March No Buy..Rolling Into Spring!

[wlake]

I broke down on the non-consumables today at Target, and ended up getting a couple of things to wear while I take on training for the Princess Half. I've done a full week without wanting to quit, so I rewarded myself.

3/1:
3/2: $26 groceries
3/3:
3/4: $35 after school care, $540 brakes (ouch!), $12 dinner, $16 skate night
3/5: $13 Christmas Tree Shop (candy for basket raffle, cupcake liners, and replacement garden clogs), $23 Yankee Candle (candle!), $24 Michael's (gifts for parties the boys are invited to), $51 gas and $16 Walmart (groceries and a dry cleaning kit I have a rebate for)
3/6: $35 dinner out to celebrate DS8 scoring two goals in his indoor soccer game today (he's not terribly athletic, so this is huge!) and the end of indoor soccer season (DS5 played too, but he's very athletic and usually outscored the other team) as well as $49 on groceries. A little more bragging here: I saved $30 on that grocery bill between sales and coupons AND walked out with coupons for a free box of frozen fish and a free gallon of milk. I'm pretty proud of myself!
3/7:
3/8: $6 groceries (well, ice cream after a tough couple of days) and $5 books
3/9: $10 lunch, $26.50 x2 for school lunches for the boys
3/10:
3/11:
3/12: $3 JoAnn's (sprinkles and cupcake liners), $40 gas, $? Target (drinks, cat litter, health and beauty type stuff), $25 birthday gift for my aunt, $25 birthday gift for my sister
3/13: $27 groceries
3/14: $30 dinner (DH is out of town, so my mom suggested going out -- I was all too happy to go and pay for dinner!), $38 sneakers for the boys
3/15:
3/16:
3/17:
3/18: $2 bake sale at my school
3/19: $100 cut and color, $39 gas, $30 Target (snacks and a gift for a birthday party), $18 pharmacy (time to start buying the OTC allergy meds!)
3/20: $32 groceries, $50 Target (clothes for me, items for the kids' basket raffle baskets, groceries, things for school)


no buy days: 8/12
longest streak: 3
meals out: 4/5
days without dinner out: 1
longest no dinners out streak: 10
non-consumable items purchased: 4/0

 

[3goofyboys]

I'm in for the month! This should be a good month. No birthdays, baby showers, weddings, ect! I am hopeful that we will be spending a bit extra on moving, but we'll see if our current house rents soon. We did move back our move date to May 1st, so we have a bit more time.

I'm going for 14 no buys this month.

March 1

March 2 $31 groceries, $40 gas

March 3 $20 groceries (why is there always one more thing to pick up?)

March 4

March 5

March 6 $273 groceries- that will hopefully keep us in food for the next 2 weeks and it includes a baby shower gift (apparently I spoke too soon when I said we didn't have any this month) and dollar bills to play a shower game.

March 7 PLUS, I actually won all my dollar bills back plus $36 at the shower last night. That was enough to cover my baby shower gift. Hooray!! I did pay tuition for my guys today, but that comes out of a separate account, so I'm not counting that.


March 8 $40 gas, $11 landfill run. I also got my hair cut, but I paid for that out of my shower winnings!

March 9


March 10 $16 ticket to the local children's museum

March 11 $17 groceries-it was my turn to parent help in DS's class and I didn't read until this morning that I needed to bring a special snack. Nothing like an early morning grocery run. $40 gas AGAIN!


March 12 We were going to run the St. Patricks day run this morning (first run of race season, YAY!!), BUT there was a huge SNAFU where DH and I got seperated and once we finally found each other, we were too late to register (note to selves, never attempt race day registration again). The boys did run in the kids race, which was really the point anyway. Not racing saved us $60. We did spend $1 to park and $4 on doughnuts after the "race". Plus I decided to have everyone over tomorrow for corned beef and cabbage, $25 groceries for that. Tomorrow should be a no buy day.


March 13 I always jinx myself when I say "tomorrow should be a no buy day"! $65 car maintenance-oil change with some additional work. $25 packing supplies-ran out of packing tape. $30 dog food.

March 14 $30 packing supplies, $55 dinner out after a tough day of packing, $15 supplies for a garage sale to get rid of all the stuff we don't want to move.

March 15 $50 gas, $50 moving supplies (bubble wrap and tape are crazy expensive!), $8 beer for the hubby to keep him happy while he hauls boxes around the house.

March 16 Holy cow am I behind!! I have good news and bad news: the good news is we found a renter for our house. Through a great accident, I got to meet the tenants (we are dealing through property managment company and we really aren't supposed to deal with the tenants at all) and they are wonderful. The bad news: moving is EXPENSIVE!! Just moving supplies alone are adding up, plus I am always running out of something, so I'm not scoring any no buy days. On a plus note for my budget, we're moving in with my MIL between our move out date and the time we close on a new house. So, we'll be mortgage/utility free (my MIL insists we not pay rent and if I did pay her, she would put it right back in my bank account) for about 2 months. That adds up to big savings on my end. Now if we can just find a house!
$3 moving supplies, $50 medical bills, $40 Target-we had to take the boys house hunting b/c all our normal sitters were out of town or working. We promised them if they behaved like gentlemen through all the houses, we'd let them pick a new toy. We very, very rarely reward good behavior with material items, so this was a real treat for them and it was fun for us to provide the treat.

