The one week and beyond no-spend thread!

[Dido]

Re: The one week and beyond no-spend thread!

Made it through the weekend without doing any *unplanned* spending--I *did* spend my allotted $10 for Musikfest food. There's a certain toiletry item I forgot to stock up on that I am now in need of; I'll buy it with the $125 allotted grocery store gift card $$, so there's that much less to spend on food.

[PrincessPerky]

Re: The one week and beyond no-spend thread!

Today is the 7th day..went grocery shopping last monday, and we still have a gallon and half of milk in the fridge..so I don't need to go tonight

[Kris10Leigh]

Re: The one week and beyond no-spend thread!

I found some more change today, so I have completely replaced my grocery budget money to cover the keylime pie and toothpaste I bought during the no-spend challenge. And I have $1.50 left besides to put in the change jar. So does that count? Do I get say this is day 3 and no money spent?

[Ima saver]

Re: The one week and beyond no-spend thread!

You make up your own rules, that is the fun of it. Ok, I cashed the paycheck and got enough booze to last a week, so I have started now!![Automated by GetSmile]

[Dido]

Re: The one week and beyond no-spend thread!

Spent an unplanned $3 today....have 3 final exams in a row, Mon, Tues Wed and that's it for summer school (taking classes) then right away I have to turn around and start preparing for *teaching* classes in less than two weeks...so after my second final exam tonight I rewarded myself with a frozen yogurt cone.

One more final exam and I'm done with summer school. My reward tomorrow will be free, however--friends in my simple living group have invited me over for lunch!

[Kris10Leigh]

Re: The one week and beyond no-spend thread!

We had another relaxing day today. Both my boys are at the house of one of my best friends. Ahhhhh....just bask in my peace. She has two children very close in age to mine and the children are best friends as are the adults. I took her two last week so she is reciprocating.

Without my children, I have overhauled the upstairs, including the office which was absolutely beyond rediculous! It feels quite pleasant in here! One problem with the office is that, due to the design of the room, one of the two desks sits right on top of the A/C vent. Dumb...very dumb...and very hot! I've been thinking recently that we need to get a ceiling fan and A/C vent cover thing that redirects the air flow. Instead, I found an old fan that was "broken" and stuck it behind the vent to blow air into the room. DH "fixed" it with WD-40. So I guess I saved maybe $3.00 for the vent thing and $40 for the ceiling fan. I'll say $10 because I wouldn't have purchase the ceiling on a whim, but I might have gone out and purchased a regular old fan instead of fixing this one.

So $10 saved.

Other than that, I haven't even been tempted. I talked to DH tonight about making this way of living the routine for the next year. It seems that if we preplan things we need to buy for the Friday I do grocery shopping, we breeze through the rest of the week without needing to buy anything. We have never shopped for entertainment. I have always hated the mall. That kind of shopping is not what got us in this mess. It's the random little wants that get us into trouble and the impulsivity with which we act on them. If we can train ourselves to add these little needs/wants to our grocery list, they are far more limited. During the week, we have time to ponder whether they are truly needs or wants and we also have time to ponder ways around what we need or want with what we already have.

We already have everything we need beyond consumable products like food and toiletries. So really, we should be able to live through an entire year without shopping for "wants". I really want curtains for my living room, and have for five years, but maybe someone will finally hear my plea at Christmas time this year.

I am feeling empowered at the moment. I enjoy not spending money.

[Homebody]

Re: The one week and beyond no-spend thread!

I think that is a great idea to put in on your grocery list for the once a week shopping. I do something similar in that I work at home and only go to town once every few weeks. With the cost of gas, I try to do as many errands as I can when I go to town, and keep a list of things I need to get or do when in town.

[Ima saver]

Re: The one week and beyond no-spend thread!

Well I am on day 3. I did order a tool for my husband for christmas. He showed it to me in a catalog and I thought I had better order it while it is still on my mind. However, I have christmas money saved, so I will just put the money into the mastercard envelope.

[boefixepa]

Re: The one week and beyond no-spend thread!

Well I'm doing well on day three too. I did eat out yesterday, but it was for work and could not be avoided. So far so good...

[Dido]

Re: The one week and beyond no-spend thread!

Day 5...did $8.46 of unplanned spending. Classes start in just over a week, and there's a film I want to use for the first day of class. Bought a copy off of half.com. So that's $11.46 of unplanned spending in 5 days--not perfect, but not bad--that's less than I'd normally spend for two days worth of lunch out at work. The fridge is getting empty--time to use my grocery gift card and stock it up a bit.

[Ima saver]

Re: The one week and beyond no-spend thread!

Day 4, no spending except for dinner out, while I allow myself.

[Kris10Leigh]

Re: The one week and beyond no-spend thread!

It's day 6 for me and I am starting to want to spend money on things while I am home and have the time. I go back to work on Monday and would like to get the kid's hair cut, the car oil changed and buy some new shoes for my little first grader.

The hair cut could wait, but I'd like to do it now. My 4 year old cut his own hair. Yes, just in time for the first day of school. For him it is just preschool and his teachers already know him, so it's no big deal for him to go looking silly. I want it to grow out just a little bit so the hair dresser can do something about it. I'm debating on that one.

The shoes can wait. Normally I'd want my first grader to go to school with brand new shoes, but his current shoes aren't horrible yet. They will be in another month or so. I might as well wait.

As for the oil change, it can wait out the challenge. I just want to do it now while I have time to run some errands.

This is where the challenge gets hard for me.

[Ima saver]

Re: The one week and beyond no-spend thread!

You are doing great Kristen. I don't think I could handle 2 weeks like you are doing.

[PrincessPerky]

Re: The one week and beyond no-spend thread!

Kris great job skipping those things! those are the little things that can save so much mony to skip.

we killed our streak, bough childrens fever reducer for JC . (seems to be fine, just a fever and not all day fever either, for three days just a fever at nap time or when she wakes up, then some medicine and no repeat for the rest of the day..no clue what is up)

[boefixepa]

Re: The one week and beyond no-spend thread!

I'm doing well, been so busy it's not been hard. I did go out for dinner last night....but it was a date and so he paid. Then we went rock climbing...it's rather fun and not as hard as I thought.