Feb No Buy! Short Month! We can do this!

[A.Mickey]

I didn't see a Feb No Buy, so I thought I'd start one.

No Buy is whatever you need it to be. This is not a thread about not spending any money. That would be impossible. It is just about keeping yourself in check.

Welcome all old friends, and hello new faces!

I love the start of a fresh month!

 

[A.Mickey]

Running Total: Spent $0
$0 Days:0/10

Groceries ($252-$9/day)- $
Eating Out ($196-$7/day)- $
Misc. (Shopping/Entertainment) ($1204-$43/day) $928 Planned= $81x2 Class Registration, $60 Preschool Registration, $92 Great America, $500 Hotels Ohio and $168 St. Louis, $100 Liscense Registration, $14 Metra to see Musical, $3 Bag of Books at Library Book Sale, Car is getting fixed again too
Gas $200?-

WEEK 1 BEGIN:
1-
2-
3-
4-
5-
WEEK 2 BEGIN:


Budget: $1652....0%
Month: 0/28: 0%
No Buy: /10: 0%

My savings from coupons and sales: $0

 

[QVCshopper]

Thanks for starting the new thread, A Mickey! I'm in again. Goal is to spend as little as possible and since it's a short month, I'll say 14 no-buy days--not sure I can do half of the month, but I'll try.

We're trying to save for house or baby or both... Really need to buy some food and plan DS' 5th b-day (yikes!). I already have my V-Day gifts (thanks to Target's great XMas and toy sales), so that's about it for now.

 

[weluvdizne]

Count me in! I really need to do this for so many reasons.
1. our fridge/freezer/pantry are all full. need to clean them out and eat what we already paid for.
2. need to save $$ for our trip.
3. need to replenish the savings account. had to replace the blower motor on the furnace last week. $813 - OUCH!!!

I'm aiming for 18 no buy days. That's only spending money 3 days each week. I just made a huge Walmart run today, so we should be good. Only out of the norm spending this month should be on a birthday card for my dad. All else will come from what we already have. Will also try to keep grocery shopping to what we actually NEED.

Good luck everyone, and thanks for the motivation!

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

I'm in, with my own twist. Recording groceries but not couting them towards no buy days, but also raising my no buy days to 18. Hoping to get a real feel for the difference from this month last year, since January was a bust.

February 1-$0 I am doing better but still not eating more then a few bites so no stregnth to go anywhere. I am going to attempt to cook dinner for the first time in over 2 weeks, but just an easy crock pot dinner. It's something.

 

[Virgderon]

Thank you A.Mickey for starting the thread!

Not sure what my budget should be this month. We are taking the car this weekend for new brakes, and I have no idea how much that will be. I get an extra commission this month, so I will make my budget a little higher for now. The extra money I am making was supposed to go to pay taxes, but life happens.

Running Total: Spent $45
$1200 budget... 1155 left
$0 Days:
Goal is 8 or more!
coupon/sale savings :13

Groceries budget- $250-25= 225 left

Feb. 1 : 45 (groceries and laundry detg, snacks for hockey game tonight, 10 for parking at hockey game tonight)

 

[ceemys]

I'm in! I am on a very strict budget this month. I went about 20 days in Jan with no spending. I know I can do it again this month. Not including paying rent/electricity and 1 lonley CC. Good Luck everyone!!!

Running total days - 1
Running total $ 0

 

[patsal]

I'm in again. I am so much more aware of what I spend when I am tracking on here. Short month so I am going to go with a goal of 10 no buy days! Hopefully I can keep spending down to about $1000.

2/1 $0 (Cello cancelled by teacher so saved me $20..woohoo)
2/2 $35 haircut
2/3 $0
2/4 $44 Aldi, $134 BJ's, $20 for work lottery pool, $10 for my Senior helper (fundraiser for Student Senate, classroom helper for the day $ to charity), $2 salad ($210 total)
2/5 $0
2/6 $0
2/7 $55 for my birthday dinner!
----$300---------4 No buy days!

2/8 $20 for DD's cello lesson
2/9 $22 quick grocery stop
2/10 $0
2/11 $50 gas, $12 at Tops, $55 at Aldi, $2 for lunch ($119)
2/12 $0
2/13 $65 groceries for Valentine's dinner, $39 clothes Fashion Bug, $21 Dollar General ($125)
2/14 $0

----$286+300= $586-----3 + 4= 7 No Buy Days!

2/15 $20 for DD's cello lesson
2/16 $20 for Dr. copay; $9 Wegmans, $15 for protein samples ($44)
2/17 $0
2/18 $0
2/19 $156 for protein powders
2/20 $0
2/21 Movies and lunch $24 plus $56 ($80)
-----------$300 plus $586= $886---------7+3=10 no buy days

2/22 Mall trip $40 Old Navy, $100 VS ($140)
2/23 Ice cream cake for my dad's birthday $26
2/24 Cards and gift cards $28, lunch for Dad's birthday $67 ($96)
2/25 $0
2/26 $60 Aldi, $65 Round of drinks for sister's birthday ($125)
2/27 $0
2/28 $0
----------$886+$386=$1272------------10+3=13 no buy days

Well it looks like I beat my goal for no buy days, but the days I did buy were well over budget. After looking at my goal I can see I didn't take Valentine's Day, and 3 birthdays into consideration when planning, so I need to remember that though a short month it is also a pricey one for my family! On to March where, though longer I may fair better---oops I have a 4 day weekend at US/IOA with DD and her best friend, the date is halfway between both of their birthdays so it is to celebrate their sweet 16.
I hope everyone else had good luck making their goals, see you on the March thread!

 

[bigmama67]

I'm in. I was able to get 5 no-buy days last month as planned - #6 was out because of DH's doctor appointment. So I will count groceries and gas but not medical or other bills this month, and aim for 8 no-buy days. Baby steps, folks...

