July 2011 No Buy Thread - Let the savings sparks fly!

[QVCshopper]

Welcome to the July 2011 No Buy thread. Whether you are a No Buy Veteran or just trying it out for the first time all are welcome.

There are no set rules which means you can set up your budget anyway you would like and report as you see fit.

I hope to see the familiar faces and some new ones as well.

 

[Debbie]

Let the chanting begin:

No buy July! No buy July!
Let the saving sparks fly
in No buy July!​

Thanks for starting this QVC shopper!

Unfortunately, this is going to be an expensive month for me.

• DD will be home (I think) from Egypt for the last week or two.
• I'm off for the summer, and my sanity is sending DH (SAHD) out to shop
• Need to get the garage door replaced.
• House needs repairs: painting, carpet, blinds etc.
• Changing classrooms means updating some things.
• I'm going 'over the river' to a Daily Café workshop with "The Sisters"

Oh, well, here's the budget as it stands.

Budget: Actual (last month expenses)
Gas: $600 0 ($535) Allowing for some vacation driving
Groceries/Household: $600 $0 ($512)
Drug co-pays/medicine/lens: $40 $0 ($75)
Misc including gifts: $400 $0 ( $816 ) Not counting the garage door, or the hotel/expenses for the Daily Café workshop that I'm going to
Pool expenses: $200 $0 ($0)
Dining: $200 $0($81) Upped this for our 'vacation' mode
July 1: $0 (Thank Heaven's for HOLIDAYS!)
No Buy Days: 1/10

 

[neatokimmo]

I am setting goals for this month!

I work from home every day in July. My gas expense should be minimal. I won't have any eating out at work or vending machine bleeding.

My three big fails from last month, business expenses, eating out and groceries. So that being said, here are my goals

Groceries - $30 every Saturday - $150 total. I want to clear the freezer, August is a big farmers market stock up month for me and I want to be ready.

Eating out - $15 every Saturday - $75 total. We mostly eat Chinese and pizza, I think we can do it.

Business expenses - $200 - I make and sell hair bows. I am in good shape with ribbon but now I have to buy chips and embellishments and all that to start completing my stock for my Sept show.

We won't have any vacation costs this month. DD and I are both set on clothes. We don't have any weekend trips planned. And truthfully, I need to stay home and clear out the yard and basement. So really I should be good right? lol

Today will be a zero. We have to return our redbox movie and I need to collect some newspapers for landscaping. But I am not going into a store.

7-1 zero

 

[neatokimmo]

I forgot to mention I will have up to 10K in remodeling expenses this and next month. It's some of the equity from the house sale and it's not my regular money.

I am setting goals for this month!

I work from home every day in July. My gas expense should be minimal. I won't have any eating out at work or vending machine bleeding.

My three big fails from last month, business expenses, eating out and groceries. So that being said, here are my goals

Groceries - $30 every Saturday - $150 total. I want to clear the freezer, August is a big farmers market stock up month for me and I want to be ready.

Eating out - $15 every Saturday - $75 total. We mostly eat Chinese and pizza, I think we can do it.

Business expenses - $200 - I make and sell hair bows. I am in good shape with ribbon but now I have to buy chips and embellishments and all that to start completing my stock for my Sept show.

We won't have any vacation costs this month. DD and I are both set on clothes. We don't have any weekend trips planned. And truthfully, I need to stay home and clear out the yard and basement. So really I should be good right? lol

Today will be a zero. We have to return our redbox movie and I need to collect some newspapers for landscaping. But I am not going into a store.

7-1 zero

 

[staciepm]

I am going to give the month of July a try. This is not an easy month because the kids and I are home.

Challenges for the month:
$150 for babysitting camp my dd really wants to do.

Aunt is terminal in hospital. I have been visiting alot paying parking fees and food out. Packing my cousin snacks and lunches to help her out. Cousin is staying at my house, so utilities may rise. (all worth it)

Week beach vacation. Luckily parents pay most expenses

20th high school reunion. Luckily I don't have to travel, but two couples staying with me, so higher utilities axd grocery bill.

Goal is to keep expenses to $800. This includes food, h & b, entertainment,school supplies, clothing, gas and everything besides budgeted monthly bills. My goal is to restock my savings.

7/1 Will need gas. sigh
7/2
7/3

 

[charming23]

Thanks for starting the thread QVC Shopper.

