2019 Controlled Spend/No Spend

[startsmart]

Yesterday was NS #1 as I bought gas for the car and a planned meal on the drive home. Today so far is NS #2 with just a client gift purchased for my business.

This week I do need to get some more dog food, groceries and get my eyebrows done. I will have 3 packages to send this week, baby gift for a friend and 2 sets of fabric for a swap I’m doing to get different pieces for my next quilt.

Free stuff I can do:
pick up gardening books at the library
keep sewing hexagons for the quilts
pack boxes in garage
post furniture for sale on craigslist


Sept 23 - NS
Sept 24 - NS
Sept 25 -
Sept 26 -
Sept 27 -
Sept 28 -
Sept 29 -
Sept 30 -


Edit: today will be a NS out of pure laziness.

[moneysquirrel]

startsmart -- Welcome back.  You have come a long way from the early days at the old MSN site.  Wishing you success as you work through the upcoming challenging as you prepare to move. 

Blonde Granny -- I usually fill up the tank about once every three weeks.  I go in and pay $20 and that usually is all it takes.  Use cash instead of CC as there has been cases of card skimmers in the local area.  Been doing the cash system for the last three years or so.

I realized that I have been overdoing the cutting back a little.  Will need to have a major stock up of things once the danger of hurricanes is over and I plug in the big freezer in the garage again. (I eat out of it and move items to the smaller one in the fridge starting in late spring.  I unplug it at that time and keep it unplugged until late October.)

  Realized that I had managed to totally used up all of the protein in the freezer so I made a quick trip to Sam's for basics and to restock some.  Managed to stick to the list I had.  Came home to start a new one for the next trip.  Need to make that run more often than I had.  

[startsmart]

Sept 23 - NS
Sept 24 - NS
Sept 25 - SD
Sept 26 -
Sept 27 -
Sept 28 -
Sept 29 -
Sept 30 -

I had such back pain today I went to the chiropractor and also bought lunch since cooking was out of the question.

Looks like I’ll have 30 days in this challenge as I accepted an offer for my house today and we close in 4 weeks.

[laterbloomer]

I hate fessing up to this but I spent $72 on 2 sweaters and a pair of pants. $381 non essential spending. I also had a $65 plumbing bill but I count a working toilet as a necessity so that's not going on the list.

[Blonde Granny]

Money squirrel, funny how living in different parts of he country changes our spending. I'm in the soup making mode (sorta) due to filling the freezer for this winter. I also need to buy another set of Rubbermaid 1C containers to put the soup in.

So far this month I've spent $41 on gasoline, and won't fill up till Oct. 1. My tank is almost a 30 gal so it takes a lot if I let it get to empty.

I have the salt for driveway and sidewalk leftover from last year as I didn't have much of a winter. I also need to have the HVAC guy out for furnace checking. Also need to have the gas fireplace guy here to light pilot and double check for safety. Put my electric blanket on the bed in a few weeks and I'm ready.

on edit: Guess I made a good decision to call the fireplace guy now....Oct. 14 is the day.  Hope it stay warm till then.

[TheOtherMe]

HVAC is coming in the morning to service my furnace and change the batteries for the smoke alarm.  I have not changed them in 10 years so I figure it's past time.  

[startsmart]

I'm officially in contract to sell the house so looking like 30 more days on the challenge at the least  


Sept 23 - NS
Sept 24 - NS
Sept 25 - SD
Sept 26 - SD
Sept 27 - NS
Sept 28 - SD - groceries, coffee
Sept 29 -
Sept 30 -

Today I bought dog food, mailed 2 packages and picked up some other things I needed at Wal-Mart + bought lunch while I was out. 

I wanted to also go to the library, pick up some boxes and get my eyebrows done but ran out of energy. Selling a bookshelf today and hoping they show up as promised. 

Need to get started setting up a moving binder, there's so much to track over the next few months. 

[moneysquirrel]

Blonde Granny -- I can't even think about making soup at this time.  We are still in the 90s and have not had rain is over a week which is extremely rare for us.  My gas tank is only about 14 gallons and as I mentioned earlier I fill up about every three weeks or so.  It depends on haw much running I have to do.  Since I retired that area of my expenses has gone down as there are a few days a week that I don't leave the house and most of the running I do are within a small area near the house.  I still bundle most of the errands within one trip whenever possible.  My gas usage may increase in the next few weeks as I will have more stuff in the car.  I try not to constantly load and unload some of the items I use at the craft shows that I do with a friend. Some stuff will not stay in the car but there are times that I have some shows within a week or so so it is easier not to load, unload and reload.

