March Madness Controlled/No Spend Thread

[MittenKitten]

Hello Everyone. Here is this month's Controlled/No Spend Thread as promised. Please post your goals for the month if you would like me to include them in the bi-Monthly update.
For the new people there are no real set rules here, you set your own. The basic goal most if not all of us have are to keep track of the days we don't spend and hopefully by that work on saving money. Some are looking to put it into savings others to pay down debt.
For some they only count the day as a no spend day if they spend nothing at all. Others will count it if they keep their total under $5. Some count all spending others only count a certain part of their budget. For example I personally take $400 out of the the bank in cash for everything that is not related to vehicle expenses (like gas, oil changes, insurance etc) or the house (mortgage, utilities, HOA) If I spend out of the $400 I count it as a spend day (although if it is less then $5 I usually count it as a no spend day.) You set your own rules. Any questions feel free to ask.
You can post your no spend days daily or whenever you want, just put it in bold at the top with the first number being the number you want me to record. If you are doing daily then:
Today (or yesterday) $0 Spend day
More then one day at a time:
4/31 days $0 Spend Which translates into 4 out of 31 days in December have been no spend so far. Some use the bigger number as their goal number so do 4/15 No spend Days which means they have a goal of 15 no spend days this month.

CSD: Controlled Spend Day
BFF: Best Friend Forever
DH/DS/DD/DSS: Dear Husband, Dear Son Dear Daughter, fiance, boy friend, Dear Step-Son
DIL, MIL, BIL, SIL: Daughter in law, Mother In Law, Brother in Law, Sister In Law
NKCW: No Killing Co-Worker Day (could also be no kill DH NKDH etc)
MOAN: Moving our a$$ Now aka exercising
NS or NSD: No Spend or No Spend Day
NEO: No eating out
HTH: Hope This Helps
KWIM: Know What I mean
FWIW: For What It's Worth
IMHO or IMO: In my Humble Opinion or In My Opinion
Getting Nitzed is referring to when you have a long post and MSN cuts you off so its in two posts instead one.
Having a Startsmart Day is referring to when you have 20+ things on your must get done in a day and you accomplish them.
Sharing the Simple Lifestyle aka Toasty;
Single Mom-KY aka Smokey;
MittenKitten aka MK;
Pt_In_NY aka Pointy;
Red2Black aka R2B2.
The Boy is Sheila in Cali's son.
the boy or Mowgli is Nsinglet's son
Blue is Red_Wagon's DH

For a while I was doing a Question of the Week. One week my question was "How has this thread changed your habits? What tangible benefits have you seen by being a member? I know we occassionally get someone on here that just doesn't get the concept of no spend is so much more then no spending 10 days to blow everything on day 11."

Honeylioness had a wonderful answer I think really defines WHAT we are about:

"I will admit that during my first two months of lurking, I wondered just how in the WORLD someone could not spend any money at ALL for 25 days? Did they just pay all their bills one day a month, and that same day do the food shopping for the month? Like many new to the concept I saw it as horribly, and restrictively, black or white – an opinion first based merely on the name of the thread.

But once I came to understand that it was not so totalitarian and was more about finding a way that worked for you to track your spending and any “leaks” in the wallet, it has felt more like a tool and less like a punishment. I wish I could say that I have paid off five extra years from the mortgage, or now have an EF of six months take home – but alas that would not be true.

What I do have however is a better awareness of where my “leaks” are, what are my hot buttons that make me want to spend on things I really don’t need or really cannot afford right now. And an awareness of the fact when I AM spending money. I think that awareness is key to learning a new behavior or paradigm. Just like lumberlady, some of us have had to look hard in the mirror and acknowledge that we had a problem. Until people can do that, be it an addiction to alcohol or drugs or credit cards ….. they will never really GET it."

Thanks Honeylioness!

[mizbear]

I am going to try a new trick for March- since I know my schedule/budget pretty well, I am going to try and mark PS (planned spend) days on my calendar. These should be controlled spends. I pay all of my bills on 3 days, so I don't count them, since that money is not free to spend. If I go over my budget, they become spend days. I should have a lot of NS though.

[singlemomky]

Thanks MK for getting March up & running! And I'm not sure if the name of the thread is a basketball reference or not but I'm excited for the tournament to start!
I'm in again - and I'm going to try to get 18 CS just b/c I like the number 18

[pauletteg]

I want to do this BECAUSE: I have a big tax bill coming up and my hubby's had a temporary pay cut.

HOWEVER: I've found this morning to my chagrin that our car battery did not turn over despite being fully charged. This will mean a service call. If we can excuse that, then...

I'm trying for $525 a week: $200 in wallet for fuel, miscellanea and groceries a week, the rest for bills. Remainder divided among charity, savings goals, wardrobe building, specially allocated rewards, and home debt. Our city utility bills are due in March.

