Uber Frugal January

[BZB]

Yesterday and today were no spend days. I had some unplanned spending in the previous couple of weeks because of a family member and a close friend in the hospital. I had to pay for parking at the hospital twice and bought some books/magazines/dinner for my friend. When I spent all day at the hospital with my family member, I came prepared with packed breakfast, lunch, snacks, thermos of coffee, and a book for entertainment, so even though I had to pay for parking, I consider the rest of the day a success.

I'm helping to plan a work event at a fancy hotel and ordering the food and drinks catering. The prices are so outrageous, and I know people will eat maybe 40% of the food. I'm going to bring some takeaway dishes to save the leftover food from being thrown out after the party. It's almost painful to order food at these prices, even though it's not coming from my personal budget.

[YellowCat]

Just a general update, mostly because husband has done a lot of little tiny grocery runs + some coffee-at-work one-offs and I can't be bothered to remember which transactions happened which days....I'm anticipating one more fairly sizable grocery run this weekend and then very little food spending next week, as husband will be on a business trip *and* we're heading on a 2-week international vacation to visit his family starting Friday the 2nd.

It'll soon be eat down the fridge time! Plus we'll get to turn down the heat in the house for 2 weeks, which should help keep our February heating bill low. We have one planned restaurant meal, for Feb 1st (our 4-year wedding anniversary!), which will likely be at a cheap Thai place that we love. We'll likely also need another tank of gas or two before we go.
________________________
Non-Housing:
- Groceries: $265.35 / $330
- Gas: $53.14 / $100
- Lyft: $10.39 / $0 (not budgeted for)
- Fast Food: $37.65 / $0 (not budgeted for)
- Shopping: $51.15 / $0 (not budgeted for)
- Legal: $725
- Entertainment: $2.99 / $0 (not budgeted for)

Housing / Fixed:
Mortgage Payment: $1221.52
Car Loan: $326.33
Internet Bill: $26.98
Electric Bill: $42.29
Quarterly Water Bill: $142.44 ($47.48 per month Sept - Dec 2017)
Charity: $174.14 (based on last month)

Total: $3079.37
Target: < $3300
Remaining: $220.63

[BZB]

I am making plans to keep this a very low-spend weekend. I don't need to buy groceries, as I stocked up last weekend and have done a lot of freezer cooking. The uncertain parts of this weekend are that my family member is having complications from surgery so I need to be ready to make a run to the emergency room if needed. There are always parking costs involved. I will make a lunch, thermos of coffee, and snacks I can throw in my bag if I need to. My friend who has been in the hospital is getting discharged soon and I may need to help with transition home, so more parking and possibly other expenses. I am chairing an association awards dinner this evening, which will incur parking costs unless I get creative. I think I know a place I can safely park for free and get there on time. I need to pick up my watch from the repair shop, so that will be about $10. I need to get gas for my car, $25. I think I have saved myself a possible $40 - 50 just mentally preparing for this weekend. Off to exercise and take care of myself and home before I have to jump back into care giving.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Looking forward to a frugal weekend. We will need to get groceries, but I will menu plan & keep things in check as much as possible. No other spending expected. Will run all errands in our electric car. We're in the process of transitioning from a cleaning lady (for the last 4 months or so), so will clean the house also. Good exercise. :-)

If anyone is looking for a good granola bar (homemade treats - particularly popular with kids!) without peanut butter, here's one I've tried & the kids have loved. http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/2009/06/homemade-granola-bars/

As the author suggests, I reduce the sugar, but we do sub chocolate chips for the raisins. Enjoy.

[Nederstash]

Mind if I pop back on to this thread?

I'd thought this month would be totally frugal but I've blown through all of my budgets. Only one that still has a sliver in it is the grocery budget... 5,76 left in that. My 'gifts', 'personal', 'entertainment' and 'transportation' budgets have been bludgeoned into pulp. Somewhere around two weeks ago some fun activities came up (escape room, chocolate making workshop, concert, eating out..) I splurged accordingly. Also had some unexpected bills come in. My brain went on autopilot I guess.

Anyway, fun month, but financially a complete fail. Now I have the rest of the month - 11 more days - to make it on 5,76. Luckily my fridge is well stocked!

[CrustyBadger]

Nederstache, I empathize!   I was doing so well for a while.  I think for me there's a slippery slope.  I'm much better with a strict No Spending rule. Once I break it once it is easier to justify the next.   And I am really weak where the kids are concerned.

