Author Topic: August August  (Read 19749 times)

forummm

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August August
« on: July 22, 2015, 07:26:38 AM »
We've been doing
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/no-buy-july/

I see no reason why we can't continue into August. It can be a distinguished, illustrious, and impressive August, celebrated and full of savings!

Who's with me?

cripes7

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Re: August August
« Reply #1 on: July 24, 2015, 09:48:26 AM »
My earlier post is in cyberspace I guess. Yes, I'm in.

forummm

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Re: August August
« Reply #2 on: July 24, 2015, 10:06:54 AM »
My earlier post is in cyberspace I guess. Yes, I'm in.

Alright! Welcome aboard!

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Re: August August
« Reply #3 on: July 24, 2015, 10:07:14 AM »
We did this in June. Starting to look like July will be much the same. I suspect August too.

I think this is just our life. The only thing that can really torpedo our sub-2k monthly spending are big ticket items...none of those on the radar until November when I get my one way ticket to the Baja. :)

wordnerd

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Re: August August
« Reply #4 on: July 24, 2015, 10:10:09 AM »
I'm in! And, I appreciate the use of august as an adjective--very underused.

forummm

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Re: August August
« Reply #5 on: July 24, 2015, 10:33:47 AM »
Our august group is growing!

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Re: August August
« Reply #6 on: July 24, 2015, 12:53:39 PM »
me too!

forummm

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Re: August August
« Reply #7 on: July 24, 2015, 01:49:12 PM »
me too!

Great! Looks like you've been squirreling away those dollars so far this month too!

horsepoor

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Re: August August
« Reply #8 on: July 24, 2015, 11:05:24 PM »
I think I can do this one.  August should be a pretty straight-forward month.

MsPeacock

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Re: August August
« Reply #9 on: July 27, 2015, 10:38:56 AM »
I am in and I'm putting a sticky on my accountability spreadsheet right now.

Challenge will be the week at the beach (rental already paid for) to NOT spend on eating out, stupid arcade games at the boardwalk, etc.). Children have their own allowance for this stuff.

forummm

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Re: August August
« Reply #10 on: July 27, 2015, 11:11:58 AM »
Cool! We're getting good practice with July. I'm excited to tally the numbers. These two months are going to blow the roof off the doors (to quote Matthew Berry).

Britan

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Re: August August
« Reply #11 on: July 27, 2015, 11:23:57 AM »
I'm in - I failed July hard. Moving broke the bank. ):

However I'm taking 2 weeks "staycation" in August, which will be a good opportunity to make all meals at home, save money on gas, and start crafting some things I'd otherwise buy for the new apartment.

Challenges:
1. New dog means possibly more expenses - vet bills, etc. I've already got most of his supplies but there are a few remaining that I need - for example, a clicker and nail clippers. Nothing big, but I'm sure there are some other little things I'm forgetting.
2. Driving 9 hours to a wedding in Expensive Tourist Town during peak tourist season. I will try to pack food because the hotel alone was mad expensive, not to mention the tolls and gas. I just hope that if we're spending around $800 just to be at their wedding, they don't need a separate gift at the cost of their (I'm sure) mad expensive dinner too.

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Re: August August
« Reply #12 on: July 29, 2015, 07:01:24 AM »
I'm in. Must save this month for incoming taxes and real estate purchase fees later this year.

Plan: home made meals, no shopping this month, and hopefully sell some stuff I don't use anymore.
« Last Edit: July 30, 2015, 02:14:53 PM by GoldenNeko »

forummm

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Re: August August
« Reply #13 on: July 29, 2015, 05:58:15 PM »
It's going to be hard to beat July for me:

Since we're not going to spend anymore money the rest of the month, I have the tally in for July. It didn't take long to do since there were so few entries :)

$158.84   Utilities
$240.93   Groceries
$10.00   Eating Out
$59.02   Misc
401.00   Insurance (prorated) and property tax (prorated)
317.00   Interest expense (mortgage)
1,186.79   Total Expenses

All time record low! Smashing our previous record of $1,477. Can we go lower during our august August?
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/august-august/

And we had 3 paydays this month, so our savings rate was also a record. It was unbelievably high.

