At the beginning of October, I issued a "No Spend" Challenge for the month. My plan was to buy nothing except the absolute necessities for the entire month, and to keep my grocery bill below $325 as we'd gone over our grocery budget the last couple months prior (mostly due to purchasing surplus in-season produce for canning and freezing).
I'd planned to give you an update on this a bit sooner, but what can I say? I feel like I'm a bit behind in just about every area of my life right now! So, here's how it went:
Our grocery bill came in at $312.61 for the month, so we squeaked in at $12.39 under my goal. YAY!!
I had identified a few items that we would probably need to buy in October: a winter coat for my older son, winter gloves for both boys, Halloween treats, a birthday gift for my older son, and some coconut oil.
My husband found a great winter coat for my son at Value Village for $11.54 (I was *very* happy about that, as I was beginning to think we were going to have to break down and buy him a brand new one, which would have cost a heck of a lot more!). We didn't end up purchasing my son's birthday gift until the beginning of November (his birthday was yesterday, so yes, it was a bit on the last-minute side). We also didn't get around to buying winter gloves yet as it's been a relatively mild fall so far. We spent $33.31 on Halloween candy and $6.99 on coconut oil.
So far, so good, right? Well, we also had a few unexpected expenses thrown into the mix. Hubby had to go stock up on wood screws to fix my younger son's bed when it broke ($7.45), and he bought two new inner tubes for his bike after he got a flat ($22.58). We also needed some new bungee cords ($10.16 for a multi-pack) and I forgot to bring my yoga mat to class one day and needed to rent one ($2). My husband and son both needed new hockey water bottles ($6.76) and we splurged on a top hat at Dollarama for my younger son's hobo costume ($2.26).
That brings the grand total for our "no spend" month to $103.05. It's not quite "nothing", but it's a heck of a lot less than we've been spending on miscellaneous expenses the past few months.
I think I might just have to have another "No Spend" month in January! Maybe some of you will care to join me?
Five Teeny Tiny Frugal Things
1 day ago
I told you I would join you and I had good intentions but bad follow through. I bought a hand run grain mill for $31 just after I committed to not spending:) ironic? Then I had a chance to go to Trader Joe's when visiting my daughters (we don't have one near) and I stocked up on natural peanut butter, low carb tortillas, nuts, flax tortilla chips and some GOOD (read expensive) cheese for my husband. My total food for the month was $123 and I spent about $100 all told on other things, including gasoline. Not wonderful but better than previous months. Come January I will need another No Spend Month. Count me in.
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