April 2011: Springing into No Buys

[charming23]

Staying in today. There are big thunderstorms in our area and I feel no need to go out in them.

April Budget (3/30-4/29)

Grocery/Household- $300/$235.26 left
Car/Gas- $50/$23.38 Left
Eating out- $50/$36.25 left
Misc/entertainment- $100/$62.34 left

Total- $500.00/$357.23 left

Goal of 15 No Buy Days

Week One
3/30- $0
3/31- $54.53 Grocery, $26.62 Gas, $3.32 misc, and $13.75 eating out
4/1- $15 Haircut and $13.05 Walgreens
4/2- $0
4/3- $10.21 Grocery and $6.59 Misc
4/4- $0
4/5

3/15 No Buy Days

Store and Coupon Savings-$40.25

 

[charming23]

MickeyMomofThree, I am so glad your party was a huge success. I am glad that he forgot about the text and got to be surprised.

 

[Virgderon]

Yay MickeyMom! You did it! I'm glad he enjoyed it so much.

Running Total: Spent $45
$800 budget... $755 left
$0 Days: 2
Goal is 8 or more!
coupon/sale savings : 21

Groceries budget- $250-19-7= 224 left

April 1: 19 ( groceries)
April 2: 0
April 3: 26 ( pop, razor, cleaning supplies, soup)
April 4: 0

 

[Debbie]

Job well done, Mickeymom! I was nervous just reading your story...you must have been a wreck! But all worth it in the end!

 

[Debbie]

Going to be a busy week, so I was glad to get another $0 in today. I can't guarantee WHAT will happen the rest of the time!

My budget:
I will count all OTC purchases, but not the regularly budgeted and paid for bills like Church, heating, water, taxes etc.
I will not count DH's spending on his snacks, since he does that every day, and there is no way for me to keep track, anyway.
This month I have a couple of birthday gifts, and of course Easter candy. (not sure if I'm doing baskets or not....maybe just cash for each of 5 kids ) My biggest goal is that I NOT spend as much as I did last month....that should be attainable, since last month was atrocious! Here's hoping for 12 no buy days.

April 1: $4 drug co-pay, grad pics for DD $172, gas $23
April 2: groceries $53 DDs phone needed replacing, and, since she was off to buy her shoes for her prom, I bought the phone...happy belated birthday....$101
April 3: $0
April 4: $0

No Buy days: 2/12

 

[wlake]

MickeyMomofThree, I'm so glad your party went well! You pulled it off!

Ronnmel, pictures please!

4/1: take out; $20 basket raffle for my school
4/2: $15 AC Moore (party gift), $30 gas, $12 Staples, $20 pharmacy
4/3: $66 groceries, I'm-not-admitting-how-much on a new bike for DS8 who had outgrown his badly.
4/4:


no buy days: 1/8
longest no buy streak: 3 days
meals out: 1/5 (not counting our trip!)
days since our last meal out: 3
longest no meals out streak: 10

 

[bigmama67]

MickeyMomofThree...CONGRATULATIONS! It sounds like everyone had a WONDERFUL time! So glad for you! (Now can yous end me that cheesecake recipe??)

I'll be back to post...today was the closest I've had to a no-buy yet except that I booked hotels for our trip to my Mom and to Six Flags New England and had to prepay them so I can't count it. Tomorrow at last I plan to get nothing but groceries. Ugh!

 

[3goofyboys]

Allrighty, I'm back and in for the month!! I fell apart at the end of last month. With moving and keeping track of 3 different houses, keeping track of my spending fell by the wayside. We're staying with my MIL for the month and most of our stuff is packed. I anticipate a few extra purchases when I discover something I need is packed and in storage ! I'll go for 10 no buy days this month and I'm posting a budget for the first time.


Food: $10/$420
Gas: $63/$200
Medical: $50
Misc Expenses: $65/$400

April 1 $75 Target-got a little food and a birthday gift for my nephew, $30 Gas

April 2

April 3 $38 gas We went to my nephew's b-day party at the zoo today, but we're members, so we went for free and my sister provided lunch. Glad we got a chance to get out this morning because now it's snowing! I'm ready for real spring!

April 4



2/10 No Buy Days

 

[3goofyboys]

Mickey Mom: I'm so glad the party went well! What a fantastic wife you are!

