Uber Frugal January

[lemonverbena]

PJ's quote: "Also, I tried to change my  meta-narrative about shopping - I think I usually try to improve my financial position through getting those "good deals" on things.  Even when that results in me spending more money, and wasting food as well.  So instead of looking for "what's a good price?" I was able to look at it from the perspective of "what do I really need?" and "how little can I spend today, and still get what I need?"
I had this little epiphany at my last grocery store run, too. I shop at a small dented can type store, so the discounted inventory is always changing, and I used to go down every isle so I don't miss anything good. Now I'm trying to just walk straight to what's on the list. I like your thought "how little can I spend and still get what I need?". It turns it into a bit of a game. Now I can actually get out of the store for under $100! That never happens.

Well, my spouse's w2 arrived yesterday and he made more than I thought he did, which pushes us over the edge for receiving a healthcare stipend. So now I need to take that chunk of money I intended to put on the car loan and put it into a tIRA to reduce our MAGI so we don't have to pay back a year's worth of healthcare stipends. So, it's a set back for the car loan but a step forward for my Race to 10k Challenge.

[Bracken_Joy]

PJ's quote: "Also, I tried to change my  meta-narrative about shopping - I think I usually try to improve my financial position through getting those "good deals" on things.  Even when that results in me spending more money, and wasting food as well.  So instead of looking for "what's a good price?" I was able to look at it from the perspective of "what do I really need?" and "how little can I spend today, and still get what I need?"
I had this little epiphany at my last grocery store run, too. I shop at a small dented can type store, so the discounted inventory is always changing, and I used to go down every isle so I don't miss anything good. Now I'm trying to just walk straight to what's on the list. I like your thought "how little can I spend and still get what I need?". It turns it into a bit of a game. Now I can actually get out of the store for under $100! That never happens.

Well, my spouse's w2 arrived yesterday and he made more than I thought he did, which pushes us over the edge for receiving a healthcare stipend. So now I need to take that chunk of money I intended to put on the car loan and put it into a tIRA to reduce our MAGI so we don't have to pay back a year's worth of healthcare stipends. So, it's a set back for the car loan but a step forward for my Race to 10k Challenge.

That's awesome you have the money to move to the tIRA though! And with the tax benefit, you're getting WAY more bang for your buck than a car loan anyway =)

[swick]

  Also, I tried to change my  meta-narrative about shopping - I think I usually try to improve my financial position through getting those "good deals" on things.  Even when that results in me spending more money, and wasting food as well.  So instead of looking for "what's a good price?" I was able to look at it from the perspective of "what do I really need?" and "how little can I spend today, and still get what I need?"  Every dollar I don't spend on groceries and other crap right now is money that can go toward paying off debt, which means less interest, which means I can pay off the debt faster!

This is a major shift, way to go, PJ! Another mind hack that can work along these lines is automatically add the interest rate % of your debt to the price of whatever you are considering and see if it is still a good deal and you would buy it for that price.  It slows you down, cuz you have to do the maths! But also puts it into the perspective of what you are paying for interest.

Re: Energetic pups: Have you looked into "scent" training? It is something you can easily do at home, is a fun bonding exercise and it is a real brain-burner for the pup. Mine can go all day outside, but after a half hour or so of searching out treats, all she wants to do is nap :)

[lemonverbena]

Thank goodness for UFJ, otherwise I probably wouldn't have even noticed our tax dilemma in time to correct it. Now let's just hope my understanding of tax rules and my math hold true. It got way more complicated this year adding the self-employment side income.

[Bracken_Joy]

Steam cleaned all my carpets! I had considered having someone else do it (~$200+), but decided just to borrow the steam cleaner from my MIL and do it myself.

[pachnik]

Steam cleaned all my carpets! I had considered having someone else do it (~$200+), but decided just to borrow the steam cleaner from my MIL and do it myself.

Good going!  I have a steam cleaner too and just do it myself every summer.

[I'm a red panda]

Steam cleaned all my carpets! I had considered having someone else do it (~$200+), but decided just to borrow the steam cleaner from my MIL and do it myself.

Buying a carpet cleaner was a great purchase for us. Not only are we able to deal with pet issues in the middle of the night; we have WELL made up rental fees over the years.

Borrowing is even better.

[Bracken_Joy]

Steam cleaned all my carpets! I had considered having someone else do it (~$200+), but decided just to borrow the steam cleaner from my MIL and do it myself.

Good going!  I have a steam cleaner too and just do it myself every summer.

After hosting so many people for christmas, it needed it. Then when my friend's dog tracked poop down our hallway... =o It REALLY needed it. There is only so much area a bottle of resolve will cover, haha.

[Fresh Bread]

I'm going to wrap up now because it's four weeks!


- Eating out/ takeaway only once in January - Hmm, well we had one brekkie, one brunch and one takeaway, plus snacks in IKEA. DH has had a few coffees out. On the plus side, we've drawn no cash this month so this has been paid for by bits and pieces we've sold
- No store bought iced coffee (my go to on a steaming hot day) - I bought one. That's a great result.
- We are doing up our bathroom/laundry so we'll stick to that budget and look out for bargains for the fixtures and fittings. Yep, got a good deal on a toilet and figured a way of keeping plumbing costs down and youtubed how to do a plaster skim.
- Minimal car use to avoid filling up the tank.A couple of grocery runs were done by bike or by foot and we managed to combine trips that meant a long trip / toll
- No other spending except $170 on groceries. - All up we spent $190 but that includes personal care, cleaning stuff and a six pack, so we are actually way way under budget. However, we've eaten and drunk down our pantry and used up all our gift cards etc so unfortunately it's not sustainable!

[CloserToFree]

Almost halfway through UFJ!  Here are my numbers so far:

From last update:
Day 1 - $150 - Groceries
Day 2 - $7 - Medication
Day 3 - $0
Day 4 - $0
Day 5 - $20 - Gas
Day 6 - $0
Day 7 - $0
Day 8 - $18 - Groceries (Whole Foods)
Day 9 - $32.50 - Doctor co-pay, parking to pick up Rx, Rx

Since then:
Day 10 - $12 - Groceries/alcohol (regular store)
Day 11 - $0
Day 12 - $15 - Groceries (regular store)
Day 13 - $41 - includes $16 groceries (including stuff for snacks and meals on upcoming plane trip) and $25 lunch out w/ friend
Day 14 - $0

Total so far: $295.50

Sorry I've been MIA everyone, we were on vacation last week and I unplugged from the forums a bit while away.  Proud to say that we ended up being relatively frugal while we were gone so I feel good about that!  And now - updated numbers:

Day 15 - $13 - tip for massage (massage itself covered by HSA funds)
Day 16 - $0
Day 17 - $30 - groceries and wine while on vacation
Day 18 - $153 - our monthly charge for 2 cell phone plans ($98), groceries and wine while on vacation ($55)
Day 19 - $29 - groceries while on vacation ($23), cheap sunglasses at discount store to replace ones that broke ($6)
Day 21 - $11 - McDonald's airport dinner (had long unexpected delay so didn't pack enough food)
Day 22 - $26 - Uber to conference (not reimbursable)
Day 23 - $0
Day 24 - $17 - groceries (Whole Foods)
Day 25 - $94 - big grocery run ($82), lunch out w friend ($12)
Day 26 - $9 - groceries ($7 - Whole Foods), coffee w friend ($2)

Subtotal Days 15-26: $394
Subtotal Days 1-26: $702 (includes a massage tip charge I forgot to list for Day 6)
**I'm on track to meet my aspirational goal of $898 for the whole month! Just need to stay under $196 over the next 5 days which should be easy!**

Wins:
-Even though I exempted our week of vacation when I first planned UFJ, I'm proud of us for staying relatively frugal while we were gone.  Cooked dinner in our hotel suite (full kitchen!) every other night, didn't go out to more than 1 meal a day (i.e. lunch OR dinner out, not both), mostly picked cheap places like tacquerias, no really fancy restaurants (did do 2 moderately upscale restaurant dinners but could've been way worse), only 1 fast food airport meal and that was the product of some unexpected delays.  And we didn't enjoy the trip any less bc of the economizing.  FYI I included vacation grocery and wine costs in the above tally, but didn't include the restaurant meals, car rental or hotel costs, since we really wouldn't do that spending in a typical month.
-I had to schedule some networking-type meetings and where I would have proposed lunch pre-UFJ, instead I proposed coffee and ordered the cheapest one on the menu (about $2).

