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

[wlake]

2/1:
2/2:
2/3:
2/4: $40 Lands' End (sheets for DS and pants for me), $21 after school, $4 Amazon ebooks
2/5: Target, Walmart, AC Moore, and something else?
2/6: groceries
2/7:
2/8: $41 things for school
2/9: gas, $12 bagels, $120 for Little League registration (actually paying it tomorrow, but as I'm writing the check and filling out the forms tonight so I can just drop it off tomorrow, I'm counting it for today.)
2/10: $20 pharmacy, $2.50 snacks DS needs for school for tomorrow (I thought they were due Monday and was going to roll them into the weekly grocery shopping. Good thing the pharmacy is at a grocery store!)
2/11: $39 after school, ? take out
2/12: a surprise one, but I'll take it!
2/13: ? groceries (all DH will say is that he overspent -- oh well!), $3 Amazon book
2/14: ? more groceries while DH was at the pharmacy, ? pharmacy, $150 for the furnace visit when the pipes were frozen
2/15: ? cough meds and soda for me, $1 Amazon for a Kindle book
2/16:
2/17: (although we got take out using gift cards for dinner, I'm not counting this as either -- it was my first day back at work and DH was out of town, so I knew I wouldn't have the left over energy to cook after being so sick)
2/18: (had the wrong checkbook to pay after school)
2/19: $3 thread, $6 Walmart (includes Valentines for the boys to give to their classmates next year at 61¢ a pack!)
2/20: $7 bagels, $? Trader Joe's (I love visiting there!), $25 dinner out (not really our choice, as we were driving the couple of hours home from my MIL's), $14 after school (wrote the check tonight, dropping it off tomorrow)
2/21:
2/22: $36 Target (no great Valentine clearance, though), $78 groceries, and ? gas (I've already forgotten!)
2/23:
2/24: $5 post office, $6 groceries/laundry soap. However, I got a $120 check from the consignment shop to put towards the newly planned summer trip!
2/25: $58 Walmart, $20 pharmacy, $25 gas, $34 dinner out
2/26: $150 BJ's, $34 haircuts, $20 baby gift, $14 Lands' End (that's 4 shirts though!), $? Lowe's (we took the divide and conquer approach to errands today)
2/27: Annual flower show trip with my friend! The convention center is next to a super nice mall, so sums up my spending well. I figure we splurge like this twice a year so...! Here goes: $10 parking, $18 ticket, $5 Lush, $20 Williams-Sonoma, $7 Crate and Barrel, $15 Clarks (Smartwool socks for just over $7 a pair!).

no buy days: 10/11
longest streak: 3
meals out: 3/5
days without dinner out: 2
longest no dinners out streak: 10

 

[ronnmel]

Spending all day today finishing my report cards, so another 0$ day!

No Buy Days : 19/16 Not setting a new goal. Will just take whatever extra no-buy days I can get.
Gas : 102$ (let's try 100$)
Groceries : 119$ (250$ max)
Eating out (and snacks) : 42$ (100$ max)
Non-necessities : 633$ (200$)

01/02 : 0$
02/02 : 0$
03/02 : 35$ (gas)
04/02 : 0$
05/02 : 0$
06/02 : 0$
07/02 : 0$
08/02 : 111$ (gas + groceries)
09/02 : 0$
10/02 : 0$
11/02 : 41$ (dinner + clothes)
12/02 : 0$
13/02 : 0$
14/02 : 0$
15/02 : 12$ (scarf, mittens + snack)
16/02 : 0$
17/02 : 0$
18/02 : 622$
19/02 : 0$
20/02 : 39$ (groceries)
21/02 : 0$
22/02 : 0$
23/02 : 0$
24/02 : 11$ (take-out)
25/02 : 0$
26/02 : 25$ (salsa club)
27/02 : 0$

 

[wlake]

Spending all day today finishing my report cards, so another 0$ day!

Did you finish? If so, ! Isn't finishing report cards a great feeling?

 

[ronnmel]

Did you finish? If so, ! Isn't finishing report cards a great feeling?

Finished at 8pm, just in time to watch The Amazing Race. It does feel great!

