January No Buy: Let's Start the Year Right!

I love this. I'm REALLY going to try, esp. after taking a hard look at November and December's spending. WOW. So far so good this month, on unnecessary spending. grocery budget is still too high ($419 so far, but 150 was for DD birthday). I'm hoping that, with my $200 spent yesterday, we can make it to Feb 1 on $80 in add'l groceries. Seriously, in December the food bill for me (groceries, eating out) was $1000. Not including the $$ DH spent at restaurants. The restaurants are the first to go, followed by cutting the grocery budget to $500. I'm baby steppin'. The other thing I'm doing is getting $60 at the ATM on Sunday, to last through the week for incidental expenses (like how I forgot my lunch twice last week). Whatever is left over goes to the cash stash, which I am going to use for my WDW trip in November. Wish me luck. I'm going to need it - I am TERRIBLE at this.
 
I really really like this too, my spending has gone WAY out of control over the holidays! I sat down last night with my hubby and wrote a budget and I'm going to start with a goal of 3/7 days of no spending and work my way to 4/7 and making sure we follow our budget VERY VERY closely!
 
Jan. 1: $33.00 Walmart (groceries and 75% off Christmas)
Jan. 2: $80.00 (2 shelving units from Lowes. 1 was a facebook deal..79 down to 43)
Jan. 3: $0
Jan. 4: $0
Jan. 5: $0
Jan. 6: $22.69(groceries..stuck to the list!) $18.62 (dinner out with friends) $9.60 (Christmas pictures printed)
Jan. 7: $0
Jan. 8: 18.65 WalMart, groceries, $1.07 McDonalds sausage bisccuit, $19.75, Dh and I went to see Tron, plus got a medium popcorn.
Jan. 9
Jan. 10
Jan. 11
Jan. 12
Jan. 13
Jan. 14
Jan. 15
Jan. 16
Jan. 17
Jan. 18
Jan. 19
Jan. 20
Jan. 21
Jan. 22
Jan. 23
Jan. 24
Jan. 25
Jan. 26
Jan. 27
Jan. 28
Jan. 29
Jan. 30
Jan. 31
 
After a good start....the weekend came. :blush:

Jan. 1: $0
Jan. 2: $0
Jan. 3: $0
Jan. 4: gas $46; groceries $97; postage for registered letter to Cairo $15
Jan. 5: DH hit up the pharmacy for some iron tabs...$7
Jan. 6: $0
Jan. 7: DH hit up the local grocery. Didn't spend much but it was $12
Jan. 8: I did a Costco run for school. DS bought a pair of jeans ($100 :scared1: ), but not my money. ;) I did spend $40 on Flavour-Seal rolls :eek: but it is the first I've bought since I've had the thing. Also some chips and a magazine.....total $50 for me. I wasn't thinking, though. I need to go BACK to Costco today to pick up my ColdFX. So today will not be $0 either. :sad2: Oh, and DH put gas in the car. Goodbye $41

4/10
 

DH just got home and he spent $25.98 on food and $5.99 on pharmacy. He's going to pick up a few things at Trader Joe's later too.

Also I just bought a new griddle at JC Penney ($29.99 down from $69.99). I couldn't use a code because they exclude cookware for some reason but it's still a great purchase and we do pancakes every weekend. :goodvibes

Hoping for a no-buy day on Monday. I'm home sick today and DH will take the kids to a birthday party. I have a job interview tomorrow too. :thumbsup2
 
It feels silly but I have already bought something and put it away for next Christmas. I guess January is not to early to start tracking my Christmas spending.;)

The January budget is $1200 with 12 no spend days.

Auto $70
Eating Out/Entertainment $50 / $32 left
Giving $10
Groceries/Household Goods $200/ $187 left
Medical $100 /$25 over
Misc. $50/ $10 left
Set bills $420/ $375 left
Semi-Annual Neurology eval in Chicago budget is $300

No spend days goal of 12/ 4
Coupon savings $21.90
Christmas '11 running total = $8
-------------------------------------------------------
1/1 $0
1/2 Set bills $25 (church)
1/3 Groceries $13; Misc. $29 (birthday present for niece)
1/4 Medical $104 (dentist)
1/5 $0
1/6 $0
1/7 $0
1/8 Eating out $18; Medical $21 (OTC drugs)
1/9 Set bills $20 (church); Misc. $10 (Mom's birthday gift) Christmas $8
 
Well, I am back in with a new plan. My goal 365 days ago today was to do this for a year. Never thought I'd make it, sure as heck didn't think I'd write down every penny I spent for a year, but I did and while I thought this would only be a one year thing to teach myself, it not only did that but I also like so many people here so much that I don't want to leave.

