badge
$285 diapers
15
: $4badge
16

17
$78 grocery
$14
:$1000>savings
18
$18 gas
$5 candy
19
: $2
20
: $4.50
$21 car inspection (again)
21
$30 eating out
$35wal-mart
:$850>savings

:$3300 > credit card companys and we are now credit card debt free!

KEY/GOALS/TOTALS

No Spend 7/15

Necessary Spending

:Bring lunch from home 16/20

: Spent on badge at work $19.5/$10

Groceries/Household $261/$300

$1875/$300
: Savings

$411
 
#470 ·
1st:
No spend!
2nd: $44 food; $24 gas
3rd:
No spend!
4th:
No spend!
5th: $16 on two bras and some measuring spoons (DH bought some groceries too and a meal out... $45/$30 )
6th:
No spend!
7th: $65 Nike; $60 cooking store; $26 gas; ate out for house showing $31
8th:
No spend!
9th: $380 food!
: $26 gas
10th:
No spend!
11th: $15 food
12th: $55 hair and shampoo
13th: $20 goggles
14th: Food $15 gas $26
15th: ipod $53, ate out $23
16th: Food $60 (included wheatgrass)
17th:
No spend!
18th: Running around for DH, ate out $22
19th: Working with DH again, bought bagels for lunch $30
; gas $25
20th: $30 dinner

21st: $237 food

Online: $44 diapers; $16 book for Valentine's Day
Misc.: Swim

Eating out: $166
Food: $797/$800
Gas: $127/$??
 
#471 ·
02/01:

02/02:

02/03:

02/04:

02/05:

02/06: $4 Unneeded sleeper for the baby (but it has mix tapes on it!
)
02/07: $5 Doughnuts, $12 McDonalds.
02/08:

02/09: $3.50 Shipping.
02/10:

02/11: $2 thrifting
02/12:

02/13:

02/14:

02/15:

02/16:

02/17:

02/18:

02/19:

02/20:

02/21:


Goals:
17/20 No spend days.
$26.50/$100 Unnecessarily spent.
$200/$300 Saved for the midwife.
8/6 Receiving blankets made for babe.

2/2 Cotton caps made for babe.
 
#472 ·
01..

02.. $10 car wash
03..

04.. $42 diapers
05..
,
:
06..

07.. $40 Michaels for flowers and crafty stuff
:
08..
,
:
09..
,
:
10..
,
:
11..
,
:
12..
,
:
13.. $6.08 Chocolate Valentines Candy,
:
14..
,
:
15..
,
:
16.. $17 rib
17..
,
:
18.. $11 ice cream and candy
19..
,
:
20..
,
:
21.. $10 present for baby shower, $6.81 McDonald's
22..
23..
24..
25..
26..
27..
28.. PAYDAY!

My goals:

14/20 No Spend Days

5/5 Let the Car Rest Days
:
8/28 No Diaperswappers
:
 
#473 ·
no spend or budgeted spending=

groceries =
:
unnecessary =


Groceries 146.00/120
Trip Savings 200/200
Money saved for March bills 1000/1000 (includes rent, utilities, and loan payments)
Extra loan payment 50/100
Cat stuff 37.50
unnecessary spending = 121

2/1- $35 shopping for the week
:
2/2-

2/3- $19.00 on cat food - forgot to put this in the budget, will remember next month. Although most of the bill was for a big bag of dry food that will last two months.
2/4- $4.99
:
2/5- payday - $4.54
:
2/6-

2/7- $100 clothes for my trip

2/8- $40
: which is fine, but now I've used all of my 'budgeted' grocery money for the week. This will make me think twice about picking something up during the week and it also means I'll have to re-evaluate our eating habits or my grocery budget.
2/9- $4.84
: milk
2/10-

2/11- $18.50 on cat litter (as with the cat food, it should last 6-8 weeks)
2/12- $10.84
: to cook at home, but we didn't stick to our weekly meal plan
2/13- $12.50
: $4.84 for milk and the rest was for a friend who I was house sitting for and she was coming home late and needed stuff to feed her kids the next morning
$ 20.00 doctor
2/14-

2/15- $35
:
2/16-

2/17- $10 re-usable produce bags
(I'll be more thifty next time and make them myself)
2/18-

2/19- $10 fruit & veg box order for next week, $6.25 transit, $5.24 thank you cards (on sale from 18.00)
2/20-

