The end of no money month: the final results

• At the end of Jan, I had more money saved in my bank account than I had ever saved in a typical month before, and it will go towards our vacation. We could not have gone if we had not had no money month.
• I had money left over at the end of the month in my bank account. (THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE, PEOPLE, EVER!)
• I spent zero dollars on food, but family members bought food (milk, coffee creamer, cumin, fresh vegetables). The 40 dollars I had allotted went to other things that I can never plan for (Mom, I need...) and was never replaced in my wallet, so technically I never did get a chance to spend it. But I also learned what to stock up on (if shelf stable) and what to always have in the house as an alternative. This is helpful for emergency planning too.
• We ate well, didn't really miss eating out, but it did take more planning and more time. (Counteract that with freezer meals, prepping foods in advance and making mixes) 
• We have a ton of food here that never gets eaten. I need to shop in my cupboards before I run to the store. I successfully substituted many ingredients in recipes this past month.
• I learned that if I make it a game (no money month, write everything that you are spending down, save every 5 dollar bill that comes your way) that I am more likely to stick to it. 
• I spend way too much money on "crap" (forgive the language) and I have things at home stored away that I have forgotten about. 
• I have ways of entertaining myself and my kids without spending money. Lots of ways, actually.
• I am way more conscious of how I am spending money now. I am less impulsive with purchases. 
• I am pretty creative and love to look at reusing or repurposing things. Pinterest has been a great springboard for that.
• Moneywise, it helps if you move the whole amount over, more than you think you can save, and put it in your savings account. That way, every time you go to look at your bank balance, it is there, smiling at you, and that is really reenergizing.
• My money should go towards my goals, and not just be frittered away. Frittering is the path of least resistance! 

Did I not spend any money? No. I did spend money, but I spent a LOT less money and I was aware of every dollar.  And all of the money that I did spend, went towards a personal goal, except maybe the 2 cokes that I bought and the drinks out with a sad friend.

All in all, it was really successful and I am going to try it again in March!

Emergency Preparedness #1 The Plan

Ok, so I am a total newbie with this stuff, but I want to be prepared when it comes to getting my family's needs taken care of if there were ever a serious emergency.
Last month's storm was enough to remind me that things like snowstorms can and do happen here. (10 inches of snow in a place that usually gets none!)
We are also ripe for an earthquake. So, it makes sense to me that while you would have time to prepare, and it would be wise to.

But, let me caveat this, I believe in a sovereign God who has this all in His hands. I am not trying this out of a sense of fear, but rather a sense of preparedness. It is just something that has been on my heart for the past year, and now I am just going to jump in and do it!

So, today's task is going to Costco and buying some cases of water. (It is a start!, with recommendation being 3 gallons per day for every family member: that is a lot of water!) And this week, I'm also going to scout around and see if I can find a battery powered cell phone charger for my phone. I am also going to be reorganizing our binder for vital information. (hangs head) because that hasn't been done in a very long time.

I am also going to inventory what I have so that I know what to purchase next and scout around for good prices. (some of this stuff is super spendy!!! jehosaphat!)
But if I take this in small steps, then I know that I can do it!

Week 3- harder than it seems

Ok, so last week, we had a snow storm to end all storms.(Snowmageddon hits Seattle!) We went home on Tuesday with absolutely no snow anywhere and by Thursday morning, we had 10 inches on our deck and a 1/2 inch of ice on top to boot. Keep in mind this is an area that usually doesn't get any snow, or very little.
We had three snow days!
We could not get out of the house so, it was hard to spend any money. I spent the day making three kinds of soups in the crock pots so that if we lost power, we could heat it up in a pot in the fireplace. Luckily, we never did lose power and heat. But, here, that is always a very real possibility.


During those days off, I discovered pinterest, and I have to say, I am in love, love, love!
So many great ideas and so many new things to try, so I broke down and went to Target and Office Depot tonight. I spent money. Not a lot, and only for things that I truly needed, but I blew no money month out of the water. 
And, not having been in a store in a while, I felt kind of overwhelmed. It was like and overload of color, textures and patterns.


