July No Buy

[MomToOne]

Since no one else has started the thread yet, I'll bite the bullet!

Rules are simple: you decide what to track, how to track it and what your goals are. I personally track only my fast food/restaurant/vending machine/other impulse food purchases since that's the biggest black hole in my spending. I shoot for as many $0 days as possible but mostly focus on having a low total at the end of the month. This month, since we will be out of the country the 18th thru the 29th and I won't be tracking those days, I am going to try for a total of less than $50.

7/1/12 - $0
7/2/12 - $0
7/3/12 - $0
7/4/12 -
7/5/12 -
7/6/12 -
7/7/12 -
7/8/12 -
7/9/12 -
7/10/12 -
7/11/12 -
7/12/12 -
7/13/12 -
7/14/12 -
7/15/12 -
7/16/12 -
7/17/12 -
7/18/12 thru 7/29/12 - China trip. Not tracking!
7/30/12 -
7/31/12 -

Total for the month: $0 [Goal: < $50]

 

[annsteere]

I'm in for July. I track spending that is for non necessities.

1/1-$1 (box of ugly Christmas cards at Goodwill for envelopes for cards I handcrafted)
1/2-0
1/3-$2 (We've been out of power since Sunday. The temp inside our house was 93--with no fans, no
water to flush, no phone service. If I didn't get some chocolate, somebody was going to get
hurt)

 

[Zhoen]

I'm going to lurk for a bit this month... I'm tracking what I spend very carefully, but due to things going on here right now, I feel a bit like someone eating ribs at a weight watchers meeting... so I'm not going to post it... someday... some day... if I DO have a zero spend, you'll know. But I think that would require some serious planetary alignments...

 

[YukiPhnx]

Thanks for starting this Mom!~

I did really well last month and am going to try harder this month! I'm upping my No buy goal.

On July 1st, Starbucks was taking a $1 off every frap because it was Canada Day. They were also giving double stars with a purchase of a VIA pack. Definitely the best instant coffee I've ever had. I love their Iced coffee blend.

On the 2nd, I treatedd the DBF to a breakfast at Wimpy's.

Last night, we watched The Amazing Spiderman 3D in DBOX (moving seats) with points I collectd on my Scene card! Best value to redeem points for.

No buy: 1/15
Clothes: 0/5
Make-up: 0/3
Eating out: 0/5
Entertainment: 0/5

1. $13.50- 2 green tea fraps and a VIA pack from Starbucks
2. $30.22- breakfast at Wimpy's
3. $0
$40

4.
5.
6.
$40

7.
8.
9.
$40

10.
11.
12.
$40

13.
14.
15.
$40

16.
17.
18.
$40

19.
20.
21.
$40

22.
23.
24.
$40

25.
26.
27.
$40

28.
29.
30.
31.
$40

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

This was really helpful last month so I'm in again this month. I do plan to start some school clothes and supply shopping this month, but since I spread it out and don't do it all at once tracking will help me keep it under control. I'm not going to post my usual grocery/gas expenses.

7/4: $33 Walmart for new a/c filters, meds for sick ds and a few groceries

 

[MomToOne]

1/3-$2 (We've been out of power since Sunday. The temp inside our house was 93--with no fans, no water to flush, no phone service. If I didn't get some chocolate, somebody was going to get hurt)

I'm impressed it was only $2 worth of chocolate - I'd have hit up Sees and gotten a $20 box of chocolate caramels, then eaten them all in one sitting! After the "big" San Francisco earthquake of 1989, I was without power for a week too. It sucked. But the worst part was that the houses across the street had power the entire time

But I digress...onto the tracking!

(Tracking only my fast food/restaurant/vending machine/other impulse food purchases since that's the biggest black hole in my spending.)
7/1/12 - $0
7/2/12 - $0
7/3/12 - $0
7/4/12 - $6.79 Cashews to feed the insane craving I've had for them lately, and pizza crust to replace the crust I ate last night because DD was at a sleepover and the only dinner that appealed to me was pizza. I figured making it at home with the ingredients that were targetted for dinner next Saturday night was at least better than buying one at the local pizza joint or stopping for fast food!
7/5/12 -
7/6/12 -
7/7/12 -
7/8/12 -
7/9/12 -
7/10/12 -
7/11/12 -
7/12/12 -
7/13/12 -
7/14/12 -
7/15/12 -
7/16/12 -
7/17/12 -
7/18/12 thru 7/29/12 - China trip. Not tracking!
7/30/12 -
7/31/12 -

Total for the month: $6.79 [Goal: < $50]

 

[reginaastralis]

I'm in ... we have had four different car issues on our two cars in the last two months. It'd be laughable, if it wasn't true. We used up what measly amount of an emergency fund we had on the first three ... now the broken down car is just sitting in my driveway (for the record, my car was only $100 to fix ... but my boyfriends has already sucked over $1000 out of our pocket ... sigh!)

