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

[Virgderon]

Just got home from Orlando. We had a brilliant day at Disney today, we only had one day so we did a "best of " Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios - we stuck to the best rides and shows. We had a really good time. I'm lumping all my weekend fun spending into one amount- too difficult to figure everything out. I did really well , but we had a gc for Outback and and restaurant.com coupon for Giordanos, and the hotel had free breakfast, so that helped keep the total down.

I also added $50 to my monthly budget, because I got a "raise" from the new social security rate cut.

Running Total: Spent $358
$950 budget...$592 left
$0 Days: 3
Goal is 8 or more!
coupon/sale savings : 69

Groceries budget- $250 -11-36= 206 left

January 1st: 25 (12 parking at hockey game, 5 pop at game, 8 Walgreens)
January 2nd: 11 ( groceries at Flea market)
January 3rd: 65 ( Walgreens, cleaning supplies, vitamins, etc.)
January 4th: 61 ( 16 bowling, 5 food at bowling, 20 gas , 20 to DD for an item that she picked up for me using her Disney discount)
January 5th: 0
January 6th: 0
January 7th: 0
January 8 & 9: 196 (35 groceries, 25 gas, 136 Disney fun)

 

[A.Mickey]

Running Total: Spent $360.72
$0 Days:4/10

Groceries ($100-$3.22/day)- $97.31
Eating Out ($200-$6.45/day)-$22.39
Misc. (Shopping/Entertainment) ($500-$16/day) $225.54
Gas for Tracking- 1/5 $20, 1/5 $50, 1/8 $35
BIG PURCHASES: Annual DVC Dues: $494.09

WEEK 2:
Eating Out- $65.88

WEEK 3:
Eating Out- $45.15
Misc- $104.46

WEEK 4:
Groceries- $2.69
Eating Out- $58.05
Misc- $144


WEEK 1 BEGIN:
1- $3.98 (Artscow.com-Misc.), $2 (Dollar Tree-Papers), $38.99 (Ultra Foods-Groceries-most I have spent on one grocery trip in a long long time, but got lots of stuff we eat at stock up prices!), $9.56 (Target-Clearance stuff for next years stocking and son's bday present), $30 (Walmart-balance after giftcard for 2 TB hd), $10.42 (Ikea- Eating Out kids eat free and only bought one pop-it's a start for this family)
2- $0
3- $0
4- $9.80 (McDonald's-Eating Out), $20 (Joe Caputo-Groceries), $9.55 (Dominick's-Groceries), $180 (Midas-Getting Car Fixed)
5- $1.63 (Walgreens-Groceries), $16.45 (CVS-Groceries-but got $17 back in ECB's), $20-Gas
6- $0
7- $2.05 (Walgreens-Groceries), $8.46 (Jewel-Groceries), $2.17 (McDonald's-Eating Out)
8- $0
WEEK 2 BEGIN:
9- $2 (Dollar Tree-Newspapers), $8.48 (Taco Bell-Eating Out), $20 (Target-Shopping)
10- No Buy?
11- McDonald's
12- CVS, Foot Doctor, Walgreens
13- Target hoping toys go to 75%
14- No Buy?
15- GameWorks (using restaurant.com coupon), Dave and Busters (free game play)
WEEK 3 BEGIN:
16-
17-
18- McDonald's
19- Preschool Education Night
20-
21-
22- Downtown for Ice Sculptures


Budget: $800....45%
Month: 9/31: 29%
No Buy: 4/10: 40%

My savings from coupons and sales: $437.80

 

[AnninIowa]

Stayed home all weekend - so no money spent for 2 days!!

I am plotting out my errands for the week - need a few groceries so trying to figure out which ONE store I can go to for everything instead of running to several different stores as time is money, IMO!

The CVS ad has lots of good deal in it this week, so figuring out if I should go and stock up on some things in combination with coupons.

 

[ronnmel]

No Buy Days : 5/15
Gas : 31$ (max 100$)
Groceries : 0$ (max 250$)
Eating out (and snacks) : 36$ (max 100$)
Non-necessities : 0$ (max 200$)


01/01 : 0$
02/01 : 0$
03/01 : 0$
04/01 : 9$ (breakfast + lunch)
05/01 : 0$
06/01 : 0$
07/01 : 48$ (gas + dinner)
08/01 : 10$ (dinner)

 

[Jennia]

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
Jan 9: $0


Shouldn't be spending anything else in the next few days, either, at least that I can think of!

