No buy July

[melissalee]

Anyone doing no buy in July?

My goal is 15-20 no spend days. So far I have 4 and I do have to have car work done this month. Trying to save up for a new kitchen and floors!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

I'm in!! DH is taking a new job and a significant pay cut so time to tighten the reins again.
On the up side, my fuel bill will go back down again since most of his work can be done remotely.

 

[sherry7]

I'm in too! I recently took an early retirement buy out offer from my employer, so this Friday will be my first time without a paycheck since I was a teenager. Our income is being cut roughly in half, but I know that the extra time that I'll get to spend with DD will be priceless. But, we really need to look at what we're spending now. I'm not so much about zero days, but looking at what I'm spending as a whole. Here's what I've tracked so far for the month of July:

1 - Trip to Sam's Club. $28.76 for t paper and freezer bags, $94.14 for groceries. McDonald's, $1.04 for 2 ice cream cones and an hour or so of play time for DD in their playland.
2 - zero
3 - zero
4 - Groceries $11.26. Hunting license for DH $37.40, which will hopefully payoff with a freezer full of venison this Fall.
5 - Groceries $3.87. Gasoline $28.27. 2 new cell phones $63.37. (We dropped our expensive VzWireless plan, and got inexpensive prepaid service through PagePlus.)
6 - Amazon $5.49, case for DH's cell phone.
7 - McDonald's $3.80, snack for me and DD while running errands.
8 - Pitched in money for food at family gathering, $25.00. LL Bean, did 2 online orders. Order #1, monogrammed backpack and thermos food container for DD for pre-K this Fall. It was $57.65 minus a $10 coupon minus a $10 credit that I'll get from eBates in a few weeks. So, $37.65 for the backpack and thermos. LL Bean Order #2, $18.43 for a monogrammed lunch box minus a $10 coupon equals $8.43 for DD's lunch box.
9 - Dollar Tree $22.18. All but a couple bucks of that was for grocery items. The rest was for a tiara and magic wand for my little Princess. Rite Aid - bought 3 large packs of t paper and 2 packs of juice boxes. Used $26.00 Up Reward from transferring a prescription last week, paid $5.73 to cashier, then got back another $7.00 in Up Rewards that I can spend in the next 2 weeks. End result, lots of free t paper. Score!
10 - zero
11 -
12 -
13 -
14 -
15 -
16 -
17 -
18 -
19 -
20 -
21 -
22 -
23 -
24 -
25 -
26 -
27 -
28 -
29 -
30 -
31 -

 

[melissalee]

Here is mine 10 days in. My DH is so happy I am doing. It really makes you think about those $10-$20 purchases I would make all the time on amazon and other stores. I already have 5 out of my 15-20 no spend days down! Still gonna have to bring my car in later on in the month for routine maintenance. Trying to make this paid off 8 year old car last!

1- $69 amazon groceries $12 car wash
2-$0
3-$0
4- $31 Walmart
5-$120 SAMs $30 trader joes $30safeway
6-$24 trader joes
7-$0
8-$0
9-$0
10-$45 wine
11- today will be a spend day. Need some fresh groceries.

 

[sherry7]

I'm in too! I recently took an early retirement buy out offer from my employer, so this Friday will be my first time without a paycheck since I was a teenager. Our income is being cut roughly in half, but I know that the extra time that I'll get to spend with DD will be priceless. But, we really need to look at what we're spending now. I'm not so much about zero days, but looking at what I'm spending as a whole. Here's what I've tracked so far for the month of July:

1 - Trip to Sam's Club. $28.76 for t paper and freezer bags, $94.14 for groceries. McDonald's, $1.04 for 2 ice cream cones and an hour or so of play time for DD in their playland.
2 - zero
3 - zero
4 - Groceries $11.26. Hunting license for DH $37.40, which will hopefully payoff with a freezer full of venison this Fall.
5 - Groceries $3.87. Gasoline $28.27. 2 new cell phones $63.37. (We dropped our expensive VzWireless plan, and got inexpensive prepaid service through PagePlus.)
6 - Amazon $5.49, case for DH's cell phone.
7 - McDonald's $3.80, snack for me and DD while running errands.
8 - Pitched in money for food at family gathering, $25.00. LL Bean, did 2 online orders. Order #1, monogrammed backpack and thermos food container for DD for pre-K this Fall. It was $57.65 minus a $10 coupon minus a $10 credit that I'll get from eBates in a few weeks. So, $37.65 for the backpack and thermos. LL Bean Order #2, $18.43 for a monogrammed lunch box minus a $10 coupon equals $8.43 for DD's lunch box.
9 - Dollar Tree $22.18. All but a couple bucks of that was for grocery items. The rest was for a tiara and magic wand for my little Princess. Rite Aid - bought 3 large packs of t paper and 2 packs of juice boxes. Used $26.00 Up Reward from transferring a prescription last week, paid $5.73 to cashier, then got back another $7.00 in Up Rewards that I can spend in the next 2 weeks. End result, lots of free t paper. Score!
10 - zero
11 - Ouch! Big spending day today, but it couldn't be helped. Cat food for our 3 kitties, $74.18. One kitty is allergic to corn, etc so this is the only kind that doesn't make him barf. This should be enough for 3 to 3 1/2 months though. New work boots for DH, $161.90. DH prescription copay, $2.64. 2 prescriptions for me at Kmart, $5.00. I had a coupon for transferring a prescription, so I got a $25.00 gift card. Out of that, I bought $4.63 of food, and an over-the-door mirror and hair bow for DD for $16.73.

 

[vleeth]

How does this work?
Do you just try to spend 0 on as many days as possible?

 

[kymom99]

I'm in too! I recently took an early retirement buy out offer from my employer, so this Friday will be my first time without a paycheck since I was a teenager. Our income is being cut roughly in half, but I know that the extra time that I'll get to spend with DD will be priceless. But, we really need to look at what we're spending now. I'm not so much about zero days, but looking at what I'm spending as a whole. Here's what I've tracked so far for the month of July:

1 - Trip to Sam's Club. $28.76 for t paper and freezer bags, $94.14 for groceries. McDonald's, $1.04 for 2 ice cream cones and an hour or so of play time for DD in their playland.
2 - zero
3 - zero
4 - Groceries $11.26. Hunting license for DH $37.40, which will hopefully payoff with a freezer full of venison this Fall.
5 - Groceries $3.87. Gasoline $28.27. 2 new cell phones $63.37. (We dropped our expensive VzWireless plan, and got inexpensive prepaid service through PagePlus.)
6 - Amazon $5.49, case for DH's cell phone.
7 - McDonald's $3.80, snack for me and DD while running errands.
8 - Pitched in money for food at family gathering, $25.00. LL Bean, did 2 online orders. Order #1, monogrammed backpack and thermos food container for DD for pre-K this Fall. It was $57.65 minus a $10 coupon minus a $10 credit that I'll get from eBates in a few weeks. So, $37.65 for the backpack and thermos. LL Bean Order #2, $18.43 for a monogrammed lunch box minus a $10 coupon equals $8.43 for DD's lunch box.
9 - Dollar Tree $22.18. All but a couple bucks of that was for grocery items. The rest was for a tiara and magic wand for my little Princess. Rite Aid - bought 3 large packs of t paper and 2 packs of juice boxes. Used $26.00 Up Reward from transferring a prescription last week, paid $5.73 to cashier, then got back another $7.00 in Up Rewards that I can spend in the next 2 weeks. End result, lots of free t paper. Score!
10 - zero
11 - Ouch! Big spending day today, but it couldn't be helped. Cat food for our 3 kitties, $74.18. One kitty is allergic to corn, etc so this is the only kind that doesn't make him barf. This should be enough for 3 to 3 1/2 months though. New work boots for DH, $161.90. DH prescription copay, $2.64. 2 prescriptions for me at Kmart, $5.00. I had a coupon for transferring a prescription, so I got a $25.00 gift card. Out of that, I bought $4.63 of food, and an over-the-door mirror and hair bow for DD for $16.73.

This may be a strange question, but how did you figure out your cat is allergic to corn? Not that it matters now because my cat died but she used to throw up all.the.time! We spent gobs of money on hairball food and it didn't help much. Now I'm thinking maybe she had an allergy. For future reference, how was this diagnosed?

 

[melissalee]

How does this work? Do you just try to spend 0 on as many days as possible?

