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~ ~ April No-Spend Challenge ~ ~

3K views 66 replies 14 participants last post by  Ruthiegirl 
#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 April 1st. Now is a good time to start.

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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#2 ·
Starting a new thread for April! 2012 is my year for getting things paid off, so these No-Spend threads are like home for me now.

Welcome everyone!

a. Who you are

Ruth, mama to my 4 kids, wife to one fantastic man. I grow food, I watch my pennies, and I am busy with mama life.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals)

I have some very clear goals for the year. January and February were all about paying our tax bill for the year. March was our month to rebuild our emergency fund. April is the start of paying off some credit card debt. I have a plan of sending $1700 (a huge chunk of our income) to a credit card this month.

c. How you plan to get there

Staying home, eating at home, working at home, and doing house projects. This is a home bound month for us. I am putting my energy into building on what we all ready have -- improving our garden, building a fire ring with stones we have in the yard, painting the kitchen with paint I have on hand and generally making our home as pleasing as possible. We have to be here, might as well make it lovely.
 
#3 ·
a. Who you are

I'm Kim, mom to 4 wonderful kids from the age 10yrs-3yrs. My husband is home with us right now, as he was laid off about 3 months ago. He got a nice severance package and thank goodness he has sometime to find a job and we don't have to worry about the money. I homeschool my kids so our house bills are pretty high.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals)

I'm trying to pay off one credit card (about 1,000) and start adding to my savings.

c. How you plan to get there

No eating out, limiting our driving, meal planning, coupons, and everything I learn on here.

I started this last month and save $400. I'm pretty excited to see how much I can save this month.
 
#4 ·
Starting off this challenge with some small house repairs. The kids next door broke a window in our garage. We are going to replace the glass today and should get reimbursed by the neighbor. And wax seal under the toilet is leaking, so getting that repaired asap.

My challenge this round is going to include a lot of house stuff -- we have some repairs and projects that must get done. Nothing expensive, but probably lots of little nickel and dime item.

I want to finally get the kitchen and bath painted. I have paint and brushes, I just need to focus on getting it done. I started the bathroom last night and got if half painted before the baby woke up. I'll keep working on the paint today and should get the first coat done. Will need a second coat since I am putting a light color over a much, much darker one.

April 1 -- wax ring for toilet, pane of glass for garage window

April 2

April 3

April 4

April 5

April 6

April 7

Credit card payments -- 0.00

Grocery money remaining till next pay period -- 324.59

House projects:

Fix toilet

Fix window

Paint bathroom

Shelf in Bathroom

Curtail for bathroom

Paint kitchen

Bookshelf for kids' books

Shorten curtains to fit under bookshelf

Fire ring in garden

Compost bins
 
#7 ·
Yesterday was awesome. We repaired the toilet and it wasn't as bad as we thought it might be. So, just the new wax ring to reset it. We need to caulk around the base today and that project will be done. I put up 2 coats of paint in the bathroom yesterday, but ran out of paint before I was done. Will pick up a quart today and then finish that project as well. Dh put the new glass in the garage window, so we are checking stuff off the list!

I also did the shopping last night, so we are good for the week.

April 1 -- 43.31 wax ring for toilet, pane of glass for garage window

April 2 -- quart of paint

April 3

April 4

April 5

April 6

April 7

Credit card payments -- 0.00

Grocery money remaining till next pay period -- 181.59

House projects:

Fix toilet

Fix window

Paint bathroom

Shelf in Bathroom

Curtail for bathroom

Paint kitchen

Bookshelf for kids' books

Shorten curtains to fit under bookshelf

Fire ring in garden

Compost bins
 
#8 ·
In again, though I really dropped the ball the last few weeks of March.
bag.gif
and
angry.gif


a. Who you are

I'm Jenn, SAHM to 5 under 8.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals)

Our long term goal is to be debt free and have a fully funded E-fund. We're working on paying off our CC, which will hopefully be done by the end of the year, while simultaneously saving for a down payment for a new to us commuting vehicle for DH by the end of the year.

c. How you plan to get there

STICK TO THE BUDGET!!! This month we have a few big expenses, the kids need their warm weather sandals, 4 prs of Keen Kids sandals gets expensive, but we don't scrimp on their shoes for summer b/c they wear them e-v-e-r-y-day. We also have 2 birthdays, DS1 is getting a new bike b/c he's outgrown his old, and DD3 will be 1, she's getting a homemade Waldorf doll.

