August No Buy

[MomToOne]

Welcome old and new participants!!

Rules are simple: you decide what to track, how to track it and what your goals are. While many people choose to try for as many $0 days as possible (hence the "no buy" title), if some other target works for you, then go for it!

I personally track only my fast food/restaurant/vending machine/other impulse food purchases since that's the biggest black hole in my spending. I shoot for as many $0 days as possible but mostly focus on having a low total at the end of the month. This month, since we will be at Disneyland the 26th to the 30th and I won't be tracking those days, I am going to try for a total of less than $75.

8/1/12 - $0 I am seriously jet-lagged and came home from work exhausted, but managed to pull myself together and make dinner after a 1-1/2 hour nap on the sofa, instead of picking up fast food.
8/2/12 -
8/3/12 -
8/4/12 -
8/5/12 -
8/6/12 -
8/7/12 -
8/8/12 -
8/9/12 -
8/10/12 -
8/11/12 -
8/12/12 -
8/13/12 -
8/14/12 -
8/15/12 -
8/16/12 -
8/17/12 -
8/18/12 -
8/19/12 -
8/20/12 -
8/21/12 -
8/22/12 -
8/23/12-
8/24/12 -
8/25/12 -
8/26/12 to 8/30/12 - We're going to Disneyland!!! Not tracking in this thread, although I have a separate budget set for the trip and will stick to it!
8/31/12 -

Total for the month: $0 [Goal: < $75]

 

[MomtoEmIs&Ow]

I am going to try and get back at this!!!

 

[Deffenm]

I am in. I have our Aug. budget created. My goal is to not go over or spend anything that is not budgeted for. I budgeted $300 for the month for items outside of standard budget (school supplies, eating out, etc..) I would like to use as little as possible of that money but it is there if we need it.

 

[IMALOVNDISNEY]

I'm keep Augusts budget close to the same as July

Family of 3 w/1 dog...plus many drop ins.
Groceries/Household:$60/$200
Gas: /$250
Eat Out: /$100
Misc: /$200
No Buy Days: 1/10
Coupon savings:

08/01 $41.00 butcher, $19.00 farm stand another bushel of corn(5 dz) and green beans. My beans didn't survive the our new resident back yard bunny. The bunny got the beans and the squirrels got the cherry tomatoes

08/02 -0- Spending the day prepping the corn and making zucchini breads/dishes

 

[Zhoen]

Ok, my goal is going to sound like a "well, DUH!!!" but here it is. I want to not use my credit card at all this month. Debit card is still fair game, because it's like cash and I use the bank's software to track everything.

But with DH and I going all-out to try to pay everything off ASAP, and every spare penny is going toward that goal, so I'm keeping less in my checking account, which makes it feel "low," which makes me feel nervous, which tempts me to charge things to "protect" my cash flow-- when in reality, charging things HURTS the end game.

Example-- $62.05 for tailoring at the dry cleaner. Necessary expense for uniforms for work. (Most of it was stuff I can't do myself, so no, I couldnt' have saved the money that way.) Add to that the $67 getting my oil changed and the tires rotated, also necessary, and we're $129 into my $300 "discretionary" funds for the next thirteen days. (Side note, yes, I could set up an "auto maintenance" category in the future, but it still affects how much money is left for "discretionary."

I know it's all in my head, but it just makes me nervous not having much in my account. (actually, there's more than the $171 discretionary, because I have the gas money and the grocey money in there, too. Plus there's money in savings that I can dip into if needed... and despite all of that, I was sooo-oo--ooo tempted to put the tailoring and maintenance on the card.

But I didn't, and I don't want to. So that is a goal this month.

I also would like to do five no-buy days, and by that I mean five days where I don't spend any money on fast/convenience/impulse food or unnecessary crap the kids want. I can't imagine we'll actually save any money that way, it will just force us to buy extra ice cream in advance so it's there when we want it...

So far, so good on the card. On track to pay it off before Thanksgiving-- and hopefully not load it back up come Black Friday...

No buy days: 0/5

 

[MomToOne]

But with DH and I going all-out to try to pay everything off ASAP, and every spare penny is going toward that goal, so I'm keeping less in my checking account, which makes it feel "low," which makes me feel nervous, which tempts me to charge things to "protect" my cash flow-- when in reality, charging things HURTS the end game.

I play the same sort of mind games, only mine is just in my spreadsheet. I give myself $60/week to cover all items not covered by my general budget items, so typically $240 a month (the way I count "weeks" means sometimes a month will actually have 5 weeks - it's my own little confusing scheme that works for me but I can't possibly explain to anyone else ). Sometimes, in the first few days of the month, I'll eat through a large chunk of that cash, and I end up having to watch every penny for the rest of the month. It's just my own enforced perception - I mean, I have money in Savings I can transfer over - but that's not the way I look at it. I have my $240 and that's it. When it's gone, it's gone. But in my case using the credit cards doesn't help that perception, because I count any money I spend the moment I buy something. Even though the CC bill may not come until next month, it comes out of this month's budget!

