NOvemBUY (November No Buy)...All Are Welcome!

[Tiggerish]

The November budget is $1115 with 10 no spend days.

Auto $75
Eating Out/Entertainment $150 / $140 left
Giving $25
Groceries/Household Goods $250 / $244 left
Medical $100
Misc. $100 /$70 left
Set bills $415 / $290 left
No spend days goal = 10
Coupon savings = $1.35
Christmas 2010 running total of spending = $421
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
11/1 Entertainment $10 (ticket to see college theatre production where niece is the stage manager) Misc. $30 (clothes)
11/2 Set bills $125; Groceries $6

 

[3goofyboys]

My goal for the month is 17 no buy days. Looking forward to another good month!

1 $10. Was going to be a no buy day, but DH needed gas...oh well!

2 $0


1/17 No buy days!

 

[ronnmel]

No Buy Days : 1/15
Gas : 0$ (max 85$)
Groceries : 35$ (max 250$)
Eating out (and snacks) : 0$ (max 150$)
Non-necessities : 0$ (max 250$)

01/11 : 35$ (groceries)
02/11 : 0$

 

[wlake]

The latest:
11/1: $42 for last week's after school care, $? for the PO (been avoiding that trip for almost 3 weeks, so I don't really want to know, but I suppose I'll have to ask later), $62 on clothes, and $140 for indoor soccer registration for the boys (ouch, but I was able to get the late fee waived because I didn't even know this place had indoor soccer until Sat., and the deadline was of course Fri.! That was really nice of them.) Starting off with a huge day!
11/2: $30 for the school fundraiser (beautiful wreath though!), $32 for gas, ? for grinders but DH picked them up so I'll have to ask.

I was hoping for tomorrow, but it's my kindergartener's book fair day. Rats. (Seeing as it's his first book fair, I don't think I can skip it!)

no buy days: 0/10
dinners out: 1/5

 

[Virgderon]

Big spending day, but should be able to get a couple 0 days now since I have everything I need. I did very well grocery shopping- I'm really liking Target lately! Got my Thanksgiving turkey for $5.40, and got two roasts. One was 91 cents and the other was $1.21. I used the dollar off of beef coupons that you can get at target.com. I used the dollar off of produce coupons that they have and my lettuce was 10 cents and my bananas were 46 cents for a big bunch. I bought socks for 10 cents using a $2.00 off coupon that I also got at target.com. I feel so good about myself when I have a grocery run like that!

Running Total: Spent $102
$1000 budget...$ 898
$0 Days:
Goal is 9 or more!
coupon/sale savings : 24

Groceries budget- $250-8-12-49=$181 left

November 1: $20 (12 gas, 8 groceries)
November 2: $82 ( 12 pop, 5 dinner at bowling, 16 bowling, 49 groceries)

 

[PrincessBelle09]

Ended up spending a bit more yesterday than my previous post reflects, but then I had my first no buy day of the month!

Groceries: 0/200
Dining out: 0/50
Pet: 0/35
Personal care: 0/20
Gifts: 63.23/150
Household: 3.14/30

Total budget: $485

Total current savings: $7
Total current spending: $66.37
What's left: $418.63

No Buy Days: 1/15

 

[A.Mickey]

Running Total: Spent $22.09
$0 Days:1/10

Groceries ($200)- $11.96
Eating Out ($100)- $10.13
Misc. (Shopping/Entertainment) ($200) $

Decided to start a weekly budget, maybe this way I won't get too discouraged

WEEK 1:
$28.04 left Groceries
$9.87 left Eating Out
$40 left Misc.

WEEK 2:
$46.67 left Groceries
$23.33 left Eating Out
$46.67 left Misc.

WEEK 1 BEGIN:
1- $0
2- $7.27 (Walgreens-Groceries), $2.30 (Jewel-Groceries), $2.39 (Dominick's-Groceries), $10.13 (McDonald's-Eating Out) (Coupon Savings-$32.20) (Sale Savings- $40.20)


Budget: $500....4%
Month: 2/30: 7%

My savings from coupons ($32.20) and sales ($40.20): $72.40

 

[ChisJo]

Hey - I'm a newbie to this thread, but I've been doing this all year. I haven't been keeping track of all the days I haven't spent money, but I've surely been more conscious of my spending habits.