I have no doubt I'll end the month with several new ways to use millet and lentils.

10 NSD

[muttleynfelix]

Is any one else in denial that tomorrow is MARCH!! What is up with that?

[pointy]

I'm in for March (really, it's March??!!??!!)
23 NS and 28 No QVC...

[dianartemis]

February went too fast! I'm in for March for the usual. 15 NSD, 15 NEO, 15 MOAN, 5 QUs.

[mizbear]

Denial- strong denial.
Warning rant ahead:
Just got more stuff dumped on me. Here I am working on school, and have had it announced to me that I must remove all of my things from my grandmother's ASAP. No real reason given other than she is having work done to the house and my aunt came up with some law saying that if she dies they can keep me from having my stuff- my grandmother's will says me and my stuff can stay there as long as we want as long as the bills are being paid and no one forces a sale.
I also went ballistic on a large portion of the family after being told that since they tend to cost me time and money. I am tired of people not asking about my schedule, assuming I am free, making appointments without asking if I am available and expecting me to drive, etc. I told them that they need to get with my plans and my budget. And if they can't, I can easily put the laundromat in my budget and they can all figure it out without me. My mother went on one of her let's make appts sprees.
They were stuttering when I left- it was funny.

[mizbear]

Something to bounce off of you gals (and guys of course). My uncle suggested that since I am already situated where I am and am in a good situation with my fixed income that I go ahead and immediately do my college classes to follow up to my career certification after finishing. I should at least get assistance money for the classes since I am considered disabled, which I will not get if I wait. It will also help prep me for my certification exams. What do you all think? DM thinks I should immediately look for a job, but she is looking for someone to take care of her. I think DB needs to take a turn at that- I'm exhausted.

[spruby]

mizbear - if you are well set up and would get assistance with school now but not later - you should consider it

[spruby]

I'm in for March - I think. I'll figure out my goals and post them tomorrow. Having the going to work/hate my job/no vacation/how the heck did I get in this shape monthly blues. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

[moneysquirrel]

I'm in for March. Will try to up my goal to 18 NS/CS days. If I continue with my normal routine I should be able to meet this goal but who knows.

[sapphire12]

March Madness - could be basketball; could be finances; could be gas prices; could be the weather. Oh my we've had a doozy this winter.

As we approach Spring, this is when I have to really watch my spending. I'm slowly coming out of hibernation mode. Gas prices will keep the discretionary spending down for a spell.

This is the start of week 3 of exercising; too bad I can't walk outside yet.

[munjoyhill]

March Goals:

15 No Spend
26 MOAN Days

I'm improving on my No Spend days, I almost made my February goal. I'm working to improve my MOAN days, I started off February with a working out most days, but slacked a bit toward the end of the month.

If it would ever stop snowing and the roads passable around here I will get outside and take long walks. I also plan to add some jogging to my routine, I haven't jogged in years, so I will start slow, with walking/jogging, build myself up to just jogging.

I am down 55 lbs, I feel great, but I need to shed another 45.

[MittenKitten]

While March Madness is a basketball term it certainly does seem to fit many of our lives so it worked!

mizbear: If you can get the assistance now but not later I would seriously consider it. Think about your future and what it means to have those classes. If you need them then do it now. It sounds like you may regret it if you don't.

Is your mother disabled as well? Sounds like your family puts a lot of pressure on you and you may need to put your foot down and tell them they need to be self reliant. 3cats went through a similar situation with her DS when she first joined the boards.

[shanendoah]

Goal: 12 NSD, 10 MOAN

[dakota4600]

Ladies, I'm so unmotivated. Hopefully it is just the end of winter blahs. Last night we booked the hotel for our spring break get away. We are taking mini-D to St. Louis to see a Bob the Builder exhibit at the Children's Museum there. The weekend before that is DH's and I first overnight out of town without mini-D. We'll only be an hour away, but it still makes me nervous. I need to start researching places to eat and something to do before we head back on Saturday.

Tonight is a mid-week date night. A friend's husband coaches a Junior College basketball team and they are in the playoffs. MIL is coming over to watch mini-D and get him to bed. DH and I are going to grab a bite out then go cheer on the team.

Today is my assistants last day. Part of me is motivated to just get things cleaned up that I know she wasn't on top of, and the other part of me dreads doing all the data entry of payables and receivables. I'm going to start setting up interviews for early next week with a start date of the 21st.

[mizbear]

My DM and DGM are both disabled - grandmother is a brittle diabetic with multiple health issues and limited mobility who is starting to refuse to do things for herself. DM tries to do for herself- she has a rare illness- but se doesn't pace herself and finds herself too exhausted to do anything. And of course we have DB.
School would be a huge help in the field, especially if I can combine the degree with it. I am checking into some information on money Thursday in between doctor's appts.

