No Buy January

[kandeebunny]

2 more $0 days for me!

My total for this month is $40 (but this was budgeted!)

 

[neatokimmo]

Ok, I've joined the PJ club. When you don't get dressed for the outdoors you can't shop ha!

1/16 - zero!

 

[crl]

Today I had a $30 oil change. It's just too cold to be outside doing it ourselves.
And $40 at Walmart for grocery and trip related items. WalMart was a little more than I'd hoped, but DS broke DD's sun glasses yesterday and so that added to the cost since they had to be the princess ones.

 

[tinkarooni]

Still on track here. I have not had a single purchase not on budget yet this month. Rather proud of myself.

Good for you! You should be proud of yourself it really is an accomplishment.

 

[tinkarooni]

I am reading over the posts and seeing that everyone is doing so well. Here is my question, with really sticking to my budget I have finally gotten to where I have money that I am putting in savings.

But I am starting to get the urge to go shopping (which I know is what got me in the place).

What are some things that you do to stop the impulse shopping when the extra dollar is in hand?

Krystine

Ok here is my tip. When I want to spend the money I saved this month I figure out if I put this money in my savings account and save the same amount every month how much will I have in six months? Usually the figure shocks me. In the end I would rather have the money than the stuff. What does that fish from Finding Nemo say...keep swimming, keep swimming.

And we apparently have all learned the secret to no spend....comfy PJs. I'm so glad I was able to share that with everyone. Could this possibly be the answer to bigger problems....world peace? Well, probably not, but it's as good an idea as world leaders have come up with.

We're having a tough week here. My dd7 is really sick. Her fever topped out at 104 last night and she couldn't keep anything in her. That led to my husband making a 1:30 am trip to the 24 hour cvs. Luckily those costs $12.64 were on my flexible spending account, so budgeted and todays dr co-pay was also on the flexible spending card. Nothing out of pocket and that's what I participate in that fund for. So other than that we slipped yesterday and bought a $10.00 pizza on the way to pick up my sick DD from school but I will take that out of food money and have surplus there so far. I have not used even half of my food budget money for the month. I should have leftover $$ for garden supplies such as seeds.

Good Luck everybody.

 

[tinkarooni]

Ok, I've joined the PJ club. When you don't get dressed for the outdoors you can't shop ha!

1/16 - zero!

Welcome...we like to make sure all of our members understand the rules.

1. You must change into clean pjs each day....otherwise yuck.

2. It is acceptable to go to the mailbox in pjs if covered by a jacket or coat. It is never acceptable to go to the mailbox with the pjs exposed. What would the neighbors think....and in some states I believe that is considered indecent exposure depending on the style of PJ.

3. Our first choice for style of PJ of course is a Disney Motif. Pooh Bear ranks high on the acceptable list..as does Eeyore and Grumpy.

4. Last but not least, please, please, please...if you do find the need to go to Walmart it is never acceptable to call PJ bottoms pants and just put on a sweatshirt. We know that some do it...and we know who you are.

Please enjoy the PJ club in good standing.

 

[smiller]

Welcome...we like to make sure all of our members understand the rules.

1. You must change into clean pjs each day....otherwise yuck.

2. It is acceptable to go to the mailbox in pjs if covered by a jacket or coat. It is never acceptable to go to the mailbox with the pjs exposed. What would the neighbors think....and in some states I believe that is considered indecent exposure depending on the style of PJ.

3. Our first choice for style of PJ of course is a Disney Motif. Pooh Bear ranks high on the acceptable list..as does Eeyore and Grumpy.

4. Last but not least, please, please, please...if you do find the need to go to Walmart it is never acceptable to call PJ bottoms pants and just put on a sweatshirt. We know that some do it...and we know who you are.

Please enjoy the PJ club in good standing.

Love it!

I'm always very happy when I can get a Saturday to myself to either lounge about or spend the day cleaning and organizing (ideally a combination of both).

I must say I break rule #2 often, or at least a variation of it. I wear very creative outfits when stepping out to the back alley to throw out the trash. I do wonder what my neighbors think of me!

My mailbox is about three steps from my front door in my stairway so I can usually sneak there and back without anyone noticing.

1/16 - $0

I think this $0 trend will keep up for a bit as we are supposed to have down to MINUS 25 windchill coming up this Thursday and Friday!!! (Better go pick up my other winter coat from the cleaners, then!)

 

[paulasillars]

Well after being away with work since last Friday, when I got home yesterday I worked out how well I did with "saving" my daily allowance. Basically we get a daily allowance of $80 to cover meals and miscellaneous personal expenses, this goes some way towards compensating us from being away from our families.

