The Money Mustache Community
General Discussion => Throw Down the Gauntlet => Topic started by: Zamboni on July 31, 2013, 05:36:55 PM
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Who's in?
After tracking my expenses for 3 years, my excel spreadsheet is telling me that $2912 would be my "austerity" budget. Over of half of that is mortgage. I see that my lowest spending month in the past two years is $3098.
So, getting under $2900 for everything would mean spending about $200 less this month than I have spent in any month for two years. That's the goal.
What's your goal? Be tough on yourself but also realistic.
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I'm in! My monthly take-home is $2400 and August is always hard since I'm a teacher and there's always beginning of the school year spending (We start way before Labor Day, it's sad). Plus, I only get paid once a month and since Sept 1st is a Sunday, I'll have to wait for the 2nd to get paid again so 32 days to make my money last. It's tricky. I started using YNAB in July so my goal is to put away a big chunk towards a car and stay in budget for the other categories. I'll have to track for a few more months at least to figure out what "austerity" would mean for me but for now I'll just be happy if I'm not out of money on the 27th, which always seems to happen. :) Best!
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Good timing! I just got finished adding up my planned monthly expenses for August and setting a goal. My goal is to stay under $2000.00 for monthly bills and everyday expenses. (I have separate savings that I set aside each month for things like car repairs, property tax and medical expenses). For the past 12 months my average monthly spending is $2800.00 so this is definitely a stretch but I believe it is realistic.
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Count me in. My goal is to not buy any non-essential items (groceries, TP, etc.) and to not eat out once for the entire month.
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I'm in. My spending was high in July, for a number of reasons (including a break in my main city water line!). I especially need to get my grocery bill down (goal is under $200). And a continuation of NO CLOWNCAR DRIVING!
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I haven't done my official write-up for July, but looks like the lower limit to my total monthly spending is just under $600 ($500 of which is rent and bills). I am pretty impressed that I can get food and discretionary spending to under $100/month. My budget is $700/month, but I won't be reducing it as I think it is aggressive enough.
Going forward, my target is $800 for August; some of the money I saved by operating under budget for the last two months can be put to use vacationing and celebrating my birthday.
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I really need this. July was a bad month in that we went $1,000 over budget. Mostly from traveling and eating out/extra grocery consumption.
I really want us to stay under $4,000 this month - which is my goal budget. Our mortgage with an extra $500 principal payment puts us at $2,742 so there is not a ton of wiggle room in our budget but it is totally doable.
I am going to try and continue to work some overtime to help with future baby and no maternity leave.
Also, pregnancy is making me have really bad sushi cravings which is a real budget breaker. I really need to manage this better.
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Considering the raw fish might be verboten right now, wouldn't it be cheaper to make your own sushi bowls at home with whatever cooked ingredients you desire? For example: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/sushi-bowl-recipe.html (http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/sushi-bowl-recipe.html)
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Fair point shusterstache. I have only been eating cooked sushi - california and shrimp tempura. It is probably worth attempting california rolls at the very least.
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It's a lot easier to create a deconstructed roll/bowl (and a bit healthier, too) hence the link above.
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I feel like someone on a diet who is weighing in on day 2 :-)
Day two and I have spent: $1.90! Yippeee! It was for postage for something I had to send via snail mail (freaking government forms with signatures that apparently couldn't be scanned and emailed.) It seems to me that mailing that type of envelope was 55 cents just yesterday.
Of course money has been used on ongoing utilities, etc., but I'm not counting that until I pay the bill.
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I feel like someone on a diet who is weighing in on day 2 :-)
Day two and I have spent: $1.90! Yippeee! It was for postage for something I had to send via snail mail (freaking government forms with signatures that apparently couldn't be scanned and emailed.) It seems to me that mailing that type of envelope was 55 cents just yesterday.
Of course money has been used on ongoing utilities, etc., but I'm not counting that until I pay the bill.
Awesome! I spent $27.75 to dry clean clothes that I'm selling at a consignment store. We ran out of bacon and eggs for breakfast, but instead of buying breakfast I'm just skipping it. Wouldn't kill me to skip a meal anyway! :P
I'm excited! I think I can really do it this month and spend on nothing but food and essentials. I'll be using this thread to keep me accountable.