2/21-
 
#475 ·
01-:
:$25 for the toybox for ds4.
02-
:$2.09
:
:
03-
:
:
04-
:$54 raw milk; $52 gas; $27.50 credits for paperbackswap; $2.36
:
05-
$6 to Party Playland; $35 on craft projects.
06-
: $100 food shopping
07-
:
:
08-
:
:
09-
:$150 food stores;
:2 library books, $28
10-
:
:
11
$14 Hair cut ds3; $1.98 for m&m's bribe
12
:$9.25 lunch;$2.09
:; $.70 library fines; $1.00 book
13-
: $110 food store; $5.50 for
: and bagel
14-
:
:
15-
:
:
16 -
:
:
17
:museum $6; $2.09
:$20 indoor trampoline; toll fees w/ EZPass
18
:
:
19
:
:$32.75 for ds3 shoes (50% off); $89 Food; $33.53 gas; $2.36
:
20
:museum$12; tolls to/from
21
:
:
22anticipate
:
: (DP and ds3 and ds4 are all very sick)


=No Spend
:=No Drive
:= Unexpected Spend Day
=Spent but only on budget items
Goals
10/15 No Spend Days
4/20 Decluttering/Organizing Days/30 minutes
3/8 Library Days
2/4 books
4/10 knit at least 30 minutes
20/25 eat at home
0/10 add things to CL[/QUOTE]
 
#476 ·
PassionateWriter: thank you! I'm having contentment issues, so it was nice to hear that.

01..

02.. $10 car wash
03..

04.. $42 diapers
05..
,
:
06..

07.. $40 Michaels for flowers and crafty stuff
:
08..
,
:
09..
,
:
10..
,
:
11..
,
:
12..
,
:
13.. $6.08 Chocolate Valentines Candy,
:
14..
,
:
15..
,
:
16.. $17 rib
17..
,
:
18.. $11 ice cream and candy
19..
,
:
20..
,
:
21.. $10 present for baby shower, $6.81 McDonald's
22..
,
:
23..
24..
25..
26..
27..
28.. PAYDAY!

My goals:

14/20 No Spend Days

5/5 Let the Car Rest Days
:
8/28 No Diaperswappers
:
 
#477 ·
My contentment issues:

My house is very sparsely furnished. We have everything we NEED, but the furniture is mostly hand-me-downs and doesn't match and just isn't visually very pleasing.

And I tend to run with friends who have more money than we do (ALL of them) which can get the jealousy monster going in me some days.

Especially when all of their houses are so beautifully decorated.

Yesterday I was at a baby shower and the hostess' house was GORGEOUS...yet strangely familiar...after about a half of an hour I realized she had the exact same house that we live in. She must have had the same builder because it was identical...except hers looked 400 times better.

So then I'm riding home in the car with my best friend and I'm saying "wow that house looked so much better it must have been because they painted the fireplace white and the walls were green and ... yadda yadda" and my friend pointed out that it wasn't just the paint...it was the furniture and the decor and the curtains and the expensive dining room table and EVERYTHING. And that all that stuff costs a lot of money and just a bit of paint wasn't going to change my house into that house.





:



So then I spent about two hours looking through decorating books and shopping for curtains.

And really...ladies...it would take A LOT of money to fix my house. A lot. We would have to buy a lot of furniture before I would be anywhere near satisfied with it.

That was stressing me out for a while because we don't have a lot of extra money and we would have to save for years to buy what I want to buy.

Then I had this revelation -- I could just not ~have~ a beautiful home.

:

I could just decide to be content with our house the way it is.

It is not beautiful. That is not where we spend our money. Period.

Will my friends like me less because our furniture doesn't match? Will it substantially alter my life if we just kept this ragtag furniture that we have? No.

The pressure was suddenly lifted from me. If I release the idea that my house has to look a certain way, then the money pressure is also gone.

And we can go back to saving and planning for college and retirement and.....ahhhh.....

I don't know how long this contentment bubble will last, but I hope a long time.
 
#478 ·
i understand what you are feeling but i am coming from it from another angle...we have too much furniture. we have too much of everything. and nothing seems cohesive. i just wish i could empty our house and start anew. we have a house sitting empty right now b/c i dont want to put it on the market..and it has furniture in it too. our tastes are so different. argh!!!!

i want to join your content bubble...but i thinik i need to accept that not everything is going to be perfect..and go from there. i need to be happy with the way things are. im working on it. lol!
 
#479 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by Smithie View Post
You paid of 236k of debt in one year? HOLY CRUD!!! I need to come to your house and take lessons.

If only Year 2 of the snowball held such promise...alas, after selling some land, a rental property, and DH's motorcycle in Year 1, the big stuff is gone. The progress this coming year will be a result of very careful spending, minding the budget, and organization.

Kim
 
#480 ·
1/1 - $125 staple foods and large-quantity detergents from health food store (eeek!)
1/3 - $128 groceries
1/10 - $58 groceries
1/18 - $108 groceries

$414/$500 groceries

I haven't posted in awhile but I thought I'd check in with you frugal ladies. I don't think I was in the right frame of mind this month for a no-spend challenge. Between a mall gift card, actually needing some new clothes, and a few meals out I have totally blown it this month. We did however do the budget so I'll be back next month with very clear goals! I am going to track this groc budget to the end because I am interested to see if we can stay on top of it after my extra-spendy stockup in the first week.
 
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