Author Topic: Nospendber  (Read 29189 times)

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Nospendber
« Reply #100 on: November 25, 2015, 09:55:49 AM »
It's great that your pup is doing so well. My dog was a rescue who got spayed later in life. Since I'm a softie, I elected to give her extra pain relief even though the vet said it was entirely optional. It just didn't seem right to rip her internal organs out, then leave her in pain. Welp, the vet gave her back to me drugged to the gills. Slithering, flopping, drooling. But totally, totally thrilled shitless to see me again. It ended up being hilarious. But it wasn't cheap.

Yep, Dog is ensconced in a happy opiate cloud right now! I was just surprised that they don't routinely prescribe antibiotics unless they suspect a developing infection. Being a nurse, I of course can't help but document all of her med administration and wound healing.

midweststache

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Re: Nospendber
« Reply #101 on: November 27, 2015, 12:55:35 PM »
Met our down payment goal of $1,000 today (WOOT)! Will be joining the December group as well. Happy Thanksgiving weekend everyone!

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Nospendber
« Reply #102 on: November 27, 2015, 01:10:36 PM »
Met our down payment goal of $1,000 today (WOOT)! Will be joining the December group as well. Happy Thanksgiving weekend everyone!

Woo! Glad you met your goal!

We moved $2,500 into our downpayment fund this month! This is in addition to the $830 on SL payments. Final numbers aren't quite in, one more grocery trip possible, but we're close.

I joined for December as well.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Nospendber
« Reply #103 on: November 27, 2015, 04:23:56 PM »
Hmmmmm.

New challenge guys. I'm very tempted to buy the InstantPot while it's on mega sale for BF on amazon. I've had my eye on it for a few months, but I'm still up in the air. $78.50 right now.

I'm a kitchen purist, and I hate gadgets... but this seems like it might actually be pretty helpful. But I've been plodding along happily with burners and pots for a long time. Motor over muscle?

I can't decide what to do, but I have about 8 hours left to decide.

Eric222

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Re: Nospendber
« Reply #104 on: November 28, 2015, 07:12:38 AM »
FAIL.  I spend $80 on board games yesterday.  I have lots of excuses, but still fail.  Self control is a lot easier when I don't get taken to the store by my family.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Nospendber
« Reply #105 on: November 28, 2015, 07:18:18 AM »
Hmmmmm.

New challenge guys. I'm very tempted to buy the InstantPot while it's on mega sale for BF on amazon. I've had my eye on it for a few months, but I'm still up in the air. $78.50 right now.

I'm a kitchen purist, and I hate gadgets... but this seems like it might actually be pretty helpful. But I've been plodding along happily with burners and pots for a long time. Motor over muscle?

I can't decide what to do, but I have about 8 hours left to decide.

I ended up buying the InsntantPot. I think I'll push the expense into December- even though DH and I don't normally get each other gifts, he wants to count this as a gift to ourselves. A bit selfish of us, but that's fine =)

choppingwood

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Re: Nospendber
« Reply #106 on: November 28, 2015, 08:20:59 AM »
FAIL.  I spend $80 on board games yesterday.  I have lots of excuses, but still fail.  Self control is a lot easier when I don't get taken to the store by my family.

At least you know it when you see it. Maybe board games may lead to no-spend evenings at home....

choppingwood

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Re: Nospendber
« Reply #107 on: November 28, 2015, 08:33:12 AM »
I ended up buying the InsntantPot. I think I'll push the expense into December- even though DH and I don't normally get each other gifts, he wants to count this as a gift to ourselves. A bit selfish of us, but that's fine =)

I'm curious. How much have you spent so far this November on expenses that you aren't going to count until December?

Some of my Christmas spending normally happens in November, so I just track it as a category. That's real. Is the Nospender challenge making you want to shuffle the accounting around and call things gifts?

choppingwood

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Re: Nospendber
« Reply #108 on: November 28, 2015, 11:55:40 AM »
Honestly, Nospendber has really made me re-evaluate my spending (I have participated in these types of challenges MANY times). I don't think I will be participating in them anymore, b/c I honestly don't see spending money as necessarily 'bad.' The goal for me is not deprivation, but conscious and ethical choices ....

Does that make sense? I guess what I am trying to say is that for our household, the goal is not "absolute frugality" it's freedom to live our lives the way we want and within our values. :)

Allsummerlong, I am pretty much where you are.

I think these challenges can be helpful in the early stages of re-evaluating your spending or if there is a particular tough goal for the month. I'm in the first six months of not working, so I've been interested in what I really spend. That is pretty clear now, so I've learned what I need to know. I can't see that I'll continue.

My goals this month were to buy winter boots and winter tires. The boots are here and the tires go on to my car on Monday. There has been unplanned spending though -- a night in a hotel because of a bad snowstorm, a repair to an all-season tire, some spending at a farmer's market, and (great) chocolates ordered for Christmas. Some of it needed to happen and some of it it didn't. I'm good with it when the goals are met.

If my goal had been to spend nothing unnecessary, I would not be some happy with a couple of those choices.


Bracken_Joy

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Re: Nospendber
« Reply #109 on: November 28, 2015, 09:50:29 PM »
I ended up buying the InsntantPot. I think I'll push the expense into December- even though DH and I don't normally get each other gifts, he wants to count this as a gift to ourselves. A bit selfish of us, but that's fine =)

I'm curious. How much have you spent so far this November on expenses that you aren't going to count until December?

Some of my Christmas spending normally happens in November, so I just track it as a category. That's real. Is the Nospender challenge making you want to shuffle the accounting around and call things gifts?