OK, I gave it some thought. Not to say DH wasn't supportive of this last year, cause he is the most supportive man you could ask for, but something that really bothered him last year was when we'd go without something like milk cause I was trying to strech a no buy day to the next day or something, or let my tank get low cause I didn't want to blow a day on gas. To him groceries and gas are necessities and he said he'd like to see me alter it this year not not include those things. However, I want to continue to record them to keep track cause I think seeing it helped me, so I will continue to record everything but no buy days will now be no extra buy days. We'll see how this works. Also, I recorded every penny spent last year, so I have totaled up each month and my goal for this year is to come under that. Anything I have left over at the end of the month I will put into our savings account.

January 1-$0 :woohoo: Actually, not totally :woohoo: but good for the budget, we were going to go out today while DH worked, but the kids were having fun playing at home so that was good, but we were going to go to Cosmic Bowling tonight when he got off work but he's stuck there, it will be an all nighter, so we decided to hang out here and go with him another time. It isn't as much fun doing those things without him. So, a little bummed we are in but we are going to back some cookies here in a bit and they are having fun playing with their new games. Right now they are building forts for the kittens. :)
January 2-$0 :woohoo: Today was a wonderful day AT HOME! My DH finally didn't have to go into work. He worked till 4am so we slept in. Then we got up and snuggled on the couch and watched football. This afternoon we sampled our candies that we brought back from each country in EPCOT, we took photos for our scrapbook and the kids recorded what they thought of each one and ranked their favorites and least favorites. That was fun. Then tonight I made a nice roast for dinner. Now DH is working (but from home!) I am Dising and the kids are playing Truth or Lies on the Wii. It is a nice way to end vacation, wish it wasn't already over, but looking forward to getting the house back in order.
January 3-$0 :woohoo: I do need to get a few groceries, but they wouldn't count anyway, but I worked really hard today and never got out for them and now I am tired. I will have to go tomorrow. We are out of milk but have pleanty of eggs so we are good for breakfast and pleanty of bread so we are good for lunches. (One of this years resolutions is to declutter a bit (not too much, I did a huge declutter a few years ago and missed my stuff, but halfway would be nice, I worked all day on the kitchen. It isn't done but I made amazing progress!)
Now, I do have to do some shopping, we will see if I do it tonight or tomorrow. DD16 and DD11 need jeans so badly, I didn't realize how bad and I am actually a little embarassed and DD8's b-day is next week and all she wants is for me to replace The Little Mermaid 2, ours broke so I am watching a couple on eBay. Guess it doesn't matter if I do it tonight or tomorrow, but as of now it is a $ day. ETA- I am totally craving a date with my hubby, maybe I can buy jeans, a movie and meet him for lunch tomorrow...hhhmmm... ;)
January 4-$0 :woohoo: I did buy a copy of The Little Mermaid 2 off eBay for DD's b-day, it was $18 but I returned the Perfect Brownie Pan and a game I had bought for DD's b-day. The game I thought was on clearance but was not and the pan, she wanted it but then after I bought it, it looked like a headache to clean and we rarely make brownies so I got back $32.23 so I am calling it a wash. I traded for what she really wanted and saved $15. I also bought groceries but with my DH's system I won't count it, though I am going to record it. ($66.12 groceries) I also paid for dance which I never counted against a no spend day, we consider it a bill but I record it since it is the ony bill I pay-$86
December 5- Target (sympathy card, socks for DD8's b-day, she needed them and anframe on clearance of Kitty's first Christmas) $14.82 Dinner for the kids at Family Night $4.50 (I got a burger, fries, 2 cookies, a rootbeer float and a slush that they shared all of it.) Then we came home and had the dinner I had made, meatloaf, garlic cream cheese mashed potatoes and broccoli.) So under $20, not too bad. Dollar Tree (b-day invites) $4.32 (forgot these)
December 6-$0 :woohoo: The weekend it won't be so easy. I NEED a date with my hubby!
December 7- Dinner date with hubby. I was craving a good burger, he said Red Robin, but being budget minded we went to 5 Guys. It was still good and we sat and talked while munching on peanuts. It was nice. After we got dinner for the kids to bring home. Total $21.
December 8-$0 :woohoo: I took the kids out to Lowes for the free project, then Home Depot for their projext, then we went home for lunch and I took DD11 to her b-ball game. After I came home and cleaned/reorganized all day. It would have been easy to say yes when they asked for pizza, but I made dinner and saved the ppizza night for a day I (and dad who wasn't home) would also enjoy it.


6/15 No Spend Days This Month Looking at making this number higher since I am not counting groceries at least for this month. Not sure what to set it for, this is a trial month I guess.