Had a frustrating shopping trip day today.  I don't like shopping with the kids and i detest driving and shopping in a mall on a Saturday afternoon.  It is such a flipping waste of time!

I need a way to regroup emotionally, and get back to no spending when I have fallen off the wagon so to speak.

[LindseyC]

I sorta blew the grocery budget for the month which was a frugal $100 because I am trying to eat up my pantry. My regular grocery budget for a month is $200 and I am close to that now. I got a few really good sales on meat, so I sorta stocked up, as meat was one thing I had cleaned up from the freezer. So still within my normal budget, but not my super frugal budget goal.

However.....in every other category of spending I am killing it! Plus I found some small side tables that I am currently selling on Kijiji and that should net me $50 profit for about 20 minutes of work. Hopefully they sell shortly to help offset the grocery over spend.

[eliza]

Day 20: Success-ish

Today was running around day- I made a bunch of stops to pick things up. 

I spent $17.09:

• $2.34 at CVS on Shampoo x 2 and Conditioner.  Used $5 ECB, got $8 ECB back.  Will get back $.50 from rebate app
• $3.17 on a bottle of wine at the grocery store
• • $2.05 at grocery store on Turkey Sausage (13oz) and Kale.  Will get back $.50 from rebate app
  • $9.24 at Target on Bacon (3 lbs), Salsa (24 oz) x 2, and Cottage Cheese (5 oz).  Will get $1.40 back from rebate app.
  
  Frugal wins for today:
  
  • Stopped by Panera for my free bagel
  • Used my moviepass to see Star Wars
  • Got free popcorn from a promo credit and ended up bringing home two giant ziplocks full of extra popcorn
  • Stopped by the library to drop off books and pick up holds
  • Earned an extra $2 bonus back on a rebate app from my weekend shopping
  
  Monthly spending to-date: $709.6/$1,750

[hal]

My SO and I celebrated 5 years together, using a gift card to a nice restaurant.

Congratulations on your anniversary!!

Thank you!

It’s been a while since I’ve last checked in, mostly because I am trying to reduce some of my internet usage and get caught up in bursts, rather than checking things constantly.

Anyway, the month is going ok. Right now... my progress on goals:

• 208/300 of grocery/dining out/coffee beans/alcohol. I had hoped to be a little below this. Our coffee beans and groceries have definitely been better this month.
• Eating meat 2 times or fewer per week — have met this! Lots of beans. It helps that it’s winter, so easy meals like chili seem appropriate.
• Reading from books I own — yes! But I did buy another book (The Shallows, by Nicholas Carr, as it is on sale on Amazon for $6.50

Generally, I’m feeling okay about the month. It isn’t my most frugal ever, but I set fairly conservative goals for myself and haven’t had to dip into next month’s funds or into any kind of savings goals. So that’s a plus. If things continue, I’ll be able to pay $900 of my student loan, which is about $770 above the minimum payment.

I’m inspired by other posters on here! Especially those of you with your many no-spend days.

[wordnerd]

Today was a fun frugal day. Writing class in the morning (wasn't free but I paid for it last month) and then the zoo this afternoon. For Christmas, my parents gave us a family annual zoo pass, so it was free to me and I think we'll get a lot of use out of it. I also got to take a forum friend on the pass. Woot woot! Now, I'm reading a library book (obviously free).

Tomorrow, I'm supposed to meet up with a friend for coffee. That'll be the first transaction I've personally made (dh bought groceries) since the 8th but should only be about $2.

[HappierAtHome]

Fun frugal day for me too - friend is coming over to make homemade pizza for me in my kitchen and eat sweet treats I baked using pantry supplies.

[Carrie]

Yesterday was no spend and today should be too. Today I plan to finish a quilt that will be a wedding gift.
It's beautiful weather at our house so entertainment will be the local park and playing tennis (running around retrieving the ball, mostly). We'll walk, maybe bring a picnic.

This week we have a birthday, and the child wants Domino's pizza. Grrr. Might make homemade, or just spend the $20. If we order the pizza, this will be the first for the whole month. Our restaurant /fast food /takeout for January is $0.

