January no buy

[living20057]

I am normally a from scratch cooker. Like we don't eat anything from a can.

So I am going to make up a few meals that will freeze well, in the correct portion size (my big problem is I cook for 6 people when there are 1.25 here and I throw tons of stuff away) so I can just nuke them.

I am also going to incorporate some items I normally would not buy that would save time. Like those fresh pasta things at the grocer. They are $4ish a tub which is normally not something I would buy. Hello...fast food is like more than that. So why not get the fancy fresh pasta?

I have seen the pasta. They have stuffed shells too.

 

[willowsnn3]

A lot of people are trying to cut back on eating out. What are some ways that your going to avoid eating out? For me, I like to avoid cooking. After a long day that is the last thing I feel like doing.

I don't cook much anymore either since I live with my two adult dd's and they both have children so they do most of the cooking, lol. My plan is no 'drive-thru' breakfast. Fix something quick at home. Lunch will be leftovers from dinner. With the cooler weather, I like to make big batches of vegetable soup & put in small containers to take for lunch also.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

For breakfast, I keep oatmeal in my office. The Ziplock plastic bowls have a 1 cup measurement line on them. I put 1 cup of water, 1/2 cup of oatmeal, and microwave it while my computer is starting up. I can eat my oatmeal while I check my emails first thing in the morning. I bring my coffee and yogurt from home each day. It's boring, but quick, cheap, healthy, and filling.

 

[debrapagliasotti]

I'm in! We have 2 WDW trips booked for next year, 1 is going to be paid off in the next few days, but then we still have 1 more to pay off and airline tickets to buy for both trips. I am really going to try and be more aware of what our money is spent on each month. We really want to try and get on a budget so we can start putting more money away each month as we are also planning on buying land in the next year or so and begin building a house.

 

[neatokimmo]

I don't cook much anymore either since I live with my two adult dd's and they both have children so they do most of the cooking, lol. My plan is no 'drive-thru' breakfast. Fix something quick at home. Lunch will be leftovers from dinner. With the cooler weather, I like to make big batches of vegetable soup & put in small containers to take for lunch also.

This is a big weakness for me. I pass a Burger King and McDonalds dropping DD off at school. It is really easy to pop in and get the $1 special. If I can stop it and change eating out to a special occasion sort of thing, I think we will enjoy it more.

 

[neatokimmo]

I think I know what my goals are for Jan!

Utilities, mortgage, yearly taxes, gas, insurances etc are all fixed.

$100 Groceries - time to clear out the freezer, it is scary. My pantry area is so cluttered and unorganized too (easier to eat it that organize it LOL). $25 per week, starting this Friday with a trip for fresh stuff, milk and bread.

$50 Natalie's clothes - Belks will be marking down their stuff at the end of January and I can get great outfits for $10. But she doesn't need a whole lot so I am going to limit myself.

$50...$100? My clothes - I need another pair of jeans and tennis shoes for Disney at the end of Jan. I work from home 4 days a week now and own 1 pair of jeans, 5 tshirts and 2 pairs of flip flops lol

$25 Birthday - I need to buy DD a small birthday present to take with us at Disney.

$90 - Household stuff like bath items, paper goods and 400 pounds of cat food for the stray cats outside

$40 - Chinese New Year, tickets & DD's dance costume

$50 - Mad Money

 

[Happy Mom2]

I'll play. I was planning to cut my spending WAY back in 2011. My goal is to pay off my credit cards AND save enough to pay for our Disney vacation in November. I think if I really cut back on things like eating out and impulse purchases I will be able to do it.

I do have a few exceptions. DS's birthday is very soon so I'll be throwing him a birthday party, and buying presents.... all of which is already budgeted for. I am also purchasing a tablet in January, which is budgeted for. Other than that, I am having surgery in January so I'll have to pay a large deductible, but since I'll be home for six weeks that will cut down on my gas.

Looks like January is going to be an expensive month, but I plan to keep my mindless spending to a minimum.

 

[jmac323]

So DH and I have been talking about our goals for January, here they are:
- Monthly "money" meeting with he and I to go over expenses and goals, keep each other honest.
- Starbucks is ok one time per week (I used to go 1-2 times a day, so this is big for us)
- One meal out per week (this includes bfast and lunch too, so I'll be packing those for all of us so we can have a nice dinner out once a week).
- pay off low balance Disney Visa and send in for rewards for Feb Disney trip!

PS- Disney in Feb is paid for except gas and some food. Park hoppers are paid for already, hotel is through our timeshare, I have $600 in Disney gift cards for food/merchandise in parks, and a $100 Rainforest Cafe gift card to buy our family dinner. YAY!!!!

 

[S'sMom]

Ok, I am also a newbie at this, but I am willing to give it a go.

We have a trip planned for June (Vero Beach, Key West, and DW), which we will drive and fly back. Trying to find ways to cut even more costs.

There are bills that need to be paid and I could use several months of no-buying, just to get us back on track. I do have a habit of eating out for lunch everyday, and that is going to stop. I am also going to try to get healthy and participate in my 1st run (We will see how that goes )

Glad to be here..

 

[weluvdizne]

I'm in! I will be having a pretty expensive first part of the month as I am going to be starting an at home business, but hopefully that will pay for itself quickly! Otherwise, though, I'm in a great place to start this: pantry and freezers are full, it will be winter, so we will be staying home a lot, but it seems those are the days that I buy online, we don't need anything like clothing or anything and there are no birthdays in January that I need to buy for.
I do, however, need to save $. We have a trip scheduled for Sept. and haven't been saving as much for it as we did for the last trip. Time to step it up a couple notches!

