Author Topic: No Spend November! Uber Frugal Month Challenge (Read 12582 times)

Bracken_Joy · « **Reply #50 on:** November 13, 2016, 11:47:29 AM »

Had to replace our thermostat, and it ended up being more expensive than anticipated. The first one we got couldn't handle the controls on the odd system we had. Luckily we found one that works, but we ended up spending $250 instead of $150.

BUT. This should (finger crossed!) solve our HVAC woes without more visits from the HVAC people. Since they've been out 8 times since January... yeah this would be a good thing!

Mongoose · « **Reply #51 on:** November 13, 2016, 03:10:28 PM »

Somewhat spendy weekend. We ate out with our relatives and went to a play. The play was relatively inexpensive at least as it was a local children's theater. We also spent the afternoon hiking at a local state park.

Part of our refrigerator broke so another $82 went towards ordering the piece to repair it. The blasted thing is only 3 years old so I am super irked that it needs a repair.

pachnik · « **Reply #52 on:** November 15, 2016, 02:18:02 PM »

I'm hanging in there. Coffee shop visits have been greatly reduced. I found a top for my husband's office party and gave my nephew $$$ in his birthday card. So no more spends!

Last weekend, I went through my clothes closet and donated 2 bags of pajamas. They had been passed along to me from someone who is petite (which I am not).

westtoeast · « **Reply #53 on:** November 15, 2016, 02:29:02 PM »

I was doing so well until the past few days! Purchased...
-new art supplies that I ran out of (but art at home is cheaper than a lot of other entertainment)
-30 bucks worth of a food staple that I found on major discount (does this count as bad?)
-debating if I should buy a yoga class pass... I would go once a week priced at 11 per class (I know this is not mustashian but I really enjoy and feel motivated by practicing in a group... What to do?)

I much appreciate this thread, it has certainly kept me on track!

Bracken_Joy · « **Reply #54 on:** November 15, 2016, 02:31:11 PM »

We've been doing... okay. Better than the traveling, at any rate. Slightly unnecessary $5 gift to a friend yesterday, but I always buy the same book for every couple I know that gets engaged. I felt like it was extra important since they accelerated their timeline substantially since his immigration status is at risk now. Anyway, so there was that. Otherwise, I spent $15 and used a gift card ($20 value but paid $10, thanks groupon!) for some supplies related to trying to conceive, lol. And then another $25 for candle making supplies, since I'll be making beeswax candles for a bunch of people for christmas. Nothing too crazy though, but arguably not uber-frugal levels.

Hope everyone else is hanging in there too!

ZiziPB · « **Reply #55 on:** November 15, 2016, 06:26:52 PM »

Hanging in as well. Filled up the tank today which will be my only fill up this month. Getting a haircut on Thursday. Tempted to buy a new rug - something I've been coveting for few months now...

Bracken_Joy · « **Reply #56 on:** November 16, 2016, 06:47:05 PM »

Hmmm. Failure, or win? I am ordering some xmas gifts online (books), but I'm doing it early because they're not on prime shipping and I don't want to pay rush. So ideally I would find a totally free gift, or make all my gifts or something. But used books with slow shipping? I think it's a fair compromise, and would be totally stupid to leave it to December just to make this month's numbers look better!

...I may be bad at this UBER frugal thing. It's ending up more like "frugal-ish November"

Mongoose · « **Reply #57 on:** November 18, 2016, 07:41:01 AM »

We made it through the crazy week of several days in a row of all of us eating mainly away from the house plus a broken refrigerator without eating out. It was so tempting to just go grab something. The $82 repair worked and the refrigerator is once again cooperating so I'm going to count that as a frugal win. Whew.

This is probably the most challenging gauntlet I've tried. This weekend will hopefully be easier as we have 4 days with everyone mostly at home, plenty of food in the house, and a lot of leaf clean up to keep us busy.

pachnik · « **Reply #58 on:** November 18, 2016, 08:12:36 AM »

I'm not good at uber-frugal either. But being in this challenge has made me more aware of spending on little things here and there. These kinds of things were my downfall before. I stopped tracking my expenses about a month and a half ago. But I will start up again.