 

[SunnieRN]

Woo hoo!! Success!! Congratulations MMO3!!! And Happy Birthday to your hubby!!

March 25-April 8:

Goals:

Medical $200 / -$18
Groceries $200 / -$13 / -$48
Cash: $100 / $37 / -$26
No Buys: 8

March 25: $0
March 26: $0
March 27: $0 Tomorrow zoo, TRus.
March 28: $23 Zoo admission, sheesh the zoo is expensive! $5 each for the Grandmunchkins to spend, $12.57 Dollar Tree, they had Toy Story Kooky pens, for their Easter Baskets.
March 29: $0
March 30; $13 potluck and dressing for home.
March 31: $0
April 1: $0
April 2: $18 med refills,which my insurance only allows a month at a time refills. I wont even attempt to tell you how I feel about this! $48 Groceries, $26 on an appliance I am not sure will be used as much as I hope. The next 3 days will all be NO spend days!! My family is going out of town, I am ADHD dog sitting, and refuse to leave the house or shop online!!
April 3: $0!
April 3: $0




Goal 8 / 7 accomplished. Almost there!!

 

[angierae]

No buy days: 3/10
Groceries: 2.10/$240 (237.90 left)
Fuel: 0/$48
Eating out: 0/$44
Entertainment/Hobbies: 0/$52

4/1: 0
4/2: 0
4/3: 0
4/4: $2.10 (CVS. Got $50 worth of stuff between sales, coupons and Extrabucks, though.)

 

[ronnmel]

1 month away!

No Buy Days : 2/12
Gas : 0$ (max 120$???)
Groceries : 0$ (max 250$)
Eating out (and snacks) : 12$ (max 100$)
Non-necessities : 15$ (max 200$)

04/01 : 0$
04/02 : 7$ (snack)
04/03 : 20$ (lunch + purse)
04/04 : 0$

I almost forgot, RonnMel, your dress is so beautiful and if you care to share I would love to see a 'getting ready' picture, of you and your Mom!! You must be getting SO excited!!

MickeyMomofThree, I'm so glad your party went well! You pulled it off!

Ronnmel, pictures please!

I'd love to show you guys pictures, but my step-brother (the photographer) said I'm not allowed to see pictures until after the actual wedding. I was only allowed to see a couple teaser directly on his camera. I'll be sure to post pictures when I do have them though!

Glad to hear you guys had an amazing party and that your DH was surprised, MickeyMomofThree.

 

[A.Mickey]

Glad the party was a success Mickey Mom!

Running Total: Spent $95.71
$0 Days:3/13

Groceries ($240-$8/day)- $0
Eating Out ($210-$7/day)- $11
Misc. (Shopping/Entertainment) ($780-$26/day) $30.54
Gas $250- 4/2 $54.17 (3.89/gal)= $54.17

1- $0
2- My son's 4th bday. $8.06 (Games-Misc.), $16.10 (Target-Misc.), $6.38 (Dollar Tree-Misc.), $11 (Dairy Queen-Eating Out)
3- $0
4- $0


Budget: $1480....6%
Month: 4/30: 13%
No Buy: 3/13: 23%

My savings from coupons and sales: $137.31

Next Month: Rental car for October...6 month insurance premium....First month tuition for preschool....Broadway in Chicago Tickets

 

[nunzia]

$700 total
$100 Gas $80 left
$250 Groceries $202 left
$150 Entertainment/Eating Out $140 left
$100 Gifts $75 left
$100 Misc Household $92 left

April 1: $15.00 gift (online Jedi game), $2.00 movie rental, $10.00 lunch out ( I am rounding)
April 2: $0
April 3: $20 DH gasoline. $59 Walmart...($8 gift, $8 Misc household garden, saved $8 in coupons) $7.00 Walgreens ( had a great coupon deal on M&Ms and those are for Easter so gifts $2 gift, the rest groceries. total coupons there $5.25)
April 4: $0

 

[superme80]

Ok so far I am have one no buy under my belt.
4/1 a bunch of money
4/2 gas and a soda
4/3 no buy
4/4 milkshakes and a few grocery items
4/5 haven't decided yet

 

[charming23]

Staying in again today. The cable company is coming out tomorrow to put a DVR in our living room (the one we have at the moment is in my room) so I need to clean out the office in the basement so they can get to the hookup.