But, even though I fell off of the wagon, I am getting back on tomorrow. I want to see if I can make it to the end of the month. I am betting that I can. I still have a significant amount of money in my savings that wasn't there in December, so that makes me proud. That is definitely a good change and a step in the right direction.


Next month, I am not going to have a no money month, but I am going to institute a strict writing down of everything that I am spending. I repurposed a notebook for my purse, and am going to make a new file folder organizer, like I use at Christmas, but for all year round this time to hold receipts and the like.


In March, I am going to attack a bill, and build my emergency fund. 


I hope that if I concentrate on one thing for every month, then I can make some big changes over the whole year.


And, I am still shocked by how much food we have left in the house, especially in the freezers. Everything is getting cleared out now, and it is much easier to see what we have and what we need to eat up. I might not have to cook for a little while :)


Have a happy snow free day!!

no money, no monay

Ok. so I admit, I cheated a bit this week. I spent 14 bucks on fonts for the computer (which admittedly support my goal of blogging more and developing a nicer looking blog) and 1.30 for two cokes on Friday at work. (I had forgotten my cup and had a heck of a day). I also spent money for books at a marriage conference that I went to. I spent some money on paint for my girl, a skein of yarn and some new knitting needles, and money to let my senior son apply for Wazzu! Go Cougs!

I also started a new monthly bill, which wasn't my favorite thing to do but it also supports one of my goals of being sufficiently supplied in case of an emergency. And it was something that I have been thinking of, for well, maybe two years. So, I bit the bullet and went for it.

But other than that, I have not spent any money this month. I am pretty impressed with that. I still haven't spent any money for groceries either, haven't been in a store since the 31st actually. But my family members have, for things like cheese and milk and cumin (the spice of life:).

We are getting low on bread and so I made some. I have found the most awesome artisan bread recipe ever. It is a slow rise, dutch oven recipe. I don't have a dutch oven, but I do have a pyrex casserole that I use.  http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/2007-12-01/Easy-No-Knead-Dutch-Oven-Crusty-Bread.aspx

But the lesson learned this week is that eating out for us, is more based on habit and opportunity than real need.  And even my kids, who like to eat out, like most teens, have been good about eating at home. After dance, my daughter was hungry. We have to pass by a couple of favorite restaurants, but she said we would go home and she'd be happy to eat there. And it took a bit longer, but we had dinner at home. Honestly, now, I don't miss eating out. It doesn't have the same appeal that it used to.

So, I've saved a ton of money, and it is three weeks in. I'm more conscious of what I am spending and I have learned that we spend way more money on just meaningless, thoughtless stuff than what I thought. Best of all, we have money in savings for our vacation. I haven't spent a dime on my credit cards, and we have had enough of everything.

I have learned to knit, to bake artisan bread and I've been entertained by the systems that I already have in place and that I don't use nearly as much as I should. I've read some books that I wanted to, and I have been as busy as I ever have been.

I've got a pretty great life.

I'm going to keep going with no money month! This week, my goal is to spend absolutely no money and to make sure that I have everything prepped for meals so that I don't end up short in any way for meals or for any other reason.

have a great week

doing great with no money month

Lesson for today: I don't have to spend $$ on most days, even for entertainment!!

Ok, so all this week, for 7 days straight, I have not spent a penny, other than 9 bucks (unplanned event for a friend who was having an emergency).
And in case you think I have been doing nothing but staying home, not so!

I went to a retirement party, and a free movie. I went to book club one night and I had a mini spa night another.

We even lost our power for three hours one night during a bad windstorm and couldn't have the dinner that I had planned, but we did not go out to eat,which would have been our previous go to solution. (Tuna fish sandwiches worked well)

I have been looking on youtube and instructables for all sorts of things that I want to learn (how to use my camera, how to knit, etc.)

I have noticed that so much of what I have wanted to spend money on this week was available elsewhere for free if I just looked. I think it is just a bad habit of not thinking things through and spending money is convenient. Mostly I have wanted to spend $$ for things for my classroom.