This weekend I have my usual spiritual group meeting Saturday morning so I treat myself to coffee and a muffin beforehand. then I have to pick up some much-needed bras that I ordered and paid for a few weeks ago. Later on Saturday, I am going to start making our Christmas cake - soaking the peel etc in brandy. Then on Sunday I will bake it. So a fairly quiet weekend - a bit of spending but nothing crazy.

Good luck fellow challenge people!

Bracken_Joy · « **Reply #59 on:** November 18, 2016, 08:34:57 AM »

Quote from: Mongoose on November 18, 2016, 07:41:01 AM

We made it through the crazy week of several days in a row of all of us eating mainly away from the house plus a broken refrigerator without eating out. It was so tempting to just go grab something. The $82 repair worked and the refrigerator is once again cooperating so I'm going to count that as a frugal win. Whew.

This is probably the most challenging gauntlet I've tried. This weekend will hopefully be easier as we have 4 days with everyone mostly at home, plenty of food in the house, and a lot of leaf clean up to keep us busy.

Not eating out with a broken fridge is very impressive! Big gold star for that one.

Good luck with the leaf cleanup!

ZiziPB · « **Reply #60 on:** November 18, 2016, 01:59:08 PM »

I am doing all right. Bought a plane ticket to travel to Poland next year but that was planned. Otherwise I've managed to limit my spending to necessary things like groceries, gas, pet food, etc.

Plans for the weekend;
- clean the house on Saturday
- laundry
- pack stuff for donation (I've been working on this for 2 weeks now so hopefully it will happen. I did bring a batch of stuff to consignment earlier today)
- Skype with various family members
- hike if the weather permits
- clear out home office and move the laptop downstairs
- consolidate boxes and packing supplies in the basement

westtoeast · « **Reply #61 on:** November 30, 2016, 05:30:57 AM »

Anyone interested in continuing this into a modified no-spend-except-gifts December? I'm hoping to offset the increased costs of the holidays by cutting back food and fun spending so that I stay within my normal monthly budget.

Bracken_Joy · « **Reply #62 on:** November 30, 2016, 06:38:12 AM »

Quote from: westtoeast on November 30, 2016, 05:30:57 AM

Anyone interested in continuing this into a modified no-spend-except-gifts December? I'm hoping to offset the increased costs of the holidays by cutting back food and fun spending so that I stay within my normal monthly budget.

I think that's a great idea to start! I'll admit, I dropped off the face of the challenge because I failed spectacularly. We bought appliances on black friday sale. =o And we also bought a lot of gifts for people. That being said, other categories have been going pretty well! Since that initial flurry of wedding-trip dining out, we haven't done any of that.

But yeah, sorry I dropped the ball on this challenge everyone- both for moral support and for my own execution of it.

pachnik · « **Reply #63 on:** November 30, 2016, 06:44:04 AM »

I can't say I did great myself but the challenge did make me more conscious of my spending. :)

ZiziPB · « **Reply #64 on:** November 30, 2016, 06:55:17 AM »

I did well, I think. A couple of minor unplanned expenditures (a pair of new hiking pants on sale) but generally happy with how November went. I will do a final tally tonight.

I am ready for a no or low-spend December as well. I have already committed to $zero spending on clothes.

westtoeast · « **Reply #65 on:** December 05, 2016, 06:31:10 PM »

OK, so December is very much the hardest month for this...

I'm already slipping up! In addition to presents for others, I've bought underwear at a 10 for 35 sale, taken an Uber because I was running late somewhere, restocked my fancy mineral sunscreen, bought a fancy drink out and paid a big-ish medical bill. I'm not throwing in the towel but its not shaping up to be my most frugal month at all.