 

[portocall]

1: $20.89 gas ($2.86/gallon)
2: $0!
3: $0!
4: $0!
5: $138.70 Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS, SaveALot, Rouses, Winn-Dixie, Wendy's
6: $0!
7: $0!
8: $0!
9: $0!
10: $0!
11: $0!
12: $0!
13: $0!
14: $109.19 Walgreens, CVS, Exxon ($2.85/g), Rouses, RiteAid, iTunes, Work
15: $0!
16: $0!
17: $0!
18: $7.20 Winn-Dixie and a snoball (like a snow cone...yes, in February!!)
19: $0!
20: $96.69 Family Dollar, Walgreens, Winn-Dixie
21: $28.91 Banfield, Cane's
22: $0!
23: $0!
24: $0!
25: $0!
26: $66.65 Winn-Dixie, Arby's, gift, and Shell (3.05/g)
27: $0!

$0 Days: 20
Spending: $468.23/$475= 99%
Days Passed: 27/28: 96%

Goal: To keep spending to within $475 for food, gas, and miscellaneous. I do not track bills; I only track "point of sale" transactions.

I went to another Mardi Gras parade today, but I brought a sandwich to eat before the parade started, so I had another $0 Day! I am hoping that tomorrow will be a $0 Day also, because I just did all the math for February.

This float was in the parade last night. It was the Krewe of Caesar and their theme this year was "When I Grow Up". All the floats tied in to this theme, both in the float itself and the costumes the riders wore. The last float made me think of this thread. It was "Millionaire".



There are some more photos from last night if you are interested. Just click on the picture.

So many people are making their goals! Congratulations!

Great Job on 20 $0 days. I am hoping to join you in some way in March.. errr tomorrow. Great pics... I was relieved not to see a certain one on there.

 

[nunzia]

Feb 1- Gas $20, Walmart shopping trip during a snowstorm..ack: $106.89 (more than I expected to spend, but dogs have to eat and DH needs his beer) coupons: $8.45
2- $0 (even New Mexico was snowed in today)
3- took a friend visiting from Florida out for lunch $22.87, went to Dollar Tree for hash browns but got my DH his favorite cookies instead since they had no hash browns $5.00, ended up at Lowes for hash browns $1.99
4- $12.00..out for lunch with another friend
5- $0
6- $0
7- $0
8- $0 ( to be fair..I did buy a plane ticket for DH's trip to join me after Expo next year, but that wasn't an optional purchase and money came from trip account..I'm only counting optional things, food and gas, not things that are locked in stone)
9- Big spending day! DH medicine and gas: $20, groceries: $39, Leapfrog site,,they still have some DIDJ stuff on clearance and I bought DGS a Didj for Christmas and he loves it so needed to get stuff before it totally disappears, plus a charger to save on batteries, so $53, and DH had to buy materials to replace the pad to our bedroom carpet that got ruined during the big stupid freeze/thaw we had, so $166 ACK Coupons, $2.50 (PS edited to *** $4.90 to ship Valentines stuff to out of state grandkids..forgot to yesterday)
10- $0
11- $9.00, lunch out with a friend, $9.00 grandkids to Dollar Tree after school
12- $20.45 at my second job, Hastings, for frappe, bagel, magazines for grandkids and part of a wedding shower gift, $45.75 WalMart, rest of the wedding shower gift, a few groceries and WHOOP toys on super clearance put away for future events, $30.00 Bingo night out with son and DIL
13-$0
14-$0
15-$1.74 movie rental, $10.00 gas, $4.50 berries on sale
16-$26 Walmart..groceries and did I mention the great Toys clearance?
17-Took a day off from work today. At my other job spent $1.00 for a bagel (started feeling shakey..low blood sugar issues) and rental clearance Sorcerer's Apprentice for $4.99, then went to Penny's because I had overpaid my CC and got some stuff for a baby shower and grandkids, but cost nothing, down the mall past Hallmark, who had all their left over ornaments on sale for $2.00 each, bought 2..Kmart to finish getting stuff for the baby shower, $16.96, then tacos for lunch $4.80. We also went out to dinner with friends, but used a GC
18-Dang, blew it with $6.89 at Dollar Tree with the grandkids...
19- $0
20-$66.41, Walmart groceries AND the cashier hit the process button before taking off my coupons..SO irritated... $9.00 lunch with friend
21- Disney...$116.00 gas$ 10.00 (3.08 a gallon ouch)and wine $12.69
22- $0
23- $0
24- $15.00 groceries(great deals! Milk $1.87 a gallon) Gas $20 (figured I may as well get more since it's going nowhere but up and the same gas I pais $3.08 for 2 day is now $3.13) Dinner out with friends, $19.00
25-$ 11.48 Clearanced Valentine stuff for next year and movie rental, went out to lunch with a friend but IHOP had some issue with my ticket where it said I didn't owe anything nd no matter what they did they couldn't get the computer to accept it or over-ride it, so got that for free..very odd.
26- $22.00 for groceries, $20 for nephew birthday (surprise! we are having John's bday party tomorrow...argh..)
27- Dang!! The bottom chunk of cat food was in the bag on the floor where the flood happened and didn't realize it had gotten so wet and the rest of the food got moldy so had to go buy cat food!..and Kleenex..and sharpies...so $15.25. Tomorrow WILL be no spend no matter what.
28-