STAY OUT OF STORES!! On the weekends, DH usually gets antsy and wants to get out of the house. Somehow we always end up at some store like Target or WalMart and spend money we really shouldn't. We need to stay out of the stores and find some other way to fill our time, hopefully it will be filled with yard work this month.

EAT AT HOME!! I've noticed our eating out expenses have started creeping up. DH and I really need to sit down and plan our meals better. I've been so unmotivated to cook lately, but it's starting to really hurt the pocketbook. We've also been making too many last minute stops at the store. Need to stop, it's a slow budget bleed.

Key

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No Spend/ Budgeted Spending

irked.gif
Unplanned/ Un-budgeted Spending

1.
irked.gif
what a great start to the month (heavy sarcasm) $9 @ store for bread for lunch, $6 @ Home Depot for screws to attach my hoops to the garden beds

2.
irked.gif
So much for my preemptive No Spend day. Drove to hubby's work to drop off his cell phone (1 hr away), had a picnic lunch w/ him & the kids (brought lunch), BUT came home and 1) didn't feel like cooking and 2) hadn't planned properly and didn't take anything out for dinner. So, delivery pizza it was *sigh*
 
#9 ·
Hi All,

I've missed the last couple of months. I'm working a wierd schedule now and haven't really kept up. But, time to buckle down and get to work!!! You ladies are always such a huge motivation for me.

a. Who you are: I'm Anka, mom to my wonderful 9mo DS and wife to a great DH. I recently transitioned from high powered career mode to a family/home centered life, but our financial situation (i.e., student loans to fund the education required for said high powered career) means I have to work. After having my baby I realized that being a mom is a full time job, and I want to be there for my child(ren).

b. Where you are going (your financial goals): I want to be able to either stay home or work only part time so that I can more fully devote myself to home and family.

c. How you plan to get there: We're paying off our loans Dave Ramesy style and living a very frugal life right now. I also took a job working rather strange hours which pays significantly more than my prior job. We should have our loans paid by the end of the year at our current rate. Our current rate depends on not spending any extra money! So, particulars:

- line dry clothes (except diapers, which we need a faster turn around on)

- continue to breastfeed, cloth diaper, and make our own baby food

- NOT NOT NOT buy the skirts for spring and summer that I've been craving

- STOP taking pregnancy tests compulsively

- meal plan/eat in

- I don't know how to put this last one... because I'm working nights and basically there for overflow/peak coverage, my current job involves a lot of sitting and waiting.I wind up online a lot surfing. And how long do you surf before you run into an advertisement for something that would be really nice to have? I've been able to resist thus far, but definately feel the compulsion. So, I'm going to work on strategies to spend less time online. Tonight I'm bringing a book.

4/1 No spend (projected)
 
#10 ·
a. Who you are.... Prudence, a stay-at-home Mom and fitness fanatic with three daughters. I have two little part-timey jobs, but mostly I'm running this house and keeping up with all my family's obligations during the day. My children are a bit older than most MDC kids, but they still need a lot of my time and energy.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals) ... I want to buy an RV and travel as a family across the United States for a year, staying in state parks and enjoying nature. Maybe Mexico as well.

c. How you plan to get there... By controlling the OUTFLOW of our money. As our income has grown, our expenses have risen to meet it. How does this happen? I'm not sure so I'm trying to find little holes in our budget to stop up. Some big ones that I can see are:

1. Eating out -- I spend a LOT at restaurants and I can't for the life of me even remember what we had there. Pizza? McDonald's? Total wastes of money, not experiences that we'll remember.

