January no buy

[weluvdizne]

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

Kimmo, I will be opening an etsy shop (and aiming to do craft fairs at some point in the future) selling custom clothing (mostly for kids) for Disney trips. Can't wait to get my new embroidery machine!

What is your home biz? Hope 2012 is a great year for you!

 

[annsteere]

I try to do a "spending fast" two months each year, Jan and Oct.

That means we buy nothing that isn't a necessity.

NO eating out unless we are out of town. NO purchased entertainment other than Red Box movies paid for out of allowance.

I do have some Christmas money that can be spent if I see a great bargain or something that really calls my name. That is part of why Jan. is easier than Oct.

We are going to work on eating down the freezer too. But, I don't really know how to set a grocery goal other than "keep it low."

Our four parents are all 85 and may need us to make a road trip to assist them at any random time. I consider that to be a necessity.

 

[kinntj]

Goals: eat out once a week (need to in the winter to just get out of the house)
keep grocery bill under $150/week
shop at fruit market to get local produce

 

[neatokimmo]

Kimmo, I will be opening an etsy shop (and aiming to do craft fairs at some point in the future) selling custom clothing (mostly for kids) for Disney trips. Can't wait to get my new embroidery machine!

What is your home biz? Hope 2012 is a great year for you!

I do hair pretties, I mostly sell them on Zulily. I just got my first sewing machine that is all mine! It does 4 X 4 embroidery but isn't one of the big embroidery machines.

I got my Disney custom stuff from red thread stitches. I have the minnie mouse shirt and the Its a Small World lillian dress. I will def check your stuff out when you have it all set up

 

[lillygator]

count me in, I started out great last january then had a health scare in Feb and my no buy threading never really recovered!!

Plus now we have a new addition and daycare expense!!

I really want to get our spending in check. We have a trip planned that I really want to make happen this year. I want to cut out the eating out and the nightly visits to the grocery store by meal planning and making a list. Shooting for $100/wk in groceries. 10 no buy days.

 

[IMALOVNDISNEY]

First..... ANY NEWBIES....disclaimer...this thread is addicting.
I AM SO IN THIS MONTH
I fell off the wagon for a few months. Diidn't even have time to Dis But think I still did well. In the back on my head I kept hearing "what would they say on the Dis". So, thank you all for keeping me kind of focused.
Here is my goal for January:
Family of 3 with 1 dog. And several drop ins at any given time.

Groceries/household- $200/Left (eating out of the freezer this month) But, still need to stock up on a few things like soups. We went thru so much during the freak storm in Oct. Lost power for 11 days.
Car/Gas- $200/Left
Eating Out- $100/Left
Entertainment/Misc- $200/Left(raised due to DD's 2 plays and 2 B'days


Goal of 15 No Buy Days

 

[neatokimmo]

OMG ..I just went through the front layer of my freezer. Every single ziploc, pillow pack and aluminum foil is chicken! I have like 30 pounds of it. I am going to need a lot of recipe help this month lol

 

[kinntj]

Goals: eat out once a week (need to in the winter to just get out of the house)
keep grocery bill under $150/week
shop at fruit market to get local produce

I started yesterday and so far it's:

12/28 $18.86 Kroger DH stopped in for misc stuff including sparkling wine
12/29 $95.40 Meijer
12/29 $26.00 feed store

Our grocery bill is low this week so the kids could go to The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked yesterday. Thank goodness we had enough to mostly feed us from the freezer this week.

 

[lillygator]

I made my menus and grocery list for the first week - heading out shopping tomorrow! I am pumped, I want to be successful this month (year - but let me get thru 30 days)

 

[kinntj]

I made my menus and grocery list for the first week - heading out shopping tomorrow! I am pumped, I want to be successful this month (year - but let me get thru 30 days)

This really helps. I've made mine to go through Wednesday of next week. The eat at home thread helps too.

I want this to be a successful month for us too, but it's good to take it one week at a time. This week is a little more for us with the New Years dinner food and a few party items for the kids to enjoy to the countdown.

 

[mommyof3princess27]

Im in! I have a goal to pay off the remaining balance of our Disney vaca by end of April. I still owe over $1800! I lovethat yo can make your own rules

~I am aiming for 10 $0 days (Dh does side work and some of that money he spends but what he gives me is strictly Disney)
~keep my business and personal finances seperate
~commit to not buying ANY more Christmas clearance. I did buy princess makeup on clearance at Walmart yeterday for Disney next year but thats it.
~start couponing again. I built up quite a stockpile last year and need to re-stock it
I think this is such a great idea!