March 17 $60 supplies to fix some things at the house, $40 gas-house hunting is burning gas like crazy, $9 car wash


March 18 $4 Starbucks. I feel bad about this because we blew the chance for a no buy day.


March 18 $26 lunch. We wrote a bid on another house and it took much longer than expected. We had to grab a quick bite to eat so DH could make it to work on time.

March 9 FINALLY!!

6/14 No Buys

 

[Virgderon]

Got treated to Changs as a late birthday gathering. It was wonderful.

Running Total: Spent $394
$900 budget... $506 left
$0 Days: 7
Goal is 8 or more!
coupon/sale savings :97

Groceries budget- $250-3-52-47- 8= 140 left

March 1: 22
March 2 : 0
March 3: 52 ( groceries)
March 4: 0
March 5: 11 ( Walgreens pop, cooking supplies)
March 6 : 22 ( cleaning supplies )
March 7 : 0
March 8: 18 ( 13 Walgreens, 5 snack at bowling)
March 9 : 0
March 10: 48 ( Publix)
March 11: 43 ( 15 dress, 28 gas)
March 12 : 0
March 13 : 0
March 14: 60 ( meds, toiletries, cleaning supplies, pop)
March 15 : 32 ( 11 make up, 16 bowling, 5 food )
March 16: 9 ( magazine and snack at airport)
March 17: 27 ( shirt )
March 19 : 41 ( 15 Jewel, 9 take out, 17 lock for storage locker )
March 20: 0

 

[A.Mickey]

Running Total: Spent $1497.03
$0 Days:8/14 Got 13 no buys last month, trying to up it to one more.

Groceries ($279-$9/day)- $162.67
Eating Out ($217-$7/day)- $181.18
Misc. (Shopping/Entertainment) ($806-$26/day) Great America season pass installment $1028.49
Gas $250- (3/1-$23.69), (3/6-$28.55), (3/8-$37.45 $3.64/gal), (3/17-$35 $3.52/gal)= $124.69

WEEK 1 BEGIN:
1- $15.76 (Dominick's-Groceries), $31.02 (Target-Pictures), $23.69 (Gas)
2- $0
3- $9.26 (Walgreens-Groceries), $2.85 (Meijer- Groceries), $3.97 (Dominick's-Groceries), $26.58 (Jewel-Prescription), $12.46 (McDonald's-Eating Out)
4- $0
5- $11 (Zoo Admission), $16 (Eating Out), $37 (Chinese- Eating Out-we bought food for 5 people), $3.91 (Home Depot- Misc.)
6- $196 (Spring Awakening Tickets-Misc. Weren't expecting this, but we are sitting 2nd row center and it is our 7 year anniversary of knowing each other and it is the last performance of the show in Chicago...I forgot that my husband wanted to see this, he wanted to go to two shows and sit in the cheap seats, but for the price of sitting in the 2nd to last row for two nights it is the same as sitting in the front row for one performance, so we opted for sitting close, since our broadway series shows are for the cheap seats), $149.41 (Cedar Point Hotel-Misc.), $31.75 (Driver's License Renewal),
$126.11 (Sears Essentials-Misc. husband wanted a Logitech harmony remote forever! and it was more than half off in liquidation sale), $20.63 (Culver's-Eating Out), $2 (Dollar Tree-Papers), $6.96 (Dominick's-Groceries), $12.50 (Meijer-Groceries), $82.73 (Printer Ink), $27.51 (Amazon.com-Veggie Cages and hiking book)
7- $5.18 (Trader Joe's-Groceries), $24.33 (Joe Caputo-Groceries)
8- $.59 (Dominick's-Groceries), $5.04 (Meijer-Groceries), $6.59 (Chipotle-Eating Out)
9- $0
10-$0
11- $107.50 (Signed up Hubby and I for 5K in October), $3.39 (Dominick's-Groceries), $2.86 (Meijer-Groceries), $1.73 (Walgreens-Groceries), $3.23 (Aldi's-Groceries)
12- $14 (Train-Misc.), $65 (The Berghoff-Eating Out), $4 (Dollar Tree-Misc.)
13- $13.42 (Walgreens-Groceries)
14- $205 (Airplane Tickets for October-Southwest), $9.20 (McDonald's-Eating Out), $15.94 (Joe Caputo-Groceries)
15- $0
16- $7.97 (Deal Woot-Shopping), $14.58 (Meijer-Groceries)
17- $0
18- $0
19- $0
20- $2 (Dollar Tree-Newspapers), $14.30 (McDonald's-Eating Out), $19.60 (Walgreens-Groceries), $1.02 (Dominick's-Groceries)


Budget: $1552....96%
Month: 20/31: 65%
No Buy: 8/14: 57%

My savings from coupons and sales: $974.73

Next Month: Get car fixed...

