No Buy March

[Tiggerish]

Welcome to No Buy and thanks to the previous months poster from whom I copied this!

"I expect to see some familiar "faces", as well as many new people this month. Please feel free to join in, regardless of if you've joined us in the past or not.

The point of this thread is to keep track of your discretionary spending on each day of the month. The goal is to have as many $0 days as possible.

The beauty of this challenge is that each person gets to set their own spending goals and choose how they would like to post their results. Most people choose to post their spending for each day on a daily basis, as well as keep a running total of the monthly spending. Some people break it into categories, while other people do not. You can also list exceptions to your spending, such as gift purchases or vacations. It is entirely up to you!

Good luck to everyone!"

 

[Tiggerish]

Budget is a tight $475 for long month.

Automobile $50
Eating Out/Entertainment $25
Giving $50
Groceries/Household Goods $200
Medical $25
Misc. $100
Easter Baskets $25
_________________________________

3/1 $0

This is the way I like to start the month!!

 

[hmack]

How sad is it that I woke up this morning and thought "Yes! I get to join the no-buy March tread"?

I am trying to save money to send my DD on a school trip to Italy - money is due November. Yes, she is working for part of the money and paying part of the cost out of her savings and forgoing starting Drivers Ed. so she can go. I promised that I would do the best I could at saving money so she could go. And with my whole being - I intend to keep that promise.

So, I have now entered the weird and wonderful world of couponing (wow, it's like learning a new language). AND, I want to set a goal of 11 no-spend days for the month of March. Perhaps, next month I will set a monitary goal - but I want to start with tracking no-spend days.


03/01 - $7.50 for weekly school lunches.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

Happy to see March. Not that I went on a spending spree last month, but with a family emergency taking me out of state for a wekk and a few other crazy days after, I got off track recording. I still did well I know, but want to get back to recording daily and not every few days.

So, here's to March. I'd like to have 10 $0 days minimum. Good Luck Everyone!!!

 

[limabeanmom2003]

This is my first time doing a "no buy" month. Very excited to participate! My goal is 16 no buy days in March. Good luck to everyone!!

Update: 3/15: I had a tough week last week. I didn't have an $0 days This week will be better! Today was a $0 day and I fought the urge to shop all morning!!

3/1 - $16 groceries, $5 lunch, $31 Vet
3/2 - $0
3/3 - $0
3/4 - $0
3/5 - Lunch $21, Nascar Speedpark $7, Dinner $22, Groceries $16
3/6 - $0
3/7 - Groceries $62, Gas $43, Photos $2
3/8 - Michaels $6, Target(household) $19, School Art Purchase $6
3/9 - McDonalds $12
3/10 - Lunch $15
3/11 - haircut $15, groceries $13, dinner $28
3/12 - Groceries $123
3/13 - movies $9.50
3/14 - Target (household items) $65
3/15 - $0

 

[thebigkahuna]

woo hoo! I'm in
It's my second "no buy" month, i did ok in February & would like to do better in March.

My goal for February was 10 days, and I made it to 7. I will shoot for 10 days again this month, but if i can do more I will!

Good luck to everyone ~ here's to a "no spend" March!!

March 1st - NO SPEND!

 

[casper_jj11]

This is my 1 yr anniversary on this thread! I've so far managed to pay off a huge line of credit, our overdraft and half of another line of credit instead of shopping us into the poor house

I find it hard to do 'no buy' days because our schedule is so hectic that I get most of my shopping done in the 1/2 hr I have each day after work. I do set a budget though and try to include everything in it except utilities/bills. I ame in $500 or so under last month... first time ever I was under!

This month is crazy because we have a bunch of kids registrations along with other stuff. This month is always our worst because a lot of summer registrations cooincide with spring ones. Bottom line is a bit scary now that I look at it... hopefully I can lower each of them including the repair bills....

groceries $700
gas $500
cat food $90
DH bday $150
Easter $150
softball registration x2 $200
swimming registration - spring x3 $400
swimming registration - summer x3 $400
gymnastics registration x2 $318
family pics $150
car registration $100
motorcycle registration $100
car emission test before can get registered $80
motorcycle repairs $1000 (DH crashed in September ... just now getting the repairs done before the snow goes)
my spending $150
DH spending $150

Total: $4638 ... holy cow! That’s almost double last month ... stupid motorcycle!

Mar 1 - $0 YEAH

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Back again for a second try at this...

