Runningmom80 Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Hoping someone will hold me accountable. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Hm, I'm thinking about it. Would definitely make my husband happy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhaddon Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 So this is outside of normal bills? I think minus our chicken food we can do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 We're planning on a modified no spend month. We have a couple of planned largish expenses that make sense to pay for in January. We're going to work with a slashed food budget and no other spending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgiana Daniels Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Wish I could help you, but..... .....if everything goes well--and really, it's a toss-up--we'll be moving in January. All kinds of big spending. Sigh. I'll definitely be up for a no-spend February! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sukale Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 I have a little part time job and I get paid every Wednesday. I will get 5 checks next month and I would like to save most of those to pay off the Visa. My checks are our spending money and pays for the odd unexpected things. Hopefully nothing weird will happen next month, LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 I'm in. Our yearly birthdays and anniversary's start February and are ongoing until July with a graduation in June so a no spend January would really help the budget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runningmom80 Posted December 29, 2012 Author Share Posted December 29, 2012 The way I'm going to do it is nothing outside of planned expenses. You can go hard core like this lady, http://smallnotebook.org/2012/07/01/no-spend-month-start-here/ if you want. A few of us are in desperate need of hair cuts, so I'm making some exemptions. Lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyday Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Dh and I just discussed this last night. We are planning on doing it for Jan and Feb! I received a check from MIL for Christmas that I'm going to use for my and dd's haircut next week (I haven't had a haircut in over 2 years). The remainder of the check is going to our savings. We are trying to build up the $1000 emergency fund per Dave Ramsey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kari C in SC Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 I have not really participated in these No Spend things before, but I think I am gonna give it a try for January and February. I am not sure I will actually accomplish it fully only because if I find something for a clearance price - I stick it in a gift box for later. BUT... I can certainly try not to spend on other frivolous stuff. I can try anyway - try being the key word here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cin Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 We're doing one over here. No spending except for the regular things, such as gas, groceries, and the monthly bills. No malls, 1 fast food a week (we are on the road ALL day, and it's the only fast food of the week). But everything else is a NO. I have to be careful at the grocery because it is similar to Walmart and has lots of other stuff. JUST groceries! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DianeW88 Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Yep, no extras here. Just bills and necessary fresh foods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
besroma Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 No extras here....just food, regular bills, and medical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 No extras here...just the bare minimum.... We have $$$$ in NICU bills that are arriving daily. I'd love an accountability thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb in NZ Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 That's the plan for us as well, mainly because it'll be a "No income" month for us. Most of our bills are on autopay, so outside of those bills I'm giving us $100 cash to replenish milk & a few fresh fruit & veg. that we don't have in the garden. I'm aiming to keep our petrol costs to under $200 (half what we normally spend.) We have a full pantry & freezer, so we won't starve, but by the end of January the menu will be much more limited. I've informed dh & dc, that we will only eat what we already have, so NO complaining. Ds#2 is doing his bit to help & is going fishing each afternoon. So far he's caught 2 fish each time :hurray: . I've been making a loaf a day in the breadmaker & that's gone by night, but at least it gets eaten & is not going moldy in the humid summer weather. This should save us $1000-$1200, just by staying out of the grocery store & the fast food drive thru. I wish that was going into savings, but at least we will be less in the red than we would otherwise be. If our "No Spend" January goes well, I plan to make all odd months "No Spend" months, aiming for ~$6000 saved over the year. As January is our summer holidays, I'm also focusing on decluttering & aim to sell excess books, etc. if possible. What I can't sell, I'll give to goodwill. I really want to have my living space in order before school begins 1st February. Dh is planning on finally getting our long-planned renovations finished by mid-year & whatever order I can put in place now will help to keep me sane during the up-heaval of home improvements. Accountability will help me to stay focused when things get tough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissKNG Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 I'm always up for tightening the budget!!! We will try not to spend beyond "normal" bills and weekly grocery expenses. Our family does go out once a week for our family lunch out. I'm not going to change that though. And my van needs four new tires, which I'm going Monday to order so that is already budgeted and accounted for this month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gentlemommy Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 I'm in! I'm trying dry hard to cut down my grocery budget, meal plan, and not buy anything extra. I'm hoping to get my budget down by $40 per week so I can afford an extra riding lesson for my dd. this gives me $120 for everything, food, toiletries, paper goods, pet supplies. I'm trying to only use $100 on our regular groceries, and put $20 into a 'stock up' envelope. That way, when I see a great deal on something, like yesterday when turkeys were down to $.39/lb, I can buy extra and stock up on the great deals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 December was a ridiculously spendy month for us, so I am in. No spending in January except neccessities: food, gas, medications and a couple of planned small expenses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runningmom80 Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 So does anyone want to be in charge of weekly threads? If not, I can do it. :) I know some did this a few months ago, anyone care to explain how the threads work? Was there a running tally? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 two of my kids have january birthdays. I don't have that luxury, unless I buy all their gifts in december. we do budget for christmas, so it doesn't cause problems for january spending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jillian Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Thinking about it. Awhile back we had to use our savings and don't have anything really in there. we are fine but going paycheck to paycheck and i don't like it and neither does my husband. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Thinking about it. Awhile back we had to use our savings and don't have anything really in there. we are fine but going paycheck to paycheck and i don't like it and neither does my husband. This is where we are. I opened an ING orange account last week and put a whopping $25 in there LOL. My goal is to have my emergency funds for 3 months living expenses in there, so we have a long way to go; we need about 9,000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 I need to, but I have a horrible habit of justifying my spending. Are no-spenders allowed to have a small amount budgeted for just spending money? With each paycheck, we all get an allowance. My goal is to actually stick to it and not justify spending over. We do not expect anything other than groceries and regular bills/expenses. It would be nice to have money left over at the end of each pay period to put towards our Visa which got used more than we expected in the past few months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jillian Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 This is where we are. I opened an ING orange account last week and put a whopping $25 in there LOL. My goal is to have my emergency funds for 3 months living expenses in there, so we have a long way to go; we need about 9,000. We really should have some "emergency funds" given that we almost didn't get paid last year when the government wouldn't approve the budget. We are military. It was scary, thankfully though I had gotten an annuity payout and they came through and paid us. I was really worried especially since my husband was out to sea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyday Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 We really should have some "emergency funds" given that we almost didn't get paid last year when the government wouldn't approve the budget. We are military. It was scary, thankfully though I had gotten an annuity payout and they came through and paid us. I was really worried especially since my husband was out to sea. We're military also and were really worried about this last time. We really should have started an emergency fund but, life gets in the way and it was really easy to forget that we almost didn't get paid! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Well ing is easy to set up and there is no minimum, so you might consider that! Running mom, are you starting the weekly threads? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann.without.an.e Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 We are having a "gas and groceries only" for January. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runningmom80 Posted December 31, 2012 Author Share Posted December 31, 2012 Well ing is easy to set up and there is no minimum, so you might consider that! Running mom, are you starting the weekly threads? Sure! I'll do one tomorrow, and then on Sunday's. How should we do the threads? Are we posting what we spend daily? I'm looking to everyone else for input, I'm not sure how it's worked in the past. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb in NZ Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Well ing is easy to set up and there is no minimum, so you might consider that! Running mom, are you starting the weekly threads? If the weekly threads are new threads, please put a link on this thread so we can find the new thread. I need the accountability to keep focused. Thanks for starting this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jillian Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Well ing is easy to set up and there is no minimum, so you might consider that! Running mom, are you starting the weekly threads? we go through USAA and have a great savings account set up it's just depeleted right now. We are doing gas/groceries only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milovany Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 We used to use ING for our kids' savings accounts when they had a great interest rate, but they tanked (~1% last time I checked), so we switched to our local credit union which gives them 6% on their first $500. Now the kids get about $20-$30/year in their savings accounts, compared to virtually nothing with ING. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeneralMom Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Unfortunately we have a very "spendy" January - new school supplies and uniforms, ob/gyn prepay for baby, newish stuff for bubs as we got rid of everything when we moved (carseat, diapers, clothes), OT apts, may have to get DS9 a laptop for school depending in what his OT and his school say. With bubs due in Feb. I see it being a "spendy" month again. Maybe March.