11/12

 

[lattemomof3]

Hi everyone! I'm in for Feb. It will be a really short month for us, as I won't record next week while we're in Orlando. We are renting a house, so we don't have the dp, and even though we'll make some meals at the house, I'm sure we'll eat at least 1 meal out each day. There are only 3 fast food places & 2 restaurants in our small town, so I'm really looking forward to variety!

The rest of the month will be a little leaner, because of vacation spending, & that dh will be taking a week off of work (we're self-employed), so I really need to stay within our cash-budget. So, the goals are 10 no-buy days, and to stay on budget. Good luck everyone!

Feb 1 - Subway tonight, we have dance, wrestling, & haircuts this afternoon & evening, and no place to picnic w/ negative 10 degree weather.

Feb 2 - $0

Feb 3 - a quick trip to Walmart for snacks for the trip, camera batteries, & a leapster game for dd5.

Feb 4 - traveling
Feb 5 - traveling- and Disney for the Electric parade
Feb 6 - Harry Potter @ Universal
Feb 7 - Disney
Feb 8 - Disney
Feb 9 - Disney
Feb 10 - Disney
Feb 11 - Disney
Feb 12 - flying home
Feb 13 - few groceries

Feb 14 - groceries, $4 at Mcd's

Feb 15 - dinner out (dance & wrestling night), supplies for ds's school project

Feb 16 - groceries, $24 for arms for the Mr. Potato heads the kids got at DD. I thought the arms we had at home would work, so we did'nt put any in their box, nope, the Disney arms are different (they are made to hold the Mickey balloon, ticket, etc),so it made about half of the pieces they got unusable, so I searched on Ebay & have 3 sets of arms coming from all over the world, the things we do for our kids!

Feb 17 - $0

Feb 18 - few groceries

Feb 19 - movie w/ dh - only cost a few dollars, w/ a gift card, we saw the new one w/ Jennifer Aniston & Adam Sandler, it was very good! Also picked up a few groceries @ Walmart

Feb 20 - $0

Feb 21 - ice cream for the kids

Feb 22 - smoothies @ Mcd's for kids,in between a field trip, dance & wrestling. I really need to make a meal plan, I've been winging it since we got back. Can't believe how long it is taking to get back in the swing of things!

Feb 23 - $birthday gift

Feb 24 - groceries

Feb 25 - $0

Feb 26 - $0 snowing like crazy today, so staying in!

Feb 27 - We were all a bit testy and tired of being cooped inside w/ the awful weather, so I told dh to go get out of the house w/ out the kids, as we both work at home (he does his appraisal business in our home office), we are with our kids A LOT, which is usually a good thing, but occasionally one of us will step up and say- I can tell you need a "kid breather". So dh went to staples & picked up a few office things (I know, great fun, right? There is very little to do around here in the winter in our rural area- even the library is closed on Sun in the town 35 miles away where Staples is). Then my mom called, she was also a bit down in the dumps (I think we need some vitamin D!), so she & I took the kids to see Gnomeo & Juliet. So I was really planning on it being a $0 day, but, as my dh said "it was cheaper than seeing a therapist". I am sooooo looking forward to some nice weather- we have played games, watched videos, played wii, had friends over & went sledding toooo many times- the natives are getting restless! It is during the winter when I really long to move somewhere where there are more entertainment options, and indoor playground, large library, anything! Here's hoping March comes in like a lamb - and stays that way!

