November No Buy! Special "Holiday Edition"!

[tinkarooni]

Its November 1st and we are about to embark on the most wonderful time of the year.....maybe. LOL. We are embarking on the time of year when the most money seems to fly out the door. Special foods, decorations, stocking stuffers, 8 days of gifts, outfits for this party and that event, photos cards.....OMG when does it end?!

Join us for this special "holiday edition" of November No Buy. The plan is simple, set your own rules. How many days are you going to "No Buy". What do you count as buying.....many people may exclude paying things like their mortgage and electric bill from the "No Buy" rules. Lay out your rules and then update by posting how you're doing. We'll give each other encouragement through the consumer season.

And away we go.....

 

[tinkarooni]

I am shooting for 18 No Buy days. I didn't make my goal in October, but the flip side of that is I stocked the house with food. That should make November a bit easier to achieve. I don't count regular bills, phone, electric, insurance etc. I do count food shopping. I originally didn't count groceries if I stayed in budget, but I would like to limit my trips to the store in general, so I have decided to count grocery shopping against my No Buy days.

My gift shopping is limited as we have whittled down our list over the years. Mostly my kids, three nephews and three parents. One or two token gifts for work and that should be it. One thing I am doing this year is I am shopping very intentional. I am not buying something on sale just because it will fit in the stocking. My kids are older 18 and 16, and they are making lists of what they would like. I have given them a dollar figure and intend to stick to it. I have cashed in rewards points and hotel rewards for $300.00 worth of Amazon gift cards. That will make a big dent in the shopping costs.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Ok, I'm starting and sticking to it this month! Hold me accountable! Not including things like big grocery shops and normal bills, but I am going to include my unnecessarily frequent trips to the grocery store for a couple of items I don't really need. Today should be a no buy day!

 

[pkelly6]

I'm in! Shooting for 10 no buy days. I count all cash out the door. Today is out, paid bills...

 

[Viking7641]

Aiming for 15 days.

Hoping to pay off one of my credit cards this month. I won't count that either.

 

[superme80]

I am shooting for 10 days.

 

[travelgirl06]

I'm in! I'm not counting "necessary" things like groceries, bills, or kid's lunches/activity fees that are unavoidable, but I am counting all extras - eating at restaurants, and shopping for non-essentials (clothes, non-essential groceries, etc.). I'm going for 10 days.

11/1 - no buy #1
11/2 - meeting at the coffee shop ($5), DD's girl scout uniform, insignia, book, etc. ($112)
11/3 - no buy #2 (but was very tempted by $3 hand soap at bath and body works...)

 

[tinkarooni]

Nov 1 - $18.09 stopped at Target for cheap Halloween candy to fill a piñata.
Haircut and color $84.00
Stop at grocery store $3.39

Definitely not a No Buy day. I am struggling with the cost of my hair maintenance. I work at home a majority of the time, but often have to travel for my corporate job. I feel a need to keep my hair maintenance up. I could buy a box and try to color myself, but I have very thin, difficult to deal with hair. Scared of what the result could be.

 

[tinkarooni]

November 2 - DH stopped to pick up flowers for DD, National Honor Society induction tonight. Proud mama, but lost out on a No Buy day. Oh well, at least I didn't go to the store, no gas money spent or "extras" that hopped into my cart.

 

[DisneyMandC]

1- Post office, $4.45. This was a stupid tax for me on purchasing the wrong item and needing to send it back.
2- Getting a haircut tonight. A little costly, but I only get my haircut about twice a year so I feel the cost is justified.

 

[Viking7641]

Nov. 2 - Lunch with sister and niece. $7.50

1/15

 

[khmorgan]

I'm in, I have a goal of 15 no buys. I'm not counting bills, groceries or gas, the latter 2 I will do the schools gift card program and will count when I reload them, but not when used.

November 1- no buy (1)
November 2- $7 lunch, $800 flights for December trip. The trip is now paid for!

 

[fallonkendra]

I'm in for this! I think since this is my first month doing this, I'll aim low and try for 10 days of no extra spending - I won't count my mortgage payment or any necessary bills though.

11/1: Went shopping for Halloween deals, so spent about $110. I'm ok with this, since I hadn't bought any new decorations leading up to Halloween, and everything I bought was at least 75% off regular price. I also bought a few Disney-inspired costumes for my boyfriend and I for next year super cheap
11/2: $50 on lunch for my department, it was my turn to buy for everyone.


Not a great start so far haha.

 

[Traveling on cc points]

I read this thread every month and am always tempted to join in but am am afraid I will be mortified on what I spend each month. Anyway, I give you all credit for doing it especially with Black Friday/cyber Monday this month. I think my New Years resolution will be to start Jan 1st!!

 

[khmorgan]

November 1- no buy (1)
November 2- $7 lunch, $800 flights for December trip. The trip is now paid for!
November 3- no buy (2)

 

[tinkarooni]

Nov 1 - $18.09 Target
Haircut and color $84.00
Stop at grocery store $3.39
Nov 2 - $18.81 - flowers DD
Nov 3 - No Buy (1/18)

I expect today will be No Buy. Not counting chickens yet.....

 

[tinkarooni]

I read this thread every month and am always tempted to join in but am am afraid I will be mortified on what I spend each month. Anyway, I give you all credit for doing it especially with Black Friday/cyber Monday this month. I think my New Years resolution will be to start Jan 1st!!

You could always start low and work your way up to January. The sooner you start the more you can save. One of the things this does for me is it makes me rethink recreational shopping, just the thing I need for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

 

[pkelly6]

Not a good start to the month....
11/1 - bills
11/2 - online shopping - did not even think about it. Ugh. Blaming my head cold!
11/3 - McDonald's for dinner (again blaming cold!).
11/4 - shooting for no buy, so far so good, but it's early ha!

 

[DisneyMandC]

1- Post office, $4.45. This was a stupid tax for me on purchasing the wrong item and needing to send it back.
2- Getting a haircut tonight. A little costly, but I only get my haircut about twice a year so I feel the cost is justified.
3- No buy
4- Caved and bought HBO for the month. Darn you, Westworld... so good.

 

[fallonkendra]

Aiming for 10 no-buy days

11/1: $110 on after-Halloween sales (everything was minimum 75% off)
11/2: $50 on lunch for my department, it was my turn to buy for everyone.
11/3: No buy! (1/10)
11/4: Bought myself a Dooney purse online, so definitely a big spend day...but it was on sale, and then Disney had a promo code for another 40% off so my $248 purse was $85...I had actually budgeted the $250 to buy a purse into my souvenir budget for our upcoming trip in January though, so it's not as bad.