I'm starting my No Spend Month. Yesterday was the first day....and I already spent money! We were on our way home from the dirt bike track yesterday and stopped at Sams and Home Depot on our way home. I spent $7 on grapefruit at Sams and $40 at Home Depot on plants and tomato cages for the garden. Neither of these two things were unplanned, but I spent a little bit more than I expected at Home Depot. Plants are expensive!
Someone mentioned that I should post my budget. I keep track of my budget in google docs on a spreadsheet.
Savings/debt: $250
Rent: $600
Cell Phone: $67
Donation: $75
Student Loan: $366.04
Gas for car: $100
Household: $75
Grocery: $300
Entertainment/Restaurant: $125
Car Maintenance: $0 (I just had a big car fix, so I anticipate no repairs this month)
Clothes: $0
Personal Care: $75
Gifts: $50
Extra Income: $15 so far
Some notes on the numbers:
Household is high for garden stuff. This is my first garden and I pretty much don't have anything.
Entertainment is slightly high because boyfriend and I are on a bowling league and pay $10 each week for the league. We normally grab something to eat since we go to bowling right after work.
Personal Care is also high because I get my hair cut and colored every six weeks by one of my good friends. This time it is happening the day of a wedding of another friend. It normally is about $48 (including tip) for a cut and color.
I already feel a little bit defeated because I look at a No Spend Month to be just that. Not spending money on stuff like bowling and hair and garden. :-/ I have a groupon that I need to use before next Monday on another garden place and then I should be done spending on the garden for a bit.
Another rule for my No Spend Month. I'm not counting spending gift cards in my budget. So, using up my $5 Starbucks card will not be reflected.
No excuses, but not a good start
June 2nd, 2014 at 02:08 pm
June 2nd, 2014 at 05:30 pm 1401730252
Since you don't expect spending for car maintenance/repair, I hope it's ok to suggest you start an 'an anticipated maintenance' fund for car. I started with a Mason jar and dropped all change in it daily. When it got too heavy to handle easily I took it to the bank's change machine and was surprised it resulted in $ 77.23 to kick start that category.
Do you plan shopping for clothes? If you can leave $ 10. per pay in your bank account and pretend it's not there, it can fund a late season splurge of on-sale summer apparel.
...just my .02 cents
June 2nd, 2014 at 07:27 pm 1401737266
Maybe you can try to have a low spend month instead of a no spend month.
Gardening stuff when you first start out can be pricey. But, if you are doing vegetables, you should realize it was money well spent when those delicious healthy vegetables ripen and are picked.
June 3rd, 2014 at 02:38 pm 1401806329
I am doing vegetables mostly. I have a few pretty plants, but the focus will be on veggies!