I pretty much ate out for 2 meals a day with colleagues and the client kindly supplied bread and various spreads, tomatoes, cheese etc for breakfast/lunch as well as hot and cold drinks which was very kind and unexpected. They also took us to lunch on Wednesday to thank us for our work.

Friday 11th - $24/$80
Saturday 12th - $33.50/$80
Sunday 13th - $20.20/$80
Monday 14th - $34.50/$80
Tuesday 15th - $27.30/$80
Wednesday 16th - $21.20/$80

So basically I saved 3/4 of it which is excellent! This will well and truly cover the cost of our shore excursions in Hawaii in March.

And back on the regular schedule -
Thursday 17th - $0 - I resisted the urge to buy lunch on the way home from work as I had the afternoon off. I had lunch when I got home.

Total this month personal spending - $26.50/$400 <---- I'm really thrilled with this!

This evening we are getting a quote for having a conservatory built, not sure how much this will cost but I guess it will be around $7000, we have saved around $3000 to go towards this already but need to know what sort of figure we are looking at.

I'm also just about to come up with some meal ideas for the next few days. We have lots of lovely fresh veges so will plan meals around them - zucchini, scallopini (home grown), eggplant/aubergine, mushrooms etc We also have lettuces that are going to seed in the garden so will plan a salad for tonight with tomatoes, avocado etc. Yummy!

 

[neatokimmo]

Ha!

The first thing my dad asks when calling now, did you get dressed? Well are they at least different PJS? Yes! Always! lol

Welcome...we like to make sure all of our members understand the rules.

1. You must change into clean pjs each day....otherwise yuck.

2. It is acceptable to go to the mailbox in pjs if covered by a jacket or coat. It is never acceptable to go to the mailbox with the pjs exposed. What would the neighbors think....and in some states I believe that is considered indecent exposure depending on the style of PJ.

3. Our first choice for style of PJ of course is a Disney Motif. Pooh Bear ranks high on the acceptable list..as does Eeyore and Grumpy.

4. Last but not least, please, please, please...if you do find the need to go to Walmart it is never acceptable to call PJ bottoms pants and just put on a sweatshirt. We know that some do it...and we know who you are.

Please enjoy the PJ club in good standing.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

1/1 - $0
1/2 - $0
1/3 - $9.62 (Groceries)
1/4 - $1.88 (Groceries)
1/5 - $25.44 (Groceries)
1/6 - $5.64 (Groceries)
1/7 - $19.53 (Groceries)
1/8 - $0
1/9 - $0
1/10 - $0
1/11 - $10.09 (Groceries)
1/12 - $1.51 (Groceries)
1/13 - $17.51 (Groceries)
1/14 - $13.24 (Groceries)
1/15 - $12.82 (Groceries)
1/16 - $0

Month Total So Far - $117.28

I've spent $43.57 so far this week on groceries, and I still have three more days to go until the end of the week, so I really think I'm going to go past the $50 mark. Maybe not though.

 

[paulasillars]

You could get rid of the extra dollars. Stash it away in a savings account or pull it out of your wallet and put it somewhere else. Maybe pay a bill early? When we were planning our last Disney trip, I made out the tip envelopes for Mousekeeping when I had the urge to spend. I then made out all kinds of envelopes for some of our expenses during the trip. I never had to fumble for my debit card or cash because I had envelopes marked "lunch at airport" and so on.

This is pretty much what I do - it goes towards something I know is coming up. If we have extra in the household expenses account we pay a little extra on the power bill or similar - powerbills are always much higher in the winter so it covers some of that.

Also I simply avoid the mall, buying online isn't too tempting for me as usually the postage is too expensive so I can't usually justify it.

I'm working on using up all the sample products in my bathroom too as someone else said - that a good way to save money.

If the shopping urge hits, another tip I've found is to search for money/frugal ideas online - by the time I've been brainwashed into not spending again, the urge passes

 

[delmar411]

yesterday was a harsh day. I swore that I wasn't going to use my gymbucks but I never found a buyer for them so I ended up using them yesterday. The sad thing is it took me forever to find $200 worth of stuff there that I could use. All my de-cluttering has it fresh in my head that the kids need so little.

I ended up getting b-day shirts, swimsuits, things like that. Was just over the $100 mark ($101.49 plus tax) so I did well even with random adding in my head.

Then we went out to Fridays for dinner so $14 there.

Then we went to Barnes & NOble so DH could see about using his GC from Christmas. Needless to say, the kids were horrible, DH & I ended up arguing and I refused to let him give me his GC for the books for the kids. So $8.xx for 3 books there.