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Re: August August
« Reply #14 on: July 29, 2015, 07:55:57 PM »
Yes, I am in. Oldest kiddo needs some school supplies, I will get them in the next couple of days.  Luckily a friend gave us a bunch of her kids old clothes so nothing needed there😀 hoping to set a new savings record in August.

Faraday

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Re: August August
« Reply #15 on: July 29, 2015, 08:24:53 PM »
forummm...man, you are a HOOT. "No Buy July" then giving way to an "August August". Har!

I'm in...I'm in...pending negotiations with the DW. August is "almost" a 3-payday month for us, so yeah, we'd be able to jam on immense savings if we pulled this off. I have some food reserves I can use up in August that will help minimize even our normal frugal grocery bill. If I could make this happen, I'd be able to restore our depleted emergency fund in one month, vs. 3 months as I planned (I use the emergency fund to blast away the mortgage...)

So, can you kinda spell out the rules for me and others who might not be fully appraised on what  a "no buy" month is? I mean, I already know from your prior posting, I get to buy rent/mortgage, utilities, gas (or in your case, electrons. *envy*) pet food, medicines and regular, non-packaged groceries.

So, essentially, it's "no frivolous buys", right? No eating out, no clothes, jewelry, goober stuff. Right?

Two Questions:
1) Is bike stuff OK if it's for TRANSPORT and not silly? (I'm adding a light to a bike for commuting purposes and might need a bolt or washer or some other part to make the bike light work.)
2) Do we post the results in this thread at the end of August? (and if that wasn't your intent, would you want us to anyway?)

See, I have sorta this...um...fantasy of biking to work for an entire month, eliminating my own gas purchases. I can't ask the DW to do that (and I never would - she's not insane crazy like I am) but I feel like that might be a way for me to join you on Electric Avenue, even if I do appear slightly more fruity to the cagers than you would in your slick little LEAF... :-)

(song "Electric Avenue" played on the radio this morning and I could not resist...)
« Last Edit: July 29, 2015, 08:31:17 PM by mefla »

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Re: August August
« Reply #16 on: July 31, 2015, 08:25:04 AM »
I'm in! We went over our finances last month. Looking at our budget, it looks like we can save $1700 in the month of August if we're super careful. That's in addition to our normal $1500 payment into loans. I really hope it can happen! If we can get into the rhythm of paying $3200 into our student loans per month, we'll be debt free in 6 months.

I did budget for two social obligations (baby shower gift, wedding gift) and gave myself $50 worth of eating out (which, surprisingly, is just two nights out on the town). Other than that, I'm pretty barebones on my budget. And who knows? Maybe I'll get REALLY badass and walk/bike to metro, saving myself an extra $80 this month (but not likely).

forummm

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Re: August August
« Reply #17 on: July 31, 2015, 09:16:26 AM »
forummm...man, you are a HOOT. "No Buy July" then giving way to an "August August". Har!

I'm in...I'm in...pending negotiations with the DW. August is "almost" a 3-payday month for us, so yeah, we'd be able to jam on immense savings if we pulled this off. I have some food reserves I can use up in August that will help minimize even our normal frugal grocery bill. If I could make this happen, I'd be able to restore our depleted emergency fund in one month, vs. 3 months as I planned (I use the emergency fund to blast away the mortgage...)

So, can you kinda spell out the rules for me and others who might not be fully appraised on what  a "no buy" month is? I mean, I already know from your prior posting, I get to buy rent/mortgage, utilities, gas (or in your case, electrons. *envy*) pet food, medicines and regular, non-packaged groceries.

So, essentially, it's "no frivolous buys", right? No eating out, no clothes, jewelry, goober stuff. Right?

Two Questions:
1) Is bike stuff OK if it's for TRANSPORT and not silly? (I'm adding a light to a bike for commuting purposes and might need a bolt or washer or some other part to make the bike light work.)
2) Do we post the results in this thread at the end of August? (and if that wasn't your intent, would you want us to anyway?)

See, I have sorta this...um...fantasy of biking to work for an entire month, eliminating my own gas purchases. I can't ask the DW to do that (and I never would - she's not insane crazy like I am) but I feel like that might be a way for me to join you on Electric Avenue, even if I do appear slightly more fruity to the cagers than you would in your slick little LEAF... :-)

(song "Electric Avenue" played on the radio this morning and I could not resist...)

