No-Spend January Results

Nope, I haven't forgotten about you and YES, we did finish our No-Spend January plan.  While I am currently hidden behind slowly filling moving boxes this morning, let me catch you up with how it went!

By not eating out but four times (our Sunday tradition) and using gift cards two of those times and aiming for under $10 the other two times (yes it can be done!) we saved $375.

• Lesson learned- Find less expensive places to eat!  We had just as much fun with Little Caesars pizzas and Sam's Club hot dogs.  It should be about the people, not the food!  
• Challenge- Lower the entertainment budget! Because we seldom eat out, and because there will be just four of us soon, we need to reconsider our entertainment budget and put that money to better use somewhere else!

By not buying clothes and by cutting the boys hair ourselves, we saved $65.00.

• Lesson Learned- While this is not a significant dent in our budget, every little bit helps.
• Challenge- I am trying to be purposeful this year about the buying of new clothes.  Currently we ALL have ALL we need.  But I am going to try to buy second hand (LOVE Thread Up and Poshmark!) for the rest of the year and see what happens!  I am also currently considering starting the Project 333 plan in a few weeks, so I will keep you posted on that.  Simplifying is calling my name, ya'll!  I love the challenge and I love making life easy.  I just want to love God and love people and stop being consumed by things that don't matter.

Household items were a bit trickier due to the move, BUT anything we bought was move related, not just random.  (Target, anyone!??)  We saved about $45 here.

• Lesson Learned- DO NOT try to move in the same month you embark on no-spend January.
• Challenge- Use up things before you buy more.  I know that stocking up is the rage, and sometimes it is a great way to save when you buy bulk, but let's face it- candles do not count!  I am on a mission to USE UP one thing before I grab another- no duplicates allowed.  Also, no buying of THINGS!  We have enough things.  My house does not need more.  As a matter of fact, some of those things are on their way out! I want to surround my family with just the things we love!

We came in at $100 under in our grocery budget as well.  While this was not in my original plan for saving, I did try to be very intentional with meal planning and buying on sale.  I assume our budget will go down after our move as well with two less people eating with us daily.

• Lesson Learned- Meal planning is key!  Not only will it save your sanity, but it will save you money.
• Challenge- Take advantage of freezer meals.  Three times now I have taken a freezer prep meal class called Citrus Pear to prepare 20 freezer meals.  It has been amazing and they do most of the prep work and ALL of the clean up for you.  But I know I can do it cheaper on my own and may even be able to talk my husband into helping.  We will see.  MyFreezEasy is a great place to start- the system Erin has is so simple and the software is super user friendly (no affiliate, just love her stuff!).

I can only speak for myself but I saved $150 in personal spending by not buying random things.  I did break the rules once by buying a few things for my girls' new apartment, but hey, that's what moms do, right?  Clarke and I both have an "allowance" that is for when random things come up.  Quick stop here, a little fee here, etc.  This money usually flies out the door faster than anything else, honestly.  It's a catch all.

• Lesson Learned- Watch out for the catch all! After not using this money, I can't honestly tell you what I normally use it on!  Sad, but true.
• Challenge- Use cash only for this category.  When you see the cash slowly disappear, you are more mindful on what you use it for!  Nickel-and-diming yourself to death is a real thing!

$735 total savings!  Wow.  I was taken back honestly.  That's a lot of money to save in one month.  For those of you who are paying off debt, that could be a significant payment to a credit card.  For those who long for a much needed vacation, that would be a great start!  For those who just need to live on less, I hope that is proof that you can cut your current budget with a little forethought and lots of determination.

Determination.  That is really all it takes.  It might be saying no to some things.  It might staying off Amazon and out of stores.  It might be shopping sales flyers and planning meals.  It might be reevaluating your budget.

Whatever it takes, you can do it.

Ask me how I know!

Blessings!

No-Spend Tricks and Tips

If you read our original post about No-Spend January and our follow up confession just a few weeks in, you know that we have good intention, but are no means perfect when it comes to not spending money in any given month.

Take today for example...we went to lunch on a gift card and went slightly over with an extra child eating with us and tipping the waitress.  We did however spend much less than normal and because of that I will call it a win for now.

I have loved hearing how some of you are following along and how some of you have tweaked No-Spend January to fit your family.  Let's face it, there is no true one size fits all and finding what works for you is the key to success.

That being said, I have a few ideas on how to better save, so here we go!