[moneysquirrel]

The past weekend was good.  Made a little money at the craft show which will be used to restock items I need to continue.  Wrote out the taxes for the show this morning and will be getting them in the mail this morning.  This doesn't come out of the regular budget so all is good there. 

I do need to get to Wally world sometime this week to get a few basic perishable items but other than that i don't think I have any other things this week. Think that I won't need gas until next week but could be mistaken there. 

Annual payments for termite protection is this month and I have the money saved for that. I will put it on the CC for the points and pay it as soon as the bank allows me to do do. 

My usual monthly bills won't start arriving until the 9th or so.

[laterbloomer]

I got through the weekend without spending!!!! Being on an all expense paid weekend helped. And having a Tim's gift card. But it still counts!!!! So I got through the month with $381 non essential spending. That's the best I have done all year. So let's see how cheaply I can get through October.

[shanendoah]

Last Wednesday, life decided to go a little sideways. The sideways direction of Wednesday led directly to all of the unplanned spending except the car repair. The car repair was guy in the parking lot (almost certainly working under the table, using company tools on his own time) offering to fix the significant damage I did to the car last January for about $750. Taking this in to a body should would almost certainly have it cost $2k or more. So, we went with it.


Last week's (planned) v actual spending:
Monday: (----) ----
Tuesday: (----) ----
Wednesday: (----) Dominos
Thursday: (Starbucks) ----
Friday: (Groceries) Parking
Saturday: (CostCo, Gas) Lunch, Gamestop, HomeDepot, CostCo, Car Repair, Amazon
Sunday: (Hair) Hair, Gas, Amazon


This week's (planned) spending:
Monday: (Starbucks, Bookstore, Yoga, Steam Console?)
Tuesday: (----)
Wednesday: (----)
Thursday: (Starbucks)
Friday: (HomeDepot, Costco, Gas, Groceries)
Saturday: (----)
Sunday: (Breakfast)

Current Month - (P)vA Running total	NS	CS&HS	Spend	Notes
September	(0)0 (2)2 (0)0 (2)2 (2)3	(1)1 (3)4 (7)7 (3)3 (3)0 (1)	(0)0 (2)1 (0)0 (2)2 (2)3	(Current Planned - 30 days) Current Actual - 29
October	(2)	(2)	(2)	(Current Planned - 6 days) Current Actual - 0

Year long tracking:

Month (P)vA	NS	CS/HS	Spend
January	(8)6	(19)13	(4)12
February	(6)9	(13)12	(9)7
March	(8)9	(14)16	(9)6
April	(10)9	(16)14	(4)7
May	(10)13	(11)8	(10)10
June	(9)7	(12)14	(9)9
July	(9)10	(13)16	(9)5
August	(8)4	(13)18	(10)9
September
October
November
December

[TheOtherMe]

Sept 26, 2019 17:08:01 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

HVAC is coming in the morning to service my furnace and change the batteries for the smoke alarm.  I have not changed them in 10 years so I figure it's past time.  

This got moved to Wednesday by the company but I'm the first appointment at 7:30 AM.  That means it will happen.

I was the second appoint last week and they ran in to big problems at the first stop and were still working there at 1 PM.

Hopefully that doesn't happen at my house.

[TheOtherMe]

September 30


24 Amazon No Spend Days



5 non necessity spend days I returned two item
s
1 necessity spend day

I'm proud of myself.  

[moneysquirrel]

Things seem to be on track.  Some annual bills have been paid from the sinking funds.  Majority of the biggest ones will hit in the next few months.  December through February are the most expensive for me as most of the major insurance bills and the property taxes come due during those months.  I do have most of the money in sinking funds that I add a little to each month.

I did add a little extra to the car payment this month to knock another month off the loan.  Continuing the process a little at a time as I hope to finish these payments asap.  Eventually I will just take some out of saving to finish it off just to get rid of the monthly commitment.