 

[Beezle2]

1/1 $0
1/2 $0
1/3 $0

1/4 $43 from grocery budget $107 left. 2 gals milk, eggs, strawberries, blackberries,pears,apples,cherries,mushrooms,avacados,coleslaw,tomatoes,
soup,diet coke,pancake mix. Almost perfect, lol (coupon/sale savings $37.52) adding this idea from another poster because I like it!

1/5 $10.50 to see True Grit with DH and $3 for a box of screws to make a play table for DD's Playmobil

1/6 $0
1/7 $0
1/8 $0

Hooray! I did it that might be a record. 2 weekends in a row! I hope everyone did well with their goals and are ready for the new week! I head back to school today so that will be another challenge, I'll need to remember my water bottle or I'm going to be buying a diet coke.

 

[annsteere]

Traveling helps. I was out of town for a few days and spent nothing except for $3 for breakfast at the airport.

Spent $20 for a pair of jeans at Costco that I hope will inspire me over the next 6 weeks. I'm thinking of hanging them up somewhere where I see them every day. . . . I did need jeans eventually and if these also supply motivation they were a bargain.

1- $3, cheese
2
3- $2 coupons
4-
5- $3 airport breakfast (not a need, I'd eaten Cheerios at home)
6-
7-
8- $33 jeans and V-8 at Costco
9-

 

[nunzia]

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 : $0 (used a $20 Staples Reward card for packing tape, travel tissue and bandaids..I've had a dilemma on if I should count what DH spends..he doesn't spend much..but still. For the sake of this experiment I will only count what I spend since I do the majority of the shopping and all the budgeting..I don't like having to tell him he can't pick up his prescription until a Buy day But I also vow I won't cheat by having him spend money so I don't have to count it )
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

 

[PaulaSue]

Just an update. I am doing very well with the budget/no buy. For my first plus week I only went $2 over my food/HBA budget.

Dh is even onboard and is showing me any/all the reciepts he gets.

 

[MapleGirl]

OUCH OUCH OUCH

I'll say it again.... ouch!!

This weekend was much more expensive than I had hoped. There are a few adjustments I need to wait for before I can get an accurate total for the weekend: We got take-out Chinese food with some friends and put it on our debit card. We have cash from them that we need to deposit. We also have a $15 return to Home Depot that will go back on the debit card. In the meantime, here is where we stand:

Running Total: $598.03
Cash spent: $13
No Buy Days: 3/10


1/1: $105.58 (Gas: $42.53 and Fabric Store: $63.05)
1/2: $79.07 (Groceries: $72.90 and Dunkin' Donuts: $6.17)

1/3: $0
1/4: $0 ($1 cash - lotto ticket)
1/5: $18.85 ($18.85 Whole Foods. Cash: $2 cup of tea)
1/6: $38.69 ($9.50 book from amazon.com and $29.19 at Kmart. Cash: $10 lunch at work)
1/7: $0 ($23 Target giftcard and $9 Starbuck's giftcard)
1/8 $211.88 ($12.03 tea and rock salt at OSJL, $25.10 Costco groceries, $31.84 Petco cat litter, $80.30 Sudbury Farms, $62.61 dinner with friends)
1/9 $143.96 ($11.95 amazon.com ink for printer, $40 gas for car, $92.01 plants at Home Depot $19 breakfast at Starbucks with giftcard)

1/10 No Buy
1/11
1/12
1/13
1/14
1/15

1/16
1/17
1/18
1/19
1/20
1/21
1/22
1/23

1/24
1/25
1/26
1/27
1/28
1/29
1/30
1/31

 

[newmommy_2010]

I am here. I have tend to shop wayyyy to much and buy things we don't even need. I am trying to stay on track and only do groceries. I am really wanting to do a vacation every year and we would be able to if I cut back on the spending for no reason!

 

[armomof3lvsdisney]

Snow day here today, which means no buying here today!

1/01=$0
1/02=$0
1/05=$0
1/07=$0
1/10=$0

 

[bridget]

Another snow day here!!! We only bought groceries this weekend

I'm liking mint.com to help with the budget!

 

[charming23]

Calling it early today as we have everything we need. I will probably grocery shop on wednesday and thursday we plan to go see Country Strong.