I stopped buying coffee at establishments and bringing my own to work to brew. I brown bag all my dinners (I work 12 hour shifts and sometimes this can be a lot of food! Breakfast, lunch and dinner!). I started doing public transportation to work, and I went from putting 4 tanks of gas in my car to only 1 a month (at a cost of $40/tank, that equates a huge savings, not to mention the wear and tear on the car!). I have become obsessed with coupons and flyer watching (anywhere I can save money), and also shopping at Costco for items that are cheaper in bulk (although, sometimes Wal-Mart is cheaper than Costco...I've become a price watcher!). I picked up one extra shift every 2 weeks at work and this not only saved me from shopping, but it made me more money.

I make a budget every week and stick to it - most of the time, I'm under it. When I grocery shop, I literally keep a running tally as I go (this also helps me to ensure that the till is correct). I also use a apple app for my iphone and I monitor grocery store prices - it keeps a tally on my phone about prices and the places to go to buy certain groceries. I have money set aside for emergencies, saving a little bit from every check in case something happens....that way, if something does happen, it won't hit the pocketbook so hard. I also have a vacation fund set aside. We just went to California for 10 days and we created a budget before we left and we stuck to it. We didn't use our credit cards once because of the money we saved.

I also read 2 books that motivated me....One about the power money has over us and how to control that; and one about a woman who stopped shopping for non-necesary consumer goods for one year and the journey she took. Both incredibly motivating. I was a reckless spender, and I have learned so much about myself in the journey.

I would like to take this journey with you all....I could easily dedicate 10 days to November.

Thanks for the motivation!

 

[encinc]

This newbie had her first no buy day of the month. Monday was nearly a no buy day too, but I asked DH to stop at the store on his way home from work to pick up a couple of things, so I decided that doesn't count.

I'm running errands today, so it definitely won't be a no buy day, but we'll see about the rest of the week...

Running Tally
1. Nov 2

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

I have completed 10 months of my 12 month goal and am excited for November. This month we are headed to Disney, so my goal is 8 for the days I am in town.

November 1-$0 Anyone who knows me knows I have to start the month with one or I don't do well for some reason. So, I made do with groceries today and made it a November 1st No Spend Day!

November 2- Today was a BIG spending day, but comes with some explination.
$5 for DD11's School Lock In Friday Night
$5 For DD8's Family Night at School Friday Night
$86 Dance Tuition (I don't count this towards a $0 day as it is a bill to me, but since I pay it and DH doens't I like to record it)
$21.55 Gas, I like to top it off whenever I am at Sam's so I never run low, it is so much cheaper there.
$17.94 Bread Outlet (Love it there, I got 2 loaves of breakfast breads, 18 bagels, a thing of engish muffins, a jar of jam and 20 packs of mini muffins.)
$39.68 Walmart, Toy Story 3 Blue Ray/DVD set and a few groceries.
$47.77 Wegman's-Groceries
$43.96 Target-3 new DS games for the car ride to Disney and a few bags of little packs of Animal Crackers, a buck a bag in the Halloween Candy, good for in the car.
$19.42 Walgreen's- $5 DD owes me back, she bought a Minnie Witch on the clearance rack that movies and plays "I Want Candy" and I did a very unplanned but beloved purchase, they had a Mickey Snowman that lights up and changes colors for $13. I collect Mickey and I collect snowmen so I bought this. I'd have blown a $0 day for this guy, he's so cute and I am looking at him now and he is making me so it was worth it!
$384.48-Sam's BUT, here is the explination. I bought almost $200 in Gift Cards, $110 for Disney and $85 for Outback (where DH and I always go for dates, it's our favorite!) AND, they only sometimes have the different flavor of water that we drink. We were never until about 6 months ago bottled water people, but DH started drinking the flavored water insted of soda, not a savings but better for him. Well the kids started drinking it and I like that they will cause none of them were ever water drinkers so I caved and have been buying a case a week since. Well they have 2 packs of flavors and they like both but one more then the other and Sam's only has it about once every other month so when I went yesterday and saw they had it, I bought 5 cases. So that is $50 in water and $10 in deposit on the bottles. Add to that that I need to get my freezer stocked with dinners before we go on vacation so I bought a lot of meat and Ziplocks and yo uget a very high Sam's bill!
Today will be a $0 day. I am staying in and cooking all day. We get back from Disney and the week is packed with me volunteering at the Santa's Secret Shop all week, and getting the house decorated and just getting back into the routine so I like to have lots of dinners made and ready to just pop in the oven when we are gone. In fact I am going to go ahead and call today...
November 3-$0