[BZB]

Today I looked up the amounts remaining on various gift cards I have. I have about $25 on a restaurant card, $7 at Barnes and Noble, $25 at Nordstrom and $43 at LL Bean. I'll keep these in mind next time I need a gift or want to buy something.
I wrote in to the customer support for Logitech about a defective wireless mouse that the store won't refund me for because they have a 14 day refund window. I'm not very hopeful I will get a replacement, but at least I put forth the effort. In the meantime I am doing without, and will try to repair it on my own if Logitech doesn't come through.

[NinetyFour]

Frugal wins:

* my insurance agent was able to get a $7 fee waived for me
* Kroger shut down a credit card that I hadn't used in a long time (I only got it for the sign up bonus), and they sent me a $5 gift card because I still had some reward points
* my hockey team captain refunded me the $165 team dues I had given him before I changed my mind and decided to not play (I wasn't expecting him to)
* received a $150 sign up bonus from a bank
* found a nickel on the sidewalk a few days ago  :)

Discretionary spending so far this month:

$100    thank yous to people who watched my house and vehicle while I was on holiday
$20.80  took a friend to brekkie for his birthday (and he gave me $165--see above)
$113.44 groceries

I expect to buy another round of groceries (tempeh and dark green veggies) soon.  And maybe once more before the end of the month.  I should have no problem keeping the grocery spending under $150.  Woo hoo!!!  :)

[CrustyBadger]

Well, my initial goal of $400 for a month of groceries was FAR too ambitious for me.  I've started tracking every single grocery expense on a spreadsheet to figure out where I can easily cut costs by shopping the sales, etc., but this is clearly going to be an ongoing effort.  I did a major stocking up trip today and am hoping that will be good for at least the week, which gets me close to the end of the month but not quite.  I will go over even my $650 budget this month, but I am going to still be as frugal as I can.

Here's a record of my spending, and just a stab at a budget.   



groceries:                               625/650
nongroceries                           77/50
takeout,restaurants                  67/50
misc.                                     8/50
gas/car                                   65/90
clothing, entertainment          125/100

TOTAL                                    967/990

[eliza]

Day 21: Success

No spend day. 

Also a never-changed-out-of-my-pajamas day.  Which, if you ask me, is the best kind of day.

Monthly spending to-date: $709.6/$1,750

[HappierAtHome]

This week we have a birthday, and the child wants Domino's pizza. Grrr. Might make homemade, or just spend the $20. If we order the pizza, this will be the first for the whole month. Our restaurant /fast food /takeout for January is $0.

Homemade is so much tastier and healthier than Domino's, too!

[wordnerd]

Well, my initial goal of $400 for a month of groceries was FAR too ambitious for me.  I've started tracking every single grocery expense on a spreadsheet to figure out where I can easily cut costs by shopping the sales, etc., but this is clearly going to be an ongoing effort. 

Awesome that you're getting more awareness out of this exercise! Sounds like you're making good progress.

[CrustyBadger]

Well, my initial goal of $400 for a month of groceries was FAR too ambitious for me.  I've started tracking every single grocery expense on a spreadsheet to figure out where I can easily cut costs by shopping the sales, etc., but this is clearly going to be an ongoing effort. 

Awesome that you're getting more awareness out of this exercise! Sounds like you're making good progress.

Thanks, Wordnerd!

What is incredible to me (though it shouldn't be) is how fast the takeout meals add up.   Despite saying "No Takeout" this month, I bought my kids (and once, myself) some fast food lunches or dinners 5 times.   A burrito for 1, a hamburger and fries for 1, hamburgers and fries for 2, some fried rice and spring rolls for 1.  And all that added up to $67!!   We have NO BUDGET for those kinds of meals on a weekly basis, which is what I was spending before.

[Jenny Wren]

Went over on entertainment Friday! $9, but not going to beat myself up over it too much. I took the kids out for Frozen yogurt as a thank you for being so amazing while we were on our trip. (Seriously, school work was completed, driveways were shoveled, house was cleaned, meals were made and cleaned up after, and they even visited their grandmother. They deserved some froyo!) At this time last month we had already blown through $400.

We even got through a weekend with no type of going out -- no bar, no restaurant, no movie, not even a wrap at the deli! Instead, I threw together a snack tray, made some coffee, loaded an awesome Spotify playlist that was nothing but punk bands covering pop songs from the 80s and 90s, and then we played darts in the basement for a couple of hours. Free fun, crazy!