So, we're going to watch our pennies to a t ... and since we're down to one car, I'm stuck at home, which should help curb our spending.

To the pp and the chocolate ... I can't believe it's been 8 years, but the summer I was pregnant with my daughter, we got hit by three different hurricanes in a little more than a month. We were without power for a little over a week during the course of it. All I could keep down with my morning sickness was peanut butter on waffles with honey ... I ended up sitting in the rain (not awful hurricane rain, but almost a sprinkle) eating peanut butter from the jar. It was so hot ... and I was so hungry ... lol.

We went out and bought a generator after the first storm, because we lost everything in the fridge and backup freezer ... and so I could plug in a stinkin fan.

 

[cpparrothead]

It's time I give this a try. I am going to track fast food purchases as well because that is my biggest oppurtunity.

7/2 - $0
7/3 - $4.52 I forgot my breakfast smoothie on the kitchen counter, so I stopped for a drive thru breakfast, not nearly as good
7/4 - $0

 

[IMALOVNDISNEY]

I'm back in this month. It will be nice to be back after taking a few months off. I lost my job at the end of March, went on vaca to WDW in April, shoulder surgery in May, and DD's Graduation party in June. Now that things have slowed down I can get back to my "No Buys". Although in my head I have been trying to following my rules of no buy. Just haven't been documenting it. Documentation is very important for me to be held accountable. I don't track my exact amount. I always round up. That's why you will never see change in my totals. So here we go!

Groceries/Household: $42/$200 ( have a lot to stock up on this month)
Gas: $50/$250
Eat Out: $100
Misc: $20$200
No Buy Days: 2/15
Coupon savings:

07/01 $42.00 Walmart
07/02 $50 gas, $20 parking at the beach
07/03 -0-
07/04 -0- had the best day with family at the lake. It was a potluck picnic, so brought things from home.
07/05

 

[arwood82]

I tried this last month and off track, so I am back in this month. We are going to WDW in 79 days and we are hoping to buy a house within the next year so we really have to get our budget on track. I am aiming for 15 no buy days. Next month I will set an actual dollar budget, but this is really my first month at trying this and sticking with it. I will be tracking everything that I consider "extra" spending.

7/1-$12.00 (We went to Splash Country, our local waterpark. This was for breakfast at mcdonalds because my son was excited to get going and would not eat breakfast at home. We also stopped at Mcdonalds on the way home to get some snack wraps and sweet tea.)
7/2-$6.04 (I forgot my packed lunch at home so I had KFC for lunch)
7/3-$27 ( My sons new lifejacket. He had outgrown his other one.)
7/4- $32.25 (We wnt to the movies to see Spider Man)
7/5- $68.79 (layaway payment. We are redoing both of our bathrooms and we put everything we needed for them in layaway at Kmart)
$22.00 (A bad storm came through our area and we lost power for about 7 hours so we had to go buy dinner at Subway)
7/6-

 

[vleeth]

This is interesting...but it's the 5th...and I can remember what I did earlier this week. Maybe I'll join in next month.

 

[annsteere]

I'm in for July. I track spending that is for non necessities.

7/1-$1 (box of ugly Christmas cards at Goodwill for envelopes for cards I handcrafted)
7/2-0
7/3-$2 (We've been out of power since Sunday. The temp inside our house was 93--with no fans, no water to flush, no phone service. If I didn't get some chocolate, somebody was going to get hurt)
7/4 - 0
7/5 $1, vending machine with Snickers bars got me.