2. Clothing -- I have plenty yet I keep buying more. I'm trying to wear what I already own in my closet full of clothes instead of recreational shopping.

3. Recreation -- summer camps, ballet, music lessons, Jay Peak Water Park....my kids want to do it ALL. And it is hard to say no to them. I'm trying to remind myself that you can still be a good parent without paying for every fun thing that comes along.
 
#12 ·
Almost done painting the bathroom. Picked up a quart of paint yesterday to finish that last little bit. Dh kicked into high gear yesterday and painted the hallway while I took the kids for a swim, so our fingerprint smudged, coffee splashed hall is nice and clean again. And how in the world do we drip so much coffee on the walls?!?

We moved/turned the compost heap and made a new sandbox with scavenged wood and sand from the neighbor's yard. Free sandbox!

Buying nothing today - going to finish the bath and caulk around the toilet.

On the money side of things -- I got the bill from ds's broken ankle last month. We owe a $50 co-pay to the hospital. The heating bill came in $60 under budget, so that will pay for the co-pay. I don't normally track bills and medical things here, but I am thrilled to be able to cover the hospital bill without dipping into savings.

April 1 -- 43.31 wax ring for toilet, pane of glass for garage window

April 2 -- 20.98 quart of paint

April 3 --
thumb.gif


April 4

April 5

April 6

April 7

Credit card payments -- 0.00

Grocery money remaining till next pay period -- 181.59

House projects:

Fix toilet

Fix window

Paint bathroom

Shelf in Bathroom

Curtail for bathroom

Paint kitchen

Bookshelf for kids' books

Shorten curtains to fit under bookshelf

Fire ring in garden

Compost bins
 
#13 ·
I joined in last month but quit halfway through couldn't keep up. Going to try really hard to keep up this time. We have a few things planned like vacation next week,our bathroom flooded so we need to get all that redone also this month. I have the money planned so will keep totals.

a. Who you are
I am Emi mom to 2 girls and pregnant with a boy.

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

We are trying to get debt free.

c. How you plan to get there

stay on budget,not over spend or buy anything that I don't need to buy.

Key:

Vacation: $1,000

Redo floor: $2,000

Grocery: $400 per month.
 
#15 ·
Key:

No Spend
thumb.gif


Budgeted spend:
upsidedown.gif


Unplanned:
Cuss.gif


Ate at home:
broc1.gif


Hung out laundry:
hang.gif


My goals:

No spend: 20days

Hang laundry:20days

No eating out:29 days

We have a few things this month coming up:

Vacation:$1,000

Redo bathroom: $2,000

Grocery:$400

Eating out:$50

4/3- I didn't go anywhere so didn't spend anything. Ate at home also.
thumb.gif
,
broc1.gif


4/4-

4/5-Payday aka Bill day.

4/6-

4/7-

4/8-
 
#16 ·
Key

thumb.gif
No Spend/ Budgeted Spending

irked.gif
Unplanned/ Un-budgeted Spending

1.
irked.gif
what a great start to the month (heavy sarcasm) $9 @ store for bread for lunch, $6 @ Home Depot for screws to attach my hoops to the garden beds

2.
irked.gif
So much for my preemptive No Spend day. Drove to hubby's work to drop off his cell phone (1 hr away), had a picnic lunch w/ him & the kids (brought lunch), BUT came home and 1) didn't feel like cooking and 2) hadn't planned properly and didn't take anything out for dinner. So, delivery pizza it was *sigh*

3.
thumb.gif
Finally. Didn't spend anything today, stayed at home and worked on adding hoop frames to the garden beds.
 
#17 ·
I'll join. I've recently (like, Thursday) lost my job and need to write this out and be accountable somewhere.

a. Kristin, single mom to DS (4) and 2 feline friends

b. goal is to spend as little as possible. I have a severance and final check from the job, and will start getting a small unemployment check this week, but I have to dig in for the long haul, in case the job hunt takes longer than expected.

c. watch the little stuff. That plus eating out always has a way of piling up on me

1. Went to the gym for family swim with the kiddo, membership already paid for...but we stopped at Orange Julius on the way home. $8. Ouch.

