Journal of a Busy Mom

living one day at a time

No Spend Month: Beginning Week One

By

I am using the pages in The NO-Spend Month Success Planner found on www.thriveorsurvive.us to really focus on this No Spend Challenge and plan ahead. Specifically, I am using the weekly planning/reflection sheets.

Week One Planning

What are your upcoming expenses this week?

Labor Day- I am having family over tomorrow so I will be spending $50 on food and snacks.

CBS lunch-After our first CBS(community bible study) study I will be taking the kids to lunch.

Dog Medication-My dog needs some meds that will cost a pretty penny, but I already knew it was coming and I have a budget line for this.

Are there any potential spending triggers to be aware of? If so, how will you avoid them?

I am always tempted to stop and get a yummy drink somewhere whether it’s at Baskin Robbins or our local coffee shop, especially now that I will start working outside of my home starting this week. I am going to try and find a yummy recipe on Pinterest to satisfy my craving. I also have a free coffee at our local coffee shop maybe I will use it this week.

Daily meals is also a trigger, I forget to defrost things or am too tired to cook so out comes the take out menus. My goal is to make easy, recipes and things that I already have on hand.

Any fun plans this week? How will you and your family keep occupied without spending?

The kids have started school and youth group, so the only days we vulnerable for spending is on the weekends. So maybe we can plan a movie marathon for Saturday or game night for Friday.

That’s it for now. I will update on how it went.

September 30 Days of No Spending

By

I have been wanting to do a No Spend Month for a while, but I’ve hesitated because it sounds so hard. Who can spend zero dollars for 30 days??? Not me.

So as I researched this idea more and more, I realized that I can set the rules!

Here are some of the articles I read:

No Spend Month-Our March Challenge (Thrive or Survive)

15 Tips to Plan your own No Spend

How to get ready for a no spend month (Centsiblyrich.com

The Ground Rules ( Living Well Spending Less)

I printed the worksheets from Thrive or Survive and Living Well Spending Less and came up with my own challenge:

Ground Rules:

I may buy this month:

eggs, milk/dairy, fresh produce
vitamins
medications
Things we may absolutely NOT purchase this month:

coffee
treats
clothing
accessories
home decor
hobbies
entertainment
beauty items
no pampering (pedicure etc)
no household goods
no office supplies
no AMAZON purchases
Other rules:

Eat out lunch on Wednesdays with the kids (after our Bible study class)
Eat one time on the weekend with the whole family
Use gift cards

The other suggestion I read was to also make this a selling month, get rid of stuff. So my goal is to sell $500.

I will keep updating on my progress as the month goes.

Ligia

Financial Blueprint for 2016: A Financial Renovation

By

Yesterday I watched the third video in I Am that Lady’s Financial Renovation Mini course, the Financial Blueprint. I really liked this segment because I lined up things in a list, which I like. Some of the things on the list are things I’m already doing, but luckily there are always ways to improve.

So this is my list from my Financial Blueprint of new things I will work on in 2016:

  • Being on the same page with my spouse by having a meeting on the last Saturday or Sunday of the month.
  • Sell stuff-I have a lot of stuff to sell from homeschooling curriculum to extra bikes. I also had been thinking about buying and selling things on Facebook, Craigslist, etc. I used to do this a long time ago, and stopped because it was time consuming, but if I do it to beef up our Emergency Fund there will be purpose not “just for fun”
  • Think about my future. This is something I have never really done. So I think its important to start writing things down! We are not getting younger!

Then here are the things to improve on:

  • cutting coupons-being more proactive about cutting and using them
  • meal planning- getting motivated on a weekly basis.
  • monthly bill reduction-always looking on how to lower our bills.

I just got an email that these videos are only available til Monday (January 11th). I was hoping to re-watch them now and then. Bummer.

Ligia