The idea is just to challenge yourself. How low can you go? And by buying nothing unnecessary (and doing necessary things inexpensively) you can see that you really don't need to spend that much. In July, I bought about 25 pounds of peanuts because the price was good. Even though I was shooting for a low total expense, I still stocked up on good deals. And going 2 months in a row makes a lot of sense. Why can't every month be a month for great savings?

Faraday

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Re: August August
« Reply #18 on: July 31, 2015, 09:46:11 AM »
The idea is just to challenge yourself. How low can you go? And by buying nothing unnecessary (and doing necessary things inexpensively) you can see that you really don't need to spend that much. In July, I bought about 25 pounds of peanuts because the price was good. Even though I was shooting for a low total expense, I still stocked up on good deals. And going 2 months in a row makes a lot of sense. Why can't every month be a month for great savings?

Ok, ok. I think I'm tracking. Don't discard any good MMM advice for the goal of spending the least possible amount, but if there's an opportunity to whack something, take it (ie: like trying to ride the ebike into work every day in the month of August so that I'm buying zero gas for the Honda Insight rather than the $60/month I'm spending now....)


forummm

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Re: August August
« Reply #19 on: July 31, 2015, 09:52:10 AM »
The idea is just to challenge yourself. How low can you go? And by buying nothing unnecessary (and doing necessary things inexpensively) you can see that you really don't need to spend that much. In July, I bought about 25 pounds of peanuts because the price was good. Even though I was shooting for a low total expense, I still stocked up on good deals. And going 2 months in a row makes a lot of sense. Why can't every month be a month for great savings?

Ok, ok. I think I'm tracking. Don't discard any good MMM advice for the goal of spending the least possible amount, but if there's an opportunity to whack something, take it (ie: like trying to ride the ebike into work every day in the month of August so that I'm buying zero gas for the Honda Insight rather than the $60/month I'm spending now....)

Yeah, your decisions should make good long term sense too. I didn't cancel the car insurance and sell the cars because we're better off keeping them. I didn't pay off the mortgage to save the interest because we're better off keeping the mortgage.

The ebike sounds like a good challenge for yourself.

Faraday

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Re: August August
« Reply #20 on: July 31, 2015, 10:09:23 AM »
Yeah, your decisions should make good long term sense too. I didn't cancel the car insurance and sell the cars because we're better off keeping them. I didn't pay off the mortgage to save the interest because we're better off keeping the mortgage.

The ebike sounds like a good challenge for yourself.

Thank you....I think that's definitely something I can attempt. I might be able to dial another degree or two out of the NEST thermostat and get the bike trailer finished. (That's the "couple bolts" I mentioned earlier, axles for the bike trailer...)

I don't know how much more is POSSIBLE for me at this point. I scared hell out of DW when I talked about a "no buy August", but after explaining it to her, it's not much different from what we're already doing. I'll have to ponder and see if there's anything here I might be missing.

forummm

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Re: August August
« Reply #21 on: July 31, 2015, 10:23:28 AM »
Yeah, your decisions should make good long term sense too. I didn't cancel the car insurance and sell the cars because we're better off keeping them. I didn't pay off the mortgage to save the interest because we're better off keeping the mortgage.

The ebike sounds like a good challenge for yourself.

Thank you....I think that's definitely something I can attempt. I might be able to dial another degree or two out of the NEST thermostat and get the bike trailer finished. (That's the "couple bolts" I mentioned earlier, axles for the bike trailer...)

I don't know how much more is POSSIBLE for me at this point. I scared hell out of DW when I talked about a "no buy August", but after explaining it to her, it's not much different from what we're already doing. I'll have to ponder and see if there's anything here I might be missing.

You saw what we spent in July. We didn't feel deprived at all. We ate really well. We still live in our great (cheap) house and drive our great (cheap) electric cars. We kept the AC on and comfortable (72 at night with the super off peak rate keeps the house cool with minimal usage the rest of the day). We had lots of free entertainment online. DW had socializing activities where she brought her own lunch instead of buying at the cafeteria so she didn't miss out. Etc. It was a good month. We didn't need more.