Total groceries for the month-$66.12
Total gas for the month- $0


My new goal for myself is to come in under the $ amount I spent last January. Here's how I'm doing.
$1278.99 spent last January
-66.12 groceries
-18 b-day gift
+32.23 credit
-14.82 gift, card
-4.50 family night
-4.32 invites
-21.00 date
$1182.46


$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Joined No Buy as a New Years Resolution in 2010 and did pretty well-
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
October-13 Days
November-6 Days (only kept track till November 16th cause we were in Disney the rest of the month)
December-10
Longest Streak-4 Days in a Row
Back in 2011 cause I'd miss you all so much!
:hug:
 
I just read the last few pages, I have not been on DIS for the last couple days, been busy cleaning and reorganizing (another resolution) but wanted to welcome the new people and wish everyone going on job interviews all the best of luck.
Have a great day!
 
Howdy everyone!

Sounds like some successes and some opportunities for change. Keep it up:)

This week I'm going to try to eat everything I have in my house without buying any more food until it's all gone. Only thing I'll need is a half gallon of milk to use up all the cereal I've accumulated.

Good luck this week!
 
1/1: $0!
1/2: $0!
1/3: $11.10 Popeyes
1/4: $6.25 Subway
1/5: $23.16 Gas
1/6: $14.19: lunch, Rouses (got my king cake! :lmao:)
1/7: $4 lunch
1/8: $102.60: CVS, lunch, Rouses, Winn-Dixie
1/9: $0!


$0 Buy Days: 3
Total Spent: $161.30/$395=41% :eek:
Month Over: 9/31=29%

$395 breakdowns:
grocery: 200.00-83.65=116.35
eating out: 50.00-33.59=16.41
misc: 70.00-17.15=52.85
gas: 75.00-23.16=51.84


:welcome: to the new people!
 
Goals:
10 $0 Days
$100/week on groceries
$200/gas
$100 for extras

January 2011
1/1 $0
1/2 $97.37 groceries
1/3 $0
1/4 $0
1/5 $67.81 in gas but hope to last a while
1/6 $0
1/7 $0
1/8 $97.58 groceries and $58.47 for misc
1/9 $0


6/10
$195.95/$400 - $204.05
$67.81/$200 - 132.19
$58.47/$100 - $41.53



doing great so far....lots of baking today so we have desserts on hand and snacks!!! this is really a challenge but I am onboard all the way!!:yay::yay:
 
I'm aiming for 15 No Buy Days, but hoping for 20!

1/1 - $0
1/2 - $89.30 (for 2 weeks worth of groceries - this meal planning stuff really works!)
1/3 - $0
1/4 - 37.00 (Darn kid and the stuff he likes. I HAD to get tickets to take him to a Dinosaur Train exhibit.)
1/5 - $0
1/6 - 49.29 (saved due to Amazon Mom and Subscribe and Save, and (fingers crossed) this could be the last pack of diapers I ever buy)
1/7 - 111.41 + 10.95 (groceries and McDonalds for lunch)
1/8 - -- Alright, this may be cheating, but I'm not counting today. Money was spent, but it came from a special fund that I've been saving up for (Ikea) so it isn't money that came out of my regular budget. But I won't count it as No Buy.
1/9 - $0

Costco tomorrow so I know I'll spend too much.


so far - 4/15
 
January goal is no 10 $pend days

01-01-11 Spent money :confused3 what the heck? LOL
01-02-11 :flower3: no $pend day #1. Yes, its early, but I'm not feeling well and won't be going anywhere or doing anything this evening.
01-03-11 :flower3: no $pend day #2.
01-04-11 I spent money today ~ it was a VERY long, but VERY productive day, and when all was said and done I declined to cook LOL
01-05-11 today was a spend also, lunch out and will have to do some non-budgeted shopping later.
01-06-11 didn't get to the "non-budgeted" shopping yesterday, so that means I have to do it today, and that means today is another spend day :(
01-07-11:flower3: no $pend day # 3!
01-08-11 :sick::headache: money spent on medicine
01-09-11 spent money today :( BUT! breakfast and lunch for tomorrow are packed & ready to go, so tomorrow can be a no $pend!
01-10-11


3 of 10 days :woohoo:
 
My goal for January is 15 no buy days.
Christmas is done, my DS's birthday is done. We have a few birthday parties to go to, but other than that, we don't have any big expenses coming up in January. I'm ready to get back on track after all the crazy holiday spending

January 1 $0 :cool1: We're in for the day, so I'm calling it early. Hoping the $0 for today is a sign of good things in 2011!

January 2 Plans changed and I ended up going out for dinner tonight instead of tomorrow. So $50 for dinner and I went ahead and filled up with gas today $50 gas.

January 3 $0 :cool1: Took the boys to the library and McDonalds, but we were given coupons this summer that allow one free Happy Meal per kiddo once a month, so we used those :banana:.

January 4 $25 got my hair cut- I haven't had it cut in over a year. I was ready for a new cut. $100 groceries. $28 DH and I went out to dinner for our date night.

