We’re still hanging in there! And we’re already ⅔ of the way through our no spend month.
Despite some minor spending, I did have a frugal win this week. My daughter had a birthday party that completely slipped my mind. My “gift box” saved the day! I keep a small box full of items I find on clearance or want to re-gift. Thankfully, I was able to put together a decent gift. No shopping, no money spent! Check out the box we reused – it’s more entertaining than the gift itself.
Life happened this week. A 3 am trip to the ER (to take a friend) warranted buying a coffee from the cafeteria by 6 am. That was $1.70 well spent. Our dwindling vitamin D supply wasn’t going see us through the month, so I spent $9.99 on vitamins. We also spent more on gas to get to doctor appointments, grandma’s house and to look at a potential rental property (fingers crossed!).
Food. Last week, I mentioned the possibility that I had a food hoarding problem. Since I made it through the first three weeks of the month relatively unscathed, I probably do stock up too much on some items – particularly pasta and canned goods (this is a great thing to learn).
But, this week, we are running out of some food items we eat on a regular basis. Cheese, eggs and peanut butter. You know, all the non-meat proteins we love so dearly at my house. (My 16 year old son can eat a half a jar of peanut butter or a brick of cheese in one sitting.) I’ll hold out until they are gone, but I will probably buy these three things before the end of the month.
My grandma helped out with food this week (even though I explained to her that we really can buy the food – it’s just a challenge). She felt sorry for the kids so she sent home dinner and some snacks – pudding, crackers, fruit bars, and ice cream cups. It feels like cheating, and she spoils all of us, but she’s a grandma and she loves sending goodies – who can argue with that?
Here’s what we ate for dinner, not including veggies and fruit:
- Beef Stew
- Cabbage Roll Casserole
- Hamburger Helper – Homestyle (see this post for my recipe)
- Sushi (my parents took us out for half price sushi – we paid $8 of the tip)
- Minestrone Soup
- Mac and Cheese
- Bubble Pizza (courtesy of my sweet grandmother)
Lunches were leftovers or ham/cheese sandwiches + fruit/veggie.
Meals To Make When You Don’t Have Much Food in the House
Food I purchased:
Entertainment. It was an unexpectedly busy week. We had little time for entertainment, but we managed to squeeze some relaxation in.
Here’s what we did:
- Played games. Alan and I learned to play Gin Rummy
- Tae Kwon Do class
- Planned a road trip (Yay!)
- Watched Bob Ross on Netflix. You know, the “happy painter”.
- Enjoyed a fire in the fireplace – and some wine
- Went to the library for more books (and spread some kindness while there)
- Daughter had a sleepover and birthday party
- Worked with Ms. Montana on my goals…I do consider this entertainment – very productive entertainment.
Money Spent
Extra spent this week: $39.69
Vitamin D – $9.99
Spreading GOOD at the library – $20 (paid others’ library fines)
Tip for dinner with parents – $8
Coffee at the hospital – $1.70
Exceptions: $116.62
Food – $25.87 (2 gallons of milk not pictured)
Gas – $90.63
Week 3 Total: $156.31
Week 2 Total (including exceptions): $35.49
Week 1 Total (including exceptions): $103.53
Total for the month (besides regular expenses): $295.33
Check out these updates from other blogs:
JohnandJaneDoe.com
MysteryMoneyMan.com
JoyfullyFrugal.com is doing several challenges
(If you have an update and want me to include it, let me know)
Funny about your grandma – and so sweet of her. 🙂 We are doing well too. Our grocery expenses are not cheap by no-spending standards, but cheap by relative standards. We’re not eating up what we have in the house mostly because we were all experiencing some symptoms of needing a detox so I put us on a Paleo diet and am buying lots of fresh veggies and fruits to make only whole foods meals. But still a lot better than having to go to the doc if we let the toxins sit around too long. $11 on entertainment, $54 on birthday gifts and taking my dad out to eat (I rarely get to spend time with him – he offered to pay but that just didn’t feel right so I took the bill) and $35 on home repair stuff. Other than that just the normal bills. Yay!