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Sorted thru the freezer last night-only need to buy roast beef joint (for sunday) and a gammon along with bread and milk for this coming week so that should keep me well within budget. Getting excited about this challenge

 

[mommyof3princess27]

What does everyone do when they are at home and have the feeling that you just want to go to a store? You dont need anything but you just think you wanna get out. Its cold out so no going to a park for me lol I fought the earge the other day but sometimes you just need to window shop lol

 

[hollypoast]

I've watched this tread and like the idea but have never joined in. It sounds like a fun challenge so I think I'll join you all for January. I am saving for a March vacation to the Caribbean and a November trip to Disney. Plus, I'd like to reduce our overall debt in 2012.

My freezer is completely full with I don't even know what so I'd like to eat out of the freezer for the month of January. (Possibly February too.) Only grocery runs for milk and other necessities.

I'd like to have 15 $0 days not including essential purchases like gas and monthly bills. I have not purchased any holiday clearance items and it's driving me crazy but I'm gong to do my best to steer clear of temptation. No trips to Walmart or Target this month.

Over the next three months I'd like to come up with all of our incidental spending money for our spring break trip from other sources than our household income. (Selling unwanted items on eBay, crafty items on Etsy, mystery shopping, etc.) I think I'll need approx. $100 per day so $700 total. I currently have $180 so I need to find $520 more.

We are also reviewing all household expenses looking for ways to cut back including:
-cancelling land line phone and only using cell phones (Has anyone done this? What's the down side?)
-cancelling cable TV and using Ruku box (Hulu, etc.)
-starting auto payments to CC in addition to making monthly payment
-WHAT ELSE? Any suggestions??

We are starting the year off right by staying home for New Years Eve.

 

[jmac323]

Is everyone ready for this? So I'm starting Sunday, but only because we're moving tomorrow and I am paying for pizza and beer for all our helpers. DH is really pumped about this too. There are a couple things we need for the new house, but I'm going to use my Macys and Sears rewards monies, about $300 total to get what we need so nothing out of pocket. Let's do this!!!

 

[neatokimmo]

We are also reviewing all household expenses looking for ways to cut back including:
-cancelling land line phone and only using cell phones (Has anyone done this? What's the down side?) I haven't had a land line for 10 years. You need to make a list of who is using the same cell provider because most will let you call them for free. You also need to check your plan and see if $10 will allow your evening minutes to start earlier. Then you just need to spread the word with the people that call not to call you all day long, wait until the evening. Oh and don't answer numbers you don't recognize lol

-cancelling cable TV and using Ruku box (Hulu, etc.) I haven't had cable for a couple of years now. We stream netflix with the wii with no issues. Once you don't watch TV 3 hours a day, it's amazing what you get done.

-starting auto payments to CC in addition to making monthly payment
Can you transfer the balance to a zero percent card on a promo?

-WHAT ELSE? Any suggestions??

We are starting the year off right by staying home for New Years Eve. I am going to my boyfriends to drink beer, eat pizza and play Uno. Fancy huh? lol

.

 

[hollypoast]

I love to play Uno!

Thanks for the suggestions. I think you are right about TV. Getting my husband and teenage son's on-board is the tough part. I really wonder if we will miss it as much as we think we will.

 

[neatokimmo]

I love to play Uno!

Thanks for the suggestions. I think you are right about TV. Getting my husband and teenage son's on-board is the tough part. I really wonder if we will miss it as much as we think we will.

My main problem with it was I was addicted to it! Seriously HGTV or Food network on 24/7. And all those shows did were make me super dissatisfied with what I had. My house wasn't as pretty as HGTV houses. My food was so meh compared to food network. Life is easier without cable lol

 

[reginaastralis]

12/26 - $11 at Chick-fil-a, on a gift card.
12/27 - $15 at Chick-fil-a - Needed to get the kids out of the house. $60 at Target. $30 on groceries and $30 on household
12/28 - $0
12/29 - $30 - at the grocery store. I think this should be enough to last until we leave for Vegas!
12/30 - $0 - only because the battery in my car died, and I don't see the point of getting it fixed right now. I figure something has to happen for me to stay home and stop spending money, lol


My goals:
1. I'd like to get 5 no spend days - 2/5
2. Grocery spending under $300 for the month - $60/$300
3. Clothes spending at $100
4. Discretionary at $100 - My boyfriend thinks we need to go out way more than I think. This could be our battle.
5. Household - $120 - $30/120

 

[reginaastralis]

Hollypoast - the only reason we have a landline is because it saves us $10/month off our bill. Which is silly, but I guess that's how it's going to work for the next two years. My boyfriend has all of those crazy sports channels, and to have them we had to sign up for the package with the phone, and it was cheaper. Who knew?!

Before he and I moved in, I didn't have cable, and I loved it. In fact, since we got our blu-ray last month, I haven't watched very much cable at all. I would love to get rid of all of the cable, but the whole sports channels thing is why he wants to keep it. Personally, I'd love to save $150/month.