Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

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alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Well I am not doing a great job on the no spend challenge. I bought a lap top computer with a printer from HSN yesterday. I have been wanting one for a long time and decided that is was a really good bargain and I needed to bite the bullet and just do it. They do allow you to pay it off in small increments without interest and since I do not have credit cards I was able to use my debit card. There are many reasons why I need a lap top. I live in a rural area and have to rely on satellite for my internet. I only have 10 gigabytes and I go through them in the first two weeks of the month. They then slow your computer down which can be frustrating. I am in a special program that was set up by the government many years ago to assist people in rural areas in obtaining the use of the internet. As long as I am in the program I will only have to pay 39.95 for my internet and any additional amount is covered by the government. The next step up for me would be $ 69.95 and that will continue to rise over the years however I will never pay more than the 39.95 if I stay at my current level. The program is closed so I have to stay with the company I am with and at my current level. It cannot be transferred to another satellite company. So my option is WiFi. I also needed a printer. I have so many things stored on my computer that if the computer went down I would not be able to retrieve them. That happened to me with my last computer. I am looking for other ways to make money and I want to sell things on ebay. With my lap top I can take it to a friend of mine and she can help me do things like that. Also my DVD player is broken and my current computer does not have sound so with the lap top I will be able to enjoy my DVD's as well as borrow some from the library. The computer and printer will come to about 83.33 until June of this year. I am pretty sure I can scrape enough money out of other areas to pay for this. If not I still have the money in what would have gone towards building an emergency fund. As Momof2 stated previously you sometimes have to spend money to save money. I am hoping that in the long run this will save me some money and hopefully help me sell some things to make money. So this should be the end of my spending for anything that is not necessary.. Anyway I hope that it will be..
Janet Alliesmama
Janet Alliesmama
2dogs+someCats
Posts: 845
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2017 7:46 pm

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by 2dogs+someCats »

Janet, don't be too hard on yourself - sometimes we have to have something - can't be black belt frugal all the time. I was quite "spendy" last year - so aiming to make up for that this year.

So far so good - most days have been NO spend. I have $350 budgeted for home improvements for the year. One major thing I will be doing differently is getting my paint from Walmart instead of Sherwin Williams - I can't justify the difference in price.

Keep up the good work friend and enjoy your new computer!!
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

2dogs+someCats wrote: Sat Jan 05, 2019 11:43 am Janet, don't be too hard on yourself - sometimes we have to have something - can't be black belt frugal all the time. I was quite "spendy" last year - so aiming to make up for that this year.

So far so good - most days have been NO spend. I have $350 budgeted for home improvements for the year. One major thing I will be doing differently is getting my paint from Walmart instead of Sherwin Williams - I can't justify the difference in price.

Keep up the good work friend and enjoy your new computer!!
Thanks for the encouragement Sheila. I have been frugal so long it seems wrong to buy something like a lap top.lol. I forgot to mention that I do have free internet between midnight and 6:00 AM so I can use my lap top in my Great Room when I am watching TV and dealing with my insomnia.

Good luck with your home improvements. Janet Alliesmama
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

2dogs+someCats wrote: Sat Jan 05, 2019 11:43 am Janet, don't be too hard on yourself - sometimes we have to have something - can't be black belt frugal all the time. I was quite "spendy" last year - so aiming to make up for that this year.

So far so good - most days have been NO spend. I have $350 budgeted for home improvements for the year. One major thing I will be doing differently is getting my paint from Walmart instead of Sherwin Williams - I can't justify the difference in price.

Keep up the good work friend and enjoy your new computer!!
Sheila I have been meaning to ask you about your knee. How is your knee doing? Janet Alliesmama
Janet Alliesmama
Momof2Still
Posts: 173
Joined: Mon May 14, 2018 10:05 pm

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by Momof2Still »

Good evening. It has been a no spend/waste day here today. Actually I have had all no waste days so far this year and am hoping to keep it up.

I tutored, so I actually made money today. That will be used for travel expenses in the future.

I made scrambled eggs for breakfast and had some left-over cream gravy with it. For lunch, I had left-over black-eye peas and spinach along with a couple of the corn muffins I made yesterday. For dinner, I had two hotdogs (no buns) with a few tortilla chips and hummus (both opened and need using soon), and one of the pears my friend gave me. It was getting soft, but still good to eat. Boy was it sweet.

I bagged the fruit I froze last night, and pulled the items from the freezer needed for the next couple of days. I pulled the items from the freezer I will need for the next couple of nights and placed a couple of things in the kitchen freezer to make it easier to pull later in the week. Dinner plans for tomorrow night is chicken stew.

Janet, congratulations on the purchase of your new laptop. Do not feel bad, we are frugal so that we can afford items we want in addition to the items we need.

Well, off to read for a while before bed. Have a great night all.
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

I finished the last of my chicken soup from the freezer. It did not have any dumplings in it because they were made for the first batch of soup. It was a very yummy tasting chicken broth soup with some veggies and chicken. I made a big pot of rice (free from my aide) made buttered rice with salt and lots of pepper for breakfast.Butter free from my aide. I also used some of the rice when I opened a packet of Indian food. It was purchased for around $2.00 at Big Lots and makes two servings. I used a bottle of grape/cranberry juice, diluted, to tame the fire from the curry.lol..The juice was free from Amazon. Also threw some rice in my bowl of soup when I warmed it up. So did really well with food today. Forgot to mention I also had a salad for lunch using free salad dressing from Amazon. Doing very well with the use it up and free food. The reasons for the free foods was mentioned in previous postings in 2018 so will not repeat again.

I need to do some cooking and baking tomorrow to try to get a head start for the week. So I need to really work at being super frugal the rest of this month since I have made two unplanned but to me wanted and maybe somewhat necessary purchases and it is only Jan 5th..Yikes!..lol.
Janet Alliesmama
Janet Alliesmama
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