Did our last grocery shop of the month, as well, and that's a good thing because we only have $5 left in the budget! I'll hold onto that in case we run out of something we can't survive without. The clothing/gifts thing has been ridiculously easy to stick to, at least!

Grocery 394.70/400
No spend 16/31 (Goal 23 no spend days)
Clothing/gifts 0/0
Entertainment 159.33/150

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Quick update on where we are, with about a week to go:

-Childcare - under. Soccer season isn't on yet, so expect to be about $300 under our typical spend
-Dining out - over by $250. Sounds crazy, but $200 were discounted gift cards I bought in December for a place DH & the kids go when I'm traveling. I thought I'd added them to the December budget, but apparently played budget games & saved them for January. We also had an unexpected meal out, so that's a real fail.
-Gas - $3 over. Shouldn't have to fill up our gas car again in Jan
-Groceries - $546/$625. Will be tight, but should be able to do it.
-Liquor - $0/20 :-) Drinking wine we have at home
-Toiletries - $0/20 - haven't needed anything

Those are our monthly categories. Doing fine on our yearly categories, save for the "kids" category, where both of the birthday parties shot us over where I'd like to be by this time in the year. We made other tradeoffs, like cancelling a ski trip, so we're currently sitting on a $850 surplus in our travel budget (deposit refunded).

All in all, we've made good choices so far. We had some unexpected extra income of $1000ish, and we applied it as planned. I've also made about $100 in eBay sales, and again have used the sidehustle money as planned.

[haypug16]

Week 3 update;

Groceries = $200 ($197.27/200) - Enough left for maybe some milk. I am still going to try and hit the goal and not throw in the towel and end up going way over (which is my usual MO)
Dining Out = $100 ($115.55/100) - Did not do well with this. I have 2 other dinners planned this month. I have a $25 GC that I will use up but I'm sure I'll be adding at least another $25 to this category.
Entertainment = $50 ($35.57/50) I expect to hit this goal no problem
Clothes = $0 (modified after joining the No Clothes Shopping Challenge) ($0/0) so far so good
Personal & Household items = $10 - ($8/10)
Misc = $75 ($129/75) - Forgot my Amazon Prime membership was up for renewal this month so the misc. category is shot. :(

[gaja]

Week 1: $10 (activities), $188 (food), $9 (transport).
Week 2: $94 (groceries) + $21 (eating out)
Week 3: $80 (transport) + $206 (food) + $70 (clothes) + $125 (eating out) + $56 (activities)

The week in the big city was more expensive than we hoped, but way less than normal. The transportation cost is as low as it gets, and clothes and activities was within acceptable boundaries. We ate out more than planned, but more than half of that was due to a networking activity.

DH did not buy anything all week, and we didn’t get any groceries until Friday. So 99% of the food costs are from our scheduled fortnightly grocery run. That should cover most of our needs until the end of the month.

We are heading for a >60% savings rate for January :)

[wordnerd]

Mrs. FW's email today on working with your partner became immediately relevant for me. While I was cutting my own hair today, DH offered to help with the back. He ended up helping with more than that, and it was really nice to have him involved. And, I'm happy with how it turned out. He's never noticed/commented on my haircuts before. I wonder if he will if he's an active participant in them. ETA: He just said he liked my hair--probably the first time in 7.5 years together. :)

Post-haircut vacuuming led to the loss of my last hair tie. I thought buying hair ties, but I didn't want to break my no-spend streak (since coffee with my friend on Sunday fell through, I'm at 14 no-spend days in a row). I'm going to see if not having hair ties leads me to style my hair more. We'll see. I can always buy some in a few days.

I'm really interested in how frugality--or really any constraints--inspire creativity and can lead to more satisfaction.

[haypug16]

We are heading for a >60% savings rate for January :)

Nice! I can't wait for my debt to be paid off and I can start hitting high savings rates like these :) Currently looking at ~20%

[eliza]

Day 22: Success

Spent $7.37 at the grocery store.

• $3.17 on a bottle of wine
• $4.20 on eggs (4 dz) and turkey sausage 13 oz

Also cashed out $23.65 from my rebate app from previous shopping, which I count as negative grocery spending!

Monthly Spending to-date: $693.32/$1,750

[akzidenz]

I'm really interested in how frugality--or really any constraints--inspire creativity and can lead to more satisfaction.