 

[ronnmel]

No Buy Days : 7/12
Gas : 110$ (max 120$ Raising the max due to higher gas prices)
Groceries : 139$ (max 250$)
Eating out (and snacks) : 154$ (max 100$)
Non-necessities : 650$ (max 500$)

03/01 : 45$ (gas + pharmacy)
03/02 : 0$
03/03 : 0$
03/04 : 0$
03/05 : 0$[
03/06 : 95$ (canadian tire + dinner)
03/07 : 0$
03/08 : 118$ (dinner, passport, and a few little things)
03/09 : 79$ (gas + long overdue windshield wipers)
03/10 : 55$ (cat litter & food)
03/11 : 22$ (breakfast, envelopes, groceries)
03/12 : 59$ (gift for baby shower + snack)
03/13 : 0$
03/14 : 38$ (gas)
03/15 : 0$
03/16 : 287$ (salsa class + fast food)
03/17 : 79$ (groceries)
03/18 : 100$ (dinner)
03/19 : 0$
03/20 : 85$ (dress + drinks)

 

[SunnieRN]

March 11-25:

Goals:

Groc: $200 / -$93
Medical: $260
Cash: $100 / -$31.25

March 11: $0
March 12: $0
March 13: $31.25 on PB2 and chocolate PB2. Not a grocery necessity, but a want, so put it under cash?
March 14: $240, Target, YEP, you read that right. $33 on 6 mos of zyrtec' Mobigo and 1 extra game for EACH of my grandsons, so $140 there. New cookie sheets, as my son in law refuses to NOT put the non stick ones in the dishwasher and they now stick BAD, $25, nice cephalon, big ones. Also some misc. stuff I needed, plastic containers etc. The whole time going through the store, I kept saying, 'I am going to have to confess this on Dis boards". My daughter laughed and told me to get over it. I can't believe I spent that much $$$.n: Tomorrow, I'm stayin' home!!!
March 15: $0 stayed home, lol
March 16: $ 0, work!
March 17: $0, worked again
March 18: $0, Too tired to spend money and have an OT shift tomorrow, with a bonus, so makes up for my spendthriftiness. (Hmmm, just made up a new word)
March 19: $91, my litman steth. literally broke in 1/2 at work Thursday night, since I missed last weekend I have to work tonight, so had to get it today. Torn whether to call this a $0 day, as I have $$$ set aside for clothing and work expenxes, but decided to go ahead and count it.
March 20: $0, but tomorrow we are getting the rest of our stuff for the indoor garden.

No Buy Goal: 8 / 7 accomplished! Phew! Seems like HARD work this time!

 

[nunzia]

Here we go:
Mar 1: 56.07 Birthday gifts for DBIL and DN, $12.20 for Amazon peanut butter (seemed like a good deal)
Mar 2: Not starting out very well! have to get past these birthdays...$98.34 groceries (bday dinner for 13, dog food, beer..etc), $46.00 DH gas (some will be reimbursed..he has to go to a town 90 miles away for a continuing ed class)
Mar 3: $2.42 for movie rental and a coffee, $9.00 dinner out with friend
Mar 4: DH got $23 reimbursement for the gas, so Plus that..then minus $10 to the church rummage sale (cool pedal car for DGD and really neat vintage desk for DGS), $9.48 Dollar Tree
Mar 5: $0 yea!
Mar 6: $7.43 WalMart (clearance toys..from $6 to $2 for Easter gifts & Sharpies on clearance) $2.19 Dollar Tree...needed 8x8 foil pan for a dessert I have to bring somewhere and got 4 at Dollar Tree for $2 instead of 3 at WalMart of $3)
Mar 7: 24.34 Amazon (2 pop up Harry Potter books and baby gift..had $10 off coupon
Mar 8: $20.00 gas..ack, $3.67 PhotoPass pictures developed at Walgreens
Mar 9: $3.57 movie rental
Mar 10: $18.00 dinner out with friends
Mar 11: $0
Mar 12: $20.33 Walmart groceries..didn't even LOOK in the toys clearance aisle
Mar 13: $20.53 Walmart AGAIN...DH needed stuff that he forgot to write down.
Mar 14: $0! End of the pay period, so I put the remaining $40 cash in my Trip cash box.
Mar 15: $0
Mar 16: $10.23 Amazon for durum flour
Mar 17: $16 gas, $63.44 groceries (Walmart & Lowes...$11.84 coupons), 18.00 dinner out
Mar 18: $20.00 gas, $9.45 lunch out, $7.15 Dollar Tree
Mar 19: Naturally I forgot things I needed: $1.38 margarine, $1.98 potatoes
Mar 20: had to go to a different town to pick up grandkids from their dad so $8.49 Jack in the Box then promised kids Taco Bell for dinner, so $13.45

$260.58/$800.00 remaining

 

[Tiggerish]

The March budget is $700 with 12 no spend days.