[mizbear]

I'm going to start with a goal of 15 CS/NS and 15 MOAN and work up from there.

[dividend]

I would like to count myself in for March.
I've been playing a little fast and loose with unallocated money since the holidays, and have not been good at all about sticking to my grocery budget, and I could use this mindfulness. So I looked at what's coming up in March, to see what's reasonable.
I'll have 4 weekly grocery store trips, probably 2 tanks of gas, and 1 carton of cigarettes. Plus I've got 5 planned spends. So I'll aim for 12 CS. I normally aim for only 1 lunch or dinner out during the week, and one on the weekend, but we have way exceeded that lately, so I'll aim for no more than 9 EO. I think it's reasonable to try for 10 total NS.
Sub goals that will be useful to me will be - stay within my grocery budget. So NO MORE than $100/week each week. Don't spend more than is in any budget category (no borrowing).
So :
12 CS
10 NS
9 AS (allowance spending, i.e., discretionary from the allowance category)
Basically, I want to actually stick to my budget this month, because beyond the explicit savings for auto, Roth, vacation, etc, it's like money is evaporating. I have >$1200/month un-allocated that should be getting saved. I'm strongly considering sticking it all in my 401k, because at least then I won't play number games with myself that hide the fact that it's getting spent. I just feel like since I paid off my student loan and hit $10k in my EF in January, it's like I haven't been motivated.
Cheers to Mad, Mindful March.

[dianartemis]

mizbear: No suggestions, just <<hugs mizbear>>

[sheilaincali]

Count me in for March. February was much better for us than January was but there is still a lot of room for improvement.

Goal is: 20 NSD, 25 NEO, 5 additional lbs lost.

Mizar: If I could volunteer 3cats I would. Maybe she would be willing to share some advice with you via private message. Like MK said she had some issues with her family when she first started with us. Of course now 3Cats is a rock star

Ankles are on the mend. The right one is nearly back to normal. The left one is still pretty swollen and sore. Currently I have it propped up at work with an ice pack on it. Hoping that helps with the swelling some.

[dakota4600]

I forgot to post my goals earlier.

10 NS 3 CS 10 NEO

I'm giving myself a little break this month since we have so much travel and DH is going to do a project and will be buying supplies.

Shelia- Glad your ankles are feeling better. Hope the other one feels much better soon.

[mizbear]

I think things will get better- I am starting to get mouthy again- which even though certain members of my family don't like it- is usually in my best interest- oh I have 31 DKDB days planned, as I have promised DM I won't. Darn it.

[shanendoah]

Welcome Pualette and dividend! (If you've been here before, please excuse my poor memory.)
Feel free to jump right in to the conversations, or post questions of your own.

Challenge: Now that we're at the end of the first quarter, are you looking ahead to the 2nd quarter of 2011? Does your budget need any tweaking?
I planned the yearly budget in December, so now that it's March, I need to take a look and see what's been working and what hasn't, and decide if I need to make any changes starting in April.
Sadly, I think I may need to add some middle management steps to my budget, so that I can keep track of things a little better. I noticed that when I put down all of our planned expenses for March, I had way too much money left over at the end of the month, even though I remembered to include our once every 6 month insurance bill and everything else. Only by going back over my planned budget and comparing it to what I had down for March did I find the problem- I'm supposed to be putting $1k more in savings than I have been.
We didn't fritter away that extra money in January and February. I used it to pay for the furnace repair bill and DH's school expenses without pulling money out of savings. Its more efficient that way, right? Instead of putting money in savings and then pulling it out again, I just paid it right toward where it needed to go. But without the paper trail, I completely forgot about a pretty major part of our monthly budget.
I'm limited to how many transfers I can do in and out of savings each month, though, so I think it is better that I don't transfer in just to transfer out. However, I need to find a way to document where the money is going better so that I don't lose track of it again.

[reeneejune]

Miz Bear - I too am a family caretaker, and I'd be happy to talk with you off boards. We all need support and encouragement, and an ear that really understands sometimes. My email is my screen name at hotmail dot com. As to the school issue, I would strongly encourage you to take all of the classes you can towards your career goal while they are covered under financial assistance for your disability. There's nothing more heartbreaking than spending so much time and energy on classes only to find that once you leave school you don't have enough for your career field.

All - I took a break there at the end of February, for the same reasons that many others did. I felt that because I had an opinion contrary to what many others did, that I had been attacked at least once. I know that wasn't the intention behind it, and that's why I'm back. But I would like to remind everyone to be cautious about responding to someone's opinions/strongly held beliefs, especially when you disagree. The hallmark of this group is that we are encouraging and accepting of others and it would be far to easy to shoot ourselves in the foot collectively by carelessly tromping on others' beliefs. I'm not looking for an apology or further discussion on the topic, just please be kind to each other.