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Well, I'm off to a bad start. Went out last night for the famous 'one drink' and had many more than that and a mighty tab. Ug. But, I'm just going to say to myself, "looks like you used up your entire August booze budget" and have a dry rest of August. Couldn't hurt anyway. And having no stomach for food all day just saved me a bit! ;P
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Well, I'm off to a bad start. Went out last night for the famous 'one drink' and had many more than that and a mighty tab. Ug. But, I'm just going to say to myself, "looks like you used up your entire August booze budget" and have a dry rest of August. Couldn't hurt anyway. And having no stomach for food all day just saved me a bit! ;P
I'm off to a bad start too. Went a little crazy yesterday with the following:
Went shopping:
Miscellaneous (cleaning products, toilet paper, printer ink, etc) $105.93
Groceries $34.28
Wine $10.64
Went out for the evening:
Dinner $27.73
Entertainment $27.26
This means I have spent 19% of my everyday expense budget in the first 2 days of the month and I can't spend another penny until at least August 7th.
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I'm off to a good start. My only spending so far has been my phone bill, which will be partially reimbursed by my employer. Yesterday I was able to grab a couple of excess platters of sandwiches from a catered event, which should help to reduce my food costs over the next week.
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^Whole platters? Your scappiness is inspirational.
I can't spend another penny until at least August 7th.
That seems doable. Especially now that you have food and wine ;-)
I had a rough morning: there are yellow jackets making a hive inside my house siding. After briefly considering spraying them myself, I watched their activity for awhile and decided there were too many of them for one me to handle. So, I called in the pros, and it cost me. Ugh! He did a termite inspection (for free) at the same time, and at least there's no sign of termite activity, so good news and bad news.
On the thrifty side, we went to the library for DVDs and books today. I made bread with two spotted bananas and resisted buying a candy bar. :-)
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^Whole platters? Your scappiness is inspirational.
I can't spend another penny until at least August 7th.
That seems doable. Especially now that you have food and wine ;-)
It's very doable. I also have gas in the car and lots of cleaning products :-)
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^Whole platters? Your scappiness is inspirational.
Yeah, it was pretty awesome. Basically that's what happens when someone orders over $600 of catering and only 15 people show up. They had to beg us to take bags of food home with us!
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It's good that you could take the food! It would be a shame for it to go in the bin.
Looking carefully at my monthly expense tracking, it appears that I should be able to make my goal with no special effort by not buying any new clothes for anyone this month and not eating out at all. I have already resisted buying new shoes for my son (he loves shoes and this request comes up every month when the Dick's Sporting Good flyer arrives in the mailbox) or new running shoes for me (which I really need, but it can wait one more month.)
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Okay, had to make some more purchases but they were necessities so still within bounds. I spent $21 at CVS and spent $37 at the grocery store. It was all home/personal care supplies, though-trash bags, conditioner, etc. Still no eating out, which I continue to be overly pleased about, considering our usual spending habits. :P
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Inspired by this thread's challenge today, I drove home and made chicken and corn on the cob instead of going to pick up a pizza. And the chicken and corn was really easy to make and yummy! I also brought three days worth of lunch food to work today, including an emergency can of soup, to avoid the need to go out to eat.
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Awesome! I'm currently starving and was SO TEMPTED to get food on the way but I didn't do it. I'm home now and am going to throw something together ASAP!
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^Good job!
I've just thrown catalogs in the recycle pile without looking at them. I bought LL Bean backpacks from online clearance once years ago, and since then I get their catalog. I kind of wonder what it costs them to mail it?
Two of the three bikes have flats, and my bike pump is broken. I tried the free air solution, but they got flat again pretty flat, so need new tubes. I suppose even MMM would say this is an emergency even in an austerity situation.
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Oh yeah, bike tires are allowed for sure!
I've unsubscribed from all the clothing store emails because otherwise it's too tempting. I get way too many catalogs too, they go straight in the recycle bin. The worst is that one year I bought my mom and my MIL Chico's gift cards for Christmas and ever since then I've gotten tons of catalogs aimed towards the 60+ woman. Oh and I get 2 of each, since I had to make 2 separate orders and probably made my MIL's from my husband.
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I've just thrown catalogs in the recycle pile without looking at them. I bought LL Bean backpacks from online clearance once years ago, and since then I get their catalog. I kind of wonder what it costs them to mail it?
Check Out the mobile app Paper Karma. You take a pic of the mailing label and they unsubscribe you from mailing lists. Awesome service.
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I've just thrown catalogs in the recycle pile without looking at them. I bought LL Bean backpacks from online clearance once years ago, and since then I get their catalog. I kind of wonder what it costs them to mail it?
Check Out the mobile app Paper Karma. You take a pic of the mailing label and they unsubscribe you from mailing lists. Awesome service.
Wow, really? SOLD. (Well on the idea, because that app is free!) So excited, thank you for the tip! I'm going to scan away today. The recycling just got picked up but I'm sure I'll have fresh catalogs waiting for me today.