Don't shop!  Stop giggling, please.  I am serious.  Let me tell you- the fastest way to spend money is to wander down the aisles of a store.  Target, anyone?  These marketing people are good at what they do, ya'll, just saying.  We used to tell our kids to hide their eyes when we saw something we thought was inappropriate.  (yes, we are THAT family!)  People- HIDE. YOUR. EYES.  Don't go in a store when you do not need anything- it is just too tempting!  This includes Amazon!

Make a list! If you MUST go in a store, go in armed with a list and STICK. TO. IT!  Again, I am serious!  Do not deviate from the plan.  Buy only what you want and get out fast!

Use coupons and gift cards!  I use to love to use coupons in the grocery store.  It became a game to me and I loved the challenge.  Hey, I had little kids, I needed some entertainment outside the house.  But it works and combined with sales, you can save a lot of money.  As for gift cards, if you have them, use them wisely!  Look at menus ahead of time, know what you can afford, and then go and enjoy!  Thanks to a sweet friend, our meal out today cost us very little.

Avoid sales!  OK OK, yes, buy stuff on sale when you can, but DO NOT just go looking for sales.  If you do not need something, buying it on sale is NOT saving money.  I know a lot of people with stuff piled in closets that were bought on sale.  Not being used, not being enjoyed- just taking up space "in case" and a complete waste of money.

Practice self control!  Ask yourself, "Do I really need this?"  Better yet, write it down and see if in a week or two you still feel that you need it,  Often times when we remove ourselves from the immediate "I NEED that" moment, we see the value in waiting or even passing things up.

Stay strong!  Yes, sometimes we just need to make a decision and stick to it!  I had a Stitch Fix delivered last week- in the middle of my No-Spend month.  I do not usualy go out to clothes shop as it makes me a wreak, so this is a way I often buy clothes.  Huge praise that for once only ONE item called my name.  I quickly put the others in the return envelope and left the magical pants, which fit like a gem, on the top to consider.  The following morning as I stood considering them again this is what came to mind... you said NO SPENDING!  Surely you can do this, don't be a wimp.  Surely you have better self control.  As quick as I could I stuck those pants in the bag and sealed it, and sent them on their way.  It might seem like a small thing to you, but I am telling you the more we deny ourselves and show some restraint in random spending, the easier it gets. You can do it!

One more week to go- we can do this!  And I can't wait to see how much money we have indeed saved!  How about you?

Blessings,

No Spend January Confessions

Yep, it is only the 13th of the month and already I have confessions to make.

Let's start at the beginning.  January 1st, our family began a self imposed (read, MOM imposed) no spend January.  This was to include no clothing, entertainment and house hold items, with the exception of 4 Sunday after church meals, using gift cards for two meals and spending under $10 per outing for the other two meals. (You can read the full No-Spend January post!) I convinced them, sort of, that it would be a good way to save some extra money, maybe get to bless someone else at the end of the month, and be a good way to practice patience and self control.  Not to mention, we do not NEED anything.  Seriously!

So confession number one-
It was a bad idea on my part to try this the month we are trying to sell a house!  At the very least, it makes it more challenging.

Which leads to confession number two-
We had a last minute showing the first day on the market and had to head out of the house at lunch time.  Yes, I bought lunch out.  As cheaply as possible, but spent money none the less.  Because I was ill prepared gathering the dog, straightening the house, and getting one child off to work on time led to a crunch. I thought things our better the following day and we had a picnic lunch at the park- a story for another day.

Confession number three-
Our first lunch out cost about $10.38ish.  (I cannot find the receipt to save my life!)  But hey, I was pretty proud of ourselves- 5 people ate for just about $10.  Today our lunch costs us a little over $15, so about $5 over.  We probably could have changed a few lunch choices and hit our mark, but overall it could have been a lot worse considering what it usually cost to feed 5 of us.

Confession number four-
My family is not overly excited about my whole plan, and with an anticipated February move, I doubt our experiment will last past this month.  Move time is stressful and I do not want to make things worse.

It's certainly not over- so I will keep you updated. And wow, there are some big things on the horizon around here- can't wait to share!

Blessings

No Spend February Results, Thoughts and Confessions

It is March?  How did it get to be March?  I think each month goes by quicker and quicker.  My husband thinks the last two months have gone by slowly, and he blames my no spend madness.  I had even entertained the idea of a no spend March entitled Mad March, but my 15 year old threatened to change the name at the last second before the posting and call it Mad at Mom March, so I let it go.  She is, remember, my IT girl and would do it!  But, I digress...