Auto $50 /$12 left
Eating Out/Entertainment $100 / $17 over
Giving $10 / $9 left
Groceries/Household Goods $250 / $66 left
Medical $25
Misc. $75 /$8 over
Set bills $205 / $70 left

No spend days 12 /11
Coupon savings $27.55
Christmas 2011 $8
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3/1 $0
3/2 $0
3/3 $0
3/4 Misc. $27
3/5 Groceries $22
3/6 Set bills $30 (church); Eating out $4
3/7 Eating out $18
3/8 $0
3/9 $0
3/10 $27 Misc. (copying, faxing and printer ink)
3/11 $0
3/12 Groceries $76 (k-cups and the cheese store); Set bills $25 (credit card); Misc. $2 (Easter cards from the dollar store); Eating out $20 (took niece to lunch); Auto $38 (gas - which is now $3.65 a gallon)
3/13 Set bills $30 (church); Groceries $5; Giving $1 (person begging in the grocery store parking lot)
3/14 $0
3/15 $0
3/16 $0
3/17 $20 Set bills (newspaper delivery); $10 eating out.
3/18 $0
3/19 $76 Groceries; $10 Set bills (cell phone); $40 Eating out (Chinese food with my sister and two nieces)
3/20 $30 Set bills (church); Eating out $45 (pizza take out for Disney game nite - when my niece was little Disney game nite was a tradition once a week and when she came home from college she was feeling sentimental so we re-enacted our past) $2 Misc. (bought a shirt for niece at Kohls used two coupons) $25 Misc. (tickets to other niece's school play for myself and my brother and his family)
3/21 $0

 

[IMALOVNDISNEY]

These days are flying by this month. There's never any time to post. Hope all is well with everyone.

Auto $160.00/$240.00
Groceries/Household Goods $120.00/$150.00
Eating Out/Entertainment $26.00/$150.00 (raised DMil's Bday)
Misc $185.00/$200.00 raised this one due to Prom
No Buy days 8/15
Coupon savings $116.00

January coupon savings $360.00
no buy days 17/10
February coupon savings $124.00
No buy days 15/12

03/01 $40.00 $30.00 gas already!!!!, $10.00 Pizza.. Mom's on strike day. At least I had a $10/20 purchase.
03/02-0-
03/03-0-
03/04-0- I've haven't been feeling well. So, I've been going right home after work. Upset stomach has been helping with my no spend days What ever works right.!
03/05 $66.00 $50.00 Gas- $16.00 dinner out with the ladies. Shouldn't have gone, I ordered a dinner and then didn't eat it. But, the company was priceless.
03/06 Today will be a spend day. Have to do some shopping....It was cold and raining today...So, we only went out to go to Church and to bring DD to work. Then back in the house for the day.
03/07$160.00 Woke up to a flooded basement this morning. By 6:30 AM my DH was at Home Depot buying a sump pump and things that go with it. Luckly I don't think there is a lot of loss. Our old house used to flood every year. We learned from that. We have a small fortune invested in totes and very few things are actually on the floor. Although we did loose a stockpile of T. Paper, paper towels, and 4 bags of dog food so far. DH was able to take the day off from work to get rid of the water and start the cleaning.
03/09$36.00 Walmart groceries and extra cleaning supplies(coupons savings $28.00.
03/10 $50.00 Lia Sophia Party. My DD is crazy about their jewelry. Ok, so am I. I've decided to become an adviser for them. Will save a ton of money and hopefully make some at the same time.
03/11 -0-
03/12 $45.00 $40 gas, $5.00 2 gal. of milk
03/13 $40.00 $25 gc for DNephew's B'day. $15.00 to make veggie platter for his party and 2 bags of rolls from Costcos for the same party.
03/14 $32.00 groceries (saved $22.00)
03/15-0-
03/16$40 in gas. Gas prices are killing me! Not only are the prices out of this world, but, I seem to be filling more often. Went to the Mall to have DD's Ipod looked at. And didn't spend $$. Although she did. With her own money. I love her having a job now. It's saving me $$$.
03/17 Happy Belated St. Patrick's Day. $6.00 at Target on household.(saved $13.00 in coupons).
03/18 -0- Allergy day. went right home from work and never went out again.
03/19 $26.00 Target. (saved $43.00 in coupons and gc)
03/20 -0- Went to Church and back home for the day. Another allergy day!

 

[lattemomof3]

Hi everyone! I haven't been on the boards (or the computer) in a few weeks. DD4 was sick w/ a bad virus, she gets very weezy & can't breathe well, which results in nebulizer treatments & checking on her several times a night. Then I caught the bug too, add that into the usual spring crazy schedules & houseguests for a week, and . I have not been recording my daily spending either, I'm honestly quite burned out on it. What HAS been working this month is to do the budget, divide the total $ amount by 2, & take out that much cash & stick it in my wallet. When it's gone, I have to wait until I can take more out. Luckily, I've had some left each time. W/ cash, for me, it's a good incentive to be budget-minded because I like to see some left, it feels like "free $". I'm going on a weekend trip to Omaha w/ my SIL next weekend, so I've been really trying to have enough left over cash get the kids some spring clothes then.