I think I get a kick out of MMM-style frugality because of this! I suppose I would identify myself as a Creative, and I always enjoyed doing highly constrained creative tasks. When I was in university, one of my favorite drawing classes was with a professor who insisted everyone abandon their fancy drawing pencils and markers…and just try working with a ballpoint pen for a few weeks. He pushed us to really understand the behavior of the pen, really understand its potential with all kinds of stroke speeds and pressures. It was a very frugal class, and one that made me appreciate how much creative depth goes into focusing on one tool, and knowing it fully.

UFM has led to some nice moments of discovery like that. I went and stitched up holes in a ton of my socks and tights (in lieu of buying new ones) and it reminded me of an embroidery hobby I took up last year and didn't get to. I expect to toy around with some tiny embroidery projects (embellishing my socks with a floral border or something), which will give me some renewed energy in my wardrobe as I work through the "absolutely zero clothes shopping in 2018" gauntlet!

[BZB]

Unplanned expense today - I spent $13 on parking garage at work because I had a late evening event and didn't want to walk to my car in the dark in the neighborhood where I usually park. Somebody treated me to lunch, though, so I saved my packed lunch for tomorrow. Work paid for dinner.

[Linea_Norway]

I viewed my grocery spending for this month. It is very high, compared to the previous months. Probably because the freezer was really empty, as we have been emptying the freezer last year. I will try to tighten up the spending again in the coming months.

What we could use currently is a trip to Sweden where food is a cheaper. It's just that driving to Sweden is pretty far from our house, so we will need to wait until we can combine the grocery trip with some other visit. Usually we go canoeing there in May. Then I must ensure that the freezer at home is empty by that time, so we can fill it up again with cheaper meat.

[LindseyC]

I had an unexpected expense. A friend hurt his knee very badly (on his island vacation) and when he got home I did grocery shopping for him and also bought groceries to make him some freezer meals. This put my budget up by almost $100. Honestly though, as much as it hurts the budget, it is for a good cause so I don't even care. I will just be more frugal next month!

Other than groceries. My January has been a great success. I have made a little extra money, bought next to nothing, not gone out to eat or bought take out/convenience and kept my entertainment below $20. I realize the month is not over but it feels like I am winning.

[NinetyFour]

I had an unexpected expense. A friend hurt his knee very badly (on his island vacation) and when he got home I did grocery shopping for him and also bought groceries to make him some freezer meals. This put my budget up by almost $100. Honestly though, as much as it hurts the budget, it is for a good cause so I don't even care. I will just be more frugal next month!

Other than groceries. My January has been a great success. I have made a little extra money, bought next to nothing, not gone out to eat or bought take out/convenience and kept my entertainment below $20. I realize the month is not over but it feels like I am winning.

How nice of you to do that for your friend!

[wordnerd]

I had an unexpected expense. A friend hurt his knee very badly (on his island vacation) and when he got home I did grocery shopping for him and also bought groceries to make him some freezer meals. This put my budget up by almost $100. Honestly though, as much as it hurts the budget, it is for a good cause so I don't even care. I will just be more frugal next month!

Other than groceries. My January has been a great success. I have made a little extra money, bought next to nothing, not gone out to eat or bought take out/convenience and kept my entertainment below $20. I realize the month is not over but it feels like I am winning.

How nice of you to do that for your friend!

Agree--how awesome of you! It's nice to have extra money to help others. Another benefit of frugality in one's daily life.

[gaja]

Week 1: $10 (activities), $188 (food), $9 (transport).
Week 2: $94 (groceries) + $21 (eating out)
Week 3: $80 (transport) + $206 (food) + $70 (clothes) + $125 (eating out) + $56 (activities)

Day 22: $0
Day 23: $144 (new passports)

All our passports are expiring during 2018, so we needed updates. January is a good time to do that, with short waiting lines. My passport will last for 10 years, the kids’ will expire in 5, so cost/day is quite good.

[HappierAtHome]

So I can't honestly say we have been "uber frugal" this month. An honest description would be "more careful with our spending than usual" - and there's still been a few little luxuries (we saw a movie together and went out for sushi at the start of the month, which is a big freaking deal in our world because child free date time is rare and special). This level of spending feels SUSTAINABLE. And if we sustained it... We would save an extra $8k a year. We're deliberately reducing our income by 40% in March, and $8k a year is a meaningful difference in our new savings rate.

In summation: this UFJ may have changed my spending long-term for the better.