 

[IMALOVNDISNEY]

I'm back on board. Feb should be a money maker for me. I make/sell Valentine's Day candy. I'm readjusting my goals from last month

Auto 170.00/$240.00
Groceries/Household Goods $205..00 /$150.00[/COLOR] over, but, I was able to stock up on sale items. So save in the long run.
(dropped this one because I stocked up on meats,storage and spices last month.)
Eating Out/Entertainment $33.00/$100.00[/COLOR]
(I raised this one because we are taking DD out to dinner after her theater performance).
Misc. $269.00/$125.00 over due to Prom
(also raised this to allow for DD's performance flowers)
Money Made $73.00 Also ordered several things I bartered for on top of $$

No spend days goal is 14/12 goal made
(raised this one as well because I did so well last month. Had 17 out of 10
Coupon savings. $124.00
Gift Card savings $228.00

January coupon savings $360.00
no buy days 17/10

02/01 -0- Snowing AGAIN. stayed in and prepared and froze all the chicken breast I bought on Friday. Tomorrow I'll do all the ground beef. For $90 I got 11 different chicken dinners and will have at least 18 meals from the beef.
02/02 -Calling it for the day. Not leaving the house again. We're still getting storms. Today is ice and sleet :eek
02/03 -0-Made it into work today..But, still a no spend day. I cooked so much over the past 2 days that I have tons of food to eat. Plus, there was no time to spend money. Today starts my DD's theater productions for the weekend.
02/04 $68.00, $50 gas $18 at Costco's for 2 dz. Roses. These are for 2 of my DD's performances.
02/05-0-
02/06 $11.00 $8.00 at D&D's after church, $3.00 gal. of milk. And we went to Olive Garden for dinner tonight after my DD's last performance. Bill came to $78.00 but paid -0-. We had a gc we forgot about. . The only reason we spent so little this weekend was we just didn't have time to do anything. DD had 5 theater performances in 4 days. We're all exhausted. She did such an amazing job. But, sure am glad it's over.
02/07 -0-
02/08 More snow today Spent $54.00 at Super Walmart on groceries. I saved $22. in coupons I take my DBFF to do her grocery shopping. Today was her monthly BIG trip. This was our first trip to SWalmart (other than the ones in FLA). It isn't close. But, so worth it. Now that we are shopping together I am trying to teach her how to coupon. I think she's slowly getting it. We also went out to lunch. Paid -0- she and one of her friends that came with us bought my lunch for taking them.
02/09 $18.00 in hospital caf food. There was a family emergency and spent the day and night at the hospital.
02/10 By 6:00am I had already spent $6.00 on juice, bagel, and a fruit cup Hospital caf food is outrageously expensive. I'm back home to shower and to pack up food to bring back up to the hospital.
02/11-0- Not only did my DNiece get out of ICU, but, they discharged her. After receiving 18 units of blood and a 7 hr. surgery to save her life. They discharge her 2 days later. Gotta love the insurance company. But, so glad she's home.
02/12 $94.00 $40.00 Gas. Made the mistake of taking my DH to Walmart with me to drop off an RX. He bought seeds and starter soil. And we got a few other things. All food related. So, I'm listing it all as groceries. Note to self..AGAIN! Leave DH at home when shopping.
02/13 $24.00 Walmart Valentine's and Anniversary cards.(at the price), 1 small box of chocolates for DD. Only bought them just to have the heart box. I can't bring myself to buy specialty chocolates. I had already purchased her V'day things after Christmas 75% off and thoughout the last month 1/2 and held on to them. It doesn't hurt as much that way. Also go milk and produce.
02/14 -0-Happy Valentines Day!! Also our Anniversary. We don't buy gifts for each other. Just cards.
02/15 -0-Going to dinner tonight for our Anniversary with GC's we got as gifts from DInLaws.
02/16-0-
02/17 $7.00 Forgot my lunch had home today. Had to buy it. And milk and funny bones on the way home from work.
Thank you to everyone for the well wishes for my DNiece. She's doing great. So far no reaction to the multiple units of blood.
02/18 $193.00 $30.00 gas (less than my weekly amount due to the fact I really haven't been going anywhere extra)- $149.00 Prom dress for DD looks amazing BTW- $14.00 TGIF for dinner. This was the tip. Everything else was covered by either GC or coupons.
02/19 $13.00 groceries, but saved $60.00 in coupons.
02/20 -0- Went to Church and came right home. No stopping anywhere DH is starting some of our seeds for the garden today Seeds were purchased at the end of the season last year.Spring is around the corner!!
02/21 -0- More snow today. And it was nasty cold. To cold to stop anywhere on my way to and from work.
02/22 -0-
02/23 -0-
02/24 -0-
02/25 $71.00 $50.00 gas, $21.00 Target (groceries. saved $27.00 in coupons)
02/26 $78.00 Shoes and under garments for DD's Prom
02/27 $49.00 Costcos