Yes you try to cut down on all the little non-essential purchases. And you try to keep track of all your purchases. Helps me to see where I can cut out from to save money. But the main goal is to have as many no buy days as you can.

 

[melissalee]

This may be a strange question, but how did you figure out your cat is allergic to corn? Not that it matters now because my cat died but she used to throw up all.the.time! We spent gobs of money on hairball food and it didn't help much. Now I'm thinking maybe she had an allergy. For future reference, how was this diagnosed?

Well my vet think my dog maybe allergic to grains just because it's common for golden retrievers and he is constantly chewing on his paws and scratching his ears. I think he is allergic to grass because it happens more after his walk than anytime. It also lessened after I stopped using pet fresh carpet cleaner.

 

[wishesuponastar]

I don't have the full month to record but I'll start now.

I will try to keep budget for groceries under $525 for family of 4.

5 - $57 groceries
7 - $15 Costco
10 - $26 groceries
11 - day at beach, pizza, snacks
12 -
13 - $28 groceries, $11 farmer's market
14 - 0
15 - $5.50 taco bell
16 - 0
17 - $21 groceries, $53 Costco

 

[sherry7]

This may be a strange question, but how did you figure out your cat is allergic to corn? Not that it matters now because my cat died but she used to throw up all.the.time! We spent gobs of money on hairball food and it didn't help much. Now I'm thinking maybe she had an allergy. For future reference, how was this diagnosed?

Basically, it was dumb luck that I figured it out on my own. We got him from a rescue when he was 8 weeks old, and from the beginning he vomited a lot. (Actual vomit, not hairballs.) By the time he was old enough to get neutered at 6 months old, he was getting bumps on his skin, which he scratched until they scabbed and bled. When he went to the vet to get neutered, I asked about the bumps, and the vet suggested a food that is only sold by vets that is supposed to be easier to digest. (Can't remember which one, it's been almost 8 years.) Anyway, I spent a small fortune on that food, and it made him even worse and he started losing weight too at a time he should have been growing like a weed. I took him back to the vet, and he suggested allergy testing and weekly allergy shots, which was quite expensive. I told him I'd think about it, and came home and started googling. After some reading, I learned that corn is a common allergen for both cats and dogs, and that a limited-antigen food is suggested. I tried a couple different corn-free foods, and we eventually settled on Natural Balance venison and green pea dry. That worked great for a couple of years, and then it got caught up in the big Chinese melamine pet food scare and I couldn't get it anymore. I actually had to cook for him for a couple of weeks, and fed him cooked ground venison or shredded chicken breast mixed with mashed green pea and brown rice. Finally, I called a local pet food store and the owner helped me find another food that he could eat, which is California Natural chicken & rice dry. (I also figured out that he's sensitive to fish and duck as well, which really limits my choices of cat food.) Over the years, I've tried a couple of different foods that my local pet food store gave me samples of, and he started vomiting and scratching again. The food is more expensive than most of the stuff sold at the grocery store, but the cats eat less of it since there are no fillers, so it kind of evens out. Plus, no fillers equals less cat poop and it doesn't smell as bad. Win, win.

Also, when we took him back to the vet a few months later for shots, the vet mentioned the allergy testing/shots again. I told him that I had figured out he was allergic to corn, and he was fine now that I had him on a different food. The vet stood there are argued with me that I was wrong, and the cat was going to suffer, and that I needed to buy the same prescription food again (the one that made him sicker and he lost weight on). Keep in mind that by this time, all of his allergic symptoms were totally gone, and he was back to a healthy weight. Needless to say, we changed vets after that.

 

[sherry7]

I'm in too! I recently took an early retirement buy out offer from my employer, so this Friday will be my first time without a paycheck since I was a teenager. Our income is being cut roughly in half, but I know that the extra time that I'll get to spend with DD will be priceless. But, we really need to look at what we're spending now. I'm not so much about zero days, but looking at what I'm spending as a whole. Here's what I've tracked so far for the month of July:

1 - Trip to Sam's Club. $28.76 for t paper and freezer bags, $94.14 for groceries. McDonald's, $1.04 for 2 ice cream cones and an hour or so of play time for DD in their playland.
2 - zero
3 - zero
4 - Groceries $11.26. Hunting license for DH $37.40, which will hopefully payoff with a freezer full of venison this Fall.
5 - Groceries $3.87. Gasoline $28.27. 2 new cell phones $63.37. (We dropped our expensive VzWireless plan, and got inexpensive prepaid service through PagePlus.)
6 - Amazon $5.49, case for DH's cell phone.
7 - McDonald's $3.80, snack for me and DD while running errands.
8 - Pitched in money for food at family gathering, $25.00. LL Bean, did 2 online orders. Order #1, monogrammed backpack and thermos food container for DD for pre-K this Fall. It was $57.65 minus a $10 coupon minus a $10 credit that I'll get from eBates in a few weeks. So, $37.65 for the backpack and thermos. LL Bean Order #2, $18.43 for a monogrammed lunch box minus a $10 coupon equals $8.43 for DD's lunch box.
9 - Dollar Tree $22.18. All but a couple bucks of that was for grocery items. The rest was for a tiara and magic wand for my little Princess. Rite Aid - bought 3 large packs of t paper and 2 packs of juice boxes. Used $26.00 Up Reward from transferring a prescription last week, paid $5.73 to cashier, then got back another $7.00 in Up Rewards that I can spend in the next 2 weeks. End result, lots of free t paper. Score!
10 - zero
11 - Ouch! Big spending day today, but it couldn't be helped. Cat food for our 3 kitties, $74.18. One kitty is allergic to corn, etc so this is the only kind that doesn't make him barf. This should be enough for 3 to 3 1/2 months though. New work boots for DH, $161.90. DH prescription copay, $2.64. 2 prescriptions for me at Kmart, $5.00. I had a coupon for transferring a prescription, so I got a $25.00 gift card. Out of that, I bought $4.63 of food, and an over-the-door mirror and hair bow for DD for $16.73.
12 - Ouch, another spending day. DD had a 24 hour test scheduled at Children's Hospital, so me and DH had to pay for all of our meals while we were there. We went to drive-thru at McD's on the drive there for a snack and spent $4.24. Then we had breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the hospital which totaled $36.00. Actually, I have to commend the hospital for not price gouging, because "guest meals" that got delivered with DD's meals were only $6.00 per person, and it was a lot of food and actually tasted pretty good too.
13 - $5.00 parking fee when we left the hospital parking garage this morning.

 

[sherry7]

I'm in too! I recently took an early retirement buy out offer from my employer, so this Friday will be my first time without a paycheck since I was a teenager. Our income is being cut roughly in half, but I know that the extra time that I'll get to spend with DD will be priceless. But, we really need to look at what we're spending now. I'm not so much about zero days, but looking at what I'm spending as a whole. Here's what I've tracked so far for the month of July:

1 - Trip to Sam's Club. $28.76 for t paper and freezer bags, $94.14 for groceries. McDonald's, $1.04 for 2 ice cream cones and an hour or so of play time for DD in their playland.
2 - zero
3 - zero
4 - Groceries $11.26. Hunting license for DH $37.40, which will hopefully payoff with a freezer full of venison this Fall.
5 - Groceries $3.87. Gasoline $28.27. 2 new cell phones $63.37. (We dropped our expensive VzWireless plan, and got inexpensive prepaid service through PagePlus.)
6 - Amazon $5.49, case for DH's cell phone.
7 - McDonald's $3.80, snack for me and DD while running errands.
8 - Pitched in money for food at family gathering, $25.00. LL Bean, did 2 online orders. Order #1, monogrammed backpack and thermos food container for DD for pre-K this Fall. It was $57.65 minus a $10 coupon minus a $10 credit that I'll get from eBates in a few weeks. So, $37.65 for the backpack and thermos. LL Bean Order #2, $18.43 for a monogrammed lunch box minus a $10 coupon equals $8.43 for DD's lunch box.
9 - Dollar Tree $22.18. All but a couple bucks of that was for grocery items. The rest was for a tiara and magic wand for my little Princess. Rite Aid - bought 3 large packs of t paper and 2 packs of juice boxes. Used $26.00 Up Reward from transferring a prescription last week, paid $5.73 to cashier, then got back another $7.00 in Up Rewards that I can spend in the next 2 weeks. End result, lots of free t paper. Score!
10 - zero
11 - Ouch! Big spending day today, but it couldn't be helped. Cat food for our 3 kitties, $74.18. One kitty is allergic to corn, etc so this is the only kind that doesn't make him barf. This should be enough for 3 to 3 1/2 months though. New work boots for DH, $161.90. DH prescription copay, $2.64. 2 prescriptions for me at Kmart, $5.00. I had a coupon for transferring a prescription, so I got a $25.00 gift card. Out of that, I bought $4.63 of food, and an over-the-door mirror and hair bow for DD for $16.73.
12 - Ouch, another spending day. DD had a 24 hour test scheduled at Children's Hospital, so me and DH had to pay for all of our meals while we were there. We went to drive-thru at McD's on the drive there for a snack and spent $4.24. Then we had breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the hospital which totaled $36.00. Actually, I have to commend the hospital for not price gouging, because "guest meals" that got delivered with DD's meals were only $6.00 per person, and it was a lot of food and actually tasted pretty good too.
13 - $5.00 parking fee when we left the hospital parking garage this morning.
14 - The Children's Place is having an awesome online sale, and I ordered DD4's entire summer wardrobe for next year. I got 20 shirts and 12 bottoms for $90.62. I almost always buy her clothing ahead of time like this to get good deals.