Challenges:
-Now that we're deep in the month, I've gotten a little distracted and haven't been laser focused on frugality like I was in the early weeks.  As a result I haven't done a good job of meal planning and grocery lists, and have fallen into the trap of unplanned grocery trips (see $82 grocery run on Day 25 - ick).  NEED TO DO BETTER PLANNING!
-Social meals out - I had one more social lunch w a friend, but rationalized it on the theory that she's home with a baby right now and was excited to get out of the house.  Still, I probably could have suggested a picnic lunch somewhere (it was an unusually nice day) - will remember that for next time.
-I had wanted to spend $0 on ubers this month, but got very little sleep the night before the conference (flight delays meant we got home after midnight) and decided the extra sleep and not being late to the conference (since I slept in taking public transport would have made me late) was worth the $26. In retrospect, the 20 minutes of sleep probably wasn't worth $26 - should have gotten up with the alarm and sucked it up.

I'm glad to be back on this thread and enjoyed reading everyone's updates over the past couple weeks!  I'm continuing to love this challenge and am looking forward to keeping it going in February if possible.  And am also hoping once the month is over that we can all reflect on what we've learned this month and share key insights!

[Bracken_Joy]

1/1/17- gas, $33
1/2/17- groceries, $18
1/3/17- gas, $20 and groceries $51, general household $14, dog nails clipped $13
1/4/17- $0
1/5/17- $0
1/6/17- $0
1/7/17- $45.53 groceries, $18 pet food

1/8/17- $0
1/9/17- $25.07 groceries, $18.88 general household
1/10/17- $75 work jacket for DH
1/11/17- $3.68 groceries, $4.78 general household
1/12/17- $0
1/13/17- $23.53 gas; $20.49 groceries; $9.79 Beer for evening with friends; Amazon S&S: $49.28 dog food, $31 protein powder for DH, $13.24 general household, $22.73 prenatal vitamin
1/14/17- $8 car wash

1/15/17- $5.01 groceries
1/16/17- $10.91 gas; $43.23 groceries (costco)
1/17/17- $0
1/18/17- $8.98 groceries
1/19/17- $0 $2.65 wine (plus $7.34 as the remainder of a gift card)
1/20/17- $19.53 groceries
1/21/17- $21.31 gas; $49.06 groceries; $32.08 membership upgrade

1/22/17- $0
1/23/17- $0
1/24/17- $12 dog nails clipped

1/25/17- $15 lunch with friend; $21.63 gas
1/26/17- $16.97 goodwill (shorts x2 for DH, yoga pants for me) on a visa gift card

(Also technically on the 25th there was $11k to IRAs... lol).
Wins:
-lots of leftovers, and working the fridge down substantially
-found DH shorts at goodwill! 2 pairs of nikes in good shape for what we normally pay for 1 pair of champions. Hoping they hold up well and are comfortable.
-steam cleaned our carpets myself

Challenges:
-dragging my feet on meal planning for next week. Mainly (I think) because it means I'm sending DH away again, if that makes sense. =\ Don't want to plan for him leaving again when he isn't even home yet. Need to though, because I really want to make our grocery budget stretch goal!
-'spending temptation' is creeping up more than it has been. I want to replace our 5lb plates that are falling apart, I want new pants, I want fancy whiskey, I want to color my hair, I want a massage, etc. Seems to come in waves.

[LittleTree]

Hi everyone. I hope it's not too late to join in. I just joined the MMM forum community today and I love this thread. It's so great to read you all encouraging each other. I'm a big fan of Frugalwoods too and that's how I discovered MMM.

For us we've been on Ramsey's baby step 2 for 20 months with a written budget and it's getting challenging to find "new fat" to trim. I started out this month thinking I'll just spend as little. One category I keep trying to lower is food which is tough. We are a celiac family in NYC of 2 adults and 2 preteens. I've been scratch cooking for a while now to save money but the amount of food being consumed is just crazy. We now spend $750-$800 on food and beer, no restaurants or take out.

Anyway at this month's trip to Costco I realized that I am spending more on GF bread than meat! A large loaf of Udi's is $7.56 which is the cheapest I can find it anywhere. I go thru 6-7 loafs a month thanks to school lunches and toast. Well after thinking about this for a while I decided to up my baking game and start making my own bread. Something that has intimidated me because good GF bread is hard to make. In order to do this I researched and tested several recipes and priced out bulk pricing for the flours. To do this I had to use over a 1/4 of this month's food budget to purchase a min. Bulk order but now have a way to cut this cost in half going forward. Hope I haven't geeked out too much here. I would love to hear from others who have found ways to manage food allergies inexpensively.

Keep up all the great posts everyone!

Thanks for the suggestions and Swick I would love to have your granola recipe. My daughter was just asking tonight could we get another granola flavor.
I do appreciate the comments of should we eat other things. To be honest I hadn't really thought much about that. The kids do love having normal lunches at school. Also since they have to make their lunch and breakfast it is super convenient. However it's worth spending some thought on this.

Just wanted to say again how cool it is to be in a place where I can talk about saving money. It's definately not the norm with our friends and family.

[katscratch]

Thanks for the suggestions and Swick I would love to have your granola recipe. My daughter was just asking tonight could we get another granola flavor.
I do appreciate the comments of should we eat other things. To be honest I hadn't really thought much about that. The kids do love having normal lunches at school. Also since they have to make their lunch and breakfast it is super convenient. However it's worth spending some thought on this.

Just wanted to say again how cool it is to be in a place where I can talk about saving money. It's definately not the norm with our friends and family.

Welcome!!

Your comment about your kids' school lunches reminded me of something I hadn't thought about in years. When my son started kindergarten I wondered if anyone would point out his rather hippie-ish rice/veggies/meat/fruit lunch and if he would start asking for things like Pop Tarts that he'd never seen. His school was in a very diverse neighborhood, and it didn't even occur to me that many recently-immigrated families would not be sending their kids with Lunchables ;) He came home once not asking for Pop Tarts, but for goat, because it was "saucier" than his chicken!


I've been buying Namaste GF flour because it was a little cheaper than Bob's Red Mill blend in my local store -- but was surprised to find it at Costco recently!  You might also consider craft hard ciders if they are cheaper than sorghum etc beers. In my area they are significantly less expensive and have a broader range of styles than the GF beers available locally. I have noticed however that some big companies are labeling cider-flavored ales as cider so as always check labels ;) I'm biased, though, I can't really drink grain-based beverages so cider is a big win for me on sweltering summer days!

[sonjak]

I plan on spending another $30 this month on produce which will bring my total food spend to about $260.  This includes half of the cost for vanilla beans/vodka (I priced the rest to my gift category since I plan to give some vanilla as gifts later in the year).  This is a lot less than I spent last year and I consider it a win, although in Feb, my frugal goal will be $200. 

I saved enough this month to make my usual partial payment for insurance (no financial benefit for paying it early) and then decided to just finish it up so paid the rest.  Now I won't have to budget anything for that for the next several  months.  I also forked over a couple hundred dollars for camping reservations for later in the summer so we wouldn't lose our spots (I will be reimbursed for half).  With all of that, my spending was right around $2500 for the month.  I was able to transfer a big chunk into savings and made the decision to bump my 401k contribution another 2%.  My goal for next month is $2k total.