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Re: August August
« Reply #22 on: July 31, 2015, 12:38:57 PM »
Probably can't join in this month, but I always enjoy following these threads.

Mississippi Mudstache

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Re: August August
« Reply #23 on: July 31, 2015, 01:32:56 PM »
I'm in! August is my middle name. No, seriously, August is my middle name.

We really do need to buckle down this month. July was a financial disaster, as far as disasters go for for Mustachians. Shall I list the atrocities?

$  345: Car insurance (okay, so this one was expected, but it's still a once-every-6-months irregularity)
$ 1335: Rental home maintenance costs
$ 3585: Deposit on new rental + 1st month's rent + rent on old place (three friggin' rent payments in one month!!!)
$  780: Healthcare costs. Thankfully, we are now ~$500 away from meeting OOP max.
$ 1800: Refurbished battery + installation for 2007 Prius. She gave us 5 good years, but picked a crappy month to go out :(
$  250: Rental car. We are a one-car family, so we had to improvise when the Prius went down.
$  850: Travel expenses - including hotels, eating out, gas, car rentals, etc. This includes two weeks of vacation (North GA, then Norway), so frankly, not bad.
$  100: Bungee-jumping in Norway. Nope, don't regret this one a bit :)
_____________________________
$ 9045: Grand Total in irregular/unexpected expenses.


I feel gross just typing all that. I'm shooting for a sub-$2000 month in August.

Faraday

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Re: August August
« Reply #24 on: July 31, 2015, 04:43:03 PM »
I'm in! August is my middle name. No, seriously, August is my middle name.

We really do need to buckle down this month. July was a financial disaster, as far as disasters go for for Mustachians. Shall I list the atrocities?

$  345: Car insurance (okay, so this one was expected, but it's still a once-every-6-months irregularity)
$ 1335: Rental home maintenance costs
$ 3585: Deposit on new rental + 1st month's rent + rent on old place (three friggin' rent payments in one month!!!)
$  780: Healthcare costs. Thankfully, we are now ~$500 away from meeting OOP max.
$ 1800: Refurbished battery + installation for 2007 Prius. She gave us 5 good years, but picked a crappy month to go out :(
$  250: Rental car. We are a one-car family, so we had to improvise when the Prius went down.
$  850: Travel expenses - including hotels, eating out, gas, car rentals, etc. This includes two weeks of vacation (North GA, then Norway), so frankly, not bad.
$  100: Bungee-jumping in Norway. Nope, don't regret this one a bit :)
_____________________________
$ 9045: Grand Total in irregular/unexpected expenses.


I feel gross just typing all that. I'm shooting for a sub-$2000 month in August.

Damn sorry about the Prius battery. Shame you couldn't get help from the Prius forums on that. Might have been able to recondition the battery yourself. :-(
On the bright side, you got a hell of a good price for a reconditioned battery - I paid more than that for my teeny tiny Honda Insight replacement battery this year. (Mine was new, but still, it's far smaller than yours....)

Mississippi Mudstache

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Re: August August
« Reply #25 on: July 31, 2015, 08:34:04 PM »
I actually looked into refurbishing the battery myself, but to do it right would require a lot of tools that I don't own and time that I don't have. I ended up going with a reconditioned battery with an 18-month warranty. I only plan to keep the car about 2 more years, so it didn't make sense to buy a new one. I also considered doing the install myself, but every day that the car was out of commission was another day that I had to rent a car. Downside of being a one-car family.

There's a saying about good, cheap, and fast: you can have any two of the three. In this instance, good and fast was the reasonable choice, but my net worth tracker on Personal Capital does not look favorable this month...

Faraday

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Re: August August
« Reply #26 on: August 02, 2015, 09:29:35 PM »
I actually looked into refurbishing the battery myself, but to do it right would require a lot of tools that I don't own and time that I don't have. I ended up going with a reconditioned battery with an 18-month warranty. I only plan to keep the car about 2 more years, so it didn't make sense to buy a new one. I also considered doing the install myself, but every day that the car was out of commission was another day that I had to rent a car. Downside of being a one-car family.

