Week Three: NO Spend Month

Week Three: NO Spend Month

Posted by By April 25, 2017Posted inNo Spend Challenges, No Spend UpdatesNo Comments

My No Spend Month Challenge is almost over. I put in 66 hours at work and cant wait for that paycheck! I would say Week Three went great! The farther that I get into the month, the more I find myself slipping up or at least considering it. Week Three was way harder than I expected it to be. I clocked out with 66.85 hours this week. It was a STRUGGLE because I was so tired by Sunday. Sunday’s are usually my I wrapped up week three by spending 8 hours behind my favorite bar and 7.5 hours serving around it.organization days, but I had a lot on my to do list. I still needed to drive back to my parents. Meal prep, go to the gym, and get some stuff done for work.

Good News for the week: My dad fixed my brakes on my Jeep, so all is great!

I am finding it harder and harder to stay motivated to keep up with my writing. I would rather be writing than working a billion hours, but I am also working some extra hours to pay off my debts. I can’t wait to get into a routine where everything actually works out, but I am slowly working on it!

This week I learned a lot about staying organized and prioritizing when it does come to my free time. I also learned that after 13 hours at work, I have very little will power when it comes to food.

SPENT DURING WEEK FOUR:

Super Saver Groceries   $  31.15

Sam’s Club Gas:       $ 25.00

Additional Gas: $10.00

Total: 66.15 Spent this week

16.15 Over Budget

Paid Off:

Student Loan #1: $104

Jeep: $77.88

Total Debt Paid Off This Month: $1,088

Week Two: No Spend Month

Week Two: No Spend Month

Posted by By April 18, 2017Posted inNo Spend Challenges, No Spend UpdatesNo Comments

 

The holiday and work made week two a little hectic, but I am finally sitting down to get caught up!It has been 18 days of not spending money! Check out how I am doing on week two of my no spend challenge and see how I slipped up a little bit!

Have you ever had something totally unexpected happen and it was completely out of your control?

Well Sunday while I was at drill, I get a call from my roommate asking me if I paid the water bill.

Yes. I did.

She tells me that the water isn’t working in our entire apartment. I ask her to check with the neighbor and sure enough the entire complex is without water. I get home that night. The weather is warm for this time of year and we have nothing cold to drink in the apartment.

I met with someone at Target to sell an item from one of the Facebook For Sale pages. As soon as I got that money, I went into Target to get a gallon of water (which I am usually against buying water, but it had to happen). As I was walking to check out, I saw cake mixes for $1 and frosting for $1.50. I gave in and got the supplies for two cakes. Brittney and I spend our water-less evening making cakes. While I still count it as part of my grocery budget, it definitely wasn’t the kind of spending I had planned. It was so worth it though. It gave us something to do instead of complain about the lack of water in our apartment and we spent most of the evening laughing in the kitchen.

I managed to make it through the drill weekend without spending money on lunch or any other food cravings. That being said, I have a long list of restaurants that I can’t wait to eat. One major lesson I have learned from the No Spend Month is that you don’t have to give into your food cravings. The other night, I desperately wanted Taco Johns. I didn’t give in. Instead I went home and used some chicken to make chicken tacos and I happened to have tater tots in the freezers. What could have cost $8-12 for one meal cost me nothing because I had the items on hand already.

SPENT DURING WEEK TWO:

Target Water/Cake Run: $4.83

Super Saver Groceries   $  16.43

Sam’s Club Gas:       $ 25.09

Wal-Mart Groceries: $10.63

McDonald Slip Up: $6.10

 Total: 63.08 Spent on Week Two

13.08 Over Budget

Paid Off:

Credit Card: $352

Student Loan #1: $324

My first week of my #NoSpendMonth was GREAT! Read about how I spent less than $50 on everything I needed this week!

Week One: No Spend Month

Posted by By April 8, 2017Posted inNo Spend Challenges, No Spend Updates2 Comments

Week One of my No Spend Challenge was not nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be. I had a few ups and downs as I expected, but I really think I excelled all week! Thank goodness for my Instagram #debtfreecommunity. HUGE shout out to The Budget Awakens and Frugal Desperado for doing this challenge with me! All three of these have been amazing sources for me when I wondered if this challenge was really worth it!

Week One of my #NoSpendMonth was GREAT! Read about how I spent less than $50 on everything I needed this week and how I did it!

Buying supplies for my no spend challenge

The few days before, I spent $21.43 at Super Saver getting chicken, fruit, veggies, and other stuff to make for my meals this week.

Then I spend $25 at Sam’s Club getting enough toilet paper to last through the apocalypse and coffee creamer for the rest of the year. They were both killer good deals and I won’t worry about needing them for a while so I am not constantly using my small budget this month to buy items. (Update: I bought the toilet paper in March and I still have a ton left in August. My coffee creamer lasted until July.)

I put $25 worth of gas into my Jeep! Gas is probably going to be the hardest part of this month because it doesn’t really matter if I go over budget, I have to go to work. That being said, I have been trying to monitor how often I am driving places and if I can make multiple trips into one instead of driving all over town! Most of my driving is to and from work and the gym.

I had to buy more pre-workout and ended up spending $90 at Max Muscle (They still gave me a killer deal) for some pre-workout. BCAA’s are good for sore muscles and recovery. Since I have been insanely sore after my last few workouts, I decided to give it a try. I had a little bit of money in my supplement fund. While it was an impulse, it was worth it to get me through week one.

Week One of my No Spend Challenge!

I think I have done great on my No Spend Challenge so far! I have forced myself to keep packing my lunch no matter how great McDonald’s coffee may sound at about halfway through my 12-13 hour work days.

My coworkers for the week were eating out and I kept sticking with it all week! I desperately wanted some food at work a couple of those days, but I stuck it out and made the best of it. Some of my coworkers were actually nice enough to share their food with me if they didn’t eat it all.

SPENT THIS WEEK:

Wal-Mart Groceries     16.21

Sam’s Club, Groceries   5.48

Sam’s Club Gas:           25.09

Paid Off:

Student Loan #3: $78

Student Loan #4: $92

Free family friendly things to do are sometimes hard to find. During my No Spend Challenge, I am attempting to come up with multiple things that make not spending money easier. Do you have a favorite that isn't on this list?

37 Free Things To Do Instead of Spending Money

Posted by By April 3, 2017Posted inMillennial Life, Money Saving Tips, No Spend Tips2 Comments

Free family friendly things to do are sometimes hard to find. During my No Spend Challenge, I am attempting to come up with multiple things that make not spending money easier. Do you have a favorite that isn't on this list?

 

 

I have officially started my No Spend Month and free things have become my best friend! It is already a little harder than I expected, but I know it will be great!  It definitely requires more organization and planning than I am used to! Especially working two jobs some days, I diligently pack the night before to make sure I have the things that I need for the entire day. I know that I am working most of the month, so I will not have a whole lot of time to be bored, but if you are completing a No Spend Month (Or even just a weekend!) there are a ton of great things to do with your time. During a No Spend Time, you don’t have to sit and be miserable!

I encourage you to do things that you don’t get to do very often and make the most of you time! Don’t sit around thinking about the things you could be doing if you were spending money! The more you find to do that is fun, the less you will think about spending money!