I didn't fall off the wagon with anything this month (so far), although a couple of days were SO tough, I seriously considered it.  Work sucked and I wanted that treat on Friday, darnit.  But I just didn't want to have to put a number in that cell in my spreadsheet for this month.  4 more days... (of course then February's challenge starts...)

I did mess up - stressed and in a hurry - and neglect to put my parking receipt in my car window so I got fined for it.  I'm proposing to pay the difference between their fine and the amount I actually did pay.  That was really painful, especially this month with this challenge. :(

[swick]

Thanks for the suggestions and Swick I would love to have your granola recipe. My daughter was just asking tonight could we get another granola flavor.
I do appreciate the comments of should we eat other things. To be honest I hadn't really thought much about that. The kids do love having normal lunches at school. Also since they have to make their lunch and breakfast it is super convenient. However it's worth spending some thought on this.

Just wanted to say again how cool it is to be in a place where I can talk about saving money. It's definately not the norm with our friends and family.

I LOVE this recipe for granola, and once you get the hang of making it, it is very adaptable to whatever you have on hand, it's more about the "Process" which is dead easy. My main problem with making granola is it is a pain to have to keep stirring and is sticky and such. This technique solves all those problems. We actually had "Granola bar" at our wedding and I made like 6 or 7 different variations. It's really good! Once you have made the granola part, add any dried fruit you want to after it is cooked and cooled. I add nuts and seeds and chia seeds, basically whatever I'm in the mood for. http://bojongourmet.com/2010/06/stolen-granola/

Alo, I had forgotten but this blog is really good if you are experimenting with gluten-free baking, especially if you are trying to recreate standard favorites: https://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/

You have found yourself in a great community, I would suggest starting a journal if you really want to connect with people, share your journey and develop like-minded friendships :)

[tortoiseshell]

Day 1: $10.00 (church offering)
Day 2: $0
Day 3: $2.00 (DH coffee)
Day 4: $27.93 ($9 groceries, $18.93 OTC medication)
Day 5: $0
Day 6: $85.75 (internet: the price was raised this month; I have to work on getting it down.)
Day 7: $23.75 (groceries, including cat food)

Week 1 Total: $149.43

Day 8: $10.00 (church offering)
Day 9: $7.04 (eggs and loaf of bread)
Day 10: $4.25 (cat treats and DH coffee)
Day 11: $22.55 (groceries for DH lunches, vitamins, shoe polish)
Day 12: $39.49 (electric bill and DH coffee)
Day 13: $0
Day 14: $33.53 (groceries)

Week 2 Total: $116.86

Day 15: $106.41 (cell phone bill, anniversary dinner, church offering)
Day 16: $35.00 (prescription medication for cat)
Day 17: $11.05 (groceries for DH lunches, DH coffee)
Day 18: $1.79 (DH coffee)
Day 19: $867.29 (rent, house coffee, oats, sesame seeds)
Day 20: $0
Day 21: $23.88 (groceries)

Week 3 total: $1045.42 ($195.42 in non-rent spending)

Day 22: $31.99 (vitamins, bus tokens)
Day 23: $0
Day 24: $0
Day 25: $29.05 (groceries)
Day 26: $2.00 (bus transfers)

[swick]

UFJ Total -

Quarterly municipal taxes - $217.50
Home Maintenance - $ 89.73 - Weather stripping, insulation, hardware to fix gate closure
Computer repair - $ 73.00 - non-optional replacement parts, hubby does all the fixin'
Mortgage interest - $700.00
Telephone/Internet - $133.50 (1/2 biz exp. In Canada, one provider option)
Gas/Electric -$427.15 (shared utility panel with renters. 2 months of electric, one of gas. have upped rent to cover some of this ridiculousness)
Hubby's Christmas gift money- $87.99
Entertainment - $13.83 - We support a couple of artists through Patreon.
Groceries - $159.79  - down from our monthly average last year of $444. Have  1 more trip planned today that should be about 75.00 which will include rest of Jan/first week of Feb.
Clothing - 0
Eating out - 0
My fun money - 0
Travel - 240.00 - Planned expense. Con tickets for holiday in August. Partial biz write-off. Not sure on final cost with exchange rate yet.

Totals: $2,217-ish

Given most of this is fairly set living expenses, I think we did pretty good. Definitely want to get some of these numbers down, but we have some good data to start from.

[I'm a red panda]

1/1: $0
1/2: $0
1/3: $30.37 (me)  and $17.08 (DH)
1/4: $3.56 (me) and $7.42  (DH)
1/5: $0.60 (me) and $6.93 (DH)
1/6: $0 (me) and $30.35 (DH)
1/7: $34.15 (me) and $0 (DH)
1/8: $0
1/9: $45.14 (me) and $27.97
1/10: $44.88 (me) and $0 (DH)
1/11: $13.97 (me) and $0 (DH)
1/12: $4.99 (me) and $65.87 (DH)
1/13: $0
1/14: $120
1/15: $0
1/16: $0 (me) $33.05 (DH)
1/17: $4.05 (me) and $0 (DH)
1/18: $38.22 (me) and $0 (DH)
1/19: $0 (me) and $14.06 (DH)
1/20 $0 (me) and $6.07 (DH)
1/21 $25.50 (me) and $22.40 (DH)
1/22: $9.95 (me) and $0 (DH)
1/23: $1.80 (me) and $27.41 (DH)
1/24: $0
1/25: $0
1/26: $23.03 (me) and $0 (DH)  - beef bottom round was $2.99 a pound so we stocked up for the freezer. This is our favorite for making ground beef.
1/27: $50.78 (me) and $0 (DH)

So today was a fail...
First I had to drop off a return from a birthday gift at the post office ($98 shoes!!! OMG. They were cute uggs, but I couldn't even get my left foot into them. The sole was the right/slightly big size, but I guess I have a fat ankle or something....) and I ran out of postcard stamps last night. So instead of buying the 5 I needed to mail the cards I have, I decided to save a trip to the post office later and buy 100...  so that was $34.

Then I had to go to the mall to return some stuff from Target (frugal win- baby gifts, but I got the same things as free hand me downs, so I'll use the $85 gift card to buy something else later)- while at the mall I stopped at Auntie Anne's and got a pretzel with cream cheese (a total non-necessity). I had a birthday coupon, so it was only $0.90; but completely frivolous.

THEN- Motherhood Maternity had sent me a $10 off $10 purchase coupon. I went there to see if I could find anything that was just a few dollars under. They also had buy 1 get 1 free clearance, so I left with two nursing tanks for $5.29.  I'm calling this one a win, even if it meant I failed no clothes shopping January.  They also gave me their free "gift bag" again.  So that's a bottle :)

The biggest fail though is DH said he "needed" a black University t-shirt for the basketball game he is going to (already a fail- since it is ticket, ok, + dinner out, ugh!!)  It was much harder to find a black t-shirt than it should have been, but eventually I found an okay one (not a logo I was really looking for...) for $10.59.  I know he doesn't have a black Hawkeye shirt, but he could have just worn a plain black shirt.

SO that was my spendy pants day.


AND- yesterday we got our water bill for the end of Dec, most of January- it was $74.43 because somehow we used 3 units of water this month! (Most months we use 2, and then an occasional 1. 3 is usually only when company is around.)  So that's $11 higher than normal.  (1 unit costs about $50... additional units don't cost a ton more; but still!  That's one thing I hate about this city- our water is 3x higher than when we lived 2 miles away)  I'm thinking maybe we are washing the comforters more than normal because the new dog sheds a lot more than the old one, maybe showers are a bit longer because it's cold, and possibly flushing the toilet more because I'm pregnant...  Gonna have to really watch those showers.  (For awhile I had DH catch the water while we waited for it to warm up, which is pretty quick- the problem is more hanging out because you don't want to get out, in a bucket and use that to flush a toilet or water the trees outside, but he eventually told me I was nuts and he wouldn't do it anymore.)