2. Day 1 of the job hunt. Got a new toner cartridge for my printer, to print applicaitons and resumes. $35. Not really an unnecessary expense, though

3. $57 for cut and color at the beauty school. Colored back to my natural shade so no more ongoing expense for maintaining it, which will save $$$$ in the long run. $8 lunch out. Again, ouch. No more doing that!
 
#18 ·
a. Who you are

SAHM to two homeschooling teens. My husband is a waiter and we live *entirely* on his tips. His weekly paycheck is literally $0 because the minimum wage for waiters is so low and he has the gov't withhold a lot to make sure we don't have any nasty tax surprises when that time comes around. This makes budgeting in general a bit difficult because I can only guess what we're going to have from month to month.

b. Where you are going (your financial goals)
We are currently homeschooling college. (No, really. It can be done legitimately through accredited state colleges - it's not about unaccredited schools or diploma mills.) Our goal is to have both our children have their BAs by the time they are 19 with NO loans to pay off after graduation. I've worked my son's degree out to be about $7500 total and my daughter's to be about $9500. I'm budgeting more for hers because of the assumption that tuition costs will continue to go up. In order to make this work, we've had to *really* scrimp - setting aside $375 a month toward college costs. It hasn't been easy, but so far, so good.

c. How you plan to get there
Pretty much the same way we've lived the last 20+ years - as disciples to Amy Dacyczyn. I actually subscribed to her newsletter all the way back in the early 90s.

4/1:
thumb.gif


4/2:
thumb.gif


4/3: $1.74 on a blender. Don't really know how to categorize this one. Did we *need* a blender? No. We've gone without one for almost six years since the last one died and obviously we're still alive and kicking. But I was given a Macy's gift card for $25 last August and I've been waiting to use it. My husband saw an ad online for a $44 blender on sale for $24.99, so we went to Macy's and bought it. I only had to pay the tax. I'm really very happy about my new blender. Is there a "neutral" emoticon for "not in the budget but not really a total thumb's down"? I did figure I'd use my Macy's card eventually....
 
#19 ·
Key:

No Spend
thumb.gif


Budgeted spend:
upsidedown.gif


Unplanned:
Cuss.gif


Ate at home:
broc1.gif


Hung out laundry:
hang.gif


My goals:

No spend: 2 of 20days

Hang laundry:0 of 20days

No eating out:2 of 29 days

We have a few things this month coming up:

Vacation:$1,000

Redo bathroom: $2,000

Grocery:$400

Eating out:$50

4/3- I didn't go anywhere so didn't spend anything. Ate at home also.
thumb.gif
,
broc1.gif


4/4-
thumb.gif
broc1.gif
hang.gif


4/5-Payday aka Bill day.

4/6-

4/7-

4/8-
 
#20 ·
Fun day today. This is spring break for the kids and we spent a great day at the beach. We bought our yearly pass which was budgeted Dh spent some money getting ds outfitted for baseball. Expensive, but again budgeted. This is the big expense for the season and well worth it for our son.

And I should be totally honest and admit that I picked up a sun hat for the baby. Crap. I hate how my spending looks when I come to post here.

April 1 -- 43.31 wax ring for toilet, pane of glass for garage window

April 2 -- 20.98 quart of paint

April 3 --
thumb.gif


April 4 -- 144.00 baseball gear, 30.00 yearly beach pass, 15.00 sunhat for baby

April 5

April 6

April 7

Credit card payments -- 0.00

Grocery money remaining till next pay period -- 181.59

House projects:

Fix toilet

Fix window

Paint bathroom

Shelf in Bathroom

Curtail for bathroom

Paint kitchen

Bookshelf for kids' books

Shorten curtains to fit under bookshelf

Fire ring in garden

Compost bins
 
#21 ·
4/1:
thumb.gif


4/2:
thumb.gif


4/3: $1.74 on a blender.