Good luck to everyone! We can do this! Thanks for the support!

 

[figment3258]

Count me in too. We have spent way to much and need to save for our trip in November. Also dd number 3 is due in feburary so we need to reall budget a lot better.

I have a thread called eat at home 2 now that the first thread will be shut down due to reaching 250 pages
It can be helpful to post your weekly menu to stay on track.

 

[charming23]

I have been thinking about my goals and plan on just tracking again in january. I have gotten a bit off track with the holidays so I want to track and see what happens before setting a set budget again.

 

[reginaastralis]

I think I started today, lol ...

We're going to Vegas Jan 3-6, and we won't get back to town until early morning on the 7th, so those days are out. Also, my daughter turns seven on the 2nd, and we are taking her to the mall to go to Build a Bear and to get her ears pierced.

We aren't having her birthday until the 21st (I think) because there are four parties in the first two weeks back at school, just in her class. That isn't going to be in our no spend budget, because I have never thrown a party for real friends. Every year we just have the neighborhood kids over for some cake and such, but she begged for a real party this year.

My goals:
1. I'd like to get 5 no spend days
2. Grocery spending under $300 for the month
3. Clothes spending at $100 ( I had to return the coat I got her for Christmas, and the Old Navy down here had already clearance out the coats. We have only had one cold front so far, so I don't know if I should buy a coat or not. She has a few wind breaker jackets, but nothing if the weather ever gets cold)
4. Discretionary at $100 - My boyfriend thinks we need to go out way more than I think. This could be our battle.

I also have to buy my books for next semester, which will not be in the total, but I would like to keep track of the school supplies I need to buy.

12/26 - $11 at Chick-fil-a, on a gift card.

 

[tasha99]

I'm in. I'll be buying more than most people here, but I want to keep it planned. I gave all my stuff to DD19 last summer and moved to Alaska. DS and I rented two rooms in a furnished house, but just got our own apartment two weeks ago. We have lots of household stuff to buy still.

My goals for January are:

Eat out one time ($25)
Keep our grocery budget to $300 for the month ($75/week)

I need to buy a tv stand (under $200 target)

Also need: (Keep under $100 per month):
Dressers, coffee and end tables, lamps, night stands, desk, chairs for the kitchen table, used wii for DS
Kitchen items needed as they come up (definitely new knives)

Also need to put $300 towards DS's 8th grade class trip.

So buying budget is to pay bills plus:
$200 for TV stand
$100 towards other household items
$300 towards trip
$25 for eating out
$300 for food

Since I have a M-F sort of job, I'm aiming to limit spending to Saturdays.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Hi I'd like to join in too if thats ok

Hoping to cut down on the amount of food I waste by cooking larger portions than we need. Kinda hoping this helps me lose a little weight too as I hate "waste "and tend to "clean up" by eating more than I should!!

Going to aim for 10 no spend days,
Only 1 meal out this month,
Avoiding the sales like the plague so I dont get tempted by "bargains"

 

[neatokimmo]

Avoiding the sales like the plague so I dont get tempted by "bargains"

Me too, I think I have enough Christmas stuff for 8 houses.

 

[neatokimmo]

I'm in! I will be having a pretty expensive first part of the month as I am going to be starting an at home business, but hopefully that will pay for itself quickly!

I have a home biz too, what are you selling?

 

[figment3258]

our goals for January will be
1. to spend under 160$ per week on groceries
2. to only fill up my car once a week or less
3. to have 15 no buy days
4. to put away in savings 45$ per week towards Disney
5. pay the kids their allowance of 10$ for dd9 and 5$ for dd5 but not to buy them anything else unless its a basic necessity. ( I tend to buy them the world its time they did that for themselves )

We really need to try not to buy anything that we don't need baby #3 due in February.

 

[rszdtrvl]

Gonna try this in January!

Goals : Eat out only once every 2 weeks (or less - as of today the last time we went out to eat was on the 17th and DH is going crazy). Not only to save money, but eat healthier as well.

Grocery : Reduce from $300 every 2 weeks to $200 every 2 weeks. We are a small family, and I cannot figure out why we spend so much on groceries. I think a lot of it is eating out.

Pay of DS's trip to NY (we are fundraising also) : $1300

Pay off credit card : $xxxx

Go to Costco 1x month (we will purchase membership when DH gets his next paycheck) to stock up : vitamins, pet food/litter, frozen items, lunch items, and other items as needed.

10 NO BUY Days

 

[goofyredraider]

Joining....

GOALS:
1. put $50/week away for Disney trip the day DH gets paid every week
2. continue on Disney reservation savings plan I have been following since August- has to be paid off by mid-April, and I've paid a little over 1/2 of it off.
3. 10 no-spend days. This is going to be challenging, because I spend something daily.
4. $350 grocery budget...which includes a merchandise credit I have for Walmart for $150, so about $200 OOP/cash.
5. I'm budgeting $75-100 for the January Target toy clearance for Easter baskets, Valentine's gifts, and report card rewards for three kids. I may not even need that much because I have some items I set aside from shopping sales in Nov/Dec. Plus I have rewards coming from Barnes & Noble and TRU that I can find a few odds and ends to add to them.
6. Not a $$ goal, but go to the gym every weekday. This will help keep me from spending $$, believe it or not....LOL
7. Purge excess items on craigslist, sort items for garage sale in the spring.
8. Try to eat out (fast food, quick cheap Sonic runs included) no more than once per week.