For those of you that are taking part in the No Spend Challenge this month, I’d love to hear what you are struggling with in terms of spending. Are you having withdrawals over that Starbucks coffee you normally indulge in every day? Stuff for your kids?
For those of you not participating in the No Spend Challenge, what have you been struggling with in terms of spending? Would you like to find alternatives? Is it hindering you from enjoying life more?
I am surprised at how well I am doing. I am a shopaholic but I have been staying in more now since I can’t spend. I now have more family time. More craft time. More reading time and more organizing time. LOVE IT.
I have a question though. When I went to the store this week to buy a small amount of produce and I saw dishwasher detergent on sale for $4.00, save $8.99 each. I still have a box of detergent at home so I don’t need it. Do I come up with extra cash to purchase that great deal or let it pass?
Sorry, Angie, I’m just seeing your question now! Hmmm, that is a good deal, I’m guessing though that it will go on sale again one day, unless it was a clearance item. But, it’s ultimately your call! What ever you feel best with.
Love this website. Question? How much does the average Canadian senior couple spend on food and household expenses each month? I’m struggling, trying to spend only $125.00 per week on these expenses. Since I retired several years ago, I have really tried to lower our expenses; using coupons, menu planning using grocery flyers to buy only sale items, grocery shopping at Walmart, growing out my hair and not colouring it, no more acrylic nails, we drive a diesel VW Golf etc. Groceries have increased so much in the last years, It was not long ago that a barbecue chicken was $5.50. Now they cost almost $10.00. Help! What do other seniors spend each month on their household? M
My eye opener for me was to revise my budget and get real with it. I figured out that we could afford $40 for “restaurant” for the month of April. I told hubby and he said that it wasn’t realistic. I told him that it has to be realistic because that’s all the money we have. I also told him that in order for us to stop living in our line of credit, we must live with this budget. It’s been hard and it’s only 10 days in!! Needless to say, we’ve spent our $40 budget so now the real work starts where we have to learn to say no and stick with the budget.
I never thought that cutting the “stuff” out could be difficult but I’m sure once we’re in that mindset of living within our means it’ll get easier.
Wow – Great way to look at it Jennifer and thanks so much as I will tell my teens about it tonight and see if that sinks in a bit. Since January 1st I have been putting money in a box for whatever corresponding week that is. So for January 1st, it was the first week of the year so $1.00 got put into the box, the second week of year, in went $2.00 and so forth. This week it was $15.00 for the 15th week of the year…so….at the end of 2013 there will be over $1000.00 in there!! Gotta love Pinterest and all it’s ideas!
I’ve actually been doing really well saving money this year but the eye opener for me was realizing if I’d saved just 20 dollars a week since I was twenty years old, I’d have almost 20K to show for it….twenty dollars….how easy was it for me to blow five times that every weekend since I was twenty and have nothing to show for it but a hangover lol….if I ever have a child – that will be the first financial lesson I teach them. That being said, better late than never right? I’ve saved more money in the past 3 months than I have in my lifetime – all because I paid myself and my husband an allowance, then covered all the bills and whatever was left over we put completely out of reach.
Wow the hardest part the beauty indulges! I eyebrow sweaters lol need a wax and i really need a colour however we will see how long we can stretch it! I finally had to break down and buy new shoes today as my current ones have a hole. So far the hardest part is going the once of a month treat dinner and keeping the hubby on board. I like this idea and we are trying really hard to only use what we have in the house! I think we might even have some money left over from the food budget! So cool straight to savings we go!
eye opener? tracking the impulses to buy. more frequent that I would have thought if I hadn’t been keeping actual count.
I am following along on the no spend plan too and what hasn’t been hard?? ha ha. I apparently am very spoiled but never thought of it that way before. I was telling a friend about the challenge and said “I cannot believe I am going to have to pluck my own eyebrows this month” I laughed so hard — I couldn’t believe I JUST SAID THAT. hahahaha.
Giving up my daily and sometimes two and yes, sometimes even three times a day Tim Horton’s addiction and making coffee at home hasn’t been as awful as I had expected though, and this is one thing that I hope to continue after the challenge. I did save all my winning roll up the rim tabs from last month though and have been treating myself once a week with my free coffee’s.
I did have to turn down a few coffee dates thus far, which was not an easy thing to do either. I also had a really hard time not buying anything when I went to the mall with one of my friends last weekend. She was scooping up a lot of great deals and I was almost like a sad puppy dog sulking beside her, so to make it entertaining and to keep myself from not getting bored, I did try on things BUT only things that I thought were hideous. It made the trip pretty fun to try on things that I would never have normally and some things were pretty comical!
With grocery shopping, I have gone through the cupboards and only so far spent $70.00 for fresh fruits, vegetables and meats in the last 10 days. Normally I would spend 200 by now and eat out once a week but we gave that up as well. It also has not been easy to leave behind the pop and chips and other snack foods we would normally buy. Instead, we are making popcorn at home and are baking much more than we normally do with things we already have on hand.
It is only day 10 but it sure has been a massive eye opener!
I live alone, so I find cooking for one person a challenge in its self.
My problem is eating out, I will take my lunch to work, and then get take out for dinner. I always try to use a coupon or eat fairly cheaply if I get take out.
I need to change this habit.