 

[staciepm]

This is one of the hardest financial months of the year. Back to school expenses and finishing up summer fun really takes a toll om my budget. Due to my son being hospitalized for 5 days in the Spring, my savings account
has already taken a huge hit. Unfortunately, we did not get to take a big trip this summer (no disney), so we are playing tourist in our own town. I have spent more than normal, but not close to a vacation.

My budget is for 3, which includes mom and two kids 10 and 13. They are at an expensive age. LOL. We also have two dogs, which normally I don't include, but our American Eskimo (Kiska) is now 16 and taking pain and anti-inflammatory meds. This is an additional $40 a month in my expenses, but he is so worth it.

No Buy Days: 1/15
Gas: 0/$120 (This will be 6 harris Teeter gas cards)
Dog: 0/$200 (Pollie needs shots and Trifexis)
Food and Extras: $61.80/$400
Back to school supplies/clothes/activity fees: 0/ $200
This does not include medical expenses, after school care and enrichment activities for the kids.

8/1 $0
8/2 $32.97 waterpark $9 ice cream $19.83 lunch. Big water park day
8/3 Vet Day

 

[YukiPhnx]

Hey Mom, thanks for starting the thread!

Ok, so I got engaged this past weekend at the beach. We were there with a large group of my friends and were having a BBQ and just a great time. We brought a watermelon to smash open and he rigged it so that I would be the one to do it. The blindfolded me and spun me around and I took 2 hits that cracked the melon open!

When the blindfold came off, my friends told me to turn around and there he was in a suit on the beach! Instantly I started crying. I couldn't even really hear his proposal. I was so speechless, I just nodded when he popped the question.

It's not going to be easy keeping to a budget with a wedding to plan, but I'm going to try! I'm going to keep that separate from here though. This thread works so well with controlling my misc spending. I've decided I'll save $1k/month and add my monthly savings into my honeymoon fund.


No buy: 2/15
Clothes: 0/5
Make-up: 0/3
Eating out: 0/5
Entertainment: 0/5

1. $0
2. $6.23- 2 drinks at Starbucks
3. $0
$40-6.23= $33.77 saved!

4.
5.
6.
$40

7.
8.
9.
$40

10.
11.
12.
$40

13.
14.
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$40

16.
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$40

19.
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$40

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$40

25.
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$40

28.
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31.
$40

 

[MomToOne]

Hey Mom, thanks for starting the thread!

Ok, so I got engaged this past weekend at the beach. We were there with a large group of my friends and were having a BBQ and just a great time. We brought a watermelon to smash open and he rigged it so that I would be the one to do it. The blindfolded me and spun me around and I took 2 hits that cracked the melon open!

When the blindfold came off, my friends told me to turn around and there he was in a suit on the beach! Instantly I started crying. I couldn't even really hear his proposal. I was so speechless, I just nodded when he popped the question.

All I can say is: Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Hopefully you didn't smash the watermellon so hard you had watermellon guts all over you when he proposed LOL (Hey I finally managed to use the bride smiley!!!!!)

As for the budget tracking....
(I am only tracking my fast food/restaurant/vending machine/other impulse food purchases since that's the biggest black hole in my spending.)
8/1/12 - $0
8/2/12 - $0 Worked like crazy all day, then all evening at home too. No chance to spend anything.
8/3/12 - $0 Told myself to go home and make dinner instead of stopping for fast food.
8/4/12 -
8/5/12 -
8/6/12 -
8/7/12 -
8/8/12 -
8/9/12 -
8/10/12 -
8/11/12 -
8/12/12 -
8/13/12 -
8/14/12 -
8/15/12 -
8/16/12 -
8/17/12 -
8/18/12 -
8/19/12 -
8/20/12 -
8/21/12 -
8/22/12 -
8/23/12-
8/24/12 -
8/25/12 -
8/26/12 to 8/30/12 - We're going to Disneyland!!! Not tracking in this thread, although I have a separate budget set for the trip and will stick to it!
8/31/12 -

Total for the month: $0 [Goal: < $75]

 

[annsteere]

Welcome old and new participants!!

I personally track only my fast food/restaurant/vending machine/other impulse food purchases since that's the biggest black hole in my spending.

8/1/12 - $0 I am seriously jet-lagged and came home from work exhausted, but managed to pull myself together and make dinner after a 1-1/2 hour nap on the sofa, instead of picking up fast food.