Monthly bills: Paid
2 small credit card bills: PAID IN FULL
Large grocery shopping trip - pre-budgeted at $350.00 (have $100.00 left)


Groceries - $250.00
Gas - $125.00
Misc - $25.00
Kids $100.00

That totals $500.00 for the month. I would like to have 12 no spend days.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

March 2010 - $500.00 budget

Groceries - $250.00 - $100.00 = $150.00
Gas - $125.00 - $35.00 = $90.00 - $40.00 = $50.00
Misc - $25.00
Kids $100.00 -$30.00 = $70.00 - $40.00 = $30.00

Amount Spent Not Accounted for: $20.00

March 01 - $0.00
March 02 - $30.00 Barnes & Nobles (another forgotten school book and there is another she said )
March 03 - $0.00
March 04 - $35.00 gas
March 05 - $0.00
March 06 - $20.00 chinese take out
March 07 - $0.00
March 08 - $0.00
March 09 - $0.00
March 10 - $40.00 gas
March 11 - $0.00
March 12 - $0.00
March 13 - $0.00
March 14 - $100.00 groceries (two weeks)
March 15 - $40.00 raffle tickets for DD's school

 

[Luvdancink]

I am in! This is my first time in years doing this. I'm going to go for as many 0 days as possible. I need to cut down on the target trips to avoid the $100 detergent bills. I do have easter, car inspection, and I need a new swimsuit this year, all of which are budgeted into march.

 

[erikawolf2004]

Goals for Feb:
12 no buy days/did 9
Eating Out $250/$237
Groceries $450/$498
Shopping $200/$450(have a $17 credit from LeapFrog coming)($100 ebay sells)
Misc./Entertainment/Haircut&color $160/$294
Goal $1050/$1479 Actual

Goals for March:
10 no buy days
Eating out $400/$9, more than normal because we are going on vacation this month
Groceries $450/$42
Shopping $400/$40 Vacation & DD's Birthday this month
Misc. $200/$53
Birthday Party supplies and food $100
Total: $1550/$144 I hope to be under this, but trying to be realistic at this point.

3/1 $144, $9 lunch, $42 Whole Foods, $40 Ebay, $53 Shutterfly book from Disney trip last Sept.

 

[fortheluvofpooh]

My goal is 15 no buy days, but I am off to a lousey start. I had to run my mom to the dr, then to the hosp for xrays and vascular scans, so I had to get something for 4 yr old dd and mom and I to eat. SO went to the grocery store and spent $11.52 on lunch for us. But it was cheaper than McD.
SO
March 1.... a bust $11.52 spent.

 

[fortheluvofpooh]

okay and have to ask as this is my first NO BUY month at all, does this include your household budgeting like electric, phone, water etc? or extras like lunch out, gas, bday gifts.

 

[casper_jj11]

okay and have to ask as this is my first NO BUY month at all, does this include your household budgeting like electric, phone, water etc? or extras like lunch out, gas, bday gifts.

I don't include bills such as hydro, natural gas, cable, phone, insurance, etc or any other bills with a set amount each month. I do include anything I have control over that is out of pocket as such. Everyone is different though. I have a tendancy to go overboard for holidays, occasions, clothes for the kids, etc so I know where my weaknesses are and try to control them with the budget. I know that I include a lot more than many others do but that's in part so I can keep track of things.

 

[CherylA]

okay and have to ask as this is my first NO BUY month at all, does this include your household budgeting like electric, phone, water etc? or extras like lunch out, gas, bday gifts.

Welcome to no buy! Most people don't include their household budgeting except groceries. Yes most people track lunch out and gifts, some track gas, I used to but found it to be unnecessary.

 

[CherylA]

I did okay for February, a 10 day vacation in the middle sort of made it an odd month but I tracked what I could. I will post my March $$ amounts for each category tonight or tomorrow after I sit down to do my bills/budget but I know that I have a no buy goal of 9 days this month. I have yet to hit my no buy goal so I'm trying to set something realistic and stick to it!

March 1- 1.00 toast, 25.10 coffee kcups

0/9 no buy days

 

[sydneysmom]

I've never done this before, but I have to say, I'm kind of excited to start !!! I'm going to try for 15 days starting tomorrow..... I say that because Home Depot had a sale on rugs and we needed a runner. So I blew today....but it was only $35 ! (probably didn't "need" it... ) But I'm marking my calendar....if it's not budgeted, it doesn't get bought !!
This is SUCH an awesome idea to do this!!

3/1 : $ 35 Home Depot
3/2 : $ 0
3/3 : $ 0 ( I know we're not going out today anywhere that can get me in trouble)
3/4 : $ 0
3/5 : $ 0 (shopped online but didn't buy anything, so it doesn't count)

 

[fortheluvofpooh]

thanks for the info. This month is going to be a challenging one for which to start. DH is changing jobs, his last day is this Friday. I do not know the new pay schedule as of yet. I am hoping it is weekly. But going to do my best to have 15 no buy days. I won't say no spend, because I will have household normal bills to pay, but the extras such as flexibel spending I will include in this.

 

[Mickey1Fan]

My budget does not really fall into the month because of the bi weekly pay but so far so good. February had seven no buy days which was good for me .

Shooting for ten in March and I'll post more numbers after pay day on March 5.

Good luck everyone and HMACK - I had very similar thoughts.

 

[hjohnson6]

We have about $2300 to play with this month. Ok I'll admit it. I am not good with budgeting things out. DH gets paid on the last business day of the month so I really should jump on the budgeting bandwagon. That said, I had 5 no buy days in February and $300 went into savings. I am aiming for 10 no spend days in March.

3/1 - Waiting to find out how much DH spent on the conduit. I am not spending any thing today.