Need to fill up the car this weekend and will need to get some perishables in the coming week.  Other than those I don't foresee any other expenses.  May need to get a few items when I get a RX later this weekend.

Temps are still in the 90s and hope to get into the eighties next week.  Staying home to avoid the heat has been my goal as much as possible.  Helps with the spending as well.

[laterbloomer]

So the first 3 days of the month were no spend! Today I'm spending $12 to go see Downton Abbey. I'll take my own snacks so that will be a cheap night out.

[nikiz628]

October, like the last couple months, really needs us to be strict about spending.
So far, it hasn't started off great though. After today, I am hoping for several no spend days. 

Goal for 10/4-10/11

10/5: No spend
10/6:No spend
10/7: No spend- pack snacks and drinks for baseball game to avoid concession stand
10/8: Taco Tuesday with friends- spending will be under $30 for dinner for 4 (including the tip!)
10/9: No spend- pack snacks and drinks for baseball game to avoid concession stand
10/10: No spend- working in the concession stand at the fields, bring snacks and drinks so kids dont want to spend
10/11: Spend day. This is pay day, so bills and groceries, as well as last minute party supplies for DS2's party on 10/12

Looking ahead at the month: 

Irregular expenses: Family Fun Night at DS1's school (dinner tickets), basketball registration for DS1, Halloween, several birthdays, classroom Halloween parties (hopefully enough parents donate to keep my out of pocket costs low). Of course, Christmas is on the horizon as well. 

[shanendoah]

Had a pretty good week last week. It was the last week for one of my staff before she moved on to a new job, so I brought in some treats. This Sunday is my 5 year anniversary in my role, so I am bringing work treats to my once a month meeting of fellow Administrators today, and will be ordering treats to be delivered next Monday.
We had a super quiet weekend only leaving the house on Friday to go to the dog park, and on Saturday, I ran out for about 15 minutes to take a couple pieces of junk over to a friend's house, since she was having a junk truck come. I did get both the front and back lawns mowed this weekend - probably the last mow of the season. Hoping this weekend will be clear enough to clean out gutters and put in the new gutter foam we've ordered to help keep debris from blocking our gutters.


Last week's (planned) v actual spending:
Monday: (Starbucks, Bookstore, Yoga, Steam Console?) Starbucks, Bookstore, Yoga
Tuesday: (----) ----
Wednesday: (----) Work treats, starbucks, cash
Thursday: (Starbucks) ----
Friday: (HomeDepot, Costco, Gas, Groceries) ----
Saturday: (----) ----
Sunday: (Breakfast) Breakfast, groceries, amazon, home depot


This week's (planned) spending:
Monday: (Starbucks) Starbucks
Tuesday: (Work Treats)
Wednesday: (----)
Thursday: (Starbucks)
Friday: (HomeDepot, Costco, Gas, Groceries)
Saturday: (Shoe store)
Sunday: (----)

Current Month - (P)vA Running total	NS	CS&HS	Spend	Notes
October	(2)4 (2)	(2)0 (3)	(2)2 (2)	(Current Planned - 13 days) Current Actual - 6

Year long tracking:

Month (P)vA	NS	CS/HS	Spend
January	(8)6	(19)13	(4)12
February	(6)9	(13)12	(9)7
March	(8)9	(14)16	(9)6
April	(10)9	(16)14	(4)7
May	(10)13	(11)8	(10)10
June	(9)7	(12)14	(9)9
July	(9)10	(13)16	(9)5
August	(8)4	(13)18	(10)9
September	(6)7	(18)16	(6)7
October
November
December

[TheOtherMe]

October 8  Amazon no spend

6 no spend

2 non essential spending

[moneysquirrel]

Since my last post I did fill up the car and made the grocery run for perishables.  Managed to get the RX done -new Shingles vaccine part 1 - as they finally had the serum in.  Need to get the second part in a few months.  That will be the end of that medical items.  Flu shot was taken a few weeks ago.  I had the option to get both on the same day but decided not to have both arms sore from the shots at the same time.  The last one took about three days to stop being sore.  

Other than that I have been running in place budget wise. 

[nikiz628]

Oct 4, 2019 15:03:58 GMT -5 nikiz628 said:

October, like the last couple months, really needs us to be strict about spending.
So far, it hasn't started off great though. After today, I am hoping for several no spend days. 