I haven't read all the posts, this board moves a lot faster than it used to- it's great there are more people, it's such a kind, positive thread, so I'll still be checking in, but spring is crazy time around here, I notice I'm on the boards a lot more in the winter, so if you don't see me around quite as often, I'm probably at a dance competion or wrestling match. Hope everyone is having success working toward your financial goals!

 

[MissBritt]

Looks like I'll make my "under $1000" goal for the month... 2 days left in bill cycle and still under 900!

 

[charming23]

Staying in again today. Cleaning over the weekend knocked up all the dust and my allergies are driving me nuts.

March 2011 Budget
Grocery/Household- $300/$66.35 Left
Car/Gas- $50/$21.25 Left
Eating out -$50/$26.42 Left
Entertainment/Misc- $100/ $41.22 left

Total- $500/$155.24 Left

Goal of 15 No Buy Days

Week One
3/1- $75.27 Giant Eagle and $6.19 Drugmart
3/2- $18.70 Loco Laprachaun
3/3- $0
3/4- $0
3/5- $0
3/6- $10.25 Pat Catan's
3/7- $0

Week Two
3/8- $0
3/9- $95.02 Grocery, $22.89 Misc, and $28.75 Gas
3/10- $20.59 Groceries/household
3/11- $0
3/12- $0
3/13- $23.43 grocery
3/14- $19.42 Walgreen's Misc

Week Three
3/15- $0
3/16- $13.15 Grocery and $4.88 Dairy Queen
3/17- $0
3/18- $6.22 JoAnn Fabrics
3/19- $0
3/20- $0
3/21- $0

Week Four
3/22
3/23
3/24
3/25
3/26
3/27
3/28

12/15 No Buy Days

Coupon/Store Savings- $93.87

 

[ronnmel]

What a waste of a ped day. I was veryt much looking forward to it, as I had a list a mile long of things to do. For some reason though, I just could NOT get my head to focus on anything and I ended up just wasting the better part of it just "moving" stuff on my desk, and chatting with other teachers. I gave up at 3pm.

No Buy Days : 8/12
Gas : 110$ (max 120$ Raising the max due to higher gas prices)
Groceries : 139$ (max 250$)
Eating out (and snacks) : 154$ (max 100$)
Non-necessities : 650$ (max 500$)

03/01 : 45$ (gas + pharmacy)
03/02 : 0$
03/03 : 0$
03/04 : 0$
03/05 : 0$[
03/06 : 95$ (canadian tire + dinner)
03/07 : 0$
03/08 : 118$ (dinner, passport, and a few little things)
03/09 : 79$ (gas + long overdue windshield wipers)
03/10 : 55$ (cat litter & food)
03/11 : 22$ (breakfast, envelopes, groceries)
03/12 : 59$ (gift for baby shower + snack)
03/13 : 0$
03/14 : 38$ (gas)
03/15 : 0$
03/16 : 287$ (salsa class + fast food)
03/17 : 79$ (groceries)
03/18 : 100$ (dinner)
03/19 : 0$
03/20 : 85$ (dress + drinks)
03/21 : 0$

 

[wlake]

What a waste of a ped day. I was veryt much looking forward to it, as I had a list a mile long of things to do. For some reason though, I just could NOT get my head to focus on anything and I ended up just wasting the better part of it just "moving" stuff on my desk, and chatting with other teachers. I gave up at 3pm.

I hate it when that happens! I usually have to rush out after school to get my boys and can only stay later about once a month. When I can't focus on those days... uuggh!


3/1:
3/2: $26 groceries
3/3:
3/4: $35 after school care, $540 brakes (ouch!), $12 dinner, $16 skate night
3/5: $13 Christmas Tree Shop (candy for basket raffle, cupcake liners, and replacement garden clogs), $23 Yankee Candle (candle!), $24 Michael's (gifts for parties the boys are invited to), $51 gas and $16 Walmart (groceries and a dry cleaning kit I have a rebate for)
3/6: $35 dinner out to celebrate DS8 scoring two goals in his indoor soccer game today (he's not terribly athletic, so this is huge!) and the end of indoor soccer season (DS5 played too, but he's very athletic and usually outscored the other team) as well as $49 on groceries. A little more bragging here: I saved $30 on that grocery bill between sales and coupons AND walked out with coupons for a free box of frozen fish and a free gallon of milk. I'm pretty proud of myself!
3/7:
3/8: $6 groceries (well, ice cream after a tough couple of days) and $5 books
3/9: $10 lunch, $26.50 x2 for school lunches for the boys
3/10:
3/11:
3/12: $3 JoAnn's (sprinkles and cupcake liners), $40 gas, $? Target (drinks, cat litter, health and beauty type stuff), $25 birthday gift for my aunt, $25 birthday gift for my sister
3/13: $27 groceries
3/14: $30 dinner (DH is out of town, so my mom suggested going out -- I was all too happy to go and pay for dinner!), $38 sneakers for the boys
3/15:
3/16:
3/17:
3/18: $2 bake sale at my school
3/19: $100 cut and color, $39 gas, $30 Target (snacks and a gift for a birthday party), $18 pharmacy (time to start buying the OTC allergy meds!)
3/20: $32 groceries, $50 Target (clothes for me, items for the kids' basket raffle baskets, groceries, things for school)
3/21:


no buy days: 9/12
longest streak: 3
meals out: 4/5
days without dinner out: 2
longest no dinners out streak: 10
non-consumable items purchased: 4/0

 

[Virgderon]

Spent 30 shipping home pictures so I can make a little album for my daughter for her wedding. I still have a lot of my posessions in Chicago, so I at least wanted to have my pictures. Heading back to Tampa tomorrow.

Running Total: Spent $424
$900 budget... $476 left
$0 Days: 7
Goal is 8 or more!
coupon/sale savings :97

Groceries budget- $250-3-52-47- 8= 140 left

March 1: 22
March 2 : 0
March 3: 52 ( groceries)
March 4: 0
March 5: 11 ( Walgreens pop, cooking supplies)
March 6 : 22 ( cleaning supplies )
March 7 : 0
March 8: 18 ( 13 Walgreens, 5 snack at bowling)
March 9 : 0
March 10: 48 ( Publix)
March 11: 43 ( 15 dress, 28 gas)
March 12 : 0
March 13 : 0
March 14: 60 ( meds, toiletries, cleaning supplies, pop)
March 15 : 32 ( 11 make up, 16 bowling, 5 food )
March 16: 9 ( magazine and snack at airport)
March 17: 27 ( shirt )
March 19 : 41 ( 15 Jewel, 9 take out, 17 lock for storage locker )
March 20: 0
March 21: 30 ( shipping)

 

[SunnieRN]

March 11-25:

Goals:

Groc: $200 / -$93
Medical: $260
Cash: $100 / -$31.25

March 11: $0
March 12: $0
March 13: $31.25 on PB2 and chocolate PB2. Not a grocery necessity, but a want, so put it under cash?
March 14: $240, Target, YEP, you read that right. $33 on 6 mos of zyrtec' Mobigo and 1 extra game for EACH of my grandsons, so $140 there. New cookie sheets, as my son in law refuses to NOT put the non stick ones in the dishwasher and they now stick BAD, $25, nice cephalon, big ones. Also some misc. stuff I needed, plastic containers etc. The whole time going through the store, I kept saying, 'I am going to have to confess this on Dis boards". My daughter laughed and told me to get over it. I can't believe I spent that much $$$.n: Tomorrow, I'm stayin' home!!!
March 15: $0 stayed home, lol
March 16: $ 0, work!
March 17: $0, worked again
March 18: $0, Too tired to spend money and have an OT shift tomorrow, with a bonus, so makes up for my spendthriftiness. (Hmmm, just made up a new word)
March 19: $91, my litman steth. literally broke in 1/2 at work Thursday night, since I missed last weekend I have to work tonight, so had to get it today. Torn whether to call this a $0 day, as I have $$$ set aside for clothing and work expenxes, but decided to go ahead and count it.
March 20: $0, but tomorrow we are getting the rest of our stuff for the indoor garden.
March 21: $0 Didn't go to the store after all!! My daughter went and bought the seeds. Said not to worry about it as I bought them last year!

No Buy Goal: 8 / 8 accomplished! Phew! Wasn't sure I'd make it!

 

[Debbie]

Back to work. Hopefully back to some sanity!
Here's my plan:
1. I will only track PoS transactions-cash, cc, or debit-usually, groceries and gas, although this month there will be a couple of birthday gifts, and my running shoes need to be replaced [there goes $200]
2. Bills paid regularly, including all charity, not included, nor all items that are budgeted for (eg. DD's music trips....money is already set aside-I'll note them, but they don't count)
3. Whatever 'fun' money DH spends i.e. junk food, on himself....not counting
4. I anticipate some eating out this month-birthday and March Break
5. Gas....there is no telling!
6. I would like to aim for 10 No Buy days. Something to shoot for.