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starwarsmomma Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 I'm in! Gas and tolltag are not an option as hubby needs to get to work. Hubby is a HUGE eating-out addict. Drives me NUTS. He'd eat out every meal if he could afford it. (we cant) So when I do no-spend months, I wear myself out trying to make "nice" meals that are completely from teh fridge/freezer/pantry so he doesn't complain about not eating out. (it doesn't work, he complains anyway....) The only thing we ARE spending money on is movie tickets to the Hobbit tonight. Dyslexic son worked very hard to read the entire book, and I made the promse to him that if he finished the book, we would take him to see the movie. So no matter what, I am going to take him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milovany Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 The only thing we ARE spending money on is movie tickets to the Hobbit tonight. Well, it's still December so you're good!! ;) I just said out loud, "Hey, it's still December, I could get my Conciliar Press order in today!" DH rolled his eyes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 mostly. I have to buy some wooden beads that I could not find today (was trying to finish buying everything I needed today). But otherwise I have too many bills to catch up on in January to spend anything extra so I am in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest inoubliable Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Well, I want in! I had planned on picking up DS7's science curriculum for next year sometime in the next two weeks since Mr. Q's sale is then. Beyond that, it should be nothing but bills, petrol, and groceries. I already did the long-overdue haircut, the Urgent Care thing with prescriptions, and we had to replace broken wipers on the van. DS7's birthday is 1 February, but I shouldn't actually have to spend anything *in* January for that. Is paying off a credit card, or catching up on late fees counted? It's not a regular bill at all, but I'm hoping that it happens this next month! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SerenityNow Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 I am so in! I would really love to do an entire no-spend year, but I'll start with just one month and see how it goes. ;) Thanks for starting this thread and the follow-ups, Runningmom! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeviolin Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 I'm in mostly. Lol I have no problem with out-of-the-house shopping, I just need to stay away from Amazon. :p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kathy_overman Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 I am curious how this works. How do you handle things like the following? New tires ... do you wait a month, or does that count as a bill? Curriculum - we are about to finish WWE and will need the next one. Gift Cards - can I use them on 'fun' stuff? Vitamins ... I don't really 'need' them, but I feel better when I take them. I am a MASTER of justifying everything. I would love to know what others do with those things that come up occasionally? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaleidoscope Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 I definitely need to do this. I will need to buy a few food items each week but I hope to keep that to under $50 a week and not spend anythign else other than the regular bills. Would love to make it work for February too with the exception of buying the kids a wii game for Valentines day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
readinmom Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 I'm in, except for our two birthdays in January. Hoping to build the emergency fund (Dave Ramsey) and finished making our envelopes for weekly spending (gas, groceries, etc.). This is going to be a very difficult challenge this month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TammyinTN Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Our house is in...we want to rent a big house at the beach in September and have all 10 of us there. I don't want our kids to spend a penny in coming and I want to treat them and the babies...so I'm saving like crazy. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Yes. Ish. We have some big, unexpected bills coming up that will take up most of our discretionary spending through the end of spring, and a birthday present for me in February (a nice Dutch oven, DH has made a nice present non-negotiable). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest inoubliable Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Tammy, I just gotta say that I love your profile pic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TammyinTN Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Tammy, I just gotta say that I love your profile pic! Thank you...arms full of little blessings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 I am curious how this works. How do you handle things like the following? New tires ... do you wait a month, or does that count as a bill? Curriculum - we are about to finish WWE and will need the next one. Gift Cards - can I use them on 'fun' stuff? Vitamins ... I don't really 'need' them, but I feel better when I take them. I am a MASTER of justifying everything. I would love to know what others do with those things that come up occasionally? There may be different interpretations, but I see the 'no spend' as cutting out fluffy spending. What you've listed above seems necessary to your way of life. Gift cards that were given to you are not included because you aren't spending your own money. They are gifts! It's no different than someone handing you a sweater, IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Anyone doing a No Spend Feb? We have that planned (as usual) ... Jan is a birthday month for us, and any spend-free plans are out for us. Our spend free Feb is the month we try to eat out of the pantry and freezer, buying only fresh foods as necessary. No major purchases, no fun purchases. No eating out. Aaaack. I admit to hating it! At least Feb is a short month. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb in NZ Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Anyone doing a No Spend Feb? We have that planned (as usual) ... Jan is a birthday month for us, and any spend-free plans are out for us. Our spend free Feb is the month we try to eat out of the pantry and freezer, buying only fresh foods as necessary. No major purchases, no fun purchases. No eating out. Aaaack. I admit to hating it! At least Feb is a short month. :) If we survive January, I plan to do a "No Spend" month every odd month (ie January, March, May, etc.). If life gets difficult, I'm aiming for at least January & July being "No Spend" months. Staying out of the shops should save us at least $1000 / month & that will add up quick. I'm thinking that by planning for a "No Spend" month, I'll make better purchases to prepare, so that we don't run out of necessary items like toilet paper, soap, etc. I hate running to the shops for 1-2 items as I never get out of the door without at least 1-2 bags. Planning is key for me as Fail to Plan = Plan to Fail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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