[nottoolatetostart]

Few major wins, everyone:

- Received renewal for annual homeowners today and was much less than anticipated at a whopping $746, which includes sink hole endorsement. I had budgeted $901. I pay this on my credit card, so that won't happen until March, but super happy about this. It actually brings our retirement expenses down too
- my last post a few days ago about "needing" a computer really bothered me. The words "I really don't want one" really stuck out so I got to work and figured out how to get around my obstacles and moved over 5k photos (one folder at a time since my husband's PC has very limited available space) to Amazon Prime since they have free unlimited photo storage. We have Prime right now through August and I don't forsee ending it, but let's cross that bridge for Uber Frugal August. This at least buys me more time. Also, I connected our printer to my husband's computer and was able to print my ebay shipping label. It worked as I was concerned about software (and again, his limited harddrive space). So that will save me at least a buck or two on each ebay or Amazon item I sell since I don't need to print at Staples anymore. I know this sounds like an easy fix but previous attempts had not worked. I was able to cut my $10 Dropbox charge for Jan 31 ($99 a year previously). Plus I can delay buying a 400 dollar PC a bit longer. Yeah!
- I made Budget Bytes weeknight black bean chili using Costco Turkey burgers as my meat since I didn't want to go to store to buy fresh ground turkey meat. It tasted a little funny, but OK. The turkey burgers, which have never been opened, best buy date is this month, but we will likely take them well into February. Also made my own black beans yesterday in the crock pot, so this made a lot of chili for very little money.
- should be an easy weekend spending wise. I hope to make some Craigslist sales this weekend and continue to clear out my basement of crap from our downsized last year

Happy Friday everyone!

[Juslookin]

I think its getting easier.  Maybe its because it is the middle of winter and i have no desire to go anywhere, but it is getting easier and easier to not spend money.  I'm afraid I run the risk of swinging the other way and never leaving the house, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

I am tracking spending, there just isn't much to track.  I have some very expensive bills coming up.  Homeowners insurance for the year, auto insurance for the year, umbrella policy for the year and county taxes.  I feel that I have not saved enough into the insurance and taxes bucket so I am recalculating for my savings this year so that next year I will not be stressed when the bills come in.  I feel our problems are that we have saved a lot of money in 401k, but not enough cash liquid savings. My major goal this year is as much cash saved as possible and UFJ, UFF, UFM and all the way through the year is going to help me get there.  Thanks guys for being inspirational.

Today was a zero spend day, as was yesterday and the day before. Kicking ass in January.

[horsepoor]

I think its getting easier.  Maybe its because it is the middle of winter and i have no desire to go anywhere, but it is getting easier and easier to not spend money.  I'm afraid I run the risk of swinging the other way and never leaving the house, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

This is me.  Except.... I've been sequestered in my apartment and going online looking at horses for sale, when I need another horse like a hole in the head (more like a hole in the wallet).  And I found one I keep going back to look at.  At least she's in Missouri, hopefully she sells before I go to Omaha in March, because I could take a day trip and go look while I'm there.  Bad!  It might be cheaper to just leave the house and go to the movies or drink fancy cocktails and eat caviar.

Tomorrow I'm probably going to go look at the pricey gym two blocks from my apartment.  I'm being lame about working out at the office gym, and just sitting on my ass for hours every night.  One month is like $150, ugh.

[sonjak]

- I made Budget Bytes weeknight black bean chili using Costco Turkey burgers as my meat since I didn't want to go to store to buy fresh ground turkey meat. It tasted a little funny, but OK. The turkey burgers, which have never been opened, best buy date is this month, but we will likely take them well into February. Also made my own black beans yesterday in the crock pot, so this made a lot of chili for very little money.

nottoolatetostart, I have some turkey burgers I inherited from some guests that I have had a tough time making myself eat.  I like this idea and will totally steal it!

My win for this week was that the grocery store had all their frozen fruits and veggies on sale half off.  Mostly I eat fresh or don't eat those veggies but at those prices, they were cheaper than fresh in many cases and I got some of what I consider frivolous veggies (like corn) because at that price it felt worth it.

So I spent $25 for fruits and veggies for this week including a bunch for the freezer.  And I plan to eat out of my freezer a lot the next couple of weeks and see how low I can get for Feb's groceries.

[PJ]

PJ - wow! Your pets are very lucky :) The medications for Addisons are sooooo spendy.
Here's to a healthy pet February :)

I'm one of those crazily committed pet parents and even I came pretty close to handing her back to the rescue group on more than one occasion.  I do love her, but honestly, I didn't like her much the first couple years. 
Anyway, she has two meds for the Addison's - Florinef and Prednisone.  Florinef is the horrifically expensive one, Pred is super cheap.  She also takes two behavioural meds - Clomicalm and Trazodone. in future there will be fewer animals overall, and in smaller varieties when it comes to the canines.

Yeah can totally relate, our dog is Addison as well and we nearly lost him when she got sick. Cost us a bloody fortune (1500€ plus meds) and he’s become far more sensitive to noise especially at night. Thankfully we got him off sleeping on our bed but in hotels I finally had to chain him to the chair to keep him off my bed. Wife and I both decided that this will be our last dog. We’re very close to retirement (sub 9 years) and plan on travelling fulltime so neither of us want the hassle of a dog.

If you really want to have pets in  your life but don’t want the hassle than either foster a dog or become a dog sitter walker. I have several friends that do that and they love it. All the joy and very little of the hassle.
Biggest mistake we made in being dog owners was letting them sleep on the bed. Guaranteed way to kill you sex life grrrr

Captain and Mrs - Thanks for the support/commiseration about the Addison's.  Same situation of suddenly getting deathly ill, costing a fortune and nearly losing her.  I shudder to think if I'd put off taking her to the vet for even a couple of hours longer.

I appreciate the suggestion about fostering or dog sitting/walking.  Sitting/walking is not really possible, at least not as long as I have Kita.  I work too much anyway!  As for fostering, I've actually done a ton of it in the past.  In fact, my oldest current cat was a foster, and the 2nd dog I used to have was originally a foster, and the list goes on.  I'm a foster failure several times over!  Once my current numbers are reduced, and especially once Kita's gone, I'll specifically go back to doing palliative care fosters.  Have one or two pets of my own, and a rotating spot for fosters.  That's what works best for me.  I don't mind doing the medical stuff (pills, fluids, etc) and I can even tolerate seeing them through to the end, so they spend their last days comfy at home rather than in a cage.  The only thing I can't seem to do is to care for an animal and then give it back to the rescue.

[PJ]

In other news, I've been following along reading the last couple days, but not posting.  The $900 vet bill really bummed me out, and got me thinking. 

I have a pattern.  I work really hard to pay down my debt for a little while, then something happens.  The something could be an actual crisis, or it could be a realization that I don't really have a handle on certain expenses, or it could be that I make good progress and decide to reward myself a bit, or any number of things that get me off track.  A particularly busy week or two at work can even do it.  Then I start trying to solve problems by throwing money at them.  Even though it's probably safe to say that the single biggest problem in my life is having a bunch of debt hanging over me. 

No, I'm not in danger of losing my home (I don't own it anyway) or of having to declare bankruptcy or anything like that.  It's just that with debt repayment costs, I can't really afford to save up for a home, or really put away what I'd need for retirement, or justify travelling to see the world and good friends along the way.  I feel stuck.  My debt makes me feel stuck.  And it's always in the back of my mind.

And I'm tired of it. 