We're supposed to get some more snow and sleet tonight and tomorrow (what a surprise...) so I will just go to the stores today to get the groceries we need to get through till Friday when DH gets his next check. I'm also registering for a cake decorating class at Michaels which starts next week (have a 50% off coupon).

 

[Debbie]

In again. I'll figure out my goals later....

 

[thebigkahuna]

I'm in again too!

Because there is a holiday (Valentines Day ) and a 3 day weekend (President's day weekend) I'm going to make a goal of EIGHT no $pend days in February. (other goals are packing lunches and shopping weekly to avoid those panicked nights when "there's nothing to eat in this house" is the battle cry. )

Thanks A.Mickey for starting the thread & I'm so glad to see the "regulars" are back! hope to see new faces too; come on in, we are all friendly!!
Good luck to us all in our February goals!


Feb 1 -
Feb 2 -
Feb 3 -
Feb 4 -

WEEKEND!
02-05
02-06

Feb 7 -

 

[nunzia]

I'm in. I fell short last month, got 11/14, but we went to Disneyland so that didn't help. This month I will shoot for 12 no buy days

 

[MAGICX2]

This is my first time! Figured what better month to start than a short one. Going for 12 no buy days, but have to exempt 2/2-2/7 (vacation). Saving for a down payment on a house in April!

Feb. 1 $3.50 Time Hortons
Feb 2 EXEMPT
Feb 3 EXEMPT
Feb 4 EXEMPT
Feb 5 EXEMPT
Feb 6 EXEMPT
Feb 7 EXEMPT

 

[annsteere]

I'm still going to be avoiding impulse spending. But I can't figure out how to set goals for this month.

Found a CD that DH had on his Christmas list but nobody could locate. Got it for $8. That plus a card from Dollar Tree (.50) will be a good Valentines gift for him. So that exemption is covered.

The blizzard is coming. I planned to commute to the conference I am working at tomorrow. But in order to be sure to be there we just booked a room. That means breakfast in the land of the $4 coffee rather than oatmeal at home. Dh is worried about the pipes freezing so we'll be keeping the heat up while we are gone.

There is a super bowl party and my DD and son-in-love are coming for a dinner a week from Sunday.

The "big event" we've been pinching pennies for arrives this month: meeting with our two adult children and their spouse/fiancee for a few days together at Disney. I want to be sure that I make the transition from ultra frugal to spend-with-joy. (Sometimes that's a challenge for me.)

I'll be back with goals if I can figure them out.

Otherwise, I'll back just checking up on the rest of you and getting inspired to "watch it and do the best you can."

 

[GinnyEmma]

Never joined one of these threads, hope you don't mind a newcomer. We've been on vacation, and one gets into the habit of impulse buying.

I hope that you all make your goals.

 

[wlake]

Thanks for getting us started, A. Mickey! Hello everyone!

I made it to 13 no buy days last month, so with the shorter month I'm going to aim for 11. According to the weather, we're in the house and out of school for the next two days, so if I can avoid the online shopping...!

Here are my goals:
no buy days: 0/11
meals out: 0/5
longest streak: 3 (would love to get this to 4!)

 

[QVCshopper]

Off to a good start, thanks to the weather. Sending DD6 in the bus instead of driving her, so no Dunkin Donut temptation. Also will have to skip the free build at Lego. Oh well! I may spluge and take my DD to the American Girl Doll fashion show in March. The prices went up this year (of course), but it's for charity and we won a doll last year. One raffle prize is a trip to Disney!

Glad you're slowly feeling better, MickeyMomOfThree! Welcome to the newcomers and my longtime no-buy pals.

1/14 no-buys

2/1-$0

 

[msmama]

I'm in again. Thankfully I managed to do 17/15 for January so I've got momentum going into Feb.

I'm going to go for 14 No Buys - half the month.

I'm also going to track spending this month (I already took $ out of the Feb budget, lol):
Groceries: 187/300 - 113 left
Car: 0/80 - 80 left
Dining out/Entertainment: 10/100 - 90 left
Gifts/Valentines: 20/100 - 80 left

(My grocery budget is actually 100 less than my actual grocery budget but I'm going to see what I can do). I also have a minor surgrey scheduled in the middle of the month so I'll have extra medical expenses, but hopefully a few no-buys while I'm at home recovering.

2/1 - 5 -met friend for coffee
2/2
2/3
2/4
2/5
2/6
2/7
2/8
2/9
2/10
2/11
2/12
2/13
2/14 - SURGERY
2/15
2/16
2/17
2/18
2/19
2/20
2/21
2/22
2/23
2/24
2/25
2/26
2/27
2/28

 

[princessbride6205]

It's been awhile since I've done no buy, but I just got a salary cut at work, so I'm back.
This month I just want to monitor my spending and then I'll figure out goals later. Stuff we don't really need and dining out are usually our challenges, so it will be good to see how much money is spent in those areas.

2/1 - $6.50 parking at work

 

[elcodfish]

Newbie here I've been reading these posts for a while and I've decided to dunk my toes. I don't really have a game plan, I just want to be more aware of where our money goes, although we are both pretty good about our spending habits. I recently started with flylady.net and have been decluttering and cleaning and I think this is a great new way to get a little more control over life and help me achieve some long-term financial goals my husband and I have set for ourselves..
I do have some goals:
-eat out no more than 6 times
-use things from my freezer twice a week (I have tons of veggies and chicken in there)
-use things from my pantry twice a week (I have tons of soups, rice, and pasta)

Things I know I have to spend money on:
-parking downtown twice for Lacrosse games: $20 total
-Nephew's B-day gift: $40?
-Friend's son's B-day gift: $30?

I know I have to stay out of Target because that $1 section gets me every time!