Hooray for you! This is just the kind of victory this thread helps us win.

It is hard to save money when you are exhausted and just buying sounds so easy.

 

[staciepm]

My budget is for 3, which includes mom and two kids 10 and 13. They are at an expensive age. LOL. We also have two dogs, which normally I don't include, but our American Eskimo (Kiska) is now 16 and taking pain and anti-inflammatory meds. This is an additional $40 a month in my expenses, but he is so worth it.

No Buy Days: 1/15
Gas: 0/$120 (This will be 6 harris Teeter gas cards)
Dog: 257/$200 Ouch over budget for shots and Trifexis. sigh
Food and Extras: $61.80/$400
Back to school supplies/clothes/activity fees: 0/ $200
This does not include medical expenses, after school care and enrichment activities for the kids.

8/1 $0
8/2 $32.97 waterpark $9 ice cream $19.83 lunch. Big water park day
8/3 $257 Vet. Way over budget. Old vet retired and this new one seems to charge a lot more. Sigh
8/4 Birthday party. I have gift, so hopefully a no buy.

 

[Elmo9607]

I'm going to try this...seeing as how I'm on a SERIOUS budget lately

I suppose I'll try to do as many $0 days as possible...which will be a challenge considering I go back to school soon. I'm transferring money each week into my savings account, which won't be included. Gas won't be included either.

A BIG thing that has helped me is simply leaving my debit card at home whenever I go anywhere. Before the Tshirt purchase on August 3, the last time I bought anything was July 23.

August 1- $0
August 2- $0
August 3- $13 bought a cute novelty tshirt for dbf at a restaurant
August 4- $12 at WalMart
$6 at Jewel

 

[taymorel]

I am aiming for 15 no buy days this month. But, that may be hard with back to school shopping.

8/1/12 - $0
8/2/12 - $0
8/3/12 - $126 Target and $29 Italian restaurant
8/4/12 -
8/5/12 -
8/6/12 -
8/7/12 -
8/8/12 -
8/9/12 -
8/10/12 -
8/11/12 -
8/12/12 -
8/13/12 -
8/14/12 -
8/15/12 -
8/16/12 -
8/17/12 -
8/18/12 -
8/19/12 -
8/20/12 -
8/21/12 -
8/22/12 -
8/23/12-
8/24/12 -
8/25/12 -
8/26/12 -
8/27/12 -
8/28/12 -
8/29/12 -
8/30/12 -

 

[staciepm]

No Buy Days: 1/15
Gas: 0/$120 (This will be 6 Harris Teeter gas cards)
Dog: 257/$200 Ouch over budget for shots and Trifexis. sigh
Food and Extras: $79.10/$400
Back to school supplies/clothes/activity fees: 0/ $200
This does not include medical expenses, after school care and enrichment activities for the kids.

8/1 $0
8/2 $32.97 waterpark $9 ice cream $19.83 lunch. Big water park day
8/3 $257 Vet. Way over budget. Old vet retired and this new one seems to charge a lot more. Sigh
8/4 $17.30 grocery store

 

[MomToOne]

Hooray for you! This is just the kind of victory this thread helps us win.

It is hard to save money when you are exhausted and just buying sounds so easy.

Yeah, that's my biggest issue - just about every day driving home from work I have a debate in my head about cooking dinner vs. just picking something out. This thread often gives me that little touch of extra pressure for cooking dinner to win And of course, once dinner is done, I am always happy I did it and it never seems like it was as much work as I felt it was going to be during that drive home!!

Tracking....
(I am only tracking my fast food/restaurant/vending machine/other impulse food purchases since that's the biggest black hole in my spending.)
8/1/12 - $0
8/2/12 - $0
8/3/12 - $0
8/4/12 - $0 Got up late (jet lag strikes again!) and had to frantically run to pick up DDs State Fair Art Entries in time (she got 2 2nd places ). Didn't get breakfast so I was pretty darn hungry. Decided to stop at Target on the way home for "5 minutes" to see if they had a pair of shorts I wanted - 1 hour later , well past lunch time and with my stomach growling it's dissatisfation, we finally got out of there I was tempted to grab a pizza right there at Target for lunch, or something else on the way home, but fought that urge again and went home for sandwiches. But I admit pizza came really, really close to winning. I need to find some more willpower.....
8/5/12 -
8/6/12 -
8/7/12 -
8/8/12 -
8/9/12 -
8/10/12 -
8/11/12 -
8/12/12 -
8/13/12 -
8/14/12 -
8/15/12 -
8/16/12 -
8/17/12 -
8/18/12 -
8/19/12 -
8/20/12 -
8/21/12 -
8/22/12 -
8/23/12-
8/24/12 -
8/25/12 -
8/26/12 to 8/30/12 - We're going to Disneyland!!! Not tracking in this thread, although I have a separate budget set for the trip and will stick to it!
8/31/12 -

Total for the month: $0 [Goal: < $75]

 

[Zhoen]

We were on a quick get-away this weekend, so all that binge spending doesn't count. (hey, it's true, Mom didn't count her whole time in China!) If it DID count, however, the money all would have gone into the eating out, entertainment, spoiling my kids categories, so that's hardly news...