 

[fairyprincess1]

I did not so great this month... It seemed everyday some other little small thing would come up... But I can say that I have curbed some of my misc spending like stopping for coffee or buying lunch... So it is a start... So glad that it is the end of the month and I can start anew

 

[dtr_angel]

2/21 – $0!
2/22 - 4 new tires for our SUV $416, airfare for May 2011 Disney Trip $539, Tax Preparation $150, CVS <$1 OOP
2/23 – Eating out $3, $8 groceries
2/24 – Groceries $31
2/25 – eating out $1.10, eating out $5.30 (DH), misc $20
2/26 - $0!
2/27 – eating out $2.47
2/28 - ?


No buy days - Feb 2, Feb 21, Feb 26

 

[charming23]

We had some huge rain storms here last night which caused some water leakage in our basement. Thankfuly it was only in our utility room down there and was fairly easy to clean-up. So I stayed in today to keep an eye on it.

February Budget-
Groceries/Household- $300/-$14.51 left
Car/Gas- $50/$17.39 left
Eating Out- $50/$2.25 left
Misc/Entertainment- $100/$28.07 left

Total-$500/$28.26 left

Goal of 14 No buy days

Week One
2/1- $0- Snow Day
2/2- $0- Snow Day
2/3- $0- Snow Day
2/4- $49.82 Grocery and $12.74 Misc
2/5- $17.40 Lunch, $12.94 Jeans, and $8.43 groceries
2/6- $0
2/7- $0

Week Two
2/8- $6.30 Walgreen's and $5.58 Drugmart
2/9- $71.96 Grocery and $4.49 lunch
2/10- $37.38 Grocery, $14.01 lunch, and $46.25 Fashion Bug
2/11- $0- My Birthday
2/12- $0
2/13- $22.58 Gas and $11.51 Grocery
2/14- $23.43 Grocery/meds

Week Three
2/15- $0
2/16- $0
2/17- $55.46 Groceries
2/18- $0
2/19- $0- Found $15
2/20- $0
2/21- $0- No Power

Week Four
2/22- $0- No Power
2/23- $44.64 Groceries
2/24- $1.85 caribou coffe and $10.03 gas--- Found $21.03 in coins
2/25- $0
2/26- $0
2/27- $25 eating out but used a $15 giftcard.
2/28- $0

17/14 No Buy Days

Coupon and Store Savings- $113.69

 

[Tiggerish]

The February budget is $850 with 12 no spend days.

Auto $70 / $40 left
Eating Out/Entertainment $85 / $49 over
Giving $10 / $11 over
Groceries/Household Goods $250 /$119 left
Medical $25 / $8 over
Misc. $75 / $10 over
Set bills $335 / $14 left

I have two exceptions to my budget this month - - everything related to my cataract surgeries and an over night business trip (legal stuff) to Chicago.

No spend days goal of 12 / 13
Coupon savings $64.01
Christmas '11 running total = $8
---------------------------------------------------------------------

2/1 $0
2/2 $0
2/3 Auto $30 (gas); Groceries $3; Eating out $5
2/4 $0
2/4 Misc. $33 (birthday present for my brother-in-law)
2/6 Set bills $191 (Church, hosp., Dr. and dentist)
2/7 $0
2/8 $0
2/9 $3 Eating out
2/10 $0
2/11 Groceries $12; Eating out $13
2/12 Groceries $35
2/13 Set bills $20 (church); Giving $10 (the Gideons were at church today); Groceries $6
2/14 Eating out $38 (took my nieces and my sister out for V Day); Set bills $40 (cell phone and newspaper)
2/15 $0 (Rt. eye cataract surgery today)
2/16 $0
2/17 $0
2/18 $0
2/19 $72 Eating out
2/20 $30 set bills (church); $11 Medical
2/21 $0
2/22 $5 Groceries; $52 Misc. (haircut and stamps); $22 Medical (new prescription)
2/23 $0
2/24 $3 Eating out
2/25 $25 Groceries
2/26 $0
2/27 $30 Set bills (church); $40 Groceries; $11 Giving (donation to niece's school fund raiser)
2/28 $5 Groceries

 

[3goofyboys]

I'm in again this month!

Welcome new faces, hope you love the thread!