This month will be a little spendy with some summer activities we have planned as well as our weekend away on Kelley's Island.

I also get to pay my car off this month which feels really good after 6 years.

Today I already went out and did my errands. I am in for the rest of today as I have some friends coming over for movie night.


July 2011 Budget

Groceries/Household- $300/$215.28 Left
Cat Supplies- $30/$14.82 left
Car/Gas- $70/$45.43 Left
Eating Out- $50
Misc/Entertainment- $100

Total- $550/$425.53 Left

Goal of 15 No Buy Days

7/1- $84.72 Grocery/Household, $15.18 Cat Supplies, and $24.57 Gas
7/2
7/3
7/4
7/5
7/6
7/7
7/8
7/9
7/10
7/11
7/12
7/13
7/14
7/15- Kelley's Island
7/16- Kelley's Island
7/17- Kelley's Island
7/18
7/19
7/20
7/21
7/22
7/23
7/24
7/25
7/26
7/27
7/28
7/29
7/30
7/31

0/15 No Buy Days

Coupon/ Store Savings- $11.85

 

[lillygator]

a clean slate!! yeah!!
Last month I blew it in a lot of categories but especially groceries and dinner out. With DD having practice 3 nights a week, I just went easy and ate out. NOT this month. Tomorrow will be a shopping day and I am budgeting $75 per week for groceries, including toiletries. I want to clean out fridge, freezer and pantry to do some large shopping trips in August. I would also like to invest in a freezer to get some freezer meals cooked up.
I have set a budget and would like to stay on track...so that is my main goal this month and I would like to check in daily to keep me motivated and help stay the course.

Good luck everyone!

 

[neatokimmo]

With DD having practice 3 nights a week, I just went easy and ate out. NOT this month.

You go girl! That is me, and that is my goal too. I have 8 ballet and 16 gymnastic lessons in July. It is totally normal for us to eat out there or on the way out. This month I am going to make sure I take food with us.

 

[SeansMom]

This is my first time to join this thread and I'm excited to give it a try. I will come up with my new budget later today and post. I know I have some travel expenses to budget in and the increase in gas prices hasn't been factored into our budget. Plus, the house insurance is due *sigh*

I hope to learn lots from the veterans here!

 

[YukiPhnx]

Great to be back for another No buy month! Welcome SeansMom!!!

Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians!

Where's Piglet, your staycation looked like so much fun! And those beignets.....yum!

QVC, I love that rhyme!

Last month was my first month and I did surprisingly well! I'm even more surprised I didn't buy a lot of clothes.

From last month:
Overall budget: $245.14/400 (Saved $154.86!!!)
Gas: $78/70 (Went over)
No buys: 10/10
Eating out: 3/6
Clothing: 2/5
The Body Shop: 0/4
Gifts: 1/4

I'll be doing what I did last month, which is splitting up my budget for 3-day periods. I have $400 to spend on food and misc and $80 to spend on gas. I won't be including bills. I'll be tweeking my misc. item allowances for this month. I think I gave myself too much leeway last month.

I'm also including a small $50 budget for when I hop the border for some shopping this month.

July
Overall budget: 0/400
Gas: 0/80
$0 days: 1/10

Misc.
Eating out: 0/5
Clothes: 0/4
The Body Shop: 0/2
Gifts: 0/2
U.S shopping: $50

1-$0 (Off to a good start!)
2-
3-
___
$40-

 

[hardingk]

Hi everyone! Count me in!

I need LOTS of No Buy Days for July & August! We are leaving on the Dream in September and I want to save as much as we can for vacation!

July
Overall budget: $120.68/$500
Groceries:$77.25/$250
Gas: 0/$100
Misc: $5.43/$50
Eating Out: $38/$100
$0 days: 0/15


July 1 $77.25 BJ's for Groceries & Cards/ $5.43 Target for items for our FE Exchange on the Dream/ $38 for Dinner at Red Robin


I feel like I am off to a bad start, but we always go grocery shopping & eat out on Friday's.

 

[Virgderon]

Hello everyone! Added a category for bridal shower weekend. I am driving there so the budget includes traveling expenses.

My car is in the shop right now, but won't be adding that as a budget item since I cant really control how much it will cost, and I have enough OT money to deal with it unless it is crazy.