April Budget (3/30-4/29)

Grocery/Household- $300/$235.26 left
Car/Gas- $50/$23.38 Left
Eating out- $50/$36.25 left
Misc/entertainment- $100/$62.34 left

Total- $500.00/$357.23 left

Goal of 15 No Buy Days

Week One
3/30- $0
3/31- $54.53 Grocery, $26.62 Gas, $3.32 misc, and $13.75 eating out
4/1- $15 Haircut and $13.05 Walgreens
4/2- $0
4/3- $10.21 Grocery and $6.59 Misc
4/4- $0
4/5- $0

Week Two
4/6
4/7
4/8
4/9
4/10
4/11
4/12

4/15 No Buy Days

Store and Coupon Savings-$40.25

 

[jsmla]

Congratulations on the party MickeyMomof3! Parties always wear me out!

April 1-$0

April 2-$96.23
-Around $25 at the grocery (can't find the receipt!) for beer and ingredients for baked beans to bring to a Final Four BBQ we went to.
-$54.48 at Bed Bath and Beyond for a set of Tervis Tumblers for our son's birthday present.
-$1.09 at Walgreens for a photo of DS and his grandfather for the birthday.
-$15.66 for a frame for the photo.

April 3-$0

April 4-$101.04
Today could have been a no-buy but I missed grocery day last week due to a family issue and I wanted to hit the sales before they expired.
-$70.72 at Albertson's mostly on beef/chicken. Bottom round was $1.99 so I bought three large roasts to grind up for ground round. B/S chicken breast was $1.69 so I bought 4 pounds or so of that as well. I also bought bread flour, butter and eggs.
-$25.46 at Piggly Wiggly for Diet Cokes ($5.99/case-I bought three), corn meal, yogurt, potatoes and onions.
-$4.86 at the produce stand for peppers, strawberries, green onions, celery and cucumbers. Tomatoes were still too $$$. I need to get my garden in!

April 5-$0
Unless something unforeseen happens!

 

[SunnieRN]

March 25-April 8:

Goals:

Medical $200 / -$18
Groceries $200 / -$13 / -$48
Cash: $100 / $37 / -$26
No Buys: 8

March 25: $0
March 26: $0
March 27: $0 Tomorrow zoo, TRus.
March 28: $23 Zoo admission, sheesh the zoo is expensive! $5 each for the Grandmunchkins to spend, $12.57 Dollar Tree, they had Toy Story Kooky pens, for their Easter Baskets.
March 29: $0
March 30; $13 potluck and dressing for home.
March 31: $0
April 1: $0
April 2: $18 med refills,which my insurance only allows a month at a time refills. I wont even attempt to tell you how I feel about this! $48 Groceries, $26 on an appliance I am not sure will be used as much as I hope. The next 3 days will all be NO spend days!! My family is going out of town, I am ADHD dog sitting, and refuse to leave the house or shop online!!
April 3: $0!
April 4: $0
April 5: $0


No Buy goal MET!!!

 

[wlake]

Thanks everyone! Knowing that I'd have to admit to choosing dinner out over what was in the fridge convinced me to skip taking the boys out for something unhealthy tonight. I need you all to keep me accountable, especially with DH out of town!

SunnieRN, good for you for making your goal!

4/1: take out; $20 basket raffle for my school
4/2: $15 AC Moore (party gift), $30 gas, $12 Staples, $20 pharmacy
4/3: $66 groceries, I'm-not-admitting-how-much on a new bike for DS8 who had outgrown his badly.
4/4:
4/5:


no buy days: 2/8
longest no buy streak: 3 days
meals out: 1/5 (not counting our trip!)
days since our last meal out: 4
longest no meals out streak: 10

 

[ronnmel]

No Buy Days : 3/12
Gas : 0$ (max 120$???)
Groceries : 0$ (max 250$)
Eating out (and snacks) : 12$ (max 100$)
Non-necessities : 15$ (max 200$)

04/01 : 0$
04/02 : 7$ (snack)
04/03 : 20$ (lunch + purse)
04/04 : 0$
04/05 : 0$