I've shooting for a goal of 12 no-buys for the shorter month. This month both DH and I have birthdays, plus v-day so that ads some extra expenses. Thankfully, we aren't having major birthdays this year so no big parties and we never do anything big for v-day. We are planning on buying a new house in March or April, so we need to do some saving to prep for the extra moving expenses.

Feb 1 I like to start the month with a no buy, but no such luck today. $70 had to register the boys for soccer and swimming, but I found out I had a big credit on my account (yay for found money!) so that took care of half the bill, $60 groceries.


Feb 2 It was errand day today, so $$$! $170 groceries, $40 gas, $25 filed my taxes. Hopefully this will take care of any spending through early next week.


Feb 3 We got caught out unexpectedly at lunch time, so we had to hit Subway. I could have waited, but DH gets very cranky if he isn't fed on schedule ! $15 Subway.

Feb 4 $6 dinner with my parents, $23 gas

Feb 5 woo hoo! Finally a no buy day!


Feb 6

Feb 7 $21 lunch, $40 dinner, $89 paperwork that need to be ordered. I feel terrible that we had lunch AND dinner out today. But, we're in the middle of crazy loan/house stuff and after dealing with that and a preschool board meeting today plus babysitting a friend's little boy, I did not have cooking dinner in me!

Feb 8 Calling it early because the roads are awful and we're staying inside!

Feb 9 It's been a pricey couple of days! $64 moving supplies, $10 Inta Juice

Feb 10 $30 Home Depot-more boxes, $40 gas, $18 medical, $22 driver's license, $33 date night with DH


Feb 11 $14 groceries, $12 car wash

Feb 12

Feb 13

Feb 14 $63 groceries, $4 lunch

Feb 15 $22 a set of vintage photos I really liked, $26 took the boys ice skating...it was a horrible experience (we skate a lot, this was just one bad time) hate that, especially when it wasn't cheap, $40 Home Depot-some fixer upper stuff for the house, $100 cleaning lady, $14 groceries

Feb 17 $40 gas, $77 errand running and lunch with DH, $66 dogs groomed.

Feb 18 $30 Target for cleaning supplies

Feb 19 $30 groceries, $75 shower gift for my brother and his wife, $40 took my MIL out to dinner-this was a big splurge, but she's lonely and bored, so I thought she could use some cheering up.

Feb 20


Feb 21 $65 DH and I both needed gas, ouch! $35 lunch on the way down to the museum.


Feb 22 It's DH's birthday today! So, my MIL took the boys and we went house hunting. We also went out to dinner $60 (the eating out has gotten out of control this month. I'm going to rein it in next month). $13 laundry detergent, $16 bread outlet.

Feb 23 Finally!!!!

Feb 24 Did my big grocery shop today-$178, $12 home improvement stuff, $10 took the boys to a jumpy place, $35 gas.

Feb 25

Feb 26 Hooray for a no buy day, but I'm not going to make my goal. I'm going out to dinner with friends tomorrow and DH needs gas. Bummer!

Feb 27 $25 gas, $36 dinner with friends

Feb 28

11/12 no buy days

 

[Tiggerish]

lattemomof3 - as my dh said "it was cheaper than seeing a therapist" I think he is on to something there.

Where'sPiglet? - thanks for the parade picture. You did really well with staying on budget while getting into the spirit of celebration.

February was a strange month for me. I was over in 4 of my 7 categories but still ended the month $95 to the good for the overall budget. I only put gas into my car once in February and still have a half tank left (drove only 147 miles all month). I also made my last payments on all of the old medical bills that I have been slowly paying off. So next month I will be able to start putting something towards saving for a some day WDW trip.

 

[SunnieRN]

So, goals for this pay period, Feb. 25 until March 11:

No buy goal: 7
Groceries: $200
Meds/appts: $180
Savings: $100, already transferred from today's check.
Cash: $100
Leftover funds from February trx to savings: $614

Feb. 25: groceries $92, coupon savings $18.42. Pretty well stocked for the pay period, will only need fresh veggies and fruit. Have potluck dinner made and chilli about done!
Feb. 26: going to bed as I work tonight so $0!
Feb 27: Just got up, cooking for potluck $0! Tomorrow is a Dr. appt. If that is my only spending it will be a $0 day, but anything else I will add.
Feb 28: only went to Dr appt. With co pay, so $0!

$0 days: 3/7

Congratulations everyone!! Everyone met at least ONE goal by posting all month, while most met other goals as well!!

Thank you for all the support and see you on the March thread!!