It looks like your expenses are great, Laurie! It’s awesome you got to spend time with your dad and take him out to eat. That’s money well spent, in my opinion! 🙂 Alan and I are going back to Paleo next month too. I’m guessing the kids won’t join us 100%, but meals will be Paleo so that will help. That does mean the grocery expenses will be a little higher, but as you say, it’s better than the doctor.
I’m so excited to hear about the rental property. It will be a whole other adventure. And it was super fun to work with you on your goals! It will be awesome to see the growth that will come from the habits and you long term vision. 🙂
Thanks for working with me on my goals! I still have some tweaking to do, but the whole process was so helpful and fun for me. It really helped me know better where to focus my time and energy to get to the longer term goals. And I’m really excited about those long term goals! 🙂 We won’t know on the rental house for a few days…and it’s hard to wait. The housing market around here hasn’t been conducive to finding cash flow positive properties – but I’m confident in this one.
Hitting up Grandma to make it through a No Spend Challenge!!? Wrong, just wrong! Tee hee. I’m enjoying watching your challenge, great opportunity to eat up all of those old canned goods! Keep it up, only 10 days to go!!
I hear ya, Fritz! But how do you say “no” to grandma?! 🙂 Thanks for following along!
“But how do you say “no” to grandma?!”
When you find out – be sure to let us know!
Oh, I don’t know that there is any way to do that! But if I figure it out, I’ll definitely let you know!
Yay for Grandmas. My in-laws invite us over at least once a week and often order take out. That probably keeps our own take-out and eating out budget way short of what it would be otherwise. ..we get our fix in at their house. Plus, they buy tons of clothes and toys for their only grandchild, Little Bit!
We broke down and bought not one but two boxes of girl scout cookies yesterday because Little Bit was sick (and up all night) with an earache and she and Jon needed extra sustenance. And (yay) space is starting to peek into my fridge, freezer, and pantry.
We typically have meals with family at least once a week too – sometimes we go out and other times we go to someones house and bring a dish. Either way, it does help squelch the desire to go out to eat.
Little Bit is an only grandchild!? Oh, you better bet they are going to buy her things! I hope she’s feeling better!
Yay for space! My refrigerator freezer and pantry stores are starting to dwindle too. I think I’m going to buy the things I absolutely need in February, but limit stocking up until I’m cleaned out.
“(Grandma) felt sorry for the kids so she sent home dinner and some snacks – pudding, crackers, fruit bars, and ice cream cups.”
This made me laugh. : ) Hopefully she’s not a guilt-tripping grandma like the mom from Everybody Loves Raymond, jk.
Great work on the no-spend, and thanks for the mention. I guess this means I need to send out another update!
Thanks, MMM! Hope all is going well for you!
Thankfully she’s not a guilt-tripping grandma. 🙂 She truly likes to do it and it keeps her busy.
That’s so nice that you paid library fines for others while you were there! And I love the idea of a stuffed cabbage casserole. My wife made her family’s stuffed cabbage recipe for the first time a few months ago, and while it was delicious (and tasted like I remember from childhood), it was no small effort. Putting it all into a casserole sounds so much easier.
Thanks, Gary! I used to make stuffed cabbage, but once I discovered you could make a casserole that’s much the same, I haven’t looked back. It’s so much easier than stuffing the cabbage leaves.
Um yeah that coffee does sound like a much-needed purchase! And well deserved for being such a great friend. I hope your friend has recovered or recovers quickly and sorry to hear about their situation.
Thanks, DC! I definitely needed that coffee. I appreciate your thoughtful comment. The friend is home and doing better.
Hey Amanda, great job on the challenge so far! Wow, there has been so many updates since I last checked in!
I really like your gift box idea, it seems like a very handy item to have and I will probably use this for myself. All the best for the rest of month, you’re almost there!
Thanks, T! It hasn’t been as difficult as I thought it might be and I’ve learned some important things about my spending. That said, I’m ready for a nice breakfast out with Alan! 🙂
Great update, Amanda. You’re going stronger than ever with the No Spend Months!
Where are you guys planning on heading for a road trip?