So, as some of you might have heard on Facebook or Twitter, the husband and I decided to attempt to make September what is known as a “No-Spend” month. Generally speaking, a no-spend month is one in which you set a tight budget for variable expenses. Obviously, the bills still have to be paid and those don’t come out of your budget for the month. The husband and I landed on $250 for the month {to get an idea of how that fits into our normal spending habits, our written budget per week for food is $125}. Basically, we have $25 per week for food & $25 per week for gas and I gave us a contingency of $50 just in case! *Yikes* I am a little nervous about this whole experiment, but I think it’ll be a good one for us. I don’t think of us as big spenders in any way…I mean I can’t even remember the last time I had my hair cut. However, we have a tendency to go out to eat often, and we do spend a decent amount on home and blog projects.
Now you might ask why we are doing this no-spend month. Honestly, we just want to see if we can! Since I’m a stay-at-home mom who loves to do projects it’s always good for us to save money however we can. I’ve heard of people who do a no-spend month to save for a vacation, or a new car, or holiday presents, or simply to decompress from our always-spending lifestyles. If this month goes as well as we hope it will, I see us doing this at least once every year if not more. And, hey, if all else fails – we’ve got to learn something from the experience.
There are many ways I have heard of people tackling a no-spend month. Some people are adamant about not starting the month with anything you wouldn’t already start with. AKA – a full tank of gas or a pantry and toiletry stockpile. I was really torn for a while about what we should do. We already have a decent stockpile of items, but as far as filling up our gas tanks and not buying anything special for the month, I just couldn’t make up my mind.
The week before we were to start, our Meijer was having a 10 for $10 and get the 11th free sale. This was when I decided that it would be just fine for me to do some pre-planning for our no-spend month. I didn’t purchase much, just some stuff like mac n cheese, refried beans, spanish rice, yogurt, hamburger helper etc. These were all items that I felt pretty confident I would have purchased regardless, because that’s just how I am. If I see a sale I’m going to stock up on items. We also have a pretty good pile of frozen chicken, turkey & hot dogs due to previous sales we’ve taken advantage of, so the only meat I purchased specifically for this month was a 10 lb tube of ground beef at GFS for under $7! We also went ahead and filled the van up with gas {which we had to do anyway because it was EMPTY}.
After we made these initial purchases before the month started, I sat down and scheduled all of our meals for the whole month of September. I thought it would take me forever, but it was super quick and easy…maybe took 15 minutes from start to finish. No one would say we’re going to be eating like royalty, but I have no qualms about our meal schedule and neither does the hubs. Here’s an outline of our list:
BBQ Chicken {x 2}
Grilled Cheese & Homemade Tomato Soup
Hamburgers {x 2}
Asian Chicken Salad
Hamburger Helper {x 4}
Tacos & Spanish Rice {x 2}
Breakfast Casserole
Italian Chicken
Hearty Soup
Voila Frozen Meal {x 2}
Hot Dogs {x 2}
3 Cheese Pasta Bake {x 2}
Bourbon Chicken & Fried Rice {x 2}
Black Bean Enchiladas
Tortellini
Lemon Herb Chicken
Pasta with Pink Sauce {x 2}
Teriyaki Meatballs & Rice
Meatloaf & Mashed Potatoes
*Please note this is just a meal outline, this doesn’t include breakfast, lunch or any of our side dishes.
One of the things that I’m loving about our no-spend month is that the meals are all really quick and easy to make! It’s extremely helpful so we aren’t too overwhelmed and tempted to go out to eat.
Currently we are 2 weeks into our no-spend month and I think we’re doing pretty well. We definitely haven’t kept on track as much as I had wanted to, but there’s good reason. The hubs has been CRAZY busy at work {we’re talking getting home at 4:00am days} and doing a lot of traveling to get the other church campus up and running. Because of this he’s been eating out quite a bit and spending a lot more in gas than normal. Fortunately, we do get compensated for the gas and some of the food purchases, and he also has received a few gift cards which have made up for some of the difference.
Here’s a break-down of our two shopping trips so far…remember that we have $25 per week for food.
