No Spend Month

Update: No Spend Month Challenge

by Alissa on February 12, 2011

We’ve just about hit the halfway mark for our No Spend Month Challenge, so it’s about time for an update.

We’ve done a pretty good job so far of on staying on track, with a few hiccups here and there. I’m starting to get a little worried that I didn’t budget enough for the month (Full disclosure: I pretty much just picked a number out of the sky for our budget this month. I didn’t consider fixed costs of say, formula and diapers before doing so. Oops.)

But surprisingly, we’ve still done pretty well.

Here’s what we’ve spent so far:
Week 1 (Feb. 1-5): $31
(Includes parking at TWO hockey games, but tickets were free for both games!)
Week 2 (Feb. 6-12): $110
(Groceries; Formula; Gas)

Total spent so far: $141

And we’ve kept busy, too: We’ve gone to TWO Flyers’ hockey games, storytimes, heard a speaker at our local library, gone to the zoo and today we’re even headed to a kids’ concert (again, we won tickets for free!)

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Update: No Spend Month Challenge – Day 2 & 3

by Alissa on February 4, 2011

No Spend Month – Day 2 & 3 Update
Things have been going well so far. I’ve run into a couple temptations, but have talked myself out of spending anything. And we haven’t sat around doing nothing, either.

Day 2: Not much temptation today. Another day, another snow day…
Entertainment:
• We were mostly homebound again today, due to ice, so the kids and I hung out at home. Playing, painting and lots of play-dough.
• I met up with friends at our library this evening for an organizing event (with a professional organizer who’s appeared on HGTV’s Mission: Organization!)
Day 2 Spent: $0.

Day 3:
Today’s temptation: A haircut for my son. When he was younger, I always cut his hair, but since he’s turned 3 (and very wiggly), we’ve opted to take him to the pros the last couple times. I was actually thinking about piling the kids in the car, but then decided to try it myself again.

**By the way, you can totally do this yourself, too! I taught myself by searching for videos on YouTube. My kid gets a little freaked out by the electric razor, so I scissor cut. That way, I’m able to layer it and leave it just a bit longer.

Entertainment:
• The kids and I attended story time this morning at the library (LOVE our library!).
• My husband went to the Flyers hockey game tonight with his friend. These tickets normally run $60/each, BUT my husband & our friends won these last week, so… FREE! Woo hoo! Parking, unfortunately, was $15, but the Flyers are his favorite team and tix are so $$$ that he normally only goes to a game if he wins tickets, so…
Day 3 Spent: $15

Running total for Feb: $16

Tonight’s challenge: Our first no-spend date night.

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No Spend Month Challenge has begun

by Alissa on February 2, 2011

So it’s here. Our No Spend Month Challenge has begun. Is it a month where we spend absolutely nothing? No. It’s about spending as little as possible and only on the essentials. But somehow “Spend as Little as Possible and Only on the Essentials Month Challenge” just doesn’t have the same kind of ring to it. :)

So we’ve set a $300 budget for our family of five (we’re including the dog in our family member count, because hey, dog food and treats are expensive!). Standard bills (rent, electricity, etc.) don’t count toward our total. Groceries, gas, entertainment and more do count toward that total. Read all the details here.

Our biggest challenges this month:
• Our daughter’s first birthday party (and a 20-25 person guest list — and that’s family only!).
• Our long-standing annual date for the Best Picture Movie Marathon at AMC Theatres. A 2-day, 12-hour/day movie marathon of all the Best Picture nominees. It’s as awesome as it sounds.

The update:
Day 1 went well. We were housebound with an ice storm that is still in full swing, so it looks like that’s where we’ll be staying again today. If I can successfully stay away from the online deals, we’ll be doing well.

Total spent so far: $1 (rented a movie at the library last night)

What we could’ve done better: Need to try the Redbox codes that I’m always seeing on the blogs. Will post more info on these codes later today.

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