Get on board! October No Buy thread

[Virgderon]

Welcome to all - whether you are first timers or old pros.

Big Kahuna explained it so well a couple months ago, so I borrowed her words:

The rules are simple, you set the rules. The beauty of "no buy" or "no $pend" is that it's on your terms! Record your monthly budget and subtract your expenses, or post what you are spending daily, or just record your "no $pend" days! How may days is also up to you, doesn't matter if its 2 or 20!
I like that it helps me see where my budget "leaks" are, and I love how supportive everyone here is!

 

[thebigkahuna]

awww! Thanks Virg! I really do appreciate everyone here, it's so nice to feel like you have support - some no spend days are TOUGH!

I skipped September, but I'm back in full force for October!

Octobers goal is 16 no spend days.
Anticipated expenses include: Medical (amount not known), some Holiday shopping (amount not known, but limited to $200.00 for the month), I believe I have a passport expense coming up (YIKES! this has become expensive!), the cost of a replacement cell phone (I will keep this under $60.00) and also some misc. expenses of car maintenance, and jewelry repair. Oh and Beauty and the Beast out on 10-5. I will be picking that up for sure!





October Goal: 16 no $pend day$
# of no $pend day$: 0
# of no $pend day$ needed to meet goal: 16

 

[Figment1990]

I've never participated in these threads yet, but I'm going to join up for October. We've had a ton of medical expenses lately, and work is not going so well (sales), and I need to start saving for our spring Disney trip!

I don't think I can do a full budget this month. I used to be very detailed with my budget but I don't have the time right now. So I'm just going to work on "no spend" days. I have no idea how many I can do, so I'm going to shoot for 7. That's 25% of the month, right?!? and I can't keep track of DH's spending right now, so I'm going to do this just for me this month and add him later.

I wish today counted! I haven't spent anything yet and don't plan to!

October Goal: 7 no $pend day$
# of no $pend day$: 0
# of no $pend day$ needed to meet goal: 7

 

[Siouxstone]

Count me in for a refresher course! I find myself doing horrible things like buying coffee on the fly these days. *sigh* I haven't finalized October because we have a small trip in the middle of the month and I may have to buy DS a few pairs of pants for school. I'll get it worked out by tomorrow night.

 

[sophie832]

I'm in, after my not-so-great over-budget month in Sept. I did meet my no-buy days goal, though, so that's good. I think I may have set impossible budget goals last month, though, so I'm going to try and keep it a bit more realistic this time.

*Goals*
No-buy days: 0/10
Eating Out: $0/$300
Groceries: $0/$250
Home improvement/garden: $0/$75
Misc.: $0/$200

 

[CobraBubbles]

I'm going to try to do this for this month. Need to clamp down on the spending this month. Going to Scotland and a cruise next year and then hopefully a big huge Disney/Universal trip in 2012. Plus, Christmas is coming up

 

[neatokimmo]

I'm back to try again

I have an incentive! I booked a trip for May! I couldn't wait our normal three years.

My HUGE downfall is fast food. So I guess my goal this month (and the next two) is to change my habits and learn to eat breakfast at home, remember to bring drinks when we are out, and to always have snacks on hand. The drive through is too easy. I have some super cool things planned in 2011's budget that I won't accomplish if I'm blowing all my cash on eating out.

Groceries - $120 This is about what I spent last month.
Eating out - $37.56 This is two lunches out with friends at work (I only work in the office 8 days next month), 2 budget breakfast trips to McDs and one good Chinese meal (which will probably taste even better because its a treat).
Clothes - $40 DD needs a pair of cheap non croc shoes for church, I need a pair of cheap jeans and the mint green tags at the consignment store should go to $1 this month.
Makeup - $25/25 I didn't get it last month.
Cats - $35 I feed all the neighborhood strays - I'm a sucker - I need coupons
Preschool extras - $10 They are asking for random craft items and a snack for Halloween. This seems to be a monthly thing.
Gas - $65 this is pretty consistent
Toys - $25
Misc - $80 ($20 per week)
Christmas - ?? I only need a few gifts and didn't have a budget this year.

I feel like I'm forgetting something!

 

[neatokimmo]

I remember now, school pictures come back this month They'll be whatever they'll be. Plus DDs real super fancy silks fit now so I'll have to run her to Olan Mills. I've been waiting for that outfit to fit her for three years almost

I'm back to try again

I have an incentive! I booked a trip for May! I couldn't wait our normal three years.

My HUGE downfall is fast food. So I guess my goal this month (and the next two) is to change my habits and learn to eat breakfast at home, remember to bring drinks when we are out, and to always have snacks on hand. The drive through is too easy. I have some super cool things planned in 2011's budget that I won't accomplish if I'm blowing all my cash on eating out.

Groceries - $120 This is about what I spent last month.
Eating out - $37.56 This is two lunches out with friends at work (I only work in the office 8 days next month), 2 budget breakfast trips to McDs and one good Chinese meal (which will probably taste even better because its a treat).
Clothes - $40 DD needs a pair of cheap non croc shoes for church, I need a pair of cheap jeans and the mint green tags at the consignment store should go to $1 this month.
Makeup - $25/25 I didn't get it last month.
Cats - $35 I feed all the neighborhood strays - I'm a sucker - I need coupons
Preschool extras - $10 They are asking for random craft items and a snack for Halloween. This seems to be a monthly thing.
Gas - $65 this is pretty consistent
Toys - $25
Misc - $80 ($20 per week)
Christmas - ?? I only need a few gifts and didn't have a budget this year.