Week 1:
$2.79 – 1 Gallon of Milk
$.75 – 1 Can Black Beans
$.64 – 2 Tomatoes
$.99 – Hamburger Buns
$.99 – Loaf of Bread
$3.38 – 8 Applesauce Squeezies
$1.88 – Cheddar Cheese Chunk
$1.88 – Shredded Mexican Cheese
$1.50 – Bagged Salad Mix
$4.29 – 2 Bags of Lays
$1.67 – Crescent Rolls
Trip Total: $20.76
Week 2:
$2.00 – Toilet Bowl Cleaner
$.82 – 2 lbs. Bananas
$3.98 – 2 Boxes of Fruit & Grain Bars
$1.50 – Loaf of Bread
$1.67 – Box of Cheez-Its
$2.50 – Gallon of Milk
$2.50 – Shaved Turkey Lunch Meat
$5.00 – 2 Packs of Fruitables Juice Boxes
$5.00 – 4 Plum Organics Pouches
$6.00 – 2 Boxes Plum Organics Yogurt Dippers
Trip Total: $31.71
So, I was over budget on week 2, but I was under budget week 1…and it basically evens itself out. I also have to throw out there that I didn’t know when making my no-spend budget that little man would be eating lunch at preschool, so the extra snack cost wasn’t factored in. And come to find out…there’s a child in his class with a nut allergy so peanut butter and jelly is not an option – thus the lunch meat purchase. Anyway, I’d say we’re doing pretty well for everything going on. Only $2.47 over grocery budget {which I’m sure I can make up next shopping trip}!
2 weeks down and 2 to go…I can’t wait to let you guys know how we do when the month is officially over.
Have any of you tried doing a no-spend month?
My husband and I have just commited to paying off our debt and saving for a house with Dave Ramsays debt snowball program. So every month is a no spend month! Lol. Im excited to see how the rest of your month turns out.
As an avid crafter Im challenging myself to use up some of my stash by starting a Waste Not Want Not Wednesday and doing projects with just the things I have on hand!
That’s SUCH a great program! We did something similar when we were trying to buy our house – so currently we only have our home as debt…everything else we pay for outright. I’m very interested in your Waste Not Want Not Wednesday! Maybe sometime I’ll take a picture of my craft closet so everyone can see the craziness…it’s bad and I really could benefit from participating in your challenge! :-)
My husband and I are currently in Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace class and the first thing we have to do is put away $1000 as quick as we can (which since I haven’t been paid at my new job yet, has been a bit difficult). So, we’ve been doing something very similar where I’ve been doing turbo budget meals and enjoy my stock piles (though I’ve actually never heard of no-spend months. Pretty cool!)
About the peanut butter thing— and this may defeat the purpose on cheap because I think it’s typically a little more expensive than traditional peanut butter— but when I worked at a summer camp in Maine, a child had a similar allergy and peanut butter was banned. As a replacement, they had Soy Peanut Butter which had no peanuts in it and was actually pretty good. I personally enjoyed it and if you didn’t tell some of the kids, I don’t think they knew the difference. Might be worth a try? Is it all nuts or just peanuts? Almond butter mixed with honey is also pretty good.
I believe it’s all nuts – which is where I’m having difficulty because we have almond butter also, but can’t use it!
My main concern in bare bones budget , which is what I live for no other reason then that is what I have…is the fact of trying to eat a balanced diet for myself and my 5 year old son. Also I would like to add to the converstaion… the amount of money that is spent on a vehicle and the running there of, between taxes, maintance, gas, payments, insurance and everything involved. The less money a families earns the higher the percentage is spent on a vehicle. Alternative transportatin, communting, share the load and the raod, are issues of intrest
Great post! I just found your blog a couple weeks ago, and I love the ideas I’ve seen and heard thus far!
I too am on the Dave Ramsey plan – just graduated from FPU, working the “envelope system” and paid about $5k of debt off just since June (yay!) I agree with PJ above – every month is a no spend month! But I really like your idea – trying to see just how little it takes to live on a weekly or monthly basis. Definitely a great experiment – and it could be a really fun tradition! Thanks for sharing! :)
Congratulations on graduating FPU and paying off your debt!!! Isn’t is so freeing?! We definitely aren’t ‘big spenders’ normally, but it is interesting to see how little we can live on.