There's a saying about good, cheap, and fast: you can have any two of the three. In this instance, good and fast was the reasonable choice, but my net worth tracker on Personal Capital does not look favorable this month...

Please, let me assure  you that you did a GREAT JOB on the reconditioned Prius battery. Four months intomyHonda Insight battery and catalytic converter replacement, I am getting $120/month savings over the F-150 for commuting, the savings are awesome!

1967mama

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Re: August August
« Reply #27 on: August 03, 2015, 12:17:03 PM »
We really need an august August after a spendy July. Will join to at least watch, even if I don't entirely participate, knowing that I have some some unavoidable spending coming up.

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Re: August August
« Reply #28 on: August 03, 2015, 12:56:11 PM »
I dub this Austerity August.  I am modifying this a bit so it applies to me and not my family.  I will make an exception for my birthday dinner.  Fun stuff.

wordnerd

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Re: August August
« Reply #29 on: August 03, 2015, 09:25:41 PM »
I dub this Austerity August.  I am modifying this a bit so it applies to me and not my family.  I will make an exception for my birthday dinner.  Fun stuff.

I like this! Bonus points if you live in Greece.

forummm

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Re: August August
« Reply #30 on: August 04, 2015, 06:14:30 AM »
I dub this Austerity August.  I am modifying this a bit so it applies to me and not my family.  I will make an exception for my birthday dinner.  Fun stuff.

I like this! Bonus points if you live in Greece.

It's a fun-sounding phrase, but austerity presents a very negative connotation, where you are being forced to give up what you need and sacrificing with painful consequences. Whereas the idea is we can still live an august life with the bounty of everything we really need and experience an august bounty of savings rolling in the whole month. We had a great month in July and spent almost nothing.

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Re: August August
« Reply #31 on: August 04, 2015, 07:32:45 AM »
In.

I'm switching jobs again and every time I do, we end up spending money on stupid stuff because either I 'need' it or we just didn't plan well (ex. bring home dinner, because with new schedules we forgot to go grocery shopping).

Hopefully, this allows us to top off the HSA.

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Re: August August
« Reply #32 on: August 04, 2015, 07:44:11 AM »
Well, I'm off to a rough start. I jumped in a pool with my cell phone in my pocket on Saturday. It was 10 minutes before I realized it. It's toast, I'm currently searching on eBay for a new one. Then my wife signed my daughter up for dance classes at $80/month. I can't complain about that one, I guess. My daughter was so happy, it was worth it.

On a positive note, I did get a $550 refund check from my escrow fund, plus they dropped my monthly payment by $50/month. This is a result of switching insurance companies back in June, but it's nice to receive the fruits of my comparison-shopping!

Hopefully no more negative surprises this month...

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Re: August August
« Reply #33 on: August 04, 2015, 07:49:16 AM »
I'm in.
Holiday with travels in July means it's time to cut back and go basic in August. Also: august is the month of bounty. So much free berries and mushrooms and what not right now. Bonus of this is: spending time picking, harvesting and preserving stuff means no time to get bored and go spend money.

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Re: August August
« Reply #34 on: August 04, 2015, 07:57:22 AM »
I'm in. August is usually a spendy month for me, so I'll try not buying it and see how that goes.

catccc

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Re: August August
« Reply #35 on: August 04, 2015, 08:15:58 AM »
I dub this Austerity August.  I am modifying this a bit so it applies to me and not my family.  I will make an exception for my birthday dinner.  Fun stuff.

I like this! Bonus points if you live in Greece.

It's a fun-sounding phrase, but austerity presents a very negative connotation, where you are being forced to give up what you need and sacrificing with painful consequences. Whereas the idea is we can still live an august life with the bounty of everything we really need and experience an august bounty of savings rolling in the whole month. We had a great month in July and spent almost nothing.

I try my best to take words as they are defined and not how they are perceived.  I just think of it as "extreme simplicity" and I don't think there is anything wrong with that.  I use "mediocre" and mean "of moderate quality."  Not so good, but also not so bad. 

I also recently learned the definition of the word "moot" and try to use it properly, not how people think it should be used, which is interestingly the opposite of what it means...  It is a moot point whether the word austerity has negative connotations.  I'm sure its recent use in Greece makes for a negative viewpoint.  But for someone like me that savors a simplicity, not so much.