 

[LSU25]

I'm Back too! I was doing so well tracking in June and then things were derailed when we found out we are having TWINS in January. This is going to be hard though, since when I'm pregnant all I do is CRAVE fast food haha...just have to keep the big picture in my mind....well, and limit myself to once a week haha

July 1st: $40 -Grocery Store
July 2nd- $0
July 3rd- $0
July 4th- $0
July 5th- $0

 

[reginaastralis]

I'm Back too! I was doing so well tracking in June and then things were derailed when we found out we are having TWINS in January. This is going to be hard though, since when I'm pregnant all I do is CRAVE fast food haha...just have to keep the big picture in my mind....well, and limit myself to once a week haha

Congrats on the twins! We're currently trying, and I keep dreaming I'm pregnant with twins, lol. It's freaking me out, but it's what my boyfriend wants, go figure. Good luck!

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

7/4: $33 Walmart for new a/c filters, meds for sick ds and a few groceries
7/5: $0

 

[MomToOne]

This is interesting...but it's the 5th...and I can remember what I did earlier this week. Maybe I'll join in next month.

Come on and join in starting with today - there are no rules, so there's no problem starting on a day other than the 1st! I actually started mid-month a couple of months ago!

(Tracking only my fast food/restaurant/vending machine/other impulse food purchases since that's the biggest black hole in my spending.)
7/1/12 - $0
7/2/12 - $0
7/3/12 - $0
7/4/12 - $6.79
7/5/12 - $0
7/6/12 -
7/7/12 -
7/8/12 -
7/9/12 -
7/10/12 -
7/11/12 -
7/12/12 -
7/13/12 -
7/14/12 -
7/15/12 -
7/16/12 -
7/17/12 -
7/18/12 thru 7/29/12 - China trip. Not tracking!
7/30/12 -
7/31/12 -

Total for the month: $6.79 [Goal: < $50]

 

[IMALOVNDISNEY]

I'm Back too! I was doing so well tracking in June and then things were derailed when we found out we are having TWINS in January. This is going to be hard though, since when I'm pregnant all I do is CRAVE fast food haha...just have to keep the big picture in my mind....well, and limit myself to once a week haha

July 1st: $40 -Grocery Store
July 2nd- $0
July 3rd- $0
July 4th- $0
July 5th- $0

Congrats!!!

 

[leagirl12]

Okay....we are trying to save for a car for DS who will be sixteen next year. So we are really watching our spending. What a better way to do it then to hold myself accountable by seeing it here everyday. This is my first time to do it but I am in!

7/6/12 - $0
7/7/12 - $27.82...promised the kids a trip to the drive-in...$20 to get in and $7.82 for drinks and ice for the cooler.
7/8/12 - $0
7/9/12 -
7/10/12 -
7/11/12 -
7/12/12 -
7/13/12 -
7/14/12 -
7/15/12 -
7/16/12 -
7/17/12 -
7/18/12-
7/19/12 -
7/20/12 -
7/21/12 -
7/22/12 -
7/23/12 -
7/24/12 -
7/25/12 -
7/26/12 -
7/27/12 -
7/28/12 -
7/29/12 -
7/30/12 -
7/31/12 -

 

[Zhoen]

This is interesting...but it's the 5th...and I can remember what I did earlier this week. Maybe I'll join in next month.

Hiya Valerie, it's Joan from the photoshare. Small internet!

Ok, so I had a *nearly* no-buy yesterday... DD8's Dr cancelled her appointment so we stayed home, and that definitely helped. We ate home-food and did home-things... but at the end of the day, we couldn't find "John Carter" on any of the free/pre-paid outlets, so I decided to get it on on-demand. I can see why it didn't do well in theaters (too long, for one) but for $2.99 it was worth it. The kids liked it.

I'll be buying lunch and gas and groceries today, and the daycare's due...so today's going to be a "watch my money all go bye-bye" day... on the upside, the broker I get the more likely I am to have a no-buy later, right?

 

[YukiPhnx]

Val, don't let that discourage you! It's not too late to jump in yet! Last month, we had people jumping in on the 15th. Never too late to start tracking your spending.

I can't believe it's already the 6th. What have I been doing?

No buy: 3/15
Clothes: 0/5
Make-up: 0/3
Eating out: 1/5
Entertainment: 0/5

1. $13.50- 2 green tea fraps and a VIA pack from Starbucks
2. $30.22- breakfast at Wimpy's
3. $0
$40-

4. $0
5. $0
6. $4.80-lunch at Subways
$40

7.
8.
9.
$40

10.
11.
12.
$40

13.
14.
15.
$40

16.
17.
18.
$40

19.
20.
21.
$40

22.
23.
24.
$40

25.
26.
27.
$40

28.
29.
30.
31.
$40