I don't want to be anxious about money any more.  I don't want to be weighed down by it anymore.  I want to clear the debt - totally doable, by the way, it's just going to take some time.  And then I want to take most of the money I'm using for debt repayment, and make smart and sensible decisions that will prepare me for the future, while allowing me to live more fully today. 

I want to be in control.

Snap!

I have the power.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BRv9wGf5pk

So, today I paid cash for the work that needed to be done on my car (tire patch, oil change, and, as it turned out, a burnt out brake light.)  Then I went to the vet, and paid them in cash for all those supplies.  Hard to call it a frugal day, when I spent over a thousand bucks.  But it was all in cash, and if I'm very careful, I will still be able to make it through to my next paycheque without resorting to the credit card (I get paid only once a month, on the 25th). 

I started by bringing a granola bar with me for breakfast, and drinking coffee at the dealership.  Came home after running my errands and even though I only had 20 minutes before I needed to leave again, I made myself a delicious lunch - mozzarella and avocado on toasted olive focaccia bun, plus kiwi, and a cup of coffee for the road.  Spent the afternoon at the zoo with a friend (we both have memberships), so basically had a 3 hour walk in the fresh air, and I took a handful of mini chocolate bars leftover from Halloween (they've been in the freezer) for us to share.  Filled up the car with gas because I was going right past a place with a decent price, and I feel like I'm starting to get a handle on what the new "normal" gas prices should be.  I had to go to a work thing tonight, and someone gave me some money, so I took it straight to the bank and deposited it against my credit card.  Came home, made myself a cheap dinner of boiled potatoes and onions - very yummy with a little butter or margarine and salt.  And made a pot of broccoli cheddar rice with extra veg and lentils for future freezer meals.

[nottoolatetostart]

I think its getting easier.  Maybe its because it is the middle of winter and i have no desire to go anywhere, but it is getting easier and easier to not spend money.  I'm afraid I run the risk of swinging the other way and never leaving the house, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

Juslooki...I totally feel the same way! My house is perfect. Internet works, I have every spice in the world to almost any cuisine I want, stacked firewood, no flu germs here (knock on wood and wash hands again). If I didn't have kids that I need to walk to school, I probably wouldn't leave again. However, I have been more interested than ever before in finding free activities that I can take my kids too. Thanks to Facebook, I have found a couple fun, free, walking distance activities to get my kids out. That should be the minimum right? But, yeah, no kids, I would be home all the time (and we still kind of are).

[pachnik]

This is me.  Except.... I've been sequestered in my apartment and going online looking at horses for sale, when I need another horse like a hole in the head (more like a hole in the wallet).  And I found one I keep going back to look at.  At least she's in Missouri, hopefully she sells before I go to Omaha in March, because I could take a day trip and go look while I'm there.  Bad!  It might be cheaper to just leave the house and go to the movies or drink fancy cocktails and eat caviar.

Dear Horsepoor, I'm afraid that i started to laugh when I read about it could be cheaper to drink cocktails and eat caviar than look at horses online.    It is kind of like me two weeks ago when I ended up buying a painting.   But I know you are frugal otherwise.  :)   

[nottoolatetostart]

In other news, I've been following along reading the last couple days, but not posting.  The $900 vet bill really bummed me out, and got me thinking. 

I have a pattern.  I work really hard to pay down my debt for a little while, then something happens.  The something could be an actual crisis, or it could be a realization that I don't really have a handle on certain expenses, or it could be that I make good progress and decide to reward myself a bit, or any number of things that get me off track.  A particularly busy week or two at work can even do it.  Then I start trying to solve problems by throwing money at them.  Even though it's probably safe to say that the single biggest problem in my life is having a bunch of debt hanging over me. 

No, I'm not in danger of losing my home (I don't own it anyway) or of having to declare bankruptcy or anything like that.  It's just that with debt repayment costs, I can't really afford to save up for a home, or really put away what I'd need for retirement, or justify travelling to see the world and good friends along the way.  I feel stuck.  My debt makes me feel stuck.  And it's always in the back of my mind.

And I'm tired of it. 

Aww, PJ, hugs to you. Lots of been in your shoes. 7 years ago, I had $72k in student loans and a $9k car loan. I was into the Dave Ramsey forum back then and you are super brave to be among these folks - this MMM is a fast one meaning you probably feel even further behind with your debt and seeing people, maybe younger than you (some of them are younger than me for sure) than are retiring. You are to be commended for being here.

Also, I started using YNAB back in 2011 and it helped me understand all my expenses, especially the ones where stuff goes wrong. Honestly, a good chunk of my monthly, annual, even future guessestimate retirement budget is for stuff ***maybe*** going wrong. Something is gonna happen, I just don't always know where. It is like whack a mole, right? This helps reduce the stress because it is accounted for, even if I dont use the funds, then awesome, but it really helps to set expectations every month.

We had $1135 doctor bill that arrived Jan 3. I paid it on credit card ASAP (to get points!) and then transferred money from checking ASAP to pay that portion of the bill because I wanted that "negativitiy" out of my life. Tests came back normal, thank god, and we knew we were gonna pay some medical expenses this year, just happened to be in January. Oh well. Next month, it will be something else.

Take comfort in all the other awesome things you are doing every day.

Hope this helps. Sorry for typos - am walking on my treadmill (thanks for keeping me entertained  with this response so I could log more time...lol).

[pachnik]

In other news, I've been following along reading the last couple days, but not posting.  The $900 vet bill really bummed me out, and got me thinking. 

I have a pattern.  I work really hard to pay down my debt for a little while, then something happens.  The something could be an actual crisis, or it could be a realization that I don't really have a handle on certain expenses, or it could be that I make good progress and decide to reward myself a bit, or any number of things that get me off track.  A particularly busy week or two at work can even do it.  Then I start trying to solve problems by throwing money at them.  Even though it's probably safe to say that the single biggest problem in my life is having a bunch of debt hanging over me. 

No, I'm not in danger of losing my home (I don't own it anyway) or of having to declare bankruptcy or anything like that.  It's just that with debt repayment costs, I can't really afford to save up for a home, or really put away what I'd need for retirement, or justify travelling to see the world and good friends along the way.  I feel stuck.  My debt makes me feel stuck.  And it's always in the back of my mind.

And I'm tired of it. 

I don't want to be anxious about money any more.  I don't want to be weighed down by it anymore.  I want to clear the debt - totally doable, by the way, it's just going to take some time.  And then I want to take most of the money I'm using for debt repayment, and make smart and sensible decisions that will prepare me for the future, while allowing me to live more fully today. 

I want to be in control.

Snap!

I have the power.

I started by bringing a granola bar with me for breakfast, and drinking coffee at the dealership.  Came home after running my errands and even though I only had 20 minutes before I needed to leave again, I made myself a delicious lunch - mozzarella and avocado on toasted olive focaccia bun, plus kiwi, and a cup of coffee for the road.  Spent the afternoon at the zoo with a friend (we both have memberships), so basically had a 3 hour walk in the fresh air, and I took a handful of mini chocolate bars leftover from Halloween (they've been in the freezer) for us to share.  Filled up the car with gas because I was going right past a place with a decent price, and I feel like I'm starting to get a handle on what the new "normal" gas prices should be.  I had to go to a work thing tonight, and someone gave me some money, so I took it straight to the bank and deposited it against my credit card.  Came home, made myself a cheap dinner of boiled potatoes and onions - very yummy with a little butter or margarine and salt.  And made a pot of broccoli cheddar rice with extra veg and lentils for future freezer meals.

PJ, you really do have the power.   I have really been enjoying this thread though at times, to be honest, it and myself and have pissed me off.  I am no UF by nature.  I've always been more of a fritterer of money. 