Bob W

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Re: August August
« Reply #36 on: August 04, 2015, 02:13:43 PM »
It's going to be hard to beat July for me:

Since we're not going to spend anymore money the rest of the month, I have the tally in for July. It didn't take long to do since there were so few entries :)

$158.84   Utilities
$240.93   Groceries
$10.00   Eating Out
$59.02   Misc
401.00   Insurance (prorated) and property tax (prorated)
317.00   Interest expense (mortgage)
1,186.79   Total Expenses

All time record low! Smashing our previous record of $1,477. Can we go lower during our august August?
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/august-august/

And we had 3 paydays this month, so our savings rate was also a record. It was unbelievably high.
  Sweet!   Cut that AC to cut the utilities.  Hot water and lights in august are for wimps.  So I bet you can cut $100 there.  I assume that grocery amount is for 2?  Bet you could do it for $180.  Have you shopped your insurance lately?   Increased the deductible?   What about property tax?  can you appeal the amount at the county court?     Just kidding.   Looks like you are doing a fine job!


Anje

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Re: August August
« Reply #37 on: August 04, 2015, 04:17:43 PM »
Agreed! Preserving food is the best hobby ;)

Absolutely.  No amount of shopping can be half as fun as picking your on mushrooms and going home to cok fresh, still scented with forrest.

Today celebrated first pick of 'shrooms with chantarelle omelet. Cost: a pack of eggs and plenty of fresh air.

cranilation

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Re: August August
« Reply #38 on: August 04, 2015, 07:31:09 PM »
I'm so in!  I did No Buy July and this month is Austerity August.  Already failing like crazy because of vacations and birthday gifts... but july was an incredible overspend (despite being "no buy") so hopefully I can do better this month.

forummm

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Re: August August
« Reply #39 on: August 04, 2015, 08:12:21 PM »
It's going to be hard to beat July for me:

Since we're not going to spend anymore money the rest of the month, I have the tally in for July. It didn't take long to do since there were so few entries :)

$158.84   Utilities
$240.93   Groceries
$10.00   Eating Out
$59.02   Misc
401.00   Insurance (prorated) and property tax (prorated)
317.00   Interest expense (mortgage)
1,186.79   Total Expenses

All time record low! Smashing our previous record of $1,477. Can we go lower during our august August?
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/august-august/

And we had 3 paydays this month, so our savings rate was also a record. It was unbelievably high.
  Sweet!   Cut that AC to cut the utilities.  Hot water and lights in august are for wimps.  So I bet you can cut $100 there.  I assume that grocery amount is for 2?  Bet you could do it for $180.  Have you shopped your insurance lately?   Increased the deductible?   What about property tax?  can you appeal the amount at the county court?     Just kidding.   Looks like you are doing a fine job!

I have shopped the insurance (last month)--my rate is still the best available. Utilities includes phones and internet and fixed service charges (about $100 by themselves), so I couldn't get too much lower. I could have gotten the groceries to $180, but I did smart long-term things like buying 25 pounds of peanuts at a cheap price that we'll eat over the next months.

Faraday

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Re: August August
« Reply #40 on: August 05, 2015, 10:59:20 AM »
...
I have shopped the insurance (last month)--my rate is still the best available. Utilities includes phones and internet and fixed service charges (about $100 by themselves), so I couldn't get too much lower. I could have gotten the groceries to $180, but I did smart long-term things like buying 25 pounds of peanuts at a cheap price that we'll eat over the next months.

Peanuts?!?!? You cannibal! No hesitation at eating your relatives?!?  :-)

forummm

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Re: August August
« Reply #41 on: August 05, 2015, 11:08:31 AM »
...
I have shopped the insurance (last month)--my rate is still the best available. Utilities includes phones and internet and fixed service charges (about $100 by themselves), so I couldn't get too much lower. I could have gotten the groceries to $180, but I did smart long-term things like buying 25 pounds of peanuts at a cheap price that we'll eat over the next months.