November No Spend Days 2/8
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Happy About Record Since Joining No Buy-
January-14 Days
February-13 Days
March-17 Days
April-15 Days
May-15 Days
June-8 Days
July- 6 Days (only in town and only recorded half the month, probably had about 7-8 no buys while away)
August-15 Days
September-15 Days
October-13 Days
Longest Streak-4 Days in a Row

 

[iluvdiscruises]

You all were very helpful in explaining how this works for you...I am going to watch this month and then will try to participate (need to figure out what will work for me...) next month!

Thanks again!!!

 

[Virgderon]

First no buy day of the month, and I got my Christmas club check. I saved $25 a week and they add another $25- $1275!

Running Total: Spent $102
$1000 budget...$ 898
$0 Days: 1
Goal is 9 or more!
coupon/sale savings : 24

Groceries budget- $250-8-12-49=$181 left

November 1: $20 (12 gas, 8 groceries)
November 2: $82 ( 12 pop, 5 dinner at bowling, 16 bowling, 49 groceries)
November 3: 0

 

[annsteere]

You all were very helpful in explaining how this works for you...I am going to watch this month and then will try to participate (need to figure out what will work for me...) next month!

Thanks again!!!

Wow. That is jumping in at the deep end of the pool.

At least for me December is the hardest month to do this. Partly impulse stuff like a peppermint mocha call so much louder when I'm looking at Christmas decorations. But, mostly that the number of details in Dec. find me at a store almost every day picking up "just."

"Just" could be powdered sugar to dust the cookies, a card for someone special, candles because the ones I kept from last year warped in the heat of the garage, gas because I need to make a run to the airport, we are running out of TP or paper towels, etc, etc, etc,

DH and I are trying to buy NOTHING impulse until Thanksgiving to help offset the delights of December.

Welcome.

 

[Tiggerish]

The November budget is $1115 with 10 no spend days.

Auto $75
Eating Out/Entertainment $150 / $140 left
Giving $25
Groceries/Household Goods $250 / $244 left
Medical $100
Misc. $100 /$70 left
Set bills $415 / $290 left

No spend days goal = 1 of 10
Coupon savings = $1.35Christmas 2010 running total of spending = $421
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
11/1 Entertainment $10 (ticket to see college theatre production where niece is the stage manager) Misc. $30 (clothes)
11/2 Set bills $125; Groceries $6
11/3 $0

 

[iluvdiscruises]

Wow. That is jumping in at the deep end of the pool.

At least for me December is the hardest month to do this. Partly impulse stuff like a peppermint mocha call so much louder when I'm looking at Christmas decorations. But, mostly that the number of details in Dec. find me at a store almost every day picking up "just."

"Just" could be powdered sugar to dust the cookies, a card for someone special, candles because the ones I kept from last year warped in the heat of the garage, gas because I need to make a run to the airport, we are running out of TP or paper towels, etc, etc, etc,

DH and I are trying to buy NOTHING impulse until Thanksgiving to help offset the delights of December.

Welcome.