When we started on this journey in January it was multiple reasons.  To save money, to rethink our budget, to get a grip on our spending and to not add to the life we were in the process of decluttering.  Let's face it, it is pointless to get rid of stuff, if you're only going to replace it with new stuff.  That, as someone said to me recently, is the challenge.  January was fairly easy.  February was a little harder.

So let's look at how we did.  Be nice please.  And forgiving! ;)

~We had 5 ice cream cones at McDonald's.  Can't remember exactly how much it was, but let's say just under $5.00.  Here's my excuse- our rental house was put on the market, and one Sunday we had about a hour and a half heads up it was being shown.  Yes, we loaded kids and dogs in car and since it was too cold to go to the park we treated the kids to ice cream.  I figured it was a cheaper than wandering aimlessly around in WalMart!  Especially with the mood I was currently in.  'nuff said!

~We also ate yogurt at Sweet Frog for Valentine's Day, but in my defense we used the money the kids had gotten in cards from their Grandmother.  It was perfect timing since dad was out of town!  Thanks Mom!

~We went to Sweet Frog again! (do you have one of these places???  oh my goodness- yummy!)  Our excuse this time (do you notice a lot of excuses this month?) Our 15 year old got her braces off after two years and daddy wanted to celebrate with her.  He's the hero!

~While last month we only spent money paying bills, buying gas and buying groceries, this month we did extend our spending to a few other categories such as haircuts, clothes (hey, one of the boys needed underwear- trust me on this one!), and home maintenance.  As I stated before, these are a few of the categories we put money towards each month, not just random spending. 

~We did not use any entertainment money, save the ice cream, and did not get our monthly "free" spending money, save some money that my hubby took out to treat our college daughter to dinner when he visited her.  As a matter of fact, his entire flight and hotel were "free" thanks to built up mileage and old credit card points.  Oh, except for that darn $20.00 baggage fee.

All in all, still a lot less money going out and for sure a lot more thought went into the spending that did take place. 

What did we learn? 
People who vow not to buy anything for a year are amazing.  Or liars ;)  Things run out, wear down or are just plain needed sometimes.  What about stamps?  Batteries?  New underwear?  Just saying...

We take the ability to buy things we want for granted.  And that is sad.  Just because we have the money does not mean we have to spend it.  I tell my kids that all of the time.  Now why do I not listen to my own advice?

We are an instant gratification society.  I do not want to be an instant gratification family!

Sometimes learning to wait is a great life lesson, even for grown ups.

We will not die from not eating out!  As a matter of fact, we will probably be a lot healthier by not eating out!

A side note on eating out...
     Wanna know who missed eating out the most?  The 5 year old.  Day after day he asked, "Can we eat out today?"  Folks, it is not like we eat out a lot.  Maybe 1 time a month for dinner and 2-3 times a month for lunch.  Seriously!  But that became THE question of the day.  Drove. Me. Crazy!
It seems that eating out no longer had become a treat, but an expectation.

What do you mean we are not eating out.  I deserve this.

 

Friends, we deserve nothing!  We are owed nothing.

 

The reality is that all we deserve we are free from because Christ died on the cross for our sins.

 

Going out is great.  And a fun treat. But I desperately want my family to see it as that- a special treat.  One that lights their eyes up and makes them think, wow, there must be something special about today.  Not just, this is what we do.  Let's face it, there are millions of people that do not have the luxury of eating out...let's not allow ourselves to take that privilege for granted.

 

OK, stepping off soapbox now! ;)

 

Continuing on- I am thankful for these past two months.  I am grateful for a family that allows me to shake up their lives occasionally with my grand ideas and then patient enough to flesh out those ideas.  I am thankful that God uses those crazy ideas of mine to teach us a few lessons- some of which I pray we never forget!

 

Blessings to you all,
 



Linked up today with Caroline, at the Modest Mom!

No Spend January Thoughts and Results!

I can hardly believe that in three days the month of January will be over.  2013 is moving forward whether we are ready or not.   It all started with a simple idea to save money by spending less.  Spending less and saving more!  Great idea.  In theory.  But let's just be honest up front, it was challenging.  But not in the ways I imagined.

Here's how it shook out.  We budget each month in certain set categories.  For the month of January we decided not to spend in any of those categories except groceries, bills, tithing and gas.  In what I will call "savings" categories, our money went into those dedicated accounts as normal, but was not used.  Examples being, home maintenance, vacation, school supplies, etc. " Fun money" categories that usually get taken out as cash remained in our account- for example entertainment, clothing, and the allowances my husband and I give ourselves for pocket money.