[eliza]

Day 23: Semi-Success

Spent $5.21 at the grocery store:

• $3.17 on wine
• $2.04 on groceries - apples (4) and carrots (2 lbs)

I was being good about no alcohol on weeknights, but that's fallen to the wayside a bit.  Need to keep an eye on that for both health and budget.  Hockey season is tough ---- something about watching sports brings out all my bad habits (junk food, alcohol, unnecessary stress about things I can't control and don't really matter anyway).

Monthly Spending to Date: $698.53/$1,750

[akzidenz]

So I can't honestly say we have been "uber frugal" this month. An honest description would be "more careful with our spending than usual" - and there's still been a few little luxuries (we saw a movie together and went out for sushi at the start of the month, which is a big freaking deal in our world because child free date time is rare and special). This level of spending feels SUSTAINABLE. And if we sustained it... We would save an extra $8k a year. We're deliberately reducing our income by 40% in March, and $8k a year is a meaningful difference in our new savings rate.

In summation: this UFJ may have changed my spending long-term for the better.

That's so wonderful! I feel the same way about my January—not incredibly, uber frugal, but a disciplined and accessible kind of frugal.

I like to tell myself that I'm not trying to be frugal for one month—I'm trying to be frugal for life. So a moderate frugality that feels pleasant and enduring is the kind I'm really going for.

[katscratch]

I went full bore Uber Frugal last year and did the challenge quite literally. I'm so glad that I did; it taught me a lot about the little impulses I wasn't aware of.

I've definitely dropped out this year. I haven't pushed my boundaries at all, but reading this thread and the emails are a good mental reset for me anyhow.

[Linea_Norway]

All our passports are expiring during 2018, so we needed updates. January is a good time to do that, with short waiting lines. My passport will last for 10 years, the kids’ will expire in 5, so cost/day is quite good.

Our passports used to last only for 5 years, which was quite an expensive every 5 years. The latest one we got was valid for 10 years, which is a big improvement.

Do your children really need their own passport? Often they can be included in one of their parent's, but it does require that they will only travel abroad together with that parent, which might be a challenge.

[Bee21]

The school holidays and back to school edition

#250  school uniforms and shoes for 2 (and did not go overboard. This is 1 top, 2 bottoms each, plus shoes. The rest is carried over from last year. Might need to buy a few extra tops if the little one grows out of them later, and we will need winter gear as they grew out of it. People are horrified that I don't buy them new bags and lunchboxes every year. Luckily, they are attached to the existing ones 😎
#190  stationery, books, whatnots (from the prescribed list).
# vacation care 340 (for 2 days). Budgeted 4 times as much, so it is a win.
# 50 entertainment (2 minigolf plus parking in the city). The science centre, museum, gallery and library was free, and also the bushwalk and the environmental centre. The vacationcare organized an excursion to the koala sanctuary, so I think they were very well entertained during these school hols.
#100+ boat trip
#100 Birthday party (presents were purchased before)
#99 haircuts for myself and the kids (no, I am not cutting our hair)

Eating out was ridiculously high. It is usually 0, so I don't feel too bad, but obviously it is a bad look to spend around 120 on eating out during an uberfrugal challenge.

Am still going strong with my personal spending. No clothes, coffees, lunches, magazines, chocolate covered peanuts or additional books have been purchased.

just remembered that next month I am renewing my passport and will have between 300-1000k in medical expenses, so February will definitely need to be uberfrugal to compensate.

Got an award at work (incl bonus) so my travel fund got an unexpected bump. The big boss (who hates me) delivered it with a very sour expression on her face. Ha!

[eliza]

All our passports are expiring during 2018, so we needed updates. January is a good time to do that, with short waiting lines. My passport will last for 10 years, the kids’ will expire in 5, so cost/day is quite good.

Our passports used to last only for 5 years, which was quite an expensive every 5 years. The latest one we got was valid for 10 years, which is a big improvement.

Do your children really need their own passport? Often they can be included in one of their parent's, but it does require that they will only travel abroad together with that parent, which might be a challenge.

For U.S. issued passports - each person is required to have their own, even infants.  Minor's passports expire in 5 years.  Adult passports expire in 10 years.  You can get double pages for the same price when you buy, but if you need to have extra pages sewn in later that's extra --- so always get the double passport book if you think you're going to be doing extensive travel.