 

[3goofyboys]

I did not so great this month... It seemed everyday some other little small thing would come up... But I can say that I have curbed some of my misc spending like stopping for coffee or buying lunch... So it is a start... So glad that it is the end of the month and I can start anew

Curbing some small spending is a great start!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

1: $20.89 gas ($2.86/gallon)
2: $0!
3: $0!
4: $0!
5: $138.70 Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS, SaveALot, Rouses, Winn-Dixie, Wendy's
6: $0!
7: $0!
8: $0!
9: $0!
10: $0!
11: $0!
12: $0!
13: $0!
14: $109.19 Walgreens, CVS, Exxon ($2.85/g), Rouses, RiteAid, iTunes, Work
15: $0!
16: $0!
17: $0!
18: $7.20 Winn-Dixie and a snoball (like a snow cone...yes, in February!!)
19: $0!
20: $96.69 Family Dollar, Walgreens, Winn-Dixie
21: $28.91 Banfield, Cane's
22: $0!
23: $0!
24: $0!
25: $0!
26: $66.65 Winn-Dixie, Arby's, gift, and Shell (3.05/g)
27: $0!
28: $0!

$0 Days: 21
Spending: $468.23/$475= 99% <2 digit number here =
Days Passed: 28/28: 100%

Goal: To keep spending to within $475 for food, gas, and miscellaneous. I do not track bills; I only track "point of sale" transactions.

Woohoo!! I had 21 days of no spending! But even more importantly, I came in within budget!

Great Job on 20 $0 days. I am hoping to join you in some way in March.. errr tomorrow. Great pics... I was relieved not to see a certain one on there.

Good to see you! Portocall is a friend of mine both on the DIS and in real life.

I am going to keep adding pictures as I go to more parades. I tried to upload a video of one of the high school marching bands, but it didn't upload. I am hoping I don't wear myself out with all these parades!

I did not so great this month... It seemed everyday some other little small thing would come up... But I can say that I have curbed some of my misc spending like stopping for coffee or buying lunch... So it is a start... So glad that it is the end of the month and I can start anew

Yes, that is a good start. This is definitely a journey, not a destination. It's also good that you can reflect on what you did well as well as create some new goals for next month!

We had some huge rain storms here last night which caused some water leakage in our basement. Thankfuly it was only in our utility room down there and was fairly easy to clean-up. So I stayed in today to keep an eye on it.

I heard someone say once that there are two types of basements. Ones that have flooded and ones that will soon. At least it was an easy clean up. I saw there was some nasty weather around the country last night. My mom had 65 mph winds.

Where'sPiglet? - thanks for the parade picture. You did really well with staying on budget while getting into the spirit of celebration.

February was a strange month for me. I was over in 4 of my 7 categories but still ended the month $95 to the good for the overall budget. I only put gas into my car once in February and still have a half tank left (drove only 147 miles all month). I also made my last payments on all of the old medical bills that I have been slowly paying off. So next month I will be able to start putting something towards saving for a some day WDW trip.

You're welcome! I've only gone to 4 parades this year; I am hoping to go to at least 6 more days of parades! The ones this upcoming weekend are going to be harder to have $0 Days during; I think I am going to have to grab some fast food.

Wow! $95 under budget is great! I was WAY under in my fast food/eating out category, which was good since I was right at or above in all the other categories. It provided just enough cushion for me to balance out.

So, goals for this pay period, Feb. 25 until March 11:

Congratulations everyone!! Everyone met at least ONE goal by posting all month, while most met other goals as well!!

Thank you for all the support and see you on the March thread!!

I am just curious....are you planning to copy and paste your 2 week info over to the next month thread since your two week period bridges two months?

I am looking forward to March $0 Buy! Has anyone started the new thread? I am going to go look for it in a little bit.

And that is SO TRUE about sticking with it through the month! Congratulations, everybody!!

 

[wlake]

Congratulations everyone! We made it another month, despite rain and snow and general tired-of-winter feelings!

