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 »

Dgflorida wrote: Mon Aug 19, 2019 9:32 pm I love reading your posts.. Such an inspiration to do better.
Thanks Dg.. You are an inspiration to me too with all of the things you do to keep your carbon print low as well as the yard work. I just do not have the energy to do all of the outside yard work you do.
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 »

Teddi has cost me a bundle this month. He went for his monthly grooming appointment and that was $30.00. Worth every penny. We went to the Vet before hand to get him an allergy shot. He has been itching like crazy. That was $68.00. She said it will last about a month but it has been longer than that with his last shot so hoping we can stretch this one too. Then we needed flea medicine and heart worm medicine $23.52. Grand total of $121. 52! Remember he was a free dog..lol. He is still a sweetheart and does bring me a lot of joy and a great little companion.

I was able to pick up a rotisserie chicken for $3.46 before I picked him up from the groomers. Used the last $3.00 from my survey money to buy it. Primarily that is what he is eating with some added in boiled potato and a few slices of cooked carrots minced and then mashed in to his food. So his dog food is cheap this week. The few purchases I made that day including the chicken brought me almost to the $2.00 reward at the store so I will be able to get the next chicken for $4.46. The chicken and veggies are cheaper than his expensive dog food that he ignores. I really need to find a good recipe for homemade dog food. There was an ad on the computer for fresh dog food delivered to your home weekly almost $29.00 a week. Really people I do not even spend that much on my own groceries a lot of the time.
I know I had mentioned I was going to try to coast until the first of Sept but our local chain store has some good loss leaders so I am going to go through it and see what I need and want.
Janet Alliesmama
Dgflorida
Posts: 4381
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by Dgflorida »

I think I read that you were looking for a new phone service. We went with consumer cellular. It is popular with senior folks.
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Dgflorida wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2019 2:46 pm I think I read that you were looking for a new phone service. We went with consumer cellular. It is popular with senior folks.
Thanks but I already went with a basic phone at Cricket. It was easy to go to their store in town and they set everything up and it was only $105.00 today and will only be $25.00 a month
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 »

I bit the bullet yesterday and bought a new cell phone. It was from Cricket and came to $105.00. The monthly plan will be $25.00 a month. I plan on canceling my landline long distance which is a flat rate of $10.00 a month. This will save some money towards the new cell phone monthly charge. Also anything over 8 miles is considered long distance and so every time I called my bank, which is in another city, they would charge me per minute while I checked my accounts. I try to keep a tight rein on my accounts since my checking account has had illegal charges twice. Also I have been notified by two different companies that their computers have been hijacked and my information may have been stolen. One of them is a Drs office.. yikes!The tracfone came to about $ 23.00 every 3 months so that is around $7.66. So about $7.34 extra month out of pocket is not that hard to deal with. In fact it is most likely less than that since I did not factor in the extra money charged each month for the minutes that I used to call long distance. The up front cost was a lot but not as pricey as I thought since it does include the first month's use. Not to mention I now have a phone that I can use from my house. Tracfone was useless in my house. I would have to drive a few miles down the road to get any kind of reception.

Went cherry picking at the grocery store yesterday and bought more than expected and yet all good bargains so ok. Today will be processing more bell peppers of various colors for the freezer for use during the Fall and winter months when bell peppers are too expensive. I need to organize my fridge freezer to try to get as much summer produce in there as possible.I feel like a squirrel storing thing up for the winter...lol.
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 »

Since this month turned in to a very pricey one with Teddi's needs and the new cell phone. I need to rework things for Sept and try to make do with what I have in the way of food. That is one of my go to places for cutting corners. Not much else planned for right now except cooking ahead and no wasting of anything. I do have a lot of food on hand since I have been stockpiling for the long term and yet it does not seem to take much before things start to look like they are going down too fast. I do not know how a family manages with the cost of food and other things. Wish we had Rinty's yellow sticker foods here. Even things on sale seem high. Although I was pleasantly surprised to see the cost of gas for my car was much lower than the last time despite our state raising the gas tax. I only bought half of a tank of gas for $10.33 and it is almost the end of the month so saved the rest to go towards going over budget in the food department. I had planned on spending $25.00 so $14.67 will go towards groceries. There are still a few things I want to stockpile that is on sale right now.

Dish TV called the other day and offered a movie package for $5.00 a month for 6 months. Since TV is my main form of entertainment I decided to go for it. My current Dish bill is $41.03 so it will not break the bank and I have already taped some movies for when I have time and things are boring on the other channels.
Janet Alliesmama
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