$2,000 September

[The knitter]

My husband has thrown down the gauntlet at home, so I figured I'd throw down the gauntlet here on the forum:

Can we make it through September only spending $2,000?

Our budget outline:

Rent: $600
Cell phones: $170
Internet: $45
Electricity; $80
Groceries: $350
Gasoline: $370(includes one planned road trip)
Eating out: $50
Haircut: $20
Netflix: $8
Gym: $22
Gifts: $70
$200-other stuff that comes up

Our goal is to pad our checking account to get one month ahead in our YNAB. We aren't counting things like my IRA, or our savings deposits as part of this spending, since we are not spending it.

Anyone want to join us?

[Mark B]

Hmm.  My alimony payment alone is $2000.  But I promise I won't spend any more that that on alimony.

[kkbmustang]

I can't join you, either, but that sounds like a great goal. Are the amounts for your cell phone, gas and grocery bills stretch goals?

[smalllife]

This is me every month, but I'll throw down the gauntlet to make sure I don't do anything extravagant in September as I have a few larger purchases planned.

-Cell phone at $170?  Between Ting, Airvoice, Page Plus, etc. etc. you could make this gauntlet happen all of the time. 
-Is the $200 out of rainy day funds or is is "Misc" spending that isn't accounted for in the budgeting categories at the start of the month (i.e. go over budget in various areas by $200).  Alternatively, is this including your sinking funds for rainy day categories (bi-annual insurance payments, etc.)?

[The knitter]

The $2,000 doesn't include insurance or any other long term payment.

This is a one time goal, just to get our accounts padded.

$170 is for three cell phones, and it's a number we expect to be lower based on a teacher discount we expect to start getting. The cell phone plans in general are up for discussion, but we haven't decided whether to leave yet.

The grocery number is pretty close to what we spend each month, so we might be able to trim that down with some extra effort.

That $200 figure is just the leftover between what I listed and the $2,000 mark, but will likely include odds and ends for a baby shower I'm helping organize.

We are fairly new to MMM, so we may seem weak to some, but this will be a challenge for us for sure!

[swick]

I'll be here to cheer you on!

Between all the budgeted and carefully planned wedding expenses, being on vacation for 1/2 the month, and stocking up on food for the winter I can't join this month, if you do an October one, I am in!

We all have to start somewhere, and gauntlets are great for keeping accountable :)

[The knitter]

I'll be here to cheer you on!

Between all the budgeted and carefully planned wedding expenses, being on vacation for 1/2 the month, and stocking up on food for the winter I can't join this month, if you do an October one, I am in!

We all have to start somewhere, and gauntlets are great for keeping accountable :)

Thanks! I'll let you know if we decide to do it again in October.

[EK]

I would like to be in, but my budget can't handle $2000 yet!  Count me as another cheerleader!

[Ottawa]

We're in!

Running Total = $616.79

Known costs at this time (will update along the way)
1) childcare = 192
2) townhouse common fee = 100
3) natural gas bill = 48.75 (1 month)
4) water/sewer = 61.36 (2 months)
5) Netflix = 7.99
6) Internet = 45.14
7) Cellphone = 32.78
8) Homephone = 25.93
9) Hydro Electricity = 102.84 (2 months)
 

[dragoncar]

I'm surprised there haven't been any face punches yet.  With rent that low, you should be able to hit this every month.  In what ways have you been going over the listed budget?

[swick]

We are fairly new to MMM, so we may seem weak to some, but this will be a challenge for us for sure!

The OP isn't asking for specific critique of her budget and didn't include enough facts for us to have a complete picture. As a first challenge on the path to mustachianism, I don't feel  creating a challenge is face punch worthy. After a win and finding out that this life style is awesome, she may be willing to take on bigger challenges :)

[olivia]

You've got this!  With my rent I can't do $2k, but I'm going to continue my Austerity August habits (no eating out, no nonessential spending) and will check in here if that's allowed!  I'd like to get our monthly spending down further every month until we really can't cut anymore.

[dragoncar]

We are fairly new to MMM, so we may seem weak to some, but this will be a challenge for us for sure!

The OP isn't asking for specific critique of her budget and didn't include enough facts for us to have a complete picture. As a first challenge on the path to mustachianism, I don't feel  creating a challenge is face punch worthy. After a win and finding out that this life style is awesome, she may be willing to take on bigger challenges :)

Rhinoceroses don't wait for a specific request to critique your budget, they simply charge your ass!

[Samsam]

Before I joined MMM I spent upwards of $3k a month, after getting rid of some things I was able to budget around $2.3k.  Would love to try lowering it to $2k, but I'm afraid I will have to try after Sept...b/c I'm buying a house!  So...that's going to go way over $2k for Sept :)

[Mark B]

Before I joined MMM I spent upwards of $3k a month, after getting rid of some things I was able to budget around $2.3k.  Would love to try lowering it to $2k, but I'm afraid I will have to try after Sept...b/c I'm buying a house!  So...that's going to go way over $2k for Sept :)

That is completely awesome, spedleysam!  The fun begins!

[The knitter]

I'm surprised there haven't been any face punches yet.  With rent that low, you should be able to hit this every month.  In what ways have you been going over the listed budget?

Our spending before finding MMM was probably closer to $4,000 a month - money we were pissing away as far as I can tell. The biggest problem is that we weren't really tracking all the spending, so it's hard to know exactly what we spent our money on.

We're transitioning, and I'm happy to say that we are making improvements. The phone bill used to be $198 a month, there used to be an extra gym membership for about $45 a month gym total. Gas was probably about this much without any road trips.

I'm adjusting the electric bill to $60 after seeing August's bill yesterday. Big savings from not running the air conditioning.

Anyway, we could still use some face punches. I've got a journal (stitch by stitch) if you want to punch away there!

[Micheal]

Id join you but I'd honestly be cheating as we only bring in 1500 a month and only spend 1/2 of that normally. 

[Samsam]

Thanks Mark B, also got my partner reading and she is on board too, even started biking!

[mpbaker22]

Good luck guys!  You can do it, realize it's easy, and start doing this every month!

[oldtoyota]

We are fairly new to MMM, so we may seem weak to some, but this will be a challenge for us for sure!

I don't think you are weak at all. The above budget is already fairly frugal. Of course, optimization can always be done, but your budget is better than that of most Americans.

I'm not able to join now, but I'll cheer you on!