~sigh~

here's hoping for a calm day today.

 

[reginaastralis]

UGH! What a horrid weekend. Seriously. I know, it's almost the weekend again, but I can't even grasp what a cruddy weekend it was.

My car ended up needing some major repairs, which my friend lent me the money for and another friend did the work (for an amazing price), but I was without a car Fri-Monday. I had to call out of work on Monday to deal with said car, so I lost income on that day. My mom let me borrow her car, but I spent the night at her house so I didn't loose all of her gas. I was so THRILLED to come home on Monday night.

1/1 - $0
1/2 - $37 (birthday!)
1/3 - $66
1/4 - $0!
1/5 - $30 ( completely unplanned)
1/6 - $0
1/7 - $23
1/8 - 183 - WOW! Putting a total on it hurt. But, this is money for clothes (for me, I actually bought something for myself!), groceries for the month, and toilitries. I don't think it's too bad honestly)
1/9 - $32 My fourth stop at Target for things I had forgotten, (I really need to get better at this list taking thing) and McDs for dinner b/c I wasn't feeling well.
1/10 - $0!
1/11 - $0!
1/12 - $30 for drinks at Applebee's (Completely needed) and $10 in my mom's tank for being so awesome and letting me drive her car
1/13 - $10 at Taco Bell for the fam ...
1/14 - $0!
1/15 - $60 at walmart, including $20 for gas. Some of it was also groceries. $5 at McD's for breakfast
1/16 - $40 at Publix for dinner ingredients b/c nothing sounded good or was defrosted.

I am in some serious need of some zero dollar days.

 

[mmfan53226]

Wanted to thank everyone for the tips on getting the urge to spend the extra money that I was starting to get. I did take it and put it in the bank, which it is nice to see that balance starting to rise.

I have kicked a Mountain Dew habit, I think I can kick this habit too!

Yesterday I spent $30.00 on gymnastics for my daughter which was planned. Today I will be getting my money for the weekend and filling up the gas tanks, maybe even venture to the stores for weekly shopping. Because than I can be part of the PJ weekend club.....

Krystine

 

[PaulaSue]

Very Motivating Thread! Thank you all.

I try to read it every few days to keep me on track. I am still not finished my budget. Even my DH is FINALLY getting on board and helping me track out money and not spend so much himself.

I think writing everything down was big shock to him also (he doesn't help pay any of the bills and wouldn't really listen when I told him we were digging into a hole) and this thread really got us talking and making real $ plans for our future which we should have done Years ago.

My biggest problem with my budget is being healthier and I need clothes. I always wait for sales but after losing almost 60 pounds in the last year I need everything. I was very caredul not to buy much (Thankfully I am a sewer and altered many pieces.) while I was losing but it is getting to a point I really need things. It is so hard not to go out and buy new things for the new me since I fit "normal" sizes and never did before even in high school.

2008 will be a Great Year!

 

[McDuck]

We used savings to buy our new puppy and all her supplies. Fortunately we learned we can buy her Science Diet food at the NEX for cheaper (and no tax!) so when this 20 lb bag runs out, that's it! Now we need to save up for her first vet visit in Feb.

Here's a picture of our No Buy January destroyer, AKA Sadie:

We're within budget on everything else though!

Tuesday: $100 for miss Sadie (from savings)
Wednesday: $57.60 on groceries at the Commissary (so expensive b/c we were out of Lysol, Scrubbing Bubbles, and Electrasol...for the first time in the 4+ months we've been married, not bad I must say)
today: $0 day! We're not leaving the house!!!!

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

Well after being away with work since last Friday, when I got home yesterday I worked out how well I did with "saving" my daily allowance. Basically we get a daily allowance of $80 to cover meals and miscellaneous personal expenses, this goes some way towards compensating us from being away from our families.

I pretty much ate out for 2 meals a day with colleagues and the client kindly supplied bread and various spreads, tomatoes, cheese etc for breakfast/lunch as well as hot and cold drinks which was very kind and unexpected. They also took us to lunch on Wednesday to thank us for our work.

Friday 11th - $24/$80
Saturday 12th - $33.50/$80
Sunday 13th - $20.20/$80
Monday 14th - $34.50/$80
Tuesday 15th - $27.30/$80
Wednesday 16th - $21.20/$80

So basically I saved 3/4 of it which is excellent! This will well and truly cover the cost of our shore excursions in Hawaii in March.