Running Total: Spent $77
$1100 budget... $1023 left
$0 Days:
Goal is 7 or more!
coupon/sale savings :

Groceries budget- $300
Wedding shower budget - $600 -100= 500 left

July 1: 77 ( 25 to check DDs bag at airport, 17 gas, 35 misc stuff for DD)

 

[wlake]

Hello everyone! I didn't keep up with the posting in June, but I hope to do better in July!

QVCShopper, I love the title!

Debbie, enjoy your conference! I tried to make Daily 5 fit into a half-day K program but I had no success time-wise. The school my boys go to is going to implement it school-wide next year.

Here are my goals:
no buy days: 10 (it's always harder when I'm home full time!)
longest no buy streak: 3 (I really want to extend this to 4!)
dinners out: 4 (not counting traveling)
current no dinners out streak: 11 (but we'll be eating out tomorrow night on our way home from our relatives)
longest no dinners out streak: 12

7/1: $35 gas

 

[neatokimmo]

OOps I retract my zero. I ran out of spray starch for my ribbon cooking so I went ahead and got three of them for 3.77. Then we spent $12.50 on fireworks. I know this sound stupid but like 3 hours ago I realized this was the Friday before the 4th and we would only have the tents in town for 4 more days. So we ran out to a store and got some fun things.

7-1 $3.77 biz $12.50 fireworks

 

[WAMUMOF4]

28 sleeps till we hit the USA this month needs to be a big saving one

Goals VS actual spent
US Dollars $4000
grocery's $500($157.58)
fuel $600($295)
Travel insurance $500
miscellaneous $100
8 no spend days
5 Under $20 days
July 1 $25 fuel $30supermarket
July 2 $260 fuel $127.58
July 3
July 4
July 5
July 6

 

[annsteere]

So far my goal for July is pretty fuzzy: Don't buy stupid stuff.

We have company right now who leave Monday, company coming just for Monday, and then company coming Thursday-Sunday. All people we are delighted to have in our home. Trying to make food choices that give maximum enjoyment at minimum expense.

7/1 $50 gifts (gas card for neighbor's graduation, bond for great
nephew's first birthday, $5 groceries

 

[charming23]

I am calling it a $0 day as I am home all day today and want to curb the urge to go out shopping. I am doing some destashing and working on a cross stitch project for my cousin for his birthday. He is going to be 2 and his room is Seasame Street themed. A few months ago I found a Cookie Monster cross stitch for dirt cheap and am finally finishing it.

July 2011 Budget

Groceries/Household- $300/$215.28 Left
Cat Supplies- $30/$14.82 left
Car/Gas- $70/$45.43 Left
Eating Out- $50
Misc/Entertainment- $100

Total- $550/$425.53 Left

Goal of 15 No Buy Days

7/1- $84.72 Grocery/Household, $15.18 Cat Supplies, and $24.57 Gas
7/2- $0
7/3
7/4
7/5
7/6
7/7
7/8
7/9
7/10
7/11
7/12
7/13
7/14
7/15- Kelley's Island
7/16- Kelley's Island
7/17- Kelley's Island
7/18
7/19
7/20
7/21
7/22
7/23
7/24
7/25
7/26
7/27
7/28
7/29
7/30
7/31

1/15 No Buy Days

Coupon/ Store Savings- $11.85

 

[ronnmel]

No Buy Days : 0/8
Gas : 0$ (max 140$)
Groceries : 0$ (max 200$)
Eating out (and snacks) : 0$ (max 100$)
Non-necessities : 5$ (max 400$)

01/07 : 5$ (greeting card)

 

[ariamac]

Ok... so I did not do very well in June... but it was my first time keeping track of what I spend day by day.

Here's to a better July!

No Buy Days - 6/6 - woohoo, I did it, with 2 more weeks to go, let's try for another 3 No buy days! 3/3
Under $10 Days - 4/6
Eating out/Delivery/Fast Food - 12/6
Total Budget for this month - $700 (combined with BF)
Running total: $1282.44

My birthday is at the end of the month!!! Yay!!! and I want to have a themed "UP" party, so I will be spending some money on decor, plates, cups, etc. I have a friend's birthday close to mine as well so, I need to buy a gift towards the end of the month... besides that, there are really no exceptions.... except, I purchased a DSLR camera on Canada Day!! lol (I've wanted one for a while and finally found a pretty great deal so I jumped on it!!) I am not including the purchase in my daily breakdown.