Peanuts?!?!? You cannibal! No hesitation at eating your relatives?!?  :-)

MMMMMMM, tasty, tasty relatives. <drool>

Faraday

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Re: August August
« Reply #42 on: August 05, 2015, 11:47:29 AM »
Which reminds me to ask: do you turn any of your tiny relatives into peanut butter? We eat a lot of peanut butter at my house and I'm looking for a way to get good quality at lower cost, with some time input....

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Re: August August
« Reply #43 on: August 05, 2015, 12:21:14 PM »
I'll do this day by day for any unbudgeted purchases. My goal is to only go to the grocery store on 8/13 and 8/27 because the bulk of my impulse spending is in the grocery store.

So far:

8/1 - $0
8/2 - $0
8/3 - $0
8/4 - $0
8/5 - $0

With the PP on the berries. We are drowning in them. Very tasty way to die, but drowning nonetheless. :p

forummm

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Re: August August
« Reply #44 on: August 05, 2015, 12:37:15 PM »
Which reminds me to ask: do you turn any of your tiny relatives into peanut butter? We eat a lot of peanut butter at my house and I'm looking for a way to get good quality at lower cost, with some time input....

I let the factory do it for me. The cost of a pound of peanut butter (the kind I get is always just nuts and salt) is actually less than the lowest cost I can find for whole nuts.

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Re: August August
« Reply #45 on: August 05, 2015, 01:30:05 PM »
Which reminds me to ask: do you turn any of your tiny relatives into peanut butter? We eat a lot of peanut butter at my house and I'm looking for a way to get good quality at lower cost, with some time input....

I let the factory do it for me. The cost of a pound of peanut butter (the kind I get is always just nuts and salt) is actually less than the lowest cost I can find for whole nuts.

Damn. Same is true for almonds and cashews. I've tried to figure out a way to save a bunch making almond milk, but that's a no-go.

There are some economies of scale that just can't be beaten with time and work....

forummm

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Re: August August
« Reply #46 on: August 05, 2015, 01:37:27 PM »
Which reminds me to ask: do you turn any of your tiny relatives into peanut butter? We eat a lot of peanut butter at my house and I'm looking for a way to get good quality at lower cost, with some time input....

I let the factory do it for me. The cost of a pound of peanut butter (the kind I get is always just nuts and salt) is actually less than the lowest cost I can find for whole nuts.

Damn. Same is true for almonds and cashews. I've tried to figure out a way to save a bunch making almond milk, but that's a no-go.

There are some economies of scale that just can't be beaten with time and work....

Yeah. They can use less pretty tomatoes to make the tomato sauce. It's easier to pack and ship. Etc.

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Re: August August
« Reply #47 on: August 05, 2015, 01:55:10 PM »
I'll do this day by day for any unbudgeted purchases. My goal is to only go to the grocery store on 8/13 and 8/27 because the bulk of my impulse spending is in the grocery store.

So far:

8/1 - $0
8/2 - $0
8/3 - $0
8/4 - $0
8/5 - $0

With the PP on the berries. We are drowning in them. Very tasty way to die, but drowning nonetheless. :p

I like that method!  Good work so far.

I haven't made any impulse purchases this month yet (yay for me!)

It looks like I will be taking care of getting the house exterior painted, though, and because of that I will likely be paying someone to climb up the really high ladder. Wimpy, I know, but Zamboni's function best on solid surfaces. This is actually deferred maintenance from last year, when I really should have done it but had sticker shock at the quotes. Now that I've made peace with what people want to climb up on those ladders and paint, it needs to be done. Mental note: next house must be one story only.

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Re: August August
« Reply #48 on: August 05, 2015, 03:18:51 PM »
So far - went on a work trip and ended up purchasing coffee yesterday and today.  Spent $4.77 last night on a taco and a tamale.  I was hoping to only eat what I brought for the whole trip, but ended up forgetting a can opener and my coffee making supplies, so it didn't quite work.

But five days in, I haven't bought any *stuff* which is my main goal for this gauntlet. 

1967mama

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Re: August August
« Reply #49 on: August 05, 2015, 03:50:58 PM »
x-posting but today has been a nice quiet day at home -- reading library books, researching a possible one day road trip next week, eating salad, drinking water...love love LOVE the simplicity of today and need to figure out how to replicate!