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Thank you for the tip! Is there a way to unsubscribe from other junk mail, like credit card offers? That's what I really need.
Meanwhile, so far, so good on austerity August. I hope your August is also continuing to go well!
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Mine is still going well too! Still no food out but my husband got a wisdom tooth pulled yesterday so I gave the go ahead for a milkshake purchase since I was at work and he was on drugs and couldn't go to the store to get stuff to make one himself. :P
I had to purchase a grocery hand cart because we just sold our car, but that was essential for cat litter purchasing so I'm okay with it.
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^Aw! Poor guy! A wisdom tooth removal is always justification for a milkshake.
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A little update on how my month is going. So far I have spent $551.25 in the "Everyday Expense" category (use YNAB for budgeting and tracking this). I have $1224.73 budgeted for the month in this category so I've spent 45% of the month's budget already. This doesn't concern me though because it is typical for me to stock the pantry, fill up the gas tank, etc early in the month. The other $776 of the $2000 is budgeted for "Monthly Bills". These are mostly paid, on track and no surprises.
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^It sounds like you're doing well so far. Great job!
I've had a couple of big expenses arrive, most recently the car insurance bill. But I can't pretend I didn't know that was coming, so I'm still trying to get in under my goal. Also, my son's laptop brains are totally fried (the IT guy at work declared it DOA yesterday.) It was old and I bought it used for a song, so I can't pretend to be surprised by that either. On the bright side, he didn't lose any important files. Also, IT guy is Mr. Thrifty, and said he'd scrounge up a loaner for him to use until Christmas. :-)
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This month of austerity has not been so austere for me so far...I got a bill from the plumber for $686. I have also gone out to eat twice with friends (but since I am such an introvert, I actually think spending time with friends is a positive thing, so it's OK if it sometimes comes with a price tag). There is still hope that I will keep my grocery bill under $200 for the month. Also, I have maintained my pledge of doing NO CLOWN CAR DRIVING!
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Oh--another expense in August was for shoes. BUT, this was actually pretty Mustachian--the velcro on my road bike shoes had completely worn out. I was afraid I'd have to buy new ones. But, just on a fluke, I brought them to our local shoe repair shop, and they were able to fix them! I also had a decent pair of trail hiking shoes which had some busted eyelets. The shoe repair shop fixed those as well. I feel like I got two new pairs of high quality shoes for $62!! (Replacement shoes would have cost me at least $200.)
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Still going strong on not eating out at all. I will say that since we're cooking more (as in EVERY DAY like real adults :P ) we've had to buy a couple of kitchen utensils that we didn't have. We probably could have held out but I was excited to do a few recipes that called for a brush to brush on sauce and one that needed kitchen twine, so I ended up ordering them from Amazon. I have a few more on my list but I'm trying to hold out until September for those. (Really just need tongs and a new paring knife.)
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Oh--another expense in August was for shoes. BUT, this was actually pretty Mustachian--the velcro on my road bike shoes had completely worn out. I was afraid I'd have to buy new ones. But, just on a fluke, I brought them to our local shoe repair shop, and they were able to fix them! I also had a decent pair of trail hiking shoes which had some busted eyelets. The shoe repair shop fixed those as well. I feel like I got two new pairs of high quality shoes for $62!! (Replacement shoes would have cost me at least $200.)
Ha I seriously LOVE getting shoes repaired! I feel the same way every time I get one of my favorite pairs resoled.
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Shoe repair and cooking to eat in! all very mustachian.
I made some cinnamon coffee cake from scratch that will be the death of my waistline. Although I kind of wish I hadn't learned this skill, I've already found variations on the same recipe to make it apple, chocolate, or even a carrot version.
This month the car insurance bill came. Even though I know it's coming every six months, I tend to kind of forget about it until it arrives. Having lived without a car for 5 years of my adult life, I don't think I'll likely do that again any time soon, so this is part of my austerity budget. On the bright side, there is money sitting here, so I just paid it. Quite a bit different from the "OMG what bad timing here is the car insurance bill! Now what?" of my past life. Feels pretty good to just be able to pay it without much thought. I also just paid a life insurance bill. And I still think I'll get in under my monthly goal :-) plus September will be relatively awesome with no insurance bills at all!
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How eager and naive I was, back on July 31st. It's been a mixed bag of austerity and definitely-not-austerity. In the former category, I've been making bread in the bread maker, eggs from my new hens, returning an impulsive July purchase, and I made my own tea on this day back to work instead of deciding I ''deserved" a Starbucks (will keep this up). In the latter, I have a huge bar splurge early in the month that was not money well spent (first glass yes, subsequent drinks, no). And there was an unmustachian skincare splurge because...I'm a sucker? So I don't know. Overall, I'd say I'm spending less overall than I have in a long time and my binges/splurges should/will continue to lessen. They have to because it's still 22 days 'till I get paid again.
