No Spend Days

 

Every month since I can remember I try and have as many no spend days as possible. I will never consider what I do to be a no spend month even though my spending is usually limited to bill paying, groceries, repairs, appointments, and fuel for the vehicle. I still consider any money, even for those items, that come out of our account as spending. 

Our allowances are usually used to purchase clothing, or saved to get a bigger item (my loom for one). Everything is budgeted for and receipts are kept so I can input all in the spreadsheet for each month.

This month, I really hoped to have 20 or more no spend days. It did not work out that way since Harvey and I both had dental appointments, and the car needed a new battery. I did end up having 19 no spend days though and that is good enough, not the best I have ever done, but good enough. 

Next month will be a challenge as well. Harvey decided to get the work done that is necessary for his second partial plate. Meaning there will be and extra spend day or two. We also want to go and visit Kris so there will be an extra fuel fill up day and perhaps the purchase of some new chairs for the dining room set (we have saved for that). 

We shall see how well I do.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Update, New Goals, And Trying To Spend Less

First an update on how well I did with my goals last month.

1.  Take down Christmas decorations. Done

2.  Cut out three tops. Done

3.  Sew two tops. Lost my sewing mojo, so am concentrating on other hobbies until I get it back.

4.  List Messy Bun/Pony Tail Hats for sale. Pictures taken, and I have them on one site. Will add to other sights later.

5.  Declutter. On going and will give a total for last month under Project Declutter.

6.  Burn our Spain/Portugal holiday and other pictures to CD. Done

7.  Work on projects to use inherited yarn, and cross stitch/embroidery items. Working on this, one cross stitch work done, and lots of bits of inherited yarn being used up in those knitted squares.

8.  Have 20 no spend days this month.  I made 23 no spend days this month. Of course the weather helped a great deal. Who wants to be out and about when it is -50 C with the wind chill.

This month saw me removing 276 items from the house. Most of this consisted of knitting magazines collected over the years. I removed those patterns that I thought I might use, and recycled the magazines to the schools to use in their art programs.

Now on to this months goals.

1.  Hopefully my sewing mojo returns as sewing those tops is a goal for this month.

2.  I want to continue knitting squares with bits and bobs of inherited yarn and yarn leftover from other projects. Hoping to get a blanket or two made.

3.  Finish another inherited cross stitch kit. The one I pulled out should compliment the lilies and look good as a cushion also.

4.  Continue Project Declutter.

5.  I would like to have 20 no spend days this month.

Now on to a challenge that will continue for the whole of this year. I really want to see how much I can cut certain budget lines by. This year I am going to concentrate on the electric bill, the gas bill, the water bill and groceries. While we were under last year in all these categories, I would like to see if I can manage to get them even lower. It may take some creative ideas, and me running behind Harvey and shutting off lights, but I think I can do it.

Last month we were $37.00 under budget for power, $35.00 for gas, and $142.00 for groceries. Water is every two months so I will need to wait a bit for that one. I do know we will be over this month for groceries, but that will be because of our stock up shop at Costco and another warehouse type grocery. Wish me luck as things could get a bit tricky if the weather gets really cold.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Sunday Roundup

I finally finished knitting all the pieces of my sweater. It is being blocked and hopefully I will be able to finish it tomorrow. I will post a picture when it is completed.

I did complete two simple sewing projects this week.

First was this plaid, rear kick pleat skirt. An easy sew.

An even easier sew was this.

A knit skirt. I messed up on the waistband but since said waist band will be covered by a shirt I am not going to worry too much about it.

I am hoping to spend some more time next week in the sewing room and continue getting those cut out patterns done. I plan on working on them until they are done and then moving on to another unfinished project or another of my goals for the month. Perhaps concentrating on one item at a time will enable me to clear more projects than the constant jumping between them.

Evenings will be spent doing other projects when I can't sew. Knitting and embroidery seem perfect for sitting and watching the television at night.

Other then a couple of extra cleaning jobs things have been very quiet. I haven't gone shopping this past week. This means I have three no spend days under my belt....Only a few more to go.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Trying For More Than 20 Of These This Month

Every month I try for as many no spend days as are possible. Usually I can manage 20 in a month, this month I might just manage a few more.

This would be awesome, as last month (and actually this month as well as next) have a few unexpected expenses.

My visit to the dentist resulted in two fillings, a root canal and a crown. While our insurance will pay for the fillings, and the getting rid of any infection in the "bad" tooth leading to the root canal and crown. They will not pay for the root canal and resulting work.

Sure we can claim the work on our income tax next year, but the expense up front is crazy......

Here is hoping that this fourth root canal and crown are my last such unexpected expense for a very long time.

Also hoping that we can have a great many more no spend days in the upcoming months.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.