[Mongoose]

January goals met. :-) We were under expected expenditures for our trip!

Some of it was luck. We got three free meals, including the two fancy dinners out we planned. One was because the restaurant refused to charge us after a fire suppression sprinkler malfunctioned and hosed off our table. They remade our food and reseated us. We were laughing about the whole thing and would've happily paid for the meal but the manager insisted no. Some friends invited us over one night, and other friends insisted on treating us to third. We'll reciprocate for that later.

The rest of the time we purchased groceries and did picnics, including our airport days. I was glad we had packed food since we had short layovers and the places we were at had single small sandwiches for $12.

DH also found less expensive car rentals by taking public transportation to off-airport locations for pick-up and drop-off. We only had the car for days when we couldn't use the public systems (out of coverage areas). A car was less than half price away from the airport.

For U.S. issued passports - each person is required to have their own, even infants.  Minor's passports expire in 5 years.  Adult passports expire in 10 years.  You can get double pages for the same price when you buy, but if you need to have extra pages sewn in later that's extra --- so always get the double passport book if you think you're going to be doing extensive travel.

I found the infant-5 year passports hilarious. At 5, kids didn't look anything like the picture taken at 6 weeks. The real challenge was to get an infant picture that met the requirements (eyes open, neutral expression).

[gaja]

All our passports are expiring during 2018, so we needed updates. January is a good time to do that, with short waiting lines. My passport will last for 10 years, the kids’ will expire in 5, so cost/day is quite good.

Our passports used to last only for 5 years, which was quite an expensive every 5 years. The latest one we got was valid for 10 years, which is a big improvement.

Do your children really need their own passport? Often they can be included in one of their parent's, but it does require that they will only travel abroad together with that parent, which might be a challenge.

It is a decade since that rule changed. If we want to take the kids outside the Nordic countries, we need passports for them. They occasionally travel alone, so even if that was possible, it wouldn’t be an option for us.

[HappierAtHome]

So I can't honestly say we have been "uber frugal" this month. An honest description would be "more careful with our spending than usual" - and there's still been a few little luxuries (we saw a movie together and went out for sushi at the start of the month, which is a big freaking deal in our world because child free date time is rare and special). This level of spending feels SUSTAINABLE. And if we sustained it... We would save an extra $8k a year. We're deliberately reducing our income by 40% in March, and $8k a year is a meaningful difference in our new savings rate.

In summation: this UFJ may have changed my spending long-term for the better.

That's so wonderful! I feel the same way about my January—not incredibly, uber frugal, but a disciplined and accessible kind of frugal.

I like to tell myself that I'm not trying to be frugal for one month—I'm trying to be frugal for life. So a moderate frugality that feels pleasant and enduring is the kind I'm really going for.

You've described it perfectly!

I think this challenge has served as a spending reset for me. Expenses have really crept up in the last eight months while we've been learning how to be parents. Now is the perfect time to get them under control again, back to "pleasant and enduring".

[eliza]

Day 24: Success

No Spend Day!

Flying to the midwest tomorrow to see my family - so there will probably be some amount of dining/drinking/grocery/entertainment spending this weekend.  But I'm still feeling good about hitting my budget goals this month.   

Monthly Spending to Date: $698.53/$1,750

[westtoeast]

I went full bore Uber Frugal last year and did the challenge quite literally. I'm so glad that I did; it taught me a lot about the little impulses I wasn't aware of.

I've definitely dropped out this year. I haven't pushed my boundaries at all, but reading this thread and the emails are a good mental reset for me anyhow.

This is also me.
 
-Transportation is $15 over budget.
-Food is $2 below budget. I'll probably go a tiny bit over. This is the toughest to cut down. I'm considering raising my budget from $250 to $300. I have dietary restrictions and all the easily accessible grocery stores are not the cheapest. I may need to set a realistic budget and consider it one of my splurges.
-Misc Expenses is $109 over budget. Yikes. $30 on a gift. $10 on a lock for the gym. $16 on eating out (ended up out and about all day and got burritos). $5 on fancy coconut milk mocha. $5 on coffee/lunch out with coworkers. $9 on watercolor paper. 

I sort of gave up last weekend. That is when most of those expenses occurred. I want to recommit for this weekend but I have a crazy schedule that involves seeing two friends from out of town who I'll be meeting up with very far from my house. I'm also taking a student to an event and going to a tutoring gig. I need to make a plan so that I don't spend more on food than needed and so that I don't spend money at coffee shops while waiting around between commitments.