Great start.
Mar. 1: DH took the car in for a needed oil change. Found other issues (I knew there was something) Maintenance $434, gas $40
Mar. 2: $0
Mar. 3: $0
Mar. 4: $0
Mar. 5: Mom paid for the hospital parking and supper, but went to Costco: $90 for DD's gifts (birthday), $20 for odds and ends
Mar. 6: groceries $98, gas $47 Music trips that are b$5udgeted for: $125
Mar. 7: medical co-pay , groceries $16
Mar. 8: $0
Mar. 9: Happy Birthday to my baby, who asked for pizzeria pizza (a rare treat) $25 and ice cream cake $24. (and for me-Buster bars while I was at DQ $10), fundraiser World's Finest Chocolate almonds for DNiece $20, gas $44
Mar 10: $0
Mar 11: vet charges for tests/visit $250 definitely not planned for, and only the beginning. My poor fur baby!
Mar 12: Medicine for $28, plumbing repair $80, groceries $55
Mar 13: $0
Mar 14: Costco-gifts plus a steam mop $241 (but gifts for DH are DONE for birthday AND Father's Day), tea from Timmy's $2, vet $147
Mar 15: Groceries $89 Mostly for Mom. So excited to actually find Hot Cross Buns! Last year, I didn't have one serving.
Mar 16: Tea from Timmy's $2, pretzel at the mall $2 It could have been a $0, but playing chauffeur when I hadn't had any supper....
Mar 17: Parking fees $20, gas $48, Dinner at Denny's FREE but the tip $10.
Mar 18: Cotton Ginny $126, Parking $1, Tea and Croissant $3
Mar 19: DS (that'd be dumba$$ son ) broke his tooth last night and it couldn't be saved. He has no coverage, so $339 out the window. DD had her university music audition, $22 for lunch/supper, groceries $41, gas $25, DH is taking the script for DS (again, no coverage, so Mommy has to pay.) $27
Mar 20: $0
Mar 21: DH went grocery shopping (and large water bottles, too) $16


NO BUY DAYS: 7/10

 

[QVCshopper]

Good luck with your bid, 3GoofyBoys. Hope it works out for you!

Sorry I've been MIA for a few days. My little guy lived up his birthday. We had a big party, three cake celebrations, dinners out, etc. So, we spent a good amount this weekend. But, he had a good time. Also, a car light came on today, so I hope it doesn't cost much or else we might be headed out to car shop. Our Civic is 12.5 years old, so we're not sure how much we want to pump into it. Hoping for a cheap fix! March is starting to feel long...

11/15 no-buy days

3/1-$45 Wegmans, $6.50 Acme, $24.50 CVS prescrip, $17.50 Kid's Trips/Girl Scout Cookies
3/2-$0
3/3-$0
3/4-$0
3/5-$14 Sears, $23 Costco, $26 Hallmark, $25 VS (but got a $10 coupon), $5 Build A Bear
3/6-$18 Wegmans, $20 birthday gift
3/7-$0
3/8-$0
3/9-$0
3/10-$3 Dunkin Donuts, $55 Wegmans
3/11-$3 Dunkin Donut, $31.50 Train tix, food for flower show
3/12-$0
3/13-$18.50 Chinese food; $55 Various Food Stores; $13 Michaels; $5 Five Below; $23 Target; $3 Costco; $10 Haircut
3/14-$0
3/15-$0
3/16-$11 Pretzels, $4 Five Below, $19 Wegmans, $6 Genuardis, $5 Goodwill, $2 iTunes, $3 Target
3/17-$0
3/18 thru 3/20-spend
3/21-$0

 

[A.Mickey]

Running Total: Spent $1497.03
$0 Days:9/14 Got 13 no buys last month, trying to up it to one more.

Groceries ($279-$9/day)- $162.67
Eating Out ($217-$7/day)- $181.18
Misc. (Shopping/Entertainment) ($806-$26/day) Great America season pass installment $1028.49
Gas $250- (3/1-$23.69), (3/6-$28.55), (3/8-$37.45 $3.64/gal), (3/17-$35 $3.52/gal)= $124.69

WEEK 1 BEGIN:
1- $15.76 (Dominick's-Groceries), $31.02 (Target-Pictures), $23.69 (Gas)
2- $0
3- $9.26 (Walgreens-Groceries), $2.85 (Meijer- Groceries), $3.97 (Dominick's-Groceries), $26.58 (Jewel-Prescription), $12.46 (McDonald's-Eating Out)
4- $0
5- $11 (Zoo Admission), $16 (Eating Out), $37 (Chinese- Eating Out-we bought food for 5 people), $3.91 (Home Depot- Misc.)
6- $196 (Spring Awakening Tickets-Misc. Weren't expecting this, but we are sitting 2nd row center and it is our 7 year anniversary of knowing each other and it is the last performance of the show in Chicago...I forgot that my husband wanted to see this, he wanted to go to two shows and sit in the cheap seats, but for the price of sitting in the 2nd to last row for two nights it is the same as sitting in the front row for one performance, so we opted for sitting close, since our broadway series shows are for the cheap seats), $149.41 (Cedar Point Hotel-Misc.), $31.75 (Driver's License Renewal),
$126.11 (Sears Essentials-Misc. husband wanted a Logitech harmony remote forever! and it was more than half off in liquidation sale), $20.63 (Culver's-Eating Out), $2 (Dollar Tree-Papers), $6.96 (Dominick's-Groceries), $12.50 (Meijer-Groceries), $82.73 (Printer Ink), $27.51 (Amazon.com-Veggie Cages and hiking book)
7- $5.18 (Trader Joe's-Groceries), $24.33 (Joe Caputo-Groceries)
8- $.59 (Dominick's-Groceries), $5.04 (Meijer-Groceries), $6.59 (Chipotle-Eating Out)
9- $0
10-$0
11- $107.50 (Signed up Hubby and I for 5K in October), $3.39 (Dominick's-Groceries), $2.86 (Meijer-Groceries), $1.73 (Walgreens-Groceries), $3.23 (Aldi's-Groceries)
12- $14 (Train-Misc.), $65 (The Berghoff-Eating Out), $4 (Dollar Tree-Misc.)
13- $13.42 (Walgreens-Groceries)
14- $205 (Airplane Tickets for October-Southwest), $9.20 (McDonald's-Eating Out), $15.94 (Joe Caputo-Groceries)
15- $0
16- $7.97 (Deal Woot-Shopping), $14.58 (Meijer-Groceries)
17- $0
18- $0
19- $0
20- $2 (Dollar Tree-Newspapers), $14.30 (McDonald's-Eating Out), $19.60 (Walgreens-Groceries), $1.02 (Dominick's-Groceries)
21- $0