In happier news, I'm continuing to look for an apartment. I've seen several places that I've eliminated on mostly financial grounds. One didn't offer the kind of living space that I would prefer for the amount of money that it would cost (2nd floor apt that allowed pets but had no yard) and the other I eliminated purely on financial concerns. For the second one, I was able to talk to the current tennant and ask about average utility bills. Due to the old single pane windows, the electric for the small house (guest cottage sized) was hugely expensive... nearly $200 a month. The landlord has no plans to replace the windows any time soon, so I had to cross it off my list.

I have one more place that I want to get a look at. It's smaller than the other places I've looked at, but it may be just exactly what I'm looking for. It's a large studio in the historic district of my town, 12 ft ceilings, all wood or laminate floors, pet friendly, and $200 under budget. I was really looking forward to having a sewing room/office, but if I can use the space effectively it may work out. Now if I can just get them to answer the phone!

Since I'll be moving this month and it's also my birthday month, I'm going to try for a very modest NS goal... 5NSD. I fear even that will be a struggle.

[sheilaincali]

reenee: I am so excited for you. I hope that you are able to find something within your budget and that meets all of your needs. I remember back when you were a nanny and so needed your own space.

shanen: That's a great challenge idea. I do have some tweaking that I should do to my budget. Mostly for good reasons. Lowered our cable and internet recently so that means more money to put towards savings.

Our grocery budget for January was dismal. February was better but I need to go back and double check and see how we really did. Our goal was $400 for the month. I will let you know how we did next time I post.

[startsmart]

Greetings from DC! Having a great time out here including lunch with the ab fab GLDN (she even brought me cookies in her sickened state! and they are delish!), late drinks with an old work friend and lots of tours.

The Capitol building is so stately, loved it. Congress owes me an orange juice though. Security made me throw mine out!

The Library of Congress was great because I had the best tour guide EVER. Seriously, if you're going to DC let me know and I will give you her name, location and a general physical description because she is amazing!

Today I went to the Natural History museum, one of my favorites. They have an awesome butterfly exhibit! Guess who was worse than the kids in the gift shop candy store? 75 photos later... startsmart was a little giddy. Especially when one mistook my purple shirt for a flower and latched on.

Also went to the portrait gallery which was nice but it's just not my thing. Should have skipped over to the national aquarium instead. Partially because I can't stand still but also because they frown on snarky comments so I walk around thinking "there's a painting. there's another one. look an old white guy with a funky beard. another white old guy with sideburn issues. look another painting."

It's exhausting to me me y'all, it really is.

Work is going a little better, had a good call with two team members today in prep for our more substantial call on Thursday. I would say the problem is mostly miscommunication in two parts: my client is so far removed from the frontline of customer service that she doesn't know what it entails and requires and I am unclear on the expectations my client has for some of my roles until I haven't done something right. Then I only hear what's going wrong.

So tonight, I'm off to NYC and staying with a great family in New Jersey! they are so sweet, D called last night to say if I could bother coming into a different station he could pick me up on the way home from work AND it's a lot safer location. Then adds "I looked up the fare difference and it's $8 so I'd be more than happy to make up the difference."

so. cute. How much do I love that they still care about me same as when I was 15 and babysitting their kids all day long? I used to get to their house at 7am, sleep on the couch until the kids got up, make breakfast, get the Mom to eat and make her comfortable (she was pregnant and high risk), go to the park, clean, play, settle in for naps, watch Magic School Bus and so on every day of the week.

Those boys are now 15, 13 and 13.

You know what that makes me? OLD

[redwagon]

Just wanted to say hi and ask how the heck it's March already? I'm not sure what my goals are this month other than staying in budget and not letting the CC's go up again. We've been doing pretty decent at not eating out, which is nice. We both have classes these days, which means there are 3 nights a week we don't really see each other, which is really sad to me. BUT i'm enjoying class so far, which is good. Also been applying to jobs like CRAZY. Get me out of here! hehe. I'll try to come up with some real goals tomorrow... my brain is fried right now. Hope you are all doing well!

[shanendoah]

Today was a spend. Took Smokey to the vet. His recent lack of desire to eat and weight loss are the result of a tumor in his spleen. Most aggressive treatment (minimum $5k) gives him roughly 6 months to live. It was nice to know we had the money to make the decision to go aggressive, but we chose palliatative care. This is a dog for whom getting his toenails trimmed is traumatic. I could not put him through a blood transfusion and surgery for just a couple more months (If it had been years, we would have gone for it.) So, meds to help his tummy feel better, very light exercise, and we go until either the tumor ruptures (could happen at any moment) or until his quality of life drops.
So yeah, not a good day.