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Shoe repair and cooking to eat in! all very mustachian.
I made some cinnamon coffee cake from scratch that will be the death of my waistline. Although I kind of wish I hadn't learned this skill, I've already found variations on the same recipe to make it apple, chocolate, or even a carrot version.
This month the car insurance bill came. Even though I know it's coming every six months, I tend to kind of forget about it until it arrives. Having lived without a car for 5 years of my adult life, I don't think I'll likely do that again any time soon, so this is part of my austerity budget. On the bright side, there is money sitting here, so I just paid it. Quite a bit different from the "OMG what bad timing here is the car insurance bill! Now what?" of my past life. Feels pretty good to just be able to pay it without much thought. I also just paid a life insurance bill. And I still think I'll get in under my monthly goal :-) plus September will be relatively awesome with no insurance bills at all!
Wow, 2 insurance bills and you're still on track? You are CRUSHING it. That coffee cake sounds amazing...it's a good thing I don't bake, because then I'd have to buy all new clothes. :P
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How eager and naive I was, back on July 31st. It's been a mixed bag of austerity and definitely-not-austerity. In the former category, I've been making bread in the bread maker, eggs from my new hens, returning an impulsive July purchase, and I made my own tea on this day back to work instead of deciding I ''deserved" a Starbucks (will keep this up). In the latter, I have a huge bar splurge early in the month that was not money well spent (first glass yes, subsequent drinks, no). And there was an unmustachian skincare splurge because...I'm a sucker? So I don't know. Overall, I'd say I'm spending less overall than I have in a long time and my binges/splurges should/will continue to lessen. They have to because it's still 22 days 'till I get paid again.
You can still get back on track-the month isn't even half over yet! I know sometimes when I fall off the wagon for not eating out, not buying clothes, etc., I just say "eff it" and go buy whatever, but I am trying not to do that anymore.
You can still say no to the next skincare purchase! (Also a sucker for those...have a facial scheduled in Sept. as a matter of fact. What, there's no Austerity September! :P )
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unmustachian skincare splurge because...I'm a sucker?
Don't feel bad about it, just move on with your new, softer skin which is all UV protected and ageless now.
If it makes you feel better, I have scheduled an appointment with a commercial makeup artist this week. My total make up budget for this year so far has been $0. I wore it in the 80's like everyone else, but now I'm not really a make up person. It's because I'm going to be in a whole bunch of videos for work, and I don't think I'm vain but I definitely looked like a ghoul with zombie dark eye circles in the pilot one because I usually wear very little makeup. Honestly I've thought about charging it to work (because it is really a professional expense with a professional make up artist; they hired a professional lighting and camera crew, why no freaking make up people?), but I work almost exclusively with men and I suspect they'll give me crap about it. So I'm going to just eat the cost and be happy if I look a little better (or at least more like what I *think* I normally look like) in the next video.
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We have $650 left in the budget for this month. We should in theory be fine and hopefully will make it under although our utilities are probably up from the heat and guests from last month.
A $100 wedding gift should be the last gift for some time and I think I will start thinking about frugal holiday gifts for my husband's side of the family. Luckily my family is not into gift giving which makes life easier.
Unfortunately our second car did not start the other day. It sucks and is on its last leg and every year the freon leaks out and the air conditioner stops working. I am hoping it is just the alternator but at this point I am pretty confident we can just swing it with the Fit we bought this February as I "broke" my other car. I would at least like to make it to the end of this year before we get another car. I don't want another car hitting our budget this year.
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$560 spent so far, let's see what happens once I go on vacation at the end of next week.
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^That's sounds pretty good. Enjoy your vacation!
I've got a full tank of gas and still have plenty of food in the house. Can I make it for the rest of the month with just cash left in my wallet? Let me go count it up . . . $17. It will be fun to try and see. :-)
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Still going strong, although I do think I'm going to buy a new bike helmet tomorrow. The foam in mine is starting to wear off and it's hurting my head and leaving indents. I asked my husband for that to count as my bday present, and he agreed! I'm the worst to get presents for, I never want anything fun since I have so much stuff.
Still no eating out though, and I think we're going to end up under budget for groceries! Cutting our grocery bill down is going to be my September mission. My husband does the shopping and definitely does not comparison shop at all.