And back on the regular schedule -
Thursday 17th - $0 - I resisted the urge to buy lunch on the way home from work as I had the afternoon off. I had lunch when I got home.

Total this month personal spending - $26.50/$400 <---- I'm really thrilled with this!

This evening we are getting a quote for having a conservatory built, not sure how much this will cost but I guess it will be around $7000, we have saved around $3000 to go towards this already but need to know what sort of figure we are looking at.

I'm also just about to come up with some meal ideas for the next few days. We have lots of lovely fresh veges so will plan meals around them - zucchini, scallopini (home grown), eggplant/aubergine, mushrooms etc We also have lettuces that are going to seed in the garden so will plan a salad for tonight with tomatoes, avocado etc. Yummy!

That's right, it's summer where you are! Wild!

My husband is having an attack of "honey do" ism, so he asked me to get all the knobs that I've been replacing on the doors in the house in dribs and drabs. So I came home with 5, at 20 bucks a pop. OW! I have no idea how I'm going to plug it into the budget but when my DH says he wants to fix stuff around the house I NEVER pass that up!

As a suburban housewife I've discovered that instead of wearing pajamas as outdoor clothing, the secret is to find outdoor clothing you can wear as pajamas! Like juicy sweat knockoffs Although there is always the issue of the dreaded VPL, and i've never been able to sleep in a thong yet...butt busting torture devices that they are.

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

Very Motivating Thread! Thank you all.

I try to read it every few days to keep me on track. I am still not finished my budget. Even my DH is FINALLY getting on board and helping me track out money and not spend so much himself.

I think writing everything down was big shock to him also (he doesn't help pay any of the bills and wouldn't really listen when I told him we were digging into a hole) and this thread really got us talking and making real $ plans for our future which we should have done Years ago.

My biggest problem with my budget is being healthier and I need clothes. I always wait for sales but after losing almost 60 pounds in the last year I need everything. I was very caredul not to buy much (Thankfully I am a sewer and altered many pieces.) while I was losing but it is getting to a point I really need things. It is so hard not to go out and buy new things for the new me since I fit "normal" sizes and never did before even in high school.

2008 will be a Great Year!

My friend Stace has been losing weight also, and she goes to Goodwill to get her pants because she's been shrinking out of them every few weeks/months, and that way she doesn't feel bad about tossing them when she's done-it's not like she loves them or anything, she just needs them for a few months!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

1/1 - $0
1/2 - $0
1/3 - $9.62 (Groceries)
1/4 - $1.88 (Groceries)
1/5 - $25.44 (Groceries)
1/6 - $5.64 (Groceries)
1/7 - $19.53 (Groceries)
1/8 - $0
1/9 - $0
1/10 - $0
1/11 - $10.09 (Groceries)
1/12 - $1.51 (Groceries)
1/13 - $17.51 (Groceries)
1/14 - $13.24 (Groceries)
1/15 - $12.82 (Groceries)
1/16 - $0
1/17 - $0

Month Total So Far - $117.28

Still on track!

 

[reginaastralis]

1/1 - $0
1/2 - $37 (birthday!)
1/3 - $66
1/4 - $0!
1/5 - $30 ( completely unplanned)
1/6 - $0
1/7 - $23
1/8 - 183 - WOW! Putting a total on it hurt. But, this is money for clothes (for me, I actually bought something for myself!), groceries for the month, and toilitries. I don't think it's too bad honestly)
1/9 - $32 My fourth stop at Target for things I had forgotten, (I really need to get better at this list taking thing) and McDs for dinner b/c I wasn't feeling well.
1/10 - $0!
1/11 - $0!
1/12 - $30 for drinks at Applebee's (Completely needed) and $10 in my mom's tank for being so awesome and letting me drive her car
1/13 - $10 at Taco Bell for the fam ...
1/14 - $0!
1/15 - $60 at walmart, including $20 for gas. Some of it was also groceries. $5 at McD's for breakfast
1/16 - $40 at Publix for dinner ingredients b/c nothing sounded good or was defrosted.
1/17 - $0!

I've noticed that I really need to post everyday. After a couple of months of doing this, I'm still having a hard time actually keeping track of things.

I'm wondering ... how do you all handle Walmart. I am seriously considering seperating my purchases, at least for a month or so. Like, clothes, food, household ... and paying for them seperate. I know I might drive the cashier nuts, but I think it will keep me on track. What do you all do.

I heart Bank of America for one thing only, I can change the description of my debit card purchases. I've started listing where it was bought, the date and what's left in that particular budget. This is another reason I'm seriously contemplating seperating my purchases at places. I am going to drive the poor cashiers nuts!