Before I found the MMM website close to four years ago, I used to fritter my money away.  Didn't really have debt but also didn't really have much to show for it.  Just spent money here and there on little things very regularly i.e. take out coffee.  Buying snacks out because I would forget to bring enough food with me for the day etc.   It was a very unconscious pattern.  This website woke me up.  I found it when I was 48 or 49 so too old for early retirement but so what.   

I started tracking my spending and planning ahead better (duuuh!!!)   And basically stopped leaking $$$ wherever I went.  I started saving a third of my income and put it into my RRSP.  Then last year, I said to my husband "let's take a trip to Europe".  We saved up and went to Paris and London for 2 weeks last September and it was wonderful.   Before I found MMM, I believed 100% that we could not afford to travel and I found out that we could when the frittering away stopped.

So that's my story in a nutshell and sorry about the repetition because I've written in other threads.   

[horsepoor]

This is me.  Except.... I've been sequestered in my apartment and going online looking at horses for sale, when I need another horse like a hole in the head (more like a hole in the wallet).  And I found one I keep going back to look at.  At least she's in Missouri, hopefully she sells before I go to Omaha in March, because I could take a day trip and go look while I'm there.  Bad!  It might be cheaper to just leave the house and go to the movies or drink fancy cocktails and eat caviar.

Dear Horsepoor, I'm afraid that i started to laugh when I read about it could be cheaper to drink cocktails and eat caviar than look at horses online.    It is kind of like me two weeks ago when I ended up buying a painting.   But I know you are frugal otherwise.  :)

Yes!  I should follow your lead and buy a painting of a horse instead.  At least that would't eat and need to go to the vet.  :)

I spent a lot of money on a very fancy horse in 2015, and it turns out that she can buck like a rodeo bronc (she was not broke to ride when purchased).  She is with a very good trainer right now, but I'm anxious that I'll never feel comfortable riding her, knowing what sort of hell she can unleash.  I guess I'm just mentally preparing myself by looking at other horses in case I need to sell her on.  #firstworldproblems

[tortoiseshell]

Day 1: $10.00 (church offering)
Day 2: $0
Day 3: $2.00 (DH coffee)
Day 4: $27.93 ($9 groceries, $18.93 OTC medication)
Day 5: $0
Day 6: $85.75 (internet: the price was raised this month; I have to work on getting it down.)
Day 7: $23.75 (groceries, including cat food)

Week 1 Total: $149.43

Day 8: $10.00 (church offering)
Day 9: $7.04 (eggs and loaf of bread)
Day 10: $4.25 (cat treats and DH coffee)
Day 11: $22.55 (groceries for DH lunches, vitamins, shoe polish)
Day 12: $39.49 (electric bill and DH coffee)
Day 13: $0
Day 14: $33.53 (groceries)

Week 2 Total: $116.86

Day 15: $106.41 (cell phone bill, anniversary dinner, church offering)
Day 16: $35.00 (prescription medication for cat)
Day 17: $11.05 (groceries for DH lunches, DH coffee)
Day 18: $1.79 (DH coffee)
Day 19: $867.29 (rent, house coffee, oats, sesame seeds)
Day 20: $0
Day 21: $23.88 (groceries)

Week 3 total: $1045.42 ($195.42 in non-rent spending)

Day 22: $31.99 (vitamins, bus tokens)
Day 23: $0
Day 24: $0
Day 25: $29.05 (groceries)
Day 26: $2.00 (bus transfers)
Day 27: $0
Day 28: $42.27 (groceries, cat treats)

Week 4 total: $105.31

[Captain and Mrs Slow]

860€ for 3 weeks.

Few items of note

Food 300 per week, struggling to keep it at 75€ a week 100 is more realistic as I’m now (slowly) switching to organic meat which is more expensive.

Clothing 165€ we both agreed no more clothing in Feb - goal 100 per month

Entertainment: 78€  as mentioned this is a tough one as we are expats but have found solutions which allow us to go out with friends and not break the bank

Kindle: 25€ don’t really have access to a decent library and I’m trying to read more 1 book per month

Next Month 925€ this is a more realistic budget

Just got our electric gas bill for the year and getting a nice refund and our monthly amount is dropping, those LEDs will pay for themselves in a bit over a year Whoot Whoot. Good news next week we pop in the bank and put on a lump sum payment on the mortgage, 3 years and 4 months and that baby is toast. Soooo excited!

[HappierAtHome]

Still going strong, and I am feeling confident that we'll finish up well below budget.

Today’s wins: picked up a manual breast pump and microwave bottle steriliser from my Buy Nothing group, and Mr H sanded, primed and painted an old hutch to turn it into nursery furniture. I also gave away some items on Buy Nothing, which is always a good feeling :-)

[Anatidae V]

I probably should have set an actual spending target, but DH and I found it useful anyway. Because we knew we were doing this, we were so much more thoughtful about what we bought. This past week was disorganised, and neither of us liked that, nor the takeaway we ended up buying. Since we know how good we felt for 3 weeks before that, we're motivated to keep working on the habit of preparing food on the weekend. We both really enjoyed a couple of impromptu dates out, but once a fortnight was plenty, and we liked getting just a coffee so that we spent most of the time talking in a different space (with really good aircon). As the weather cools, I think we might be able to change these to walks with a home made drink instead.

I didn't buy any books, and I didn't need to visit the library - because the reading pile at home has gotten so big! In fact, this challenge gave us the time to really focus on some household organisation that we needed to do together. I'd say it was a success for us! I can definitely see us doing it again later this year, but not back-to-back, as we need to consolidate what we learned this month before we try the next level of frugality...

[horsepoor]

I am making donations to charitable organizations this morning in light of yesterday's events.  Not budgeted, but keeping the spending reined in this month makes it easily affordable and I intend to do the same next month. 

[I'm a red panda]

1/1: $0
1/2: $0
1/3: $30.37 (me)  and $17.08 (DH)
1/4: $3.56 (me) and $7.42  (DH)
1/5: $0.60 (me) and $6.93 (DH)
1/6: $0 (me) and $30.35 (DH)
1/7: $34.15 (me) and $0 (DH)
1/8: $0
1/9: $45.14 (me) and $27.97
1/10: $44.88 (me) and $0 (DH)
1/11: $13.97 (me) and $0 (DH)
1/12: $4.99 (me) and $65.87 (DH)
1/13: $0
1/14: $120
1/15: $0
1/16: $0 (me) $33.05 (DH)
1/17: $4.05 (me) and $0 (DH)
1/18: $38.22 (me) and $0 (DH)
1/19: $0 (me) and $14.06 (DH)
1/20 $0 (me) and $6.07 (DH)
1/21 $25.50 (me) and $22.40 (DH)
1/22: $9.95 (me) and $0 (DH)
1/23: $1.80 (me) and $27.41 (DH)
1/24: $0
1/25: $0
1/26: $23.03 (me) and $0 (DH) 
1/27: $50.78 (me) and $0 (DH)
1/28: $0 (me) and $65ish (DH)

Yesterday was a fail, but DH decided ahead of time it was worth it to him.  About $35 on tickets to a college basketball game. Then about $25 on two beers and a hamburger at a restaurant before the game. (The restaurant lets you leave the car there, so they walked about a mile to the arena. At least there was no paid parking...  Sadly their first choice restaurant, the one with the better happy hour already had its parking lot full, so they spent a bit more than planned, and walked about twice as far as planned.)  He came home "man- eating out is really expensive".  Yep; that's why we never do it. At least the team won.

[I'm a red panda]

I probably should have set an actual spending target, but DH and I found it useful anyway. Because we knew we were doing this, we were so much more thoughtful about what we bought.

I don't budget what I plan to spend. IIRC, the Frugalwoods, who this challenge is from, don't keep a spending target-type budget either. (I think the blog post was "the goal is zero")

ETA: http://www.frugalwoods.com/2015/11/09/why-we-dont-micromanage-our-money/

We don’t (...snip...) create complicated budgets with different buckets of money.