4/4: $1.00 on the seventh edition of Psychology (Gleitman, Reisberg, Gross) college textbook to help son study for CLEP. Found it on the for-sale shelf at our library, where they sell off hardbacks for $1 and paperbacks for $0.50. Can certainly fit it within general school supplies budget for the year, but was totally unplanned so...
bag.gif


Going grocery shopping tomorrow if possible. We only have one vehicle, and we live miles from town, so I have to time things right with my husband. I like Ruthiegirl's running tab of grocery budget money. That's a good reminder to stay on target, I think. :)

Grocery budget for month: $0/$375
 
#22 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruthiegirl View Post

Crap. I hate how my spending looks when I come to post here.
Me, too. Me, too.

Key

thumb.gif
No Spend/ Budgeted Spending

irked.gif
Unplanned/ Un-budgeted Spending

1.
irked.gif
what a great start to the month (heavy sarcasm) $9 @ store for bread for lunch, $6 @ Home Depot for screws to attach my hoops to the garden beds

2.
irked.gif
So much for my preemptive No Spend day. Drove to hubby's work to drop off his cell phone (1 hr away), had a picnic lunch w/ him & the kids (brought lunch), BUT came home and 1) didn't feel like cooking and 2) hadn't planned properly and didn't take anything out for dinner. So, delivery pizza it was *sigh*

3.
thumb.gif
Finally. Didn't spend anything today, stayed at home and worked on adding hoop frames to the garden beds.

4.
irked.gif
Had a rough day, DH stopped and picked me up ice cream.

I'm not on to a great start for this month *sigh*. Today and tomorrow the kids ans I are not going anywhere, but DH will be stopping for a couple Easter basket things one of these days.
 
#25 ·
Key

thumb.gif
No Spend/ Budgeted Spending

irked.gif
Unplanned/ Un-budgeted Spending

1.
irked.gif
what a great start to the month (heavy sarcasm) $9 @ store for bread for lunch, $6 @ Home Depot for screws to attach my hoops to the garden beds

2.
irked.gif
So much for my preemptive No Spend day. Drove to hubby's work to drop off his cell phone (1 hr away), had a picnic lunch w/ him & the kids (brought lunch), BUT came home and 1) didn't feel like cooking and 2) hadn't planned properly and didn't take anything out for dinner. So, delivery pizza it was *sigh*

3.
thumb.gif
Finally. Didn't spend anything today, stayed at home and worked on adding hoop frames to the garden beds.

4.
irked.gif
Had a rough day, DH stopped and picked me up ice cream.

5.
irked.gif
$70 for Easter basket stuff.
 
#26 ·
Key:

No Spend
thumb.gif


Budgeted spend:
upsidedown.gif


Unplanned:
Cuss.gif


Ate at home:
broc1.gif


Hung out laundry:
hang.gif


My goals:

No spend: 2 of 20days

Hang laundry:0 of 20days

No eating out:2 of 29 days

We have a few things this month coming up:

Vacation:$1,000

Redo bathroom: $2,000

Grocery:$400

Eating out:$50

4/3- I didn't go anywhere so didn't spend anything. Ate at home also.
thumb.gif
,
broc1.gif


4/4-
thumb.gif
broc1.gif
hang.gif


4/5-Payday aka Bill day.
thumb.gif
Cuss.gif
paid the bills $700 worth,paid the girls tball registration fee $50,did some spending at the dollar store on few food things we needed I didn't want to go to another store. So, going to take that from the grocery budget. $48.xx. spent $6.50 on pizza for the kids and $26 on Mexican food for me and the hubby. Might not be going on vacation next week after all. Might just do a day trip somewhere and go ahead and start the construction on our bathroom since hubby will be off work 5 days. Got a lady coming to pick up 5 of our puppies tomorrow so that will be alittle extra money and we got a refund of $20 for overpayment to tax dept.

4/6-
thumb.gif
hubby is working a 16 hr shift today and I am home carless.Not going to spend anything.

4/7-

4/8-
 
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