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- $0
1/11
1/12
1/13
1/14

7/15 No Buy Days

Store and coupon savings- $10.00

 

[lattemomof3]

Woo hoo, I love fresh starts, and a new year is a big one! Hello No Buy friends, and welcome to the new ones. Think I will shoot for another 10 no buy days, both dd4 and dh have January birthdays, and we leave for our trip the 1st week of Feb, so I may need to buy a few things for that. Good luck everyone!

Really great to see lots of new no-buyers- welcome everyone! Dh and I went on a movie and dinner (gift card!) date yesterday, I took our budget notebook, so we had our annual budget meeting on the way to town and listed our goals for 2011.

I use the envelope system (actually mine is an small accordian file folder). Using cash for everything (started last Aug) has been a great help (that and writing down everything I spend). I would really like to get our grocery and household goods spending down, I was lumping them together but I think I'll seperate them so I can see where the leaks are. I do meal plan and we eat out once a week, usually, but I think we could be spending less . I buy a lot of fresh veggies, fruit, lean meats, greek yogurt, cheese and almond milk, but I won't compromise on that- I think I'll try to menu plan from the adds more consistently and stock up when the things we use are on sale.

Jan 1 - Movie w/ dh, popcorn

Jan 2 - clearance t-shirts for trip, shelf for ds8's finished Lego masterpieces

Jan 3 - groceries

Jan 4 - $0

Jan 5 - dh's b-day gift from the kids

Jan 6 - Groceries @ Wal Mart, lunch w/ mom & dd4

Jan 7 - movie rental for kids, dh took kids out to dinner

Jan 8 - groc's for teaching Sunday School, Mcd's for kids

Jan 9 - $0

Jan 10 - $0

Just caught up reading - had a crazy weekend, we had dd's family birthday on Sat at home, had grandma over for dd's favorite - spaghetti & meatballs, cake, etc, then after teaching Sun School, we had 12 preschoolers at our house for her friend party. Yes, I know, we're crazy. So finally getting caught up on here (and the house is still not quite back to normal). Welcome to all the new no-buyers, and it looks like everyone is racking up lots of zero-dollar days! I am always amazed at how much more difficult it is than I think it's going to be to not spend for a day!

 

[Tiggerish]

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/ 5
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
1/10 $0

 

[Virgderon]

Today is a 0. I am purposely not going anywhere, and I always try to follow up a big spending weekend with a no buy day.

Running Total: Spent $358
$950 budget...$592 left
$0 Days: 4
Goal is 8 or more!
coupon/sale savings : 94

Groceries budget- $250 -11-36= 206 left

January 1st: 25 (12 parking at hockey game, 5 pop at game, 8 Walgreens)
January 2nd: 11 ( groceries at Flea market)
January 3rd: 65 ( Walgreens, cleaning supplies, vitamins, etc.)
January 4th: 61 ( 16 bowling, 5 food at bowling, 20 gas , 20 to DD for an item that she picked up for me using her Disney discount)
January 5th: 0
January 6th: 0
January 7th: 0
January 8 & 9: 196 (35 groceries, 25 gas, 136 Disney fun)
January 10 : 0

 

[fairyprincess1]

I am a little behind but the good news is that I already have 2 No Buy days under my belt I am going to try for 14 No Buy days...

Here is what I got...

Jan 1 $0
Jan 2 $0
Jan 3 spend - lunch, groceries, and a small CVS run
Jan 4 spend - but it was just some subway for lunch
Jan 5 $0
Jan 6 spend - going out for dinner with the neighborhood ladies
Jan 7 $0
Jan 8 $0
Jan 9 $0
It's amazing how you spend no money when you have the flu

6/14 no buy days

 

[IMALOVNDISNEY]

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.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. He always costs me extra.
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.
1/10 I was really bad today. Have had a migraine since Friday night. So, today I had no energy to pack anything. I slipped off the wagon. I bought both breakfast and lunch out. Total of $7.00. Bad me Tomorrow will be a better day!!

 

[3goofyboys]

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 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 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 .

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

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

January 8 $0

January 9 $0

January 10 $106 groceries, $30 gas, $15 new wiper blades, $12 McDonalds for lunch--this is twice this month, unheard of, but I had a looooooong board meeting this morning and I didn't even have the energy to make PB&J.

6/15 No Buy Days