Then I noticed the Frugalwoods are doing a Uber Frugal January... this might be my redemption! I'm sharing here because if you sign up they promise to send you an email with tips each day of the month. I'm definitely signing up.

http://www.frugalwoods.com/2016/12/05/lets-take-the-uber-frugal-month-challenge-together/

recklesslysober · « **Reply #66 on:** December 05, 2016, 08:01:26 PM »

Thanks for the Frugalwoods link! I signed up too.

December is always tough.. I bought some things for holiday baking but no regrets there.

HappierAtHome · « **Reply #67 on:** December 05, 2016, 08:57:17 PM »

Quote from: westtoeast on December 05, 2016, 06:31:10 PM

Then I noticed the Frugalwoods are doing a Uber Frugal January... this might be my redemption! I'm sharing here because if you sign up they promise to send you an email with tips each day of the month. I'm definitely signing up.

http://www.frugalwoods.com/2016/12/05/lets-take-the-uber-frugal-month-challenge-together/

Oooh I need to do this! Maybe we need an uber frugal January thread for forum support.

Bracken_Joy · « **Reply #68 on:** December 05, 2016, 09:43:10 PM »

Definitely signed up for the January Frugalwoods one! It will be well timed. I need to redeem myself after November, haha.

westtoeast · « **Reply #69 on:** December 07, 2016, 05:23:07 AM »

http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/uber-frugal-january/?topicseen

Looks like we have a place to migrate to!

pachnik · « **Reply #70 on:** December 07, 2016, 06:38:43 AM »

I signed up for the Mrs. Frugalwoods January challenge too. I am a bit scared and also kind of excited about it.

EngineerYogi · « **Reply #71 on:** December 21, 2016, 12:09:01 PM »

My frugal November crashed and burned when I learned that Mr. Yogi spent $1700 on "meals and incidentals"(read: booze) while on business travel (to Las Vegas) for two weeks. *facepalm* His per diem was for around half that so yeah, f*** November. :(

He promises to reform, so I'll be signing up for January and dragging him along!

swick · « **Reply #72 on:** December 21, 2016, 12:27:44 PM »

Quote from: EngineerYogi on December 21, 2016, 12:09:01 PM

My frugal November crashed and burned when I learned that Mr. Yogi spent $1700 on "meals and incidentals"(read: booze) while on business travel (to Las Vegas) for two weeks. *facepalm* His per diem was for around half that so yeah, f*** November. :(

He promises to reform, so I'll be signing up for January and dragging him along!

Ouch! :S Although it may be a throw the baby out with the bathwater type of thing. So Mr. Yogi kinda blew it, but how did you do otherwise? What success did you have? What challenges? What did you learn from it? How will this experience shape up your challenge next month? Sounds like communication is going to be key!

EngineerYogi · « **Reply #73 on:** December 21, 2016, 01:46:46 PM »

Quote from: swick on December 21, 2016, 12:27:44 PM

Quote from: EngineerYogi on December 21, 2016, 12:09:01 PM
My frugal November crashed and burned when I learned that Mr. Yogi spent $1700 on "meals and incidentals"(read: booze) while on business travel (to Las Vegas) for two weeks. *facepalm* His per diem was for around half that so yeah, f*** November. :(

He promises to reform, so I'll be signing up for January and dragging him along!

Ouch! :S Although it may be a throw the baby out with the bathwater type of thing. So Mr. Yogi kinda blew it, but how did you do otherwise? What success did you have? What challenges? What did you learn from it? How will this experience shape up your challenge next month? Sounds like communication is going to be key!

Communication is definitely key.

Baby with bathwater indeed, November was one of our most expensive months of the year in the end.
We are however doing way better now in December. Even though we spent a long weekend on vacation in a spendy pants hotel and hosted my dad for a short weekend including a day trip to San Francisco we're still on pace to spend less than we did in November.

News:

Author Topic: No Spend November! Uber Frugal Month Challenge (Read 12582 times)