Goal for 10/4-10/11

Updates for the week so far in red. 


10/5: No spend--- Spent $30.72 at walmart on party supplies, spent $6.41 at McDonald's for drinks and 2 sandwiches while i was out. 
10/6:No spend-- Accomplished. 
10/7: No spend- pack snacks and drinks for baseball game to avoid concession stand-- Spent $2 at concession stand, I bought a drink and candy for someone for helping me cover the shift that night. Spent $2.52 at Dollar General on Sprite and crackers for H. 
10/8: Taco Tuesday with friends- spending will be under $30 for dinner for 4 (including the tip!)--  Now going to be a No spend, H came down with a stomach bug so we will be skipping our weekly friend dinner and I will be making something simple for the kids to eat. 


10/9: No spend- pack snacks and drinks for baseball game to avoid concession stand- Moved my grocery and errand day to today, since DS1 came home from school sick. (H was still home, so I was able to go alone). Spent $7.42 on a new winter beanie for myself at Hobby Lobby. Stayed under budget on groceries though! 
10/10: No spend- working in the concession stand at the fields, bring snacks and drinks so kids dont want to spend-- Accomplished. 
10/11: Spend day. This is pay day, so bills and groceries, as well as last minute party supplies for DS2's party on  We spent $28.63 at Taco Bell- DS2 chose this as his birthday dinner  . I am going to add it to my spending for the month, even though we kinda budgeted for it, it's still "eating out". 
10/12: Spent $5.52 at gas station on drinks, $10.65 for a quick meal 

Looking ahead at the month: 

Irregular expenses: Family Fun Night at DS1's school (dinner tickets), basketball registration for DS1, Halloween, several birthdays, classroom Halloween parties (hopefully enough parents donate to keep my out of pocket costs low). Of course, Christmas is on the horizon as well. 


Going to track every bit of extra spending here this month, starting on 10/5 since that was my original post for the month: 
10/5: $6.41
10/6: $0
10/7: $4.52
10/8: $0
10/9 $7.69 
10/10 $0
10/11 $28.63 
10/12 $16.17
10/13
10/14
10/15
10/16
10/17
10/18
10/19
10/20
10/21
10/22
10/23
10/24
10/25
10/26
10/27
10/28
10/29
10/30
10/31

[laterbloomer]

$45 getting Charlie groomed, so that's $57 non essential spending so far this month. I'm going out of town the weekend of oct 18, that's going to be a $200 hit. My nails will be another $50. I'm going to try really hard to spend nothing else.

[vetswife]

Other than bills, have spent $100 on my trip to DFW; it sure helps to be able to stay with relatives!!  That includes a tank of gas, two meals, and a donation.  

[TheOtherMe]

October 13  Amazon no spend



10 no spend



2 non essential spending (the expensive one is being returned on Tuesday)

1 essential spending day 

[shanendoah]

Last week went almost completely as planned, which is unusual, or so it feels. I did get a couple of things from Amazon on Thursday night, but they were things I was looking at getting from Home Depot on Friday, so I am still calling that in plan. In fact, that meant when we went to Home Depot on Friday, we only had to pick up the gutter foam, which was paid for when we ordered it last Sunday.
We have a concert to go to Wednesday night. A friend picked up the tickets, so I need to pull out the cash to pay him back. And we'll have dinner, probably with the same friend and his wife. Most of my massage should be covered on my FSA, but I'm nearing the end of it, so I have to double check that, and then I'll also want cash to tip my therapist. 

Last week's (planned) v actual spending:
Monday: (Starbucks) Starbucks
Tuesday: (Work Treats) Work Treats
Wednesday: (----) ----
Thursday: (Starbucks) Starbucks, Amazon
Friday: (HomeDepot, Costco, Gas, Groceries) CostCo, Gas
Saturday: (Shoe store) Shoe store, groceries
Sunday: (----) ----


This week's (planned) spending:
Monday: (Starbucks)
Tuesday: (----)
Wednesday: (Dinner, Concert)
Thursday: (Starbucks)
Friday: (Massage, CostCo, Gas, Groceries)
Saturday: (----)
Sunday: (Breakfast)