2/1:
2/2:
2/3:
2/4: $40 Lands' End (sheets for DS and pants for me), $21 after school, $4 Amazon ebooks
2/5: Target, Walmart, AC Moore, and something else?
2/6: groceries
2/7:
2/8: $41 things for school
2/9: gas, $12 bagels, $120 for Little League registration (actually paying it tomorrow, but as I'm writing the check and filling out the forms tonight so I can just drop it off tomorrow, I'm counting it for today.)
2/10: $20 pharmacy, $2.50 snacks DS needs for school for tomorrow (I thought they were due Monday and was going to roll them into the weekly grocery shopping. Good thing the pharmacy is at a grocery store!)
2/11: $39 after school, ? take out
2/12: a surprise one, but I'll take it!
2/13: ? groceries (all DH will say is that he overspent -- oh well!), $3 Amazon book
2/14: ? more groceries while DH was at the pharmacy, ? pharmacy, $150 for the furnace visit when the pipes were frozen
2/15: ? cough meds and soda for me, $1 Amazon for a Kindle book
2/16:
2/17: (although we got take out using gift cards for dinner, I'm not counting this as either -- it was my first day back at work and DH was out of town, so I knew I wouldn't have the left over energy to cook after being so sick)
2/18: (had the wrong checkbook to pay after school)
2/19: $3 thread, $6 Walmart (includes Valentines for the boys to give to their classmates next year at 61¢ a pack!)
2/20: $7 bagels, $? Trader Joe's (I love visiting there!), $25 dinner out (not really our choice, as we were driving the couple of hours home from my MIL's), $14 after school (wrote the check tonight, dropping it off tomorrow)
2/21:
2/22: $36 Target (no great Valentine clearance, though), $78 groceries, and ? gas (I've already forgotten!)
2/23:
2/24: $5 post office, $6 groceries/laundry soap. However, I got a $120 check from the consignment shop to put towards the newly planned summer trip!
2/25: $58 Walmart, $20 pharmacy, $25 gas, $34 dinner out
2/26: $150 BJ's, $34 haircuts, $20 baby gift, $14 Lands' End (that's 4 shirts though!), $? Lowe's (we took the divide and conquer approach to errands today)
2/27: Annual flower show trip with my friend! The convention center is next to a super nice mall, so sums up my spending well. I figure we splurge like this twice a year so...! Here goes: $10 parking, $18 ticket, $5 Lush, $20 Williams-Sonoma, $7 Crate and Barrel, $15 Clarks (Smartwool socks for just over $7 a pair!).
2/28: Calling it early to help keep me from temptation!

no buy days: 11/11
longest streak: 3
meals out: 3/5
days without dinner out: 3
longest no dinners out streak: 10

 

[QVCshopper]

16/14 no-buy days

2/1-$0
2/2-$35 Wegmans*
2/3-$0; 1.5 miles
2/4-$5.75 Target*, $4.50 Michaels*, $4.25 PetSmart*, $22.50 Genuardis*, $18 Chinese Food, $1 Library, 2 miles
2/5-$31.75 Pottery Barn Kids, $29 Disney Store, $2.50 Chuck E Cheese
2/6-$24.50 Genuardis*, $47.50 Wegmans*
2/7-$0, 6 miles
2/8-$0
2/9-$0, 6 miles
2/10-$0
2/11-$28 Wegmans, $70 Target, 1.5 miles
2/12-$22 Great Clips, $7.25 Wegmans, $25 Genuardis, $1 Borders, $6 Auntie Annes, $9.50 Chinese Food, $1.50 Sears
2/13-$0
2/14-$0
2/15-$50 deposit for DS's 5th b-day party, $27.50 Target, $18 Wegmans, $10 Five Below
2/16-$0, 6 miles
2/17-$0
2/18-$0
2/19-$22 panera, $24 target, $10 wegmans, $18 mall; $37 LLBean
2/20-$8.50 Genuardis, $24 Chinese Food, $8 Target
2/21-$6 McD, $9 CVS
2/22-$10 McD, $2 Library, $2.50 CEC
2/23-$0, 2 miles
2/24-$0
2/25-$80 wegmans, $38.50 target
2/26-$0
2/27-$0
2/28-$0

 

[SunnieRN]

Where's Piglet, you did fantastic this month!!!!

I am not really sure what to do, although I was going to carry over this current pay period, then even though I am keeping track, two weeks at a time, carry over my first pay period of the month, to correlate with my next pay period?

I was surprised when I looked back a few days, as I had 17 no buy days from the first through the 24th, so 20 total for the month. So I guess it is a work in progress.

You still beat me though!! Again. CONGRATULATIONS on your fantastic month!!!

February goals: No spend days: 12
Food budget: Try for $200 for the rest of the month
Save: $800.00
Medical $150
Cash: $100 for 2 weeks, starting 2/11

$0 Days: 17!

This is where I 'started over' and I have three more, as of today.