This is pretty much how I always do expense tracking. I like to put the expense near the event, so when I look retrospectively, I know the "why" on the numbers. It's a lot easier for me to see how much the holidays cost me if I can look at one month and see the month's total. I did that with our wedding, too- put all the expenses in the month of the wedding, even though obviously the costs are more spread out.

I don't feel like I'm gaining anything by shuffling around in terms of success at low-spend months, because I've been doing every one of these challenges. I'm already in the Despendber thread. It's more for my mental accounting than anything. Sorry if this system bothers anyone else! For what it's worth, there were expenses from October I shuffled into November. It all averages out, it just lets me see my expenses grouped.

Seppia

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Re: Nospendber
« Reply #110 on: November 29, 2015, 09:20:12 AM »
It was planned, but I spent $1800 on a week long vacation in the TCI and my rescue diver certification.
The certification is a step (the last one) before I can get certified as a dive master, which could become a nice side hustle (I dive for free AND I make money doing it? Sounds great).

Also, I spent a total of $400 on clothes because in a month I'll be moving back to Italy definitively because of a new job, where clothes are significantly more expensive.
Expense included something like 10 polo shirts from Aeropostale at $9-10 each for Black Friday, in Italy a similar quality polo would cost me $70 minimum and three hoodies for $20 each ($100 minimum in Italy).
I will probably buy also a couple pair of Levi's jeans ($50 in the USA, $150 in Italy) and a pair of sneakers ($50 for a pair of Nike here, $120-130 in Italy).
Yes it is an expense but I should then be able to go on without buying almost any sport casual clothes for another 5 years approximately.
I am trying to offset a bit by selling stuff, but November savings rate is going to be low, in the 30-40% range at most.
Should rebound considerably in December, as my moving costs will be close to zero (relocation is paid for by new company) and will not be paying rent in December (will be taken out from security deposit).
Being in NYC, no rent means a pretty substantial boost to savings.
We will see.

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Re: Nospendber
« Reply #111 on: November 30, 2015, 07:31:38 AM »
Well said, Allsummerlong! Sounds like you're living your authentic life and spending according to your values! Awesome! These challenges have also given me a different perspective on my spending, but it's not really a challenge for me to Nospend or Despend, so I probably don't belong here.

Monthly round up:
-I successfully hit my goal of staying within my food budgets without thinking about them. (Bonus: still harvesting from my garden!)
- Out of the three necessary bike-related purchases, I got one for free, purchased one used, and made the other (good enough). I'm set for winter biking.
-Other than spending money on food, normal bills, a medical bill, and the bike part, I purchased darning needles (with 50% off coupon), which have kept my biking jeans alive. I bought replacement toothbrush heads (sale) and a host gift card for my incredible Thanksgiving hosts (the most worthwhile purchase).



cityfolks

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Re: Nospendber
« Reply #112 on: December 01, 2015, 09:22:01 AM »
I don't have the numbers handy, because they're conveniently on a post-it note next to my laptop at home ... but I think I did pretty well this month! My calculations were a little off because I didn't find out what my pay increase (retroactive to July, because my workplace is special like that) would be, and they paid the balance in addition to the monthly paycheck, neither number of which I knew ahead of time.

We juuuuuuust got in under our grocery budget, which isn't too bad considering the holiday meals I made, but has resulted in a diminished pantry. I got my father's Christmas present last week when Amazon was having 30% off print books, and that $28 will represent about a third of my holiday spending. My family keeps it low-key for the holidays; mostly we're the eating/drinking/being merry sort.

On to December!

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Nospendber
« Reply #113 on: December 01, 2015, 09:58:47 AM »
I'm in again! October was pretty successful, with a 63.8% SR, and I'm hoping we can keep with a great SR in November! We're saving up for a house downpayment, and are at nearly $20k now. The goal is an additional $2k/month.

Well, numbers are in! We hit a 63.6% SR. Slightly lower than October, but considering the Dog's surgery, not too bad.

We put $2.5k in our downpayment fund, $500 ABOVE our goal. We also paid $830 toward student loans. All in all, another great month.

Thanks everyone so much. I've gone from minimal/no savings to always maintaining a SR above 50%. I couldn't do it without you guys. Now on to a great December!

Seppia

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Re: Nospendber
« Reply #114 on: December 01, 2015, 02:48:50 PM »

It was planned, but I spent $1800 on a week long vacation in the TCI and my rescue diver certification.
The certification is a step (the last one) before I can get certified as a dive master, which could become a nice side hustle (I dive for free AND I make money doing it? Sounds great).

Also, I spent a total of $400 on clothes because in a month I'll be moving back to Italy definitively because of a new job, where clothes are significantly more expensive.
Expense included something like 10 polo shirts from Aeropostale at $9-10 each for Black Friday, in Italy a similar quality polo would cost me $70 minimum and three hoodies for $20 each ($100 minimum in Italy).
I will probably buy also a couple pair of Levi's jeans ($50 in the USA, $150 in Italy) and a pair of sneakers ($50 for a pair of Nike here, $120-130 in Italy).
Yes it is an expense but I should then be able to go on without buying almost any sport casual clothes for another 5 years approximately.
I am trying to offset a bit by selling stuff, but November savings rate is going to be low, in the 30-40% range at most.
Should rebound considerably in December, as my moving costs will be close to zero (relocation is paid for by new company) and will not be paying rent in December (will be taken out from security deposit).
Being in NYC, no rent means a pretty substantial boost to savings.
We will see.

On top of all the above I also had a charity donation for $650.

I was surprised when the numbers spit out 44% Savings Rate!

I guess what happened is that throughout the month, knowing I had all these extra expenses (travel, clothes, etc), I basically zeroed in all other expenses.
Zero ok restaurants and alcohol, for example.
Sold a watch and a couple other things, etc.

On to December, where the SR should skyrocket because of the no rent

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!