Current Month - (P)vA Running total	NS	CS&HS	Spend	Notes
October	(2)4 (2)2 (1)	(2)0 (3)5 (4)	(2)2 (2)0 (2)	(Current Planned - 20 days) Current Actual - 13

Year long tracking:

Month (P)vA	NS	CS/HS	Spend
January	(8)6	(19)13	(4)12
February	(6)9	(13)12	(9)7
March	(8)9	(14)16	(9)6
April	(10)9	(16)14	(4)7
May	(10)13	(11)8	(10)10
June	(9)7	(12)14	(9)9
July	(9)10	(13)16	(9)5
August	(8)4	(13)18	(10)9
September	(6)7	(18)16	(6)7
October
November
December

[nikiz628]

Goal for 10/13-10/20


10/13: Friends invited us to a fall festival- for parking, lunch for 4, and one booth purchase we spent $61.00 
10/14: No spend-- Accomplished 
10/15: Weekly Taco Tuesday w/ Friends dinner (potentially not going). If so less than $30 for all of us. -- Our Mexican restaurant was packed, so we left and took the kids to McDonalds. Spent $14.96 for all 4 of us to eat- saved us approximately $10 this way! We did end up spending $9.50 at the ice cream truck this afternoon. It's the last day it will go around for the season and they had slashed a lot of prices- the kids are going to miss it (confession: I will too haha). 
10/16: Taking the kids to Chuck E Cheese for their annual birthday trip, budgeted expense- printed some coupons from their website and saved some $$. We did take them to Target after, and I bought DS2 a set of sheets for his new big boy bed (as soon as I buy the twin mattress that is!) They were 10% off plus my 5% RedCard discount- $16.26. We also spent $12.03 on gas station snacks for the drive (90 mins). We should've packed stuff from the house. Hindsight. 
10/17: No Spend- Friend and her son invited us to lunch playdate. Spent $9.51 for 3 of us to have lunch. 
10/18: No Spend- Should've been a no spend, but we spent $30 on dinner in a drive thru. Ugh. My nephew is staying the night and he's a picky eater. I wish I had planned better for tonight. 
10/19: No Spend
10/20: No Spend

Looking ahead at the month:

Irregular expenses: Family Fun Night at DS1's school (dinner tickets), basketball registration for DS1, Halloween, several birthdays, classroom Halloween parties (hopefully enough parents donate to keep my out of pocket costs low). Of course, Christmas is on the horizon as well.


Going to track every bit of extra spending here this month, starting on 10/5 since that was my original post for the month:

10/5: $6.41
10/6: $0
10/7: $4.52
10/8: $0
10/9 $7.69
10/10 $0
10/11 $28.63
10/12 $16.17
10/13 $61.00
10/14 $0
10/15 $9.50
10/16 $28.29
10/17 $9.51
10/18 $30.00
10/19
10/20
10/21
10/22
10/23
10/24
10/25
10/26
10/27
10/28
10/29
10/30
10/31

[moneysquirrel]

Keeping running in place.  No major spending has taken place.  Will need to get gas later this week.  Did a little more running last weekend so will need to fill up a little earlier than usual.  Life has gotten into a more normal routine (some will call it a rut).  Craft classes and volunteer work take up two days a week, household chores and working on my beading the rest of the week and for the next month or so I have craft shows each weekend.  Money made at these will pay for my supplies for the next year.  Working from my stash as much as possible but will need to get a few items that I am out of and that I need as the items I make from them have been selling. 

[TheOtherMe]

Amazon October 16

12 No spend

2 non-essential spending (1 returned)

1 essential spending

1 I also bought my birthday present to myself with the money my dad gave me.  

[Blonde Granny]

My spending this month so far has been almost non-existent. Talk about things getting in the way. A routine 6 mo check in August turned into a nuisance tiny cancer and I've been undergoing radiation therapy. Just started the 3rd week.

My gas purchase was right on schedule (15th of month). Groceries are a little over and Dr. said stay off the fresh fruits and veggies as much as I can. Still working at the VA, but getting tired a little easier in the early evenings. I just hate it when my perfectly good plans get turned upside down.

[TheOtherMe]

Hugs Blonde Granny

[Blonde Granny]

Thank you!