No Buy January

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

Wednesday 30th - $0
Thursday 31st - $0

Total this month personal spending - $362.80/$400 and thats me done for the month as its the evening of the 31st here in New Zealand so I'm outta here and full time over in February

Paula gets to start February before everyone else!!!

 

[Siouxstone]

On the super duper plus side I have $450 left over in my checking account this month. Just left over. I paid all of the regular bills, put my regular amounts into savings. This is LEFTOVER! I simply can't believe that we were leaking that much money. I have been working hard on the budget for about a year but this month I took a very hard line approach with the family and this is what I have. WOO HOO!

That's so wonderful! I know just how you feel. It's totally amazing, huh? And, it gets better the longer you do it.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I haven't been keeping up with this thread for the last week or so. However, I am pleased to report that the only money I have spent since the last time I posted, was the money in my alloted grocery budget.

 

[rparmfamily]

That's it, I'm in for Feb!!

I'm the last person to get to Feb BTW. Makes for a long month!! LOL!!

 

[smiller]

1/31 - $232.05 for Metra (commuter train) tickets

I usually budget $20/month for these, but since fares go up 10% tomorrow, I took all the money for the whole year and bought seven 10-rides. I saved over $23! Plus, I still have $14 left if I need an additional one-way ticket here or there. I might even be able to give a whole pass to my sister - she & my niece might have a week where the come into the city daily, and it would really be a money-helper for them.

Well, that's my last budgeted item for this month *sniff*. Anything I spend from here on out is either in next month's budget (CVS, here I come!) or non-budgeted, such as the bottle of wine and dinner I'll be buying tonight. I PROMISE it won't be another $75 dinner!

I didn't do too bad. I went over $5.99 in budgeted items and then, well, after tonight, probably about $100 in going out. Funny thing is, I feel worse about the $5.99 than I do about the $100. It's all about the value of the money - did I really NEED 40 rolls of toilet paper this month? No. Did I really NEED a lovely dinner out with best girlfriends? You betcha!

See you all on No Buy February - thank you for all the accountability this month!

 

[kandeebunny]

1/31 $10 at CVS but I got 2 boxes of puffs, 4 jars of peanut butter, a jar of mayo, box of tea bags, deoderant, pads, 2 jergens lotions, 2 family size shampoo (garnier fructis)

This months spending $70/$250 for miscellaneous expenses

Tink went back to the vet today, who didn't charge her, and she was not charged for the 2nd emergency vet visit last night at 3am. Now I just have to build her vet emergency account back up.

 

[reginaastralis]

On the super duper plus side I have $450 left over in my checking account this month. Just left over. I paid all of the regular bills, put my regular amounts into savings. This is LEFTOVER! I simply can't believe that we were leaking that much money. I have been working hard on the budget for about a year but this month I took a very hard line approach with the family and this is what I have. WOO HOO!

Wow! That is AWESOME! I wish I could do something like that ... but I think I would need a second job before it could happen. Congrats. Have fun kicking out that credit card debt.

 

[reginaastralis]

My favorite bumper sticker ever was on a minivan with 4 car seats in the back. (After I read it, I had to check.) It said, "Silence is Golden, but Duct Tape is Silver." In my house, silence is usually anything but golden.

Yeah ... in my house as well. I was talking to a coworker about Julie's paint attack ... I am calling it "Acrylic disater of 08" and she looked at me and asked "Don't you remember her getting into a bottle of nail polish at your parents house and painting THEIR dining room table?" Ooops ... I had forgotten about that. I was calling that the "Nail Polish Disaster of 07". Needless to say ... I'm a little worried about what she might decide to paint with next year.

Today I bought $16 in gas and we went out to dinner at Shane's Rib Shack. I spent $23 on dinner, which seemed really expensive, but I bought Julie and myself a drink and her a flippin cookie. I didn't even see the cookies ... she spotted them out of nowhere. I wanted to take the food togo, but my daughter whined about never getting to eat in a real restuarant. She won. The food was awesome ... but it won't be a place we go often .. my daughter declared "I don't like ribs mom!" after realizing how messy they are.

 

[TheBigBadWolf]

I'm glad for this month to end. I'm hoping to save a whole lot more money in February!

Week 5
1/29 $65.64 Meat Market
$7.58 groceries
$12.28 prescriptions
$10.50 - have medical files copied
$27.17 medicine for my horse
1/30 $2.00 DH spent@ work
1/31 $2.75 DH spent@ work

DH did sooo well on his budget. He took his lunch to work every day in January and only spent $45.00 all month. This is wonderful for a man who doesn't like sandwiches or leftovers. I am extremely proud of him. He is really with me on this "debt diet" as we call it. We have no debt besides our mortgage but we're trying to pay it down and put more money into our Emergency Fund.
We didn't eat out the whole month of January. We had milkshakes one time at Sonic, DH's idea, and I didn't resist. We bought no clothes in January, no DVD's, CD's, no movies, no going out...
I spent $81.10 for home decor items & 2 gifts not in the budget, all marked down 30-75%. This is MAJOR GOOD for me as we have a new home and I'm still decorating it!!
We spent $259 on our workshop project, but the shop looks GREAT and I'm very pleased with the results.
We went over budget on groceries, but we have enough meat in the freezer to not need to buy meat during February. I will attempt not to buy any meat in February, and live off the groceries in the pantry.
We went over budget on gas too, but DH's work truck is full and that tank of gas should last three months.
The horses' bills are killing us, but we have a 27 year old mare with health problems and her vet bills and medicine are the biggest horse expense. We'll spend whatever it takes to keep her healthy.
Thanks for all the help on our January budget. This having to "confess" to the No Buy Jury members has made me try much harder not to spend money on junk I don't need.

 

[delmar411]

1/31: Yeah it's the last day of Jan!!

Stuck at home all day since DH was working. Someone did stop by and buy a LP set for $5 though so made $5 and then DH stopped for milk on the way home at Walmart. So $5.98 for those.

net .98 for today..LOL

actually I stuck the $5 into the disney fund so still $5.98

I did have to pay the gas bill today...well not really but it came today and much to my SHOCK, they didn't put last month's payment onto the new house, but onto the old house. So $2.52 in a late fee, a nasty gram about disconnecting me and a $200 bill.
So I paid that asap in full and it said last month past due was $86.xx so actually the bill for this month came in at the budgeted amount. Good to know but I'm so bummed about the late fee.

 

[smiller]

1/31 - $37 for dinner out and two bottles of wine from TJ's

Just wanted to post that last expense - so that brings it up to $112 OVER for the going out budget.

I'm going to work on this in February!!!

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

I haven't checked in lately. I actually didn't do that bad. I stayed within my budget and managed to get a good start on my change jar. I started it January first. There is $20 in there. I did end up having to put 2 new tires on the car. But I didn't use a credit card. It was unexpected but they are paid for. They were $170. I will probably replace the other 2 this month. I have a bunch of coupons from our Irving convenience store, you take a survey and get a $2.00 coupon, so I use those for coffee in the morning. I have also been using them for milk, bread, eggs, etc.