In fact, we don’t budget at all! Instead, we operate from the perspective that we’re not going to spend any money.

I am making donations to charitable organizations this morning in light of yesterday's events.  Not budgeted, but keeping the spending reined in this month makes it easily affordable and I intend to do the same next month.

This is a good use of money. Frugal doesn't need to mean miserly.

[Bracken_Joy]

1/1/17- gas, $33
1/2/17- groceries, $18
1/3/17- gas, $20 and groceries $51, general household $14, dog nails clipped $13
1/4/17- $0
1/5/17- $0
1/6/17- $0
1/7/17- $45.53 groceries, $18 pet food

1/8/17- $0
1/9/17- $25.07 groceries, $18.88 general household
1/10/17- $75 work jacket for DH
1/11/17- $3.68 groceries, $4.78 general household
1/12/17- $0
1/13/17- $23.53 gas; $20.49 groceries; $9.79 Beer for evening with friends; Amazon S&S: $49.28 dog food, $31 protein powder for DH, $13.24 general household, $22.73 prenatal vitamin
1/14/17- $8 car wash

1/15/17- $5.01 groceries
1/16/17- $10.91 gas; $43.23 groceries (costco)
1/17/17- $0
1/18/17- $8.98 groceries
1/19/17- $0 $2.65 wine (plus $7.34 as the remainder of a gift card)
1/20/17- $19.53 groceries
1/21/17- $21.31 gas; $49.06 groceries; $32.08 membership upgrade

1/22/17- $0
1/23/17- $0
1/24/17- $12 dog nails clipped
1/25/17- $15 lunch with friend; $21.63 gas
1/26/17- $16.97 goodwill (shorts x2 for DH, yoga pants for me) on a visa gift card

1/27/17- $0
1/28/17- $17 gas; $7 coffee; $18.28 beer with friends

Well... yesterday was fun, I won't lie. DH and I did an impromptu beach trip with the dog, then cut inland level with some friends and went to their place- they ordered pizzas from a local artisan place, so we bought 2 six packs and left them with the extra. The biggest failure was DH and I buying coffee to take while wandering the beach. It was an expensive place, but I'm hard pressed to be upset. It was incredible coffee, and wandering the beach with DH and dog and delicious coffee was just amazing. We haven't been in over a year.

So, yesterday: not Uber Frugal, but certainly using money to bring joy to our life.

But, I only need two things for this week for groceries for my meal plan, so we should still come in under the $400 crazy low for us goal, even with the beers counting under groceries. (Which will be a big thing, since we prep food and send DH up with 4-5 days worth of food at a time... so this whole week rolls into January's budget).

[nottoolatetostart]

I probably should have set an actual spending target, but DH and I found it useful anyway. Because we knew we were doing this, we were so much more thoughtful about what we bought.

I don't budget what I plan to spend. IIRC, the Frugalwoods, who this challenge is from, don't keep a spending target-type budget either. (I think the blog post was "the goal is zero")

I stopped budgeting too. I used to do YNAB but I think it made me have too many mind games and didn't really create simplicity and I was still buying stuff, so deviated me away from the simplicity I wanted. Plus I spent more since I don't tell myself no if over budget.

Now, at least for this month and February, the answer is "use whatever's at home, I don't need it anyway, or make do without".

A big takeaway is that the lifestyle of living, walking everywhere (I am on same tank of gas since sometine in December), being more content, not buying stuff, selling my things (just sold a $90 headboard this morning!,) doing DIY like all the time, being efficient with my time, etc is giving me a budget that actually could let DH stop working in the coming months. Months! And he is on board!

[Sailor Sam]

Spending
1/09:  $0
1/10:  $0
1/11:  $0
1/12:  $8.40 on groceries
1/13:  $38.86 on 13 gallons of primo gasoline
1/14:  $64.62 on groceries. First big grocery shopping for 2017. I'm using the receipt as the blastocyst of a price book.
1/15:  $15 recharging Starbucks card

1/16 - $0 (but $10.95 using a gift card)
1/17 - $0  (reimbursed $4 on parking)
1/18 - $0
1/19 - $0
1/20 - $140 on passport renewal
1/21 - 38.84 on groceries
1/22 - $0

1/23 - $0
1/24 - $80.04 on necessary, but very unenjoyable fuckery
1/25 - $0
1/26 - $0
1/27 - $8.76 on coffee & candy
1/28 - $0

I also spent $54.35 buying food while on work travel. Eventually I'll be reimbursed $526.50, so I think I won there. I stayed within the spirit of UFJ by bringing hotel coffee to work, and purchasing only cafeteria food.

[TightFistedScot]

Heading out to meet a friend at a coffee shop soon. As no coffees/teas out of the house is one of my UFJ rules, I will be drinking water. I have never done this before!

Then I will be using my points to go to a movie for free this evening. Have been really keeping the social spending to nearly 0 this month!

[dreams_and_discoveries]

I'm doing well for the month, not much unnecessary spending, just a few drinks with people I wanted to catch up with. Claiming the cider is medicinal tonight, for my sore throat.

Will be about £400 under  budget for the month, impressive.

[katscratch]

Heading out to meet a friend at a coffee shop soon. As no coffees/teas out of the house is one of my UFJ rules, I will be drinking water. I have never done this before!

Then I will be using my points to go to a movie for free this evening. Have been really keeping the social spending to nearly 0 this month!

Lately when I meet friends I take my tea in a thermos; so far not one person at a coffee shop has said anything or even really paid attention :)

[gaja]

Kind of lost my motivation towards the end, and went to one of the local discount shops this Friday. Ended up with a bad taste in my mouth, both because we didn't really need those towels, and because I forgot to pack a few of the items I bought... Well, it was a good vaccine; don't really feel the need to og to any of those shops for a long time.

We started this challenge a few days early, so saturday a month was up, and we went grocery shopping for the amount of several hundred bucks. My main goal was to focus on the grocery spending, hoping to spend next to nothing in grocery stores in January. The result was that (including the large shopping trip yesterday) we spent less than 40 % of the 2016 average. The fridge, freezer and pantry are as full as ever, but we got rid of a lot of old stuff, stuff we were sceptical of trying because it was getting old, or because it was a failed experiment. Also, we ate substantially less candy, snack, and take out, and didn't eat in restaurants at all. I travelled 11 days this month, with three hotel nights. The per diem surplus will be a nice bonus when I get the refund in the middle of next month.   

I found out I'm much happyer when I can get good deals and do some stockpiling every now and then. If I limit the grocery shopping to once a week in local stores, and once a month crossing the border, we can probably keep the grocery budget at this level or lower, and still keep the shopping habit happy. DH was very sceptical, but we have found out what he needs to have available in the house to be happy. The kids chose to spend some of their own money to get the normal once a week candy fix, but we also made muffins, brownies and cakes from ingredients we had in the house. The main issue has always been bread, with DH going to the store at least once a day because "we were running out of bread". I've tried baking, but I'm the only one who likes the result. The rest of them complain that it is too dark and dense. Now we have reached a compromise: We buy loads of pre sliced toast bread (horrible sweet spongy stuff) and fill the freezer with this for DH and the kids. I bake my lovely healthy bread and buns for me and myself and look at the toast gorgeing plebeians with great pity.