[katscratch]

This is also me.
 
-Transportation is $15 over budget.
-Food is $2 below budget. I'll probably go a tiny bit over. This is the toughest to cut down. I'm considering raising my budget from $250 to $300. I have dietary restrictions and all the easily accessible grocery stores are not the cheapest. I may need to set a realistic budget and consider it one of my splurges.
-Misc Expenses is $109 over budget. Yikes. $30 on a gift. $10 on a lock for the gym. $16 on eating out (ended up out and about all day and got burritos). $5 on fancy coconut milk mocha. $5 on coffee/lunch out with coworkers. $9 on watercolor paper. 

I sort of gave up last weekend. That is when most of those expenses occurred. I want to recommit for this weekend but I have a crazy schedule that involves seeing two friends from out of town who I'll be meeting up with very far from my house. I'm also taking a student to an event and going to a tutoring gig. I need to make a plan so that I don't spend more on food than needed and so that I don't spend money at coffee shops while waiting around between commitments.

On one hand, the benefit of my having gone all out last year is that I'm still spending in alignment with my values and haven't really gotten back to mindless decisions.

On the other hand, I do want to do another Uber month but I think I'd be best choosing a month with less social engagements. Maybe you could try doing a full Uber Frugal month at a time of year that is a little slower for you? One thing for me, too, was that I had full buy-in from my son last year, but if I didn't it would have been much harder to push my frugal limit as far as I did.

[monstermonster]

Dammit, I am not going to make it in under $1000 spending this month, which I really hoped for! Current spending is $1,007.67 month to date.

Household/Insurance

• Rent: $615
• Electricity: $38.29
• Water/Sewer/Commons: $27.50
• Internet: $19.97
• Household Goods:  $14.26 (stock up on 6 months of TP when we ran out)

Groceries

• Groceries: $130.75
• Grocery Treats/Snacks: $23.30
• Coffee/Tea For Home: $8.48

The purchases of treats/snacks i much higher than I would like - dealing with a book deadline has made me want to purchase snack-y foods more often (it does NOT help we live 1/2 block from Trader Joe's.)

Extra Food & Drink

• Emergency Burrito For Last Minute Double Shift At Work: $4.60
• Coffee Out: $6.91

Both "coffee out" purchases were a direct result of my work schedule being changed last-minute and me buying comfort coffee. This is worth noting that coffee is an emotional comfort blanket purchase for me. Luckily, we finally got the hot water fixed at work so I can at least make tea now, hopefully preventing last-minute coffee purchases.

Indulgences

• Gym Membership: $40.00
• Show Tickets: $15.00
• Spending Money: $3.99
• Clothing: $12.62 (this was my unnecessary splurge after I got a swagbucks gift certificate)

Health

• Health Insurance $37.00

Charity

• Charitable Giving:  $10

To be spent: probably another ~$14 on groceries and $5 on drug co-pay. I may get a mocktail at the show tomorrow night, we'll see.

[eliza]

Day 25: Success

No spend day!

Packed lunch and snacks for flight.  Resisted urge to order a craft beer on the flight.

Monthly Spending to Date: $698.53/$1,750

[TartanTallulah]

I continue to fail, not because of frittering or extravagance (we've been very good about minimising casual spending) but because big-ticket items keep coming up, most recently the need to replace the laundry liquid we use for sports kit, which we buy in bulk and which then lasts more than a year. And my car insurance is due to be paid before the end of the month.

I think my conclusion is that January isn't a good month to try to be frugal and when I'm on a retirement income I should lay aside some savings between March and November to accommodate December, January and February being expensive months. At the moment it's not a big deal, it just means we can't save as much in these months, but it will need to be planned for in the future.

[Jenny Wren]

I think my conclusion is that January isn't a good month to try to be frugal and when I'm on a retirement income I should lay aside some savings between March and November to accommodate December, January and February being expensive months. At the moment it's not a big deal, it just means we can't save as much in these months, but it will need to be planned for in the future.

I think this right here proves that the exercise was worthwhile, even if it doesn't go as planned! :) Knowing when to be uber frugal is an important part of an FI equation!

I can be hard on myself, so I enjoy reading these reminders that a failure isn't a failure if you learn something or hone a skill in the process - thank you!