But was *IS* news???

I "found" $2000!!!!!

And by "found," I don't mean I found a place I can cut back on in the budget or I picked up somebody else's (very fat ) wallet, no, I literally found $2k I'd forgotten I had!

My youngest starts Kindergarten in 3 weeks, but I hadn't registered her yet, because I was waiting and waiting for confirmation of which school she'd be at (long boring rather sad story)... so I finally got confirmation, and now I need to register her, so I need her birth certificate, which is in the firebox (it would be pretentious to call it a "safe"... )

While digging out her birth certificate, I noticed a bunch of old bonds I had stashed away and not thought of...

I added them up, and there were 22 of them!!! holy cow!!! (Again, seems like a "DUH" moment, but a while back I'd cashed all the ones that I could--you have to hold them for a year-- and I guess I didn't realize how many were actually left. ) You used to be able to buy paper bonds through payroll deduction, and when they stopped that, I stopped thinking about it.

So I cashed all those in Friday morning, and I'm about to make a huge extra payment on my last credit card!

 

[MomToOne]

(I am only tracking my fast food/restaurant/vending machine/other impulse food purchases since that's the biggest black hole in my spending.)
8/1/12 - $0
8/2/12 - $0
8/3/12 - $0
8/4/12 - $0
8/5/12 - $0 Got a good streak going! Here's hoping I can keep it up
8/6/12 -
8/7/12 -
8/8/12 -
8/9/12 -
8/10/12 -
8/11/12 -
8/12/12 -
8/13/12 -
8/14/12 -
8/15/12 -
8/16/12 -
8/17/12 -
8/18/12 -
8/19/12 -
8/20/12 -
8/21/12 -
8/22/12 -
8/23/12-
8/24/12 -
8/25/12 -
8/26/12 to 8/30/12 - We're going to Disneyland!!! Not tracking in this thread, although I have a separate budget set for the trip and will stick to it!
8/31/12 -

Total for the month: $0 [Goal: < $75]

 

[MomToOne]

We were on a quick get-away this weekend, so all that binge spending doesn't count. (hey, it's true, Mom didn't count her whole time in China!)

There are no rules here Zhoen, except for the ones you make for yourself - if you don't want to count it, don't count it! It's all about finding what works for you!

 

[tasha99]

I'm going to track my spending, but my daughter is driving up to visit me right now. We have some touristy plans (halibut fishing and maybe a visit to Denali) so it will get expensive. My goal is to stick to these expenses: normal monthly stuff, back to school things for DS, and showing DD a good time on her visit up here. Only writing discretionary (changeable) expenses:

8/1/12 - $150 groceries
8/2/12 - $0
8/3/12 - $2 laundry; $50 groceries, $70 Amazon (shoes for DS and cat food)
8/4/12 - $0
8/5/12 - $0
8/6/12 -$0 woohoo!
8/7/12 - $2 movie download, $40 gas, $57 groceries that included some school supplies
8/8/12 -$15 mcdonalds
8/9/12 -
8/10/12 -
8/11/12 -
8/12/12 -
8/13/12 -
8/14/12 -
8/15/12 -
8/16/12 -
8/17/12 -
8/18/12 -
8/19/12 -
8/20/12 -
8/21/12 -
8/22/12 -
8/23/12-
8/24/12 -
8/25/12

 

[staciepm]

No Buy Days: 1/15
Gas: 0/$120 (This will be 6 Harris Teeter gas cards)
Dog: 257/$200 Ouch over budget for shots and Trifexis. sigh
Food and Extras: $84.62/$400
Back to school supplies/clothes/activity fees:$39.75 / $200
This does not include medical expenses, after school care and enrichment activities for the kids.

8/1 $0
8/2 $32.97 waterpark $9 ice cream $19.83 lunch. Big water park day
8/3 $257 Vet. Way over budget. Old vet retired and this new one seems to charge a lot more. Sigh
8/4 $17.30 grocery store
8/5 HT $5.52, Party City $2.13 (treasure box), Staples $5.14 (bts) Music and Arts $32.48 (Clarinet supplies for DD lessons)