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I spent some money driving to Albuquerque (3.5 hours one way) to play in an ice hockey tournament last weekend. I wasn't sure who else was going, so I did not make arrangements to carpool (note to self--carpool next year!!) The good news was that I used points and was able to stay 2 nights at a Sheraton for free. (Side note--the room did not have free wifi--I told a staff member I was unhappy about that, so he gave it to me for free--yay!!) I paid $60 to play in 4 ice hockey games--not a bad rate. Took food with me, so I did not eat out at all. I did, however, stop at Sbux twice--shame on me. I used my worn out ice hockey gear--and the bruises on my arms and legs are a direct result. My protective gear doesn't really protect me that much anymore! But I will put off the inevitable purchase of new gear until October, when ice hockey season starts up here where I live.
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Glad I didn't agree to this month's challenge - I just got a call from the car repair shop and just doing the necessary (maintenance) brake replacement is costing me $400. Booooo!! This month is NOT going well.
How did you all come up with your 'austerity' budget targets?
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Glad I didn't agree to this month's challenge - I just got a call from the car repair shop and just doing the necessary (maintenance) brake replacement is costing me $400. Booooo!! This month is NOT going well.
How did you all come up with your 'austerity' budget targets?
I actually didn't make an "austerity" budget-I just decided to not spend money on food out or any non-essential items. This means we saved a TON (and are still saving a ton) because we typically eat out way too much and buy too much stuff.
We are very new to the Mustachian way, so I'd say this is the first month we really lived in a Mustachian manner. And even then we weren't that strict. I bought a few kitchen items we needed since we started actually cooking, for example. And I'm tempted to buy a new bike helmet, but I think I'm going to hold out until Sept. 1 on principle.
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The repair shop wanted me to get my tires realigned and rebalanced too, but I told them not till September - on principle.
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Side note--the room did not have free wifi--I told a staff member I was unhappy about that, so he gave it to me for free--yay!
wifi at the Sheraton should definitely be free . . . good for you for asking for that!
So the $17 I had in my wallet is mostly gone; down to $3.
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Back to the grindstone. Returning to work two weeks ago and kids starting this week (teacher here) has kind of sent costs up. Last year I found myself running to fast food at lunchtime because I wanted to 'get out' for a bit. I have been eating lunch I brought all week. But then I'll find myself spending on special supplies for a project I want to do with kids. I got it clearance at Family Dollar but still, with 30 kids, it can add up. What I really hate is that I'm back to commuting daily and since reading MMM, boy do I feel like such a clown stuck in traffic. I am pretty happy at the school I'm at and these days, a good match with districts/principals can be hard to find so I'm 'happy' to do the drive. But I think I'll at least start looking next year at what openings are posted in my own town. Last I'd looked, I would make less teaching in the district I live in but then again, I never have broken down the math to see if the difference would equal car/fuel/insurance costs...
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My nose is back to the grindstone, too. I have noticed, however, that I am alternating between being too busy and too tired to spend money. Things like mowing the lawn are a special treat just because it adds variety.
How is austerity august going, everyone?
If I don't count the 6 month car insurance payment (which I had forgotten was coming when I set my goal), then I am still $100 under my goal for spending this month with a week to go and no foreseeable expenses in site. Feels pretty good. I think I'll save 75% of the leftover money and send the rest as an extra principle payment on my mortgage.
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Still going, and I think September will actually be more austere. We sold our car so had some expenses with that which I mentioned upthread, like the $120 detailing and a $130 repair. Plus my husband had to rent a car to drive down to the bank in my old state and pay it off and get the title. So I think September will actually be better. It helps that I stocked up on toiletries at CVS with a zillion coupons (I'm turning into an extreme couponer, at least with CVS :P) so we won't really need to spend any money on personal care for the next few months.
But not eating out and not spending on clothes has left us with several thousand extra dollars. Plus this is a 3 paycheck month for my husband (I get paid monthly so don't get those sadly). I'm amazed...I was tracking our spending in Mint before but I don't think it's really become clear until this challenge how much money we were spending (AKA wasting) eating out, buying clothes we don't need, etc.
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I'm amazed...I was tracking our spending in Mint before but I don't think it's really become clear until this challenge how much money we were spending (AKA wasting) eating out, buying clothes we don't need, etc.
This is awesome:)
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My results for August are in...
Rent: $500.00 (includes electricity/water/sewage/trash/internet)
Other: $168.44
Total: $668.44
My vacation cost less than I anticipated... I did the following, had a lot of fun:
$7.50 - movie
$46.26 - stand up comedy / dinner
$31.10 - three lunches with friends
$5.14 - ice cream
$1.06 - dunkin donuts
$19.32 - bar crawl (+ another $18.20 which will be in September, due to bar crawl occurring on the night of Aug 31st)