Budget: $1552....96%
Month: 21/31: 68%
No Buy: 9/14: 64%

My savings from coupons and sales: $974.73

Next Month: Get car fixed...rental car for October

 

[3goofyboys]

I'm in for the month! This should be a good month. No birthdays, baby showers, weddings, ect! I am hopeful that we will be spending a bit extra on moving, but we'll see if our current house rents soon. We did move back our move date to May 1st, so we have a bit more time.

I'm going for 14 no buys this month.

March 1

March 2 $31 groceries, $40 gas

March 3 $20 groceries (why is there always one more thing to pick up?)

March 4

March 5

March 6 $273 groceries- that will hopefully keep us in food for the next 2 weeks and it includes a baby shower gift (apparently I spoke too soon when I said we didn't have any this month) and dollar bills to play a shower game.

March 7 PLUS, I actually won all my dollar bills back plus $36 at the shower last night. That was enough to cover my baby shower gift. Hooray!! I did pay tuition for my guys today, but that comes out of a separate account, so I'm not counting that.


March 8 $40 gas, $11 landfill run. I also got my hair cut, but I paid for that out of my shower winnings!

March 9


March 10 $16 ticket to the local children's museum

March 11 $17 groceries-it was my turn to parent help in DS's class and I didn't read until this morning that I needed to bring a special snack. Nothing like an early morning grocery run. $40 gas AGAIN!


March 12 We were going to run the St. Patricks day run this morning (first run of race season, YAY!!), BUT there was a huge SNAFU where DH and I got seperated and once we finally found each other, we were too late to register (note to selves, never attempt race day registration again). The boys did run in the kids race, which was really the point anyway. Not racing saved us $60. We did spend $1 to park and $4 on doughnuts after the "race". Plus I decided to have everyone over tomorrow for corned beef and cabbage, $25 groceries for that. Tomorrow should be a no buy day.


March 13 I always jinx myself when I say "tomorrow should be a no buy day"! $65 car maintenance-oil change with some additional work. $25 packing supplies-ran out of packing tape. $30 dog food.

March 14 $30 packing supplies, $55 dinner out after a tough day of packing, $15 supplies for a garage sale to get rid of all the stuff we don't want to move.

March 15 $50 gas, $50 moving supplies (bubble wrap and tape are crazy expensive!), $8 beer for the hubby to keep him happy while he hauls boxes around the house.

March 16 Holy cow am I behind!! I have good news and bad news: the good news is we found a renter for our house. Through a great accident, I got to meet the tenants (we are dealing through property managment company and we really aren't supposed to deal with the tenants at all) and they are wonderful. The bad news: moving is EXPENSIVE!! Just moving supplies alone are adding up, plus I am always running out of something, so I'm not scoring any no buy days. On a plus note for my budget, we're moving in with my MIL between our move out date and the time we close on a new house. So, we'll be mortgage/utility free (my MIL insists we not pay rent and if I did pay her, she would put it right back in my bank account) for about 2 months. That adds up to big savings on my end. Now if we can just find a house!
$3 moving supplies, $50 medical bills, $40 Target-we had to take the boys house hunting b/c all our normal sitters were out of town or working. We promised them if they behaved like gentlemen through all the houses, we'd let them pick a new toy. We very, very rarely reward good behavior with material items, so this was a real treat for them and it was fun for us to provide the treat.

March 17 $60 supplies to fix some things at the house, $40 gas-house hunting is burning gas like crazy, $9 car wash


March 18 $4 Starbucks. I feel bad about this because we blew the chance for a no buy day.


March 19 $26 lunch. We wrote a bid on another house and it took much longer than expected. We had to grab a quick bite to eat so DH could make it to work on time.

March 20 FINALLY!!


March 21

7/14 No Buys