We are also saving for our September Disney trip that we just booked two weeks ago

I'm gonna keep track of both BF and I's spending this month.


July 1 - $0 (BF bought $8 McDonalds though!!)
July 2 - $20 (farmer's market), $28 (Pizzaza for dinner), $25 (BF bought us Lunch), $74 (BF bought headphones)
July 3 - $0 (BF $25 traditional Sunday Breakfast)
July 4 -$48.82 (hot dog - lunch, groceries)
July 5 - $0 (BF $15 for his lunch, yogen fruz and slushie after dinner)
July 6 -$10 (coins for laundry), BF spent $7 at McDonalds for lunch grr
July 7 - $1.60 Tea (yeah I know I blew a no buy day :'(.... though I was under the impression I was gonna spend more throughout the day so that's an accomplisment )
July 8 - $60 (lunch, dinner, camera bag)
July 9 - $24.50 (air conditioner foam, ice team, mango drink for bf, hamburger buns), (BF spent approx $20 on lunch)
July 10 - $84 (groceries), (BF $21 lunch)
July 11 - $0
July 12 - $0
July 13 - $1.60 Tea (yeah I know I blew a no buy day :'(.... though I was under the impression I was gonna spend more with BF after work... so good news, I only spent $1.60 ) (BF spent $4.52 on gatorade)
July 14 -$24 (ordered pizza for dinner)
July 15 - $95 (lunch, Winnie the Pooh movie tickets, grocery store, Ratatoullie Blu Ray & ice cream snack)
July 16 - $0
July 17 - approx $50 (Sunday breakfast, some groceries)
July 18 - $9.76 (gelato, ice cream)
July 19 - $115 (Vicky's birthday gift, keyboard, dinner date - I spent approx $65, BF spent the rest)
July 20 - $7 (ice tea, mailing supplies) plus BF went to the grocery store, I don't know how much he spent
July 21 -$16 (lunch, glue, tissue paper) I sold my first thing on Etsy so I earned 18.50 from it
July 22 - $26
July 23 - $126 (lunch, Medieval Times (friend's bday celebration) BF bought me a Disney book for my bday)
July 24 -$124 (birthday supplies, ice cream, more birthday/baking supplies... and let's just say I went a little over board! I was also a sucker for the glass bottle Grape Soda, cause I finally found some and I'm having an UP themed bday party)
July 25 - $75 (groceries, pharmacy - prescription, dollar store)
July 26 -$0
July 27 - BF spent $45 on dinner for us, $0 for me
July 28 -$30 baking suplies, groceries & $20 South St.
July 29 -$50 BF - my birthday dinner, $0 ME
July 30 - $47 lunch & puzzle/game store, $42 BF lunch, towels, mug
July 31 - $23 grocery store


CONCLUSION:
While I went over my no-buy day goal(s)....(YAY!!!) I still spent way too much money! What contributed the most was going out to eat (no surprise there) and I also bought a bunch of party supplies for my bday... (thankfully my bday only comes once a year!!) I have no birthdays in August and I need to buckle down as we're going to Disney World in September and we need to save, save, save.... but also my 1 year of 'carefree-ness' is up. What I mean by this is.... I graduated last summer, and got my first full-time job last August. I told myself I have a year to be a little care-free with money as I worked so hard while I went to school, especially in terms of earning my degree without earning ANY debt!!! So I've had some fun over the past year.... which explains 2 trips to Disney World lol... but now I need to get strict, budget appropriately and start saving for a home )

Here's to an awesome August!!!

 

[YukiPhnx]

Got an iced coffee today. DBF paid for lunch out. We have PLENTY of food leftover for dinner!

Fought the urge to buy some cute HP and Pirate's stuff (75% off!) at Hot Topic today with the help of DBF.

Hope everybody's having a good long weekend!

July
Overall budget: 1.05/400
Gas: 0/80
$0 days: 1/10

Misc.
Eating out: 0/5
Clothes: 0/4
The Body Shop: 0/2
Gifts: 0/2
U.S shopping: $50

1-$0 (Off to a good start!)
2-$1.05 (McDonald's iced coffee)
3-
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$40-

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