January 5 $0 :cool1:

January 6 $80 presents for upcoming birthday parties/misc. at Target (but ONLY what I went in for, no impulse purchases), $40 gas, $15 to refill my freezer with bread, $10 local bounce place

January 7 $0 :cool1:

January 8 $0 :cool1:

January 9 $0 :cool1:


6/15 No Buy Days
 
My first no-buy weekend. It feels weird. We also stayed home for two days... At least our house is clean and no one is coughing for once in a long time.

5/12 no-buy days
* Used coupon

1/1/-$2 TRU*, $7 CFA*, $2 Coldstone*, $31 Wegmans/redbox*
1/2-$6 mcd*, $14 Dollar Store
1/3-$0; 8 miles
1/4-$0; Lego* free build
1/5-$0; 3 miles
1/6-$4 DD*, $24 Wegmans*, $14 Target (no store tempts me like Target, but this time it was DH who went...); 2.5 miles
1/7-$46 target, $29* wegmans, 3 miles
1/8-$0
1/9-$0
 
Jan 1: $0
Jan 2: $0
Jan 3: $0
Jan 4: $121 on necessary items for the new baby, all purchased at the Target baby clearance (mattress, bottles, towels, etc) plus some grocery items
Jan 5: $12 on a valance for the baby's room
Jan 6: $0
Jan 7: $12 for a day at the mall with dd (whoo hoo for free play area!)
Jan 8: $70 groceries
 
After a good start....the weekend came. :blush:

Jan. 1: $0
Jan. 2: $0
Jan. 3: $0
Jan. 4: gas $46; groceries $97; postage for registered letter to Cairo $15
Jan. 5: DH hit up the pharmacy for some iron tabs...$7
Jan. 6: $0
Jan. 7: DH hit up the local grocery. Didn't spend much but it was $12
Jan. 8: I did a Costco run for school. DS bought a pair of jeans ($100 :scared1: ), but not my money. ;) I did spend $40 on Flavour-Seal rolls :eek: but it is the first I've bought since I've had the thing. Also some chips and a magazine.....total $50 for me. I wasn't thinking, though. I need to go BACK to Costco tomorrow to pick up my ColdFX. So tomorrow will not be $0 either. :sad2: Oh, and DH put gas in the car. Goodbye $41
Jan. 9: Costco...got vitamins, ColdFX, more vitamins, chips and salsa $110. DH drove DS into the city, and...thoughtfully....bought some soup for my cold. $7

4/10
 
1/1 - $6.00 -Group On
1/2 - $141.75 Meijer Coupon Savings - $4.75
1/3 - $0
1/4 - $15 special order needle felt book character
$8.50 toothbrushes and toothpaste - donation to retirement home
1/5 - $0
1/6 - $5.30 for Chinese take/out
1/7 - $109 - $75 for cleaning lady, $27 for dinner and $7 pre-pay for a
luncheon next week.
1/8 - Target - $40 and Kroger $104
1/9 - $0

No Spend:
3/10
 
Had to run out for a few groceries to hold us over until we do our big shopping again on wednesday.

Groceries/household- $300/ $183.83 left
Car/gas- $50
Eating out- $50/ $32.37 left
Entertainment/Misc- $100

Total- $500/ $366.20 left

Goal of 15 No Buy days

Week One
1/1- $14.23 Groceries
1/2- $0
1/3- $0
1/4- $0
1/5- $88.96 Groceries/household and $17.63 dinner at Loco Leprechaun
1/6- $0
1/7- $0

Week Two
1/8- $0
1/9- $12.78 groceries
1/10
1/11
1/12
1/13
1/14

6/15 No Buy Days

Store and coupon savings- $10.00
 
Auto $180/$240
Groceries/Household Goods $129/$250
(only because I need to buy my bulk meats this month)
Eating Out/Entertainment $50
Misc. $95/$100

No spend days goal of 6/10

Coupon savings $69.00
(I like this one, borrowed from a previous poster)

1/01 $9.00 at Target on Soups on sale
1/02 -0- no plans on going out today.
1/03 -0- brought my breakfast and lunch to work.
1/04 $67 $20 for gas, $42. for groceries, and $5 for MegaMillions...It's up to $330million. I'm planning on winning.
1/05 -0-
1/06 -0-
1/07 -0- Today is going to be a spend day. Stocking up on sale items.Didn't go shopping today.:cool1:But we did go out to dinner with a gift card from Christmas.
1/08 $40 Gas, $70 groceries (Target and ShopRite) this is a lot for me to spend at 1 time, but, we stocked up on a lot of sale items. Plus, bought a few things not on the list. Note to self again. Leave DH at home when shopping:rolleyes1. He always costs me extra. :sad2:
1/09 -0- Had dinner out. Should have been $60 but had a gift card and bought shelves at Home Depot should have been $40 but had another gift card.:cool1:
1/10
 














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