I even made a cooking substitution,which turned out just fine as well. I made crock pot chili, and had no cumin (gasp!!!) so I threw in a packet of taco seasoning that had been sitting in the cupboard for gosh knows how long. The chili tasted fine, the same really, no one commented that it tasted any different and there were no leftovers, so everyone ate it. Before, I would have gone to the store, gotten the cumin, come back home, and been all frazzled and stressed before I went to work. This was like, hey, a substitution, no problem, and I got to work on time and came home to a great dinner on a busy, hectic night.

It has also been freeing to throw away (recycle, really) ads for places that I like to go. I noticed that I felt relieved when it came to the grocery ads and the like. I thought, I don't have to take care of that, nothing to do, it's no money month. Whereas before, I would have felt compelled to go and look through the ads, try get the best possible price on groceries, etc. That can be pretty stressful. I didn't realize how much:)

SO, hopefully, next week will go as well. I have all 40 bucks still that I was going to spend on fresh groceries for the month. No one is drinking milk all that quickly this week (which is a little odd for us). Tomorrow I am going to make my dutch oven artisan bread again, so we won't have to buy bread! I am good on gas for my car, so I think I can go another week.

Try a no money month, it's easier than you think!

New Year New You!

This month is one of my favorites. My kids at school settle in after all of the holiday hoopla. We get our routines in place and comfortable and things start humming along. I am going to insert a few new things but most of the structures are in place and it is like magic, they just learn so much. January is a wonderful time to learn.

So, if January is a wonderful time to learn,I've been thinking too, about what it is about resolutions for me that don't work. They should, I am capable and eager for change... I started a post about this, but it was complicated and since no one reads this anyway:), I am going to skip all that. For me, it has to do with making room in my schedule, making it a routine, and keeping the motivation going, especially when time and money get tight.

I want to make changes in my finances, in my weight, and in the way that I run my life, ie organization and housekeeping. I also want to make changes about the way that I think about myself, so I need to figure out a way to make those changes because those things will be positive for me.

So, I have put small things in place that are going to help me meet my goals. For instance, I want to drink more water, so I bought a really huge Starbucks water cup, (on sale after Christmas) and I fill that with water everyday. I made a huge pot of vegetable soup that I packaged in small containers and that will be easy for me to grab for lunches that will be healthy and low calorie. I have blocked out time and space for me to exercise and I bought a new exercise video that suits me and what I like to do (namely dance).

And, for fun, and for a real challenge and because we have so much we need to use up right now, I am instituting a "no money month" for myself. I am not going to spend any money this month. That might seem like a stupid thing to some, but I want to learn about myself and my wants and needs and why I spend money. I know that I spend a lot of money impulsively, so if I take away those impulses, then I can control adding them back into my life and hopefully, use a little bit more sense and understanding because I think spending money quickly and without thought has been a habit of mine for a long time.

So, the rules of no money month are that bills and requirements (gas) have to be paid, and I have 40 bucks for the month for milk and fresh veggies, but that is it. I can spend anything that I have on gift cards (probably enough for one cup of coffee and a movie with my hubby this month)  I already scooted the money that I wanted to save into my savings account. My 40 bucks cash is in my Dave Ramsey planner and we are set to go!

I am going to keep a log of what I want to buy and the reason that I wanted to buy something. I think that will help me to understand then how to solve problems and prevent them.  I am going to be a student of why it is that I want to spend money. I think that will be pretty revealing!

Lesson for today:
Today, I noticed that when I have a problem, or am rushed, I wanted to buy something to solve the problem. (I needed bread for my Sunday School lesson and we didn't seem to have enough at the house)

Have a great first day of this new year!

Heading out on a vacay!

Ok-
I have about a million things to do( packing-ugh!) and I am deliberately putting them off to write in my blog. I wonder why I do things like this to myself. It only adds to my stress. But really, I feel like I have things somewhat in control, I just hate packing. I mean hate it.
I wonder if there was a cute packing list out there. Maybe even illustrated. I'd love that.

Well, I guess I should get started.
I should.
I really should.

Or maybe I will see if I can find a cute illustrated packing list.

Bye!