No money for a full week!

[Kirbycruiser]

Re: No money for a full week!

Good Luck! Sounds like you had a great time. Make your list and stick to it. Although I would probably have to say ok to the ice cream IF it was on sale. I like the idea of going to the dollar store instead of grocery.

[getforfree]

Re: No money for a full week!

I wouldn't be able to do whole week without going to grocery store. We use 7-8 gall of milk a week, and I go to the store about 3 times a week. Wow, 30% of our grocery cost is milk! And we buy whole kind only. My kids drink milk at least 3 times a day, Dh does a lot too, and I make sure I get at least one cup. I stockpile on most of the stuff, except perishables, so most of my trips are milk only.

[Kris10Leigh]

Re: No money for a full week!

Whoa! That is a lot of milk! When the kids were little, we used to go through 5 gallons of milk in a week and I thought that was bad! Now we go through 3-4 gallons in 2 weeks. It can certainly get expensive!

[PrincessPerky]

Re: No money for a full week!

barring emergency I could go a week

we limit the kids (and us) to 4 gallons..but they are not a need, milk is mainly a luxury...

But I don't want to..I want chocolte, I want english muffins, I want milk, and I want peanut butter

To the OP, being almost out, tends to keep you stingier..so even if you wont go with soft rags to replace the TP you will prolly make it much further than you think...which is why they now have the 'mega roll' full roll you use more, mega roll looks fuller longer so innte frugality won't kick in..making the company more money...all the while making people think they have a 'great deal'

[abowers]

Re: No money for a full week!

We went grocery shopping last Tuesday. I could make it a week right now without buying anything else grocery/food-wise, but my gas tank is a little below 1/4 right now and I will use up the rest of the gas just going to work and back this week (probably before the end of the week). We have a dog now, but no kids. But we have everything we need for the dog right now, and entertaining her is cheap -- walks and her stuffed toys.
We have enough bread, peanut butter, and leftovers from meals over the weekend to last for all our meals this week.

[scrava]

Re: No money for a full week!

hmmm, I think I could make it a week but as I just bought lunch I'm out, LOL.

I think staying out of the stores helps me the most. We recently ended
the most frugal phase or our marriage (TG). We were paying down debt and hardly bought anything o/s of groceries & gas for over a year.

Good luck!

[Kris10Leigh]

Re: No money for a full week!

So far, so good. I did have $30 cash. (Notice I said DID). I owed a friend $10 and her financial situation is far less pretty than my own, so I paid her $10 and I spent a little over $6.00 on popcorn, chocolate syrup, and milk. I found some spare rolls of T.P. in the downstairs bathroom, so I didn't need any after all! Armed with chocolate, milk and popcorn, I am good to go with a little more than $13 left! The original plan was not to spend anything, but... life gets in the way. No harm done, and now I know for sure I can make it to Friday.

We went to the museum today, prepaid with our membership. I didn't even have to pay for gas since DH's company car is just sitting in the driveway. We pay a small fee to be able to use the thing for personal use, and with gas prices the way they are, I am taking advantage of it!

We had chilli over spaghetti for dinner. Quick, easy and cheap. I just opened up a can of Skyline Chilli and poured it over spaghetti. Plenty of leftovers for lunch tomorrow. I made out a meal plan given what we have left in the house. We can have stromboli, grilled chicken, and spaghetti for dinners between now and Friday. For lunch we can have tuna or chicken sandwiches or PBJ's. We have no fresh fruit, unfortunately, but we do have canned fruit. Breakfast is easy...oatmeal and/or eggs. So we are set grocery wise! And now I have popcorn!! So I can get through anything!

I can't wait for DH to come home! I like time to myself quite a bit...but time by myself makes me realize how much I enjoy his company! Ok, cheesy moment over.

[lrjohnson]

Re: No money for a full week!

One week would be easy for me. Gas and TP are the only things that could break me. Normally I keep stocked on each. I can walk to work, so that takes care of gas. And as far as TP, I have a box of kleenex I "won" a couple years ago, waiting. Boxed Kleenex is a luxury to me; I use TP for my nose.

I dislike grocery shopping so do it once a month (big run)with maybe another run at a smaller place. Dry powdered milk and soymilk handle milk, I freeze bread, and I buy longer lasting produce (cabbage, apples, oranges).

I actually do often go a week. I haven't tracked no spend days but I bet I get quite a few.

[kealina]

Re: No money for a full week!

we could do one week without spending easily, provided that we had enough food in the house and gas in the car (we buy TP in the large pack)... we could go for that long even with buying gas and necessary groceries on the money in our wallets... so i guess we would be good...

[Kris10Leigh]

Re: No money for a full week!

I caved today. I have spent all but $1.50 from the $30 cash I had to start with. I took the boys to the pool and I should have packed a snack! We were starving by 6:00 so we got Burger King on the way home. It sounded so good! It wasn't very good. Now I just feel guilty and fat. Oh well. I still haven't spent any money from our bank account, leaving DH with a good $250 to get him by until Friday away from home. I'm proud of him too! I didn't give him any restrictions on the money because I want him to take advantage of the area he's in, but he is finding free things to do there and he is making his own meals in the hotel room! Yay! He is very close to a beach and he has been going there. Beaches are certainly great, free fun!

I'm taking the challenge to go a week without spending starting on Friday when he gets home. But I have taken out the cash allowance, so I will attempt to go a full week without spending a dime! We'll see if I can do it. I'll hit the grocery store on Friday with only $100 for a week's worth of groceries.

[34saving]

Re: No money for a full week!

Rumor has it financial diets are just like food diets (though I'll have to admit money has always been the easier of the two for me.) Sometimes you eat the metaphorical Snickers bar, but you just resolve not to do that again and move on with the plan. It sounds like that's what you're doing, so good job In the meantime, I'd clue your kids in. Budgeting/living beneath your means is a lifelong habit that they will appreciate someday if not today. If they know that Burger King costs twice as much (or more) than eating at home they might find an extra 10 minutes in themselves to wait (and they might encourage you to do the same.) Hopefully hubby will be on board too. Good luck!

[PrincessPerky]

Re: No money for a full week!

I have learned the 'always pack lesson' way to many times...not that I am perfect on it now, but I every time I walk out of my house if I have no food packed I will have to buy some (this doesn't mean that everytime I pack I eat it, just the reverse is true)