I would like to say that we did not spend an extra penny outside the allowed categories.  That would not be quite honest so here goes:

We did spend about $45.00 to send two boxes of things to our college daughter.  She did not have enough room in her suitcase to fly everything back and so we had to bend here.  She did, after all, need her clothes!

I allowed my two middle kids to go to the movies one afternoon.  The deal was that they pay for it themselves.  My kids only go to the movies about twice a year.  Seriously!  We are just that strict on movies.  But this was one the older one really wanted to see and it was not going to still be in the theaters in February.  She spent her money and while I may have lost a few points with you all, I gained lots of points with her.  :-) Some things are worth it!

Other than that we have been faithful.  No lunches or dinners out.  No little treats at the gas station or food at co op.  No candy bars at the drug store.  Funny thing, the 5 year old seemed to miss it all the most.  He would ask if he could have a treat, I would look at him and he would say, "Oh that's right, it is no spend January."  Yep, I think he thinks that is really the name of the month.

As for me...well, I do not NEED anything, so I did not  feel like I really deprived myself of anything.  But, yes, I saw those 75% off Christmas sales or buy one get one free ads and felt a twinge of oh no, can't do that.  But really, guys, I did not NEED that stuff anyway.  It would have been just buying to buy...pointless and wasteful.  Shame on me!

 I did not do without things I NEEDED, I did without things I DID NOT NEED IN THE FIRST PLACE!

So where does that leave us?  About $500.00 richer!  And more content.  And empowered to make better decisions.  And challenged to change up our budget a little.  And crazy enough to declare a...

NO SPEND FEBRUARY!  Who's in?

Oh, and one little disclaimer on that...we are going on a date night for Valentine's Day, thanks to a gift card given to us at Christmas.  Just want you to know in case you see me out!  ;)

And for those who joined in with us this month, thank you!  I hope you were blessed and challenged a little as well.

 

No Spend January!

So how's your money situation looking?  Did you overspend in the month of December?  How about January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, and November?  Do you look around your house at the stuff and wonder just where your money went?

Budget.  The dreaded "B" word in many people lives.  But years ago, a wise friend encouraged us to introduce a budget into our lives and since then we have looked at our money in a whole different light.  It is no longer the scary demon in our lives but a tool to do what we want and help the people we want to help.  It is a good thing!  That doesn't mean, friends, that we never make mistakes or spend frivolously.  We are human, after all and I do like fabric.  and quilts. and candles. and books.  But when we get derailed, we try to quickly get back on track and move forward, learning from our mistakes.

Thus is born - No Spend January!

 

 To help tightened up our belts and get us back on track this family has committed to spend NO EXTRA MONEY, outside of titheing, gas, bills and groceries for the month of January!  NONE!  As an extra incentive, I kindly told everyone that they would hate to be the one I wrote about as the failure at the end of the month.  I am nice that way!

So...
 Entertainment Budget - saved.  No eating out, no treats at Walgreens, no movies, nothing. 

  LOTS MORE TIME TOGETHER AS WELL AS MONEY SAVED.

Clothing budget - saved.  We just had Christmas, ya'll.  And quite honestly, most people in this house have enough clothes to dress the neighborhood.

Haircuts - saved.  We cut the boys' hair in this family already, so if you see the girl's hair getting a little long, be kind and look the other way.

Fun Money - saved.  My husband and I each get pocket money for the extras that come up on a daily basis.  You know - the "where did that money go?" category!

Time for honesty - that will be almost $500.00 in savings with those categories alone!  And those things are just wants, not needs.  And there is a difference.  And sometimes we just need a gentle reminder.  Wow, do you know where your money goes?  As for the other budget categories for long term things that we put a set amount of money away for each month for car maintenance, house repair, homeschooling, vacation, etc, all those catagories will be still added to like normal - BUT NONE SPENT.

Thus - tithe sent, bills paid, groceries bought and cars gassed up, but other than that - NO SPENDING!! 

Wanna join us?  Better yet, NEED to join us?

A little prayer from me to you!
Lord, Help us to be better stewards of our money.  Help us to make wise choices and to use YOUR money to bless others.  May we all know the difference between wants and needs and to trust you to supply us with what we need.  For those that are struggling, Lord, grant them patience and wisdom as they reevaluate their money and spending habits. Thank you for all you have blessed us with and for all you are doing in our lives.  To YOU goes the glory!  Amen!



Linking up with Melinda at Weiser Academy!