I feel like I'm forgetting something!

 

[charming23]

I'm in for October.

Groceries- $200
Household/Pet- $50
Gas/Car- $50
Eating out/Entertainment- $50
Misc- $50

Total- $400

Goal of 15 No Buy Days

Week One
10/1-
10/2-
10/3-
10/4-
10/5-
10/6-
10/7-

0/12 No Buy Days

Coupon and Store Savings-

 

[Tiggerish]

October budget is $500 and no spend days goal of 7 for the 23 days I will not be doing Disney (cruise and parks).

Auto $75
Eating Out/Entertainment $100
Giving $25
Groceries/Household Goods $175
Medical $25
Misc. $100

No spend days goal = 7
Coupon savings =
Christmas 2010 running total of spending = $416

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

I'm back too. I made my goal in September!

My New Years Resolution was to do this for a year with a goal of 15 no spends a month, so I will try again for 15.

Good Luck everyone, happy to see all my No Buy Buddies and some new ones too!

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Happy About Record Since Joining No Buy-
January-14 Days
February-13 Days
March-17 Days
April-15 Days
May-15 Days
June-8 Days
July- 6 Days (only in town and only recorded half the month, probably had about 7-8 no buys while away)
August-15 Days
September-15 Days
Longest Streak-4 Days in a Row!

 

[beansmom]

count me in, too. We are waaaaay behind here...cc bills are exorbitant and we just need to stop spending.

I'm going for 15 no spend days (we will be in Disney for 8 days so we know we'll be spending there) and NO clothes/house/or junk shopping for the month. I have to get our spending under control.

Wish me luck!

 

[njmom47]

Sept was a bust for me (chunk of back child support I was owed..caught up on a lot of things we needed).
We bring lunch to work/school (although I did open a charge account at school for days DD/DS want to buy).
This month should be fine. Plus DH's old job asked him to come back p/t!
My daughter is due have her baby due any day....that might run into some additional spending!

My usual monthly budget:


Groceries 500.00-9.00-126.-157-109.=99.00
Gas 100.00-30.00-20.00-20.00=30.00
Miscellaneous 100.00-12.00-10.00-35.00-23.-20.00=0.00
Medical/dental 85.00-30.00=55.00

Going for 10 no-buy days this month.
10/01=$0
10/02=39.00
10/02=126.00 (saved 71.01 between sale items and coupons, plus canvas bags)
10/03=$0
10/04=30.00/dr/script
10/05=$0
10/06=$0
10/07=12.00/food
10/08=20.00 gas
10/09=10.00/food
10/10=157.00 (saved 82.86)
10/11=7.00/food
10/12=23.00/big lots, 20.00 gas, 35.00 for daughter's work clothes (an investment for future earnings)
10/13=$0
10/14=$0
10/15=20.00/walmart
10/16=$0
10/17=109.00 groceries(saved 64.68)

 

[annsteere]

Lots of travel this month: Disney, Michigan, Naples FL. Several parties.

My target will be 10 no spend days and no frivolous spending that is not out of my allowance money.

I was excited that today was a no spend day. (I drove past the golden arches for the fridge at home). Too bad it isn't actually October until tomorrow.

 

[disneymom3]

I am in. This last couple of weeks has been just crazy and had lots of unplanned spending.

For groceries/household I budget $750 a month but would like to see if I can get that lowered this month. Candy for Halloween is going to be an extra but I am on the look out for sales and coupons. I thinik I am going to put that amount in an envelope and we have to use cash to buy anything.

Gas is a big one for us. DH works quite aways from home with no bus service at all so that's $450 a month. One thing I am doing is trying not to go out unless I have to.

Dining out is my worst problem. I am hesitant to even add up what that came to this last month. DH and I have to sit down and set a certain amount that we will NOT go over.

I am not sure yet if I am going for a set number of days for no spend or simply a set budgetted amount.

 

[3goofyboys]

I'm in! Tracking last month has helped keep me accountable for my spending and it's made a huge difference!
My goal for this month is 15 no buy days. This might be tough because we're hosting a big halloween party mid-month, but I'm going to give it a shot.

 

[A.Mickey]

I am definitley in! We are going to Disney for 11 days this month! But I will be including it in my No Buy. We bought some gift cards in Sept when Meijer was doing it's awesome Disney promo, and hubby actually won a $250 gc last week. So our costs should be pretty low when at Disney as we will be using our gift cards. If I keep costs really low I may actually be all out of credit card debt by the beginning/middle of November! It is all thanks to No Buy!

 

[ilovepete]

I failed in September.

This month, I'd like to go for only 7 days. We are going on vacation for the last week and having company here another week, so I only have 2 weeks available for "no-spend" really. I hope I can do it!

 

[ilovepete]

I am definitley in! We are going to Disney for 11 days this month! But I will be including it in my No Buy. We bought some gift cards in Sept when Meijer was doing it's awesome Disney promo, and hubby actually won a $250 gc last week. So our costs should be pretty low when at Disney as we will be using our gift cards. If I keep costs really low I may actually be all out of credit card debt by the beginning/middle of November! It is all thanks to No Buy!

Wow that is awesome!

 

[fairyprincess1]

I'm in... I am going to go for 15 days... It will be a bit tough with a family wedding & halloween, but I am up for the challenge. It will just require me to do a little more planning & be more concious with my little day to day spending...