Thank you! I am essentially done with holiday shopping, including for most of the teachers/etc. on my list, so I feel pretty OK with starting in December. I think for me, it will be a good way to **save** during December, a month that I usually do have the treats at the mall, etc. I am also hoping that it will help me **lose** weight since most of those Christmas treats are things I shouldn't be eating on a regular basis anyway! I think part of my budget will be 2x a month Starbucks...then I will feel like I have a treat waiting 1/2 way through and at the end of the month, BUT only if I steer clear on the other days. You all are very inspiring!!

 

[annsteere]

Big spending day, but should be able to get a couple 0 days now since I have everything I need. I did very well grocery shopping- I'm really liking Target lately! Got my Thanksgiving turkey for $5.40, and got two roasts. One was 91 cents and the other was $1.21. I used the dollar off of beef coupons that you can get at target.com. I used the dollar off of produce coupons that they have and my lettuce was 10 cents and my bananas were 46 cents for a big bunch. I bought socks for 10 cents using a $2.00 off coupon that I also got at target.com. I feel so good about myself when I have a grocery run like that.

Holy cow! If you can teach me how to do that, I'm prepared to scrap my "no spend" day and run to Target right now.

How did you get a roast for 91 cents plus a $1 coupon??? That still seems like it comes out to only $1.91 for a roast. . . .

And, if you are willing to teach, I'm also wondering how you got a turkey for $5.40. At that price I'd load our freezer.

If you have a secret you don't want to tell the world, feel free to PM me

 

[wlake]

The latest:
11/1: $42 for last week's after school care, $? for the PO (been avoiding that trip for almost 3 weeks, so I don't really want to know, but I suppose I'll have to ask later), $62 on clothes, and $140 for indoor soccer registration for the boys (ouch, but I was able to get the late fee waived because I didn't even know this place had indoor soccer until Sat., and the deadline was of course Fri.! That was really nice of them.) Starting off with a huge day!
11/2: $30 for the school fundraiser (beautiful wreath though!), $32 for gas, ? for grinders but DH picked them up so I'll have to ask.
11/3: $14 at the book fair

Sigh. I'm disappointed at how the month is starting out. Here's hoping for tomorrow!

no buy days: 0/10
dinners out: 1/5

 

[Virgderon]

Holy cow! If you can teach me how to do that, I'm prepared to scrap my "no spend" day and run to Target right now.

How did you get a roast for 91 cents plus a $1 coupon??? That still seems like it comes out to only $1.91 for a roast. . . .

And, if you are willing to teach, I'm also wondering how you got a turkey for $5.40. At that price I'd load our freezer.

If you have a secret you don't want to tell the world, feel free to PM me

No big secret. There are only 2 of us, so I don't buy huge roasts. The roasts were small, and were on sale for $1.99 a pound, They mark them down even more a couple days before the expiration date ( they will have a red sale sticker on them) and they have the $1.00 off of beef coupon at target.com. Since they were marked down almost half price, adding in the $1.00 coupon I got them for 91 cents and I think about $1.21. The turkey is on sale for .89 cents a pound and I bought about a 6 pound turkey breast.

By the way, these are cheap chuck roasts. I slow cook them with with potatoes ,onions and carrots, and they are good, but certainly not the best quality roasts you can get.

People probably think I am nuts at Target. I will dig through the meat looking for the red sale stickers because they mark down the meat so much right before it expires!

The coupons at target.com are the best. I don't know any other place where you can get a $1.00 off of produce coupon, and use it on any produce that you like! Fabulous.

 

[3goofyboys]

My goal for the month is 17 no buy days. Looking forward to another good month!

1 $10. Was going to be a no buy day, but DH needed gas...oh well!

2 $0

3 $53 medical, $225 groceries. Not a great day spend wise, but I've taken care of groceries for most of the month.


1/17 No buy days!

 

[Monny2AE]

Well today was definitely not a NO BUY day for me! Both my kids went to the dentist for their 6 month check ups and it cost me $200.

I still feel like I'm doing good this month though. Dentist appointments are a necessity not an impulse buy or spending money something I don't need.


11/1: $0
11/2: $0
11/3: $200 dentist checkups for both my kids





2/15 NO SPEND DAYS so far for November!