 

[wishesuponastar]

Sherry, that's like $3 per item, you found a great sale at Children's place!! Hope things turn out well with your DD's testing at the hospital.

 

[sherry7]

Sherry, that's like $3 per item, you found a great sale at Children's place!! Hope things turn out well with your DD's testing at the hospital.

Yes indeed, it was a great sale! (It's still going on, today is the last day.) I never have much luck in the brick & mortar store, but I always get great deals on their website. I have a friend with a daughter the same age, and she buys most of her clothes at Goodwill. I get better deals by just watching the clearance sales online.

Thanks for the well wishes, we are praying for good results.

 

[wishesuponastar]

You're welcome.

 

[melissalee]

I'm up to 9 no spend days and really no extras. I wanted to buy wine from one of my favorite wineries but I give up that extra money to buy photobooks I made on shutterfly. They had a huge sale. I got 2-10x10 lay flat pages books ($198 value) for $91!! I've got my credit card down from $2500 to 700 due to cutting my expenses! Still have to take one dog to the vet and get the car in the shop this month.

No buy July
1- $69 amazon groceries $12 car wash
2-$0
3-$0
4- $31 Walmart
5-$110 SAMs $30 trader joes $30safeway
6-$24 trader joes
7-$0
8-$0
9-$0
10-$50 wine
11-$91 Walmart dog/cleaning stuff $69 Safeway $4 shutterfly
12-$0
13-$0
14-$91 shutterfly
15-$0
16-$0
17-$24 Safeway

 

[Disney Frenhines]

This may be a strange question, but how did you figure out your cat is allergic to corn? Not that it matters now because my cat died but she used to throw up all.the.time! We spent gobs of money on hairball food and it didn't help much. Now I'm thinking maybe she had an allergy. For future reference, how was this diagnosed?

My cat gets granulomas on his chin and through trial and error I discovered it was one particular brand, I suspected it was this one as I didn't buy it when their other favourite was on offer and the lump under his chin disappeared, I fed him the suspect brand again and it flared up, it doesn't seem to be too painful, but, that's off the menu now.

 

[Disney Frenhines]

I like this idea, so I'm in. I'm on a costcutting effort too at the moment I'm waiting for the Water Company to arrive to fit a water meter which should nearly halve my bills, I stock up at Costco, it's over a 100 miles away so I only go every couple of months, but, what I spend on petrol is more than covered, Frontline is half the price that it is in town, so that's the petrol covered alone, then I stock up on non perishable essentials, loo rolls, washing powder and cleaning supplies, soda and the fruit and veggies are so cheap and superb quality, so I bring some of that back too. I also eat there as it is silly cheap.

I'm doing pretty well, most days are a £0, and the others are keeping it as low as possible, plus my house is beginning to lose the clutter as I'm using up my craft stash instead of buying more.

 

[IMALOVNDISNEY]

I should have joined this month. I haven't been in a store for the past 2 1/2 weeks. lol