There will be no Uber Frugal February, since we will spend at least a week in hospital with one of the kids, another two weeks with a recouperating kid, and I'm travelling to Belgium for work the week before it all happens. The travelling is a semi regular occurance, but leaving Belgium without beer and chocolate is still a crime, especially when we will need the decadent comfort right afterwards. Kids who have major surgery also get gifts; as many as they want. (Especially when their wants usually are limited to a teddybear with glittering eyes and a coloring book). The kid will also need clothes that can be fitted on a big and awkward body cast, so limiting the clothes budget will only cause frustration. Only one parent will get a bed in the kid's room at the hospital, and we are not certain that the other one will want to drive the 100 km home every night (and back early in the morning). We have enough bonus/reward points for two-three nights in hotels, but since planning is difficult, we might end up paying for a room. Do both of us need to be at the hospital for medical or logical reasons? No. But as long as the kid asks for it, we will both be there. I love the welfare state that lets us do that without worrying about jobs or medical costs. By law we each get 10 days paid leave for sick children a year. Since the older one is deaf, we get an additional 10 days each. Tomorrow I'm going to the doctor to ask her to apply for 10 days more for the younger kid. And we will probably get 3-10 "nurture days" for when she is in hospital, covered by a different law than the normal "care days". We'll get fed at the hospital, but considering how that food normally tastes, we'll need something more.

The other kid is going to the grandparents for the two worst hospital weeks, the ticket has already been booked and paid. One of the weeks is the winter holiday, and it is the perfect solution to ship her north, since she and the grandfather are the only avid (cross country) skiers in the family. The other week she'll get off school, the teacher only asked that she'll read a lot of books and write book reports. I think she will be ok in that regard too, the house she is going to has book shelves instead of walls and door frames, and there are books littered on every flat surface. But just in case, we have made a deal with one of the aunts that she'll take her to the library in town. We'll also transfer enough money to allow her to pay for skis and ski booths if the grandparents haven't got anything that might fit, and will allow her to pay. The chance for both of those to happen is close to zero, but I prefer to budget for it anyway. We should be ok for clothes and sports equipment otherwise.

[HappierAtHome]

Gaja, best of luck with your child's surgery and recovery. I'll be thinking of you.

When my husband had surgery (which was thankfully only minor, but he was terrified), my rule was that he could pretty much have whatever he wanted to help him get through it. I can only imagine that feeling would be magnified by about a million for a sick child.

[Kaybee]

I didn't do as well as I had hoped but I DID make some cuts.  My "entertainment" spending was $90 lower than what it usually is and could have been lower still.  My grocery bill *would* have been lower but there was a sale on shelf-stable basics (that I was low on anyways) when I last stopped at the store so my total for the month was only $20 less than previous months.

Things that kept my entertainment spending from dropping even further:
-I get massages once a month for back issues (I should actually go more often).  My insurance covers about 90% of it but the reimbursement cheque hasn't arrived yet so I keep the full amount showing in my expenses (so I'm still waiting on getting 80$ back).
-I went to a few free concerts put on by a community group.  At one of the free concerts, I decided to pay $10 for their "membership".  It doesn't really do anything for me (there's a newsletter, I think) but I can afford to pay $10 to a charitable organization that puts so much work into ensuring arts/cultural events are accessible to everyone.
-I ordered more drinks than anticipated at a vernissage (I need to limit how much cash I carry with me...)
-I started an art class (paid for back in December) so I had to buy supplies for the class, which I did as economically as possible (in fact, I wish I had invested a bit more into supplies since the quality of my pencils is already starting to bother me)
-I paid $10 for a membership in my neighbourhood's community association which means I can list myself for a spot in the community garden (not guaranteed to get one but at least I'm on the waiting list now...I can try and expand my gardening efforts if I get a spot!!)

Final conclusion:
Wow, January was actually one of my most enjoyable months in recent memory despite my attempts to limit my spending.  I LIKED checking out the free concerts and finding out which galleries were hosting openings or sponsored nights.  I didn't love that I often went to these events alone (I'm new-ish to town so still attempting to make meaningful connections, the people I've met thus far aren't into art the way I am) but I was surprised at the amount of free things I could find with just a little digging.  It will be interesting to see how things  turn out in upcoming months (I've got 3 tough months coming up due to a stress-inducing visit to my parents in February, and vacation time in both March and April)

[TightFistedScot]

Heading out to meet a friend at a coffee shop soon. As no coffees/teas out of the house is one of my UFJ rules, I will be drinking water. I have never done this before!

Then I will be using my points to go to a movie for free this evening. Have been really keeping the social spending to nearly 0 this month!

Lately when I meet friends I take my tea in a thermos; so far not one person at a coffee shop has said anything or even really paid attention :)

Yeah I'm sure that would be fine as long as the other friend is ordering and it isn't too busy. I feel a bit guilty taking up the seat if I'm not buying anything. But then again, I was raised Catholic and feel guilty about most things. :P

[katscratch]

Oh gosh, yes, I'd never feel ok doing that if I were alone or if people were waiting for a table.  It also helps that my friend is known at most of the shops we regularly go to :)

[rachellynn99]

UFM has not been perfect. HOWEVER I can see a difference beginning in me. Things like " I can really spend that money elsewhere" when I am contemplating spending money. Or asking myself " Do I really need this?". So I would say that money wise I've had a few slips (both having to do with eating out), but I would say otherwise it's been a success. We ate out twice, both times had to do with being invited by family/friends, and had nothing to do with my lack of planning. We just need to say no. I also had takeout pizza to the tune of $10.67 one night when my daughters friend came over to play. Again, I should have made something at home. Anyways, it's good to know these things.

But, no clothes for any of us.
No entertainment costs ( we all look forward to going to the library weekly now).
No Ulta for me ( I used to go like 3-4 times a month to browse which ended up with me buying something stupid and unneeded).
I also haven't been to CVS- even though I would shop the deals and stuff, we don't need more toothpaste or mouthwash so spending any amount of money on it is not necessary at the moment.

I've been reading more and trying to keep ahead on my school work and also my work work.

So I would say it's been a pretty good month.

[andy85]

I just saw this thread, definitely in! I need a low month after many months of quite the opposite. Goal is $1750.

I'm sitting at $169.15 spent so far this month. I haven't paid any of my monthly bills yet though...mortgage, utilities, car insurance. I'm pretty confident I will come in under $1,500 for the month.

I'm at $1,215 spent. All my big bills have been paid...mortgage, car insurance, all utilities. All that is left is 2 grocery trips, a tank of gas, and a round of golf. Should be right at $1,500 for the month, which will be close to a 60% savings rate!

Final grocery trip is in the books, which concludes my UFJ. I easily beat my original goal of $1,750!!

The breakdown:

Total Spent: $1,474.16

Housing: $761.23

• Interest: $329.71
• Taxes: $98.30
• Insurance: $58.31
• Electric/Gas: $139.91
• Internet: $60
• Pest: $75

Transportation: $144.18

• Gas: $63.55
• Insurance: $79.13
• Maintenance: $1.50

Consumables: $414.04

• Grocery: $409.03
• Dining: $5.01
• Alcohol: $0!!!!

Fun: $94.71

• Netflix: $9.99
• Hulu: $11.99
• Woodworking: $8.18
• Golf: $49.25
• Gym: $10
• Redbox: $5.30

Other: $60

• Cell phone: $60

So there we have it. I am going to give it another shot in February...may be a couple of hundred more, but it should still be a pretty lean month. Nice to know that i could live on $18,000/year if I kept it this level of frugal year-round.

[marielle]

Reached my goal of $1000 for the month! Spending today and tomorrow might be $5, max, for playing pool. If I was paying health insurance it would be more like $1040 for the month, but that's still only $12,500 a year which I'm okay with! Hopefully I can reduce my housing expenses when I move in 5 months -- will definitely reduce/eliminate my car commute so even if I pay a bit more to actually rent a house and not an apartment I'm okay with that.

Rent + pet rent: $515
Water, electric, internet: $64 (roommate split)
Groceries: $127.68
Eating out: $10
Gas/car: $134
Car Insurance: $23
Car maintenance: $22
Donation: $40
Discretionary spending: $41.50
Total: $977.18

Cellphone is missing because I still have top up money on my Ringplus account. It would be another $7.49 a month though.