Has anyone here done a "non-spending month," where you only spend on the true necessities, mortgage, utilities, etc. and then allow yourself some milk money (maybe $20 a week)? I know there are some people who do non-spending months once a year, usually in Feb, and I want to do it next year, but I am not sure how to go about planning. To buy lots of food and stuff up front would be cheating, it would just move the costs to a different month.....but I am not sure how to plan for this.
I coupon some, so I have lots of stuff in the house. I also have a full size freezer, and two frigs, so I have lots of frozen food.. My biggest weekly expense is on fresh produce (I must spend $45 a week), so only giving myself $25-30 for milk, eggs and bananas will be hard, but I would like to do a non-spending month.
One problem I will have is that Feb is frozen food month. Last year I bought all of my frozen veggies for the year for .17c a bag. I may have to allow myself this expense because it would be stupid to miss frozen food month deals! But I really want to go on a spending diet in Feb and maybe only give myself a few hundred for everything non-essential, including food!
Any do anything like this?
Buying ahead would be cheating for me because I have a full freezer and two half freezers with food in them! Plus two shelving units with dried goods. Like I said, I do coupon, so I do have a stockpile (though small in compared to super couponers).
I am really surprised no one here has a done a non-spending month. This isn't about living within budget, it really is about trying to live without spending money, giving yourself milk money because you need milk.
I picked Feb because there are only 28 days. ;-) Also, we only have a few more bags of frozen veggies, so I will need to stock up on them for the year during Freezer month.
We have some gas cards, so I think I will put those aside to be used during Feb. I am having a hard time thinking of other "essentials" that we can't really do without that I need to plan for so we don't spend money.
If feb is a be month due to sales, do it another month like M. or June. We always do it M. or June but that is because war are military and move every summer. Hence no spending those months makes sense as those are the months right before moving months.
I think I would skip buying anything frozen until you use up what you have! That is a tremendous amount of frozen food to have on hand. As hard as it is to skip the sales, I would. Sounds like you could feed an army or two. Just buy produce, milk etc....I'll bet you could get by for MONTHS doing that and save a TON! Good luck!
Why not do January instead of February? You can use all the items/food stuffs left over from Christmas.
You will still be buying necessities...water, milk, eggs - the staples - not the Starbucks coffee, the Lucky Brand jeans, McDonalds.
I know of people that do this. We are a cash only family. We don't buy something we don't NEED. So I guess we do this often! :)
It's great that your grocer sells frozen veggies for .17cents each! I would be buying it out as well!! GREAT JOB!!!
Personally? Fresh fruits and veggies are a necessity...they are vital to good health. Isn't that the point of this? I wouldn't begrudge that expenditure.
good luck!
I think if I were you I'd do a meal planning "use up what you've got" type challenge in January instead. It will reduce your Janauary spending AND that way there's room for the new stuff in February AND you won't end up with freezer burned outdated stuff at the bottom of your freezer!
This drives me nuts, people look at this sideways about couponing too. They focus only on food and how to lower their grocery budget but don't take into acount shampoo and toilet paper.
Food is a necessity, Filet Mingon is a luxury.
The point of non spending month, is not to spend money on the extras like a trip through the drive through on a long day, or going to the movies for a date night, or buying new shoes just for the fun of shopping.
If you are already bare bone-sing it, then what are you hoping to accomplish?? Are groceries really truly your only expense each month? If that is the case and you are over doing it on FOOD you actually EAT. then I don't see any room for you to go.
I"m not trying to be snotty it just seems like people that are already being smart might not need a month like this, its more for people who are living it up during the whole rest of the year. With the economy the way it is i would imagine there are fewer and fewer people still living the high life.
try goggling it i know there is a blog about a lady that does this, She just strikes me as having more disposable income year round than i do. so for her to cut back from alot is different than me to cut back from very little.
good luck what ever you end up doing and I for one would really love to hear back on how it goes and what you learn from it.
IMO stocking up ahead of time is NOT cheating. How do you expect to be able to live a month expense-free if you have nothing to live on?
There are people who do not shop at all for several months to a year! They're able to do this because they build up a pantry by buying dry goods in bulk and by storing frozen foods in a deep freezer as well. They also sew their own clothes and have a victory garden during months when they can plant and harvest and can in the fall and drive used cars that are fully paid for and so on...
Check out the following:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZAMjmgobjQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf6JsR1zUTI&feature=re...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVJIfxyKivM&feature=re...
http://www.youtube.com/user/EmergencyEssentials?blend=1&a...
Pick a month that you normally don't spend very much. If February is a month you stock up then that is NOT the month you should choose. I could choose January because most sales in the stores are for household things, "white sales" and I don't need any of those things.
I could also pick July. It is so hot we don't go out and do much, we can't afford to go somewhere cooler, we eat a lot of sandwiches and stuff because it's just too hot to turn on the stove or oven.
October is a long month to me and although we don't buy a lot of stuff that is not needed we do end up with 5 weeks in it almost every year, pertaining to pay days, it often has 3 paydays if you get paid every other week but if you only get paid once a month there are a few extra work days that have to come out of that month. It's still 31 days but it's just different on the calendar.
I wish I could spend $45 on produce every week I only get about $40 per week to spend on my entire grocery bill. We hardly ever buy fresh produce because we have to have other foods like milk and bread. We are only a family of 2 adults and 2 elementary school kids so maybe your family is much larger...
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My favorite book pertaining to food storage is by a wonderful woman who is down to earth and has thought of just about everything I can forget about being prepared and planning ahead.
Her name is Peggy Layton and her books are totally understandable and easy to implement. My favorite that really helped me start understanding what foods we use and what I needed to have on hand was:
Emergency Food Storage & Survival Handbook
http://peggylayton.net/index.php?app=ccp0&ns=prodshow...
In this book she has lists of foods and you can print them off and keep track of what foods your family consumes each month. Then you can plan your shopping lists to include these foods whenever you see them on sale so you can save money in the long run. Since you do so much food storage already it might not be something you could learn anything more from but her storage areas and basement are like going to a grocery store. She has a years food supply in hand at any time.
A lot of my friends do food storage and when there is an emergency they always come to the rescue to those who are without food. So many of my friends have donated a lot of their food storage each and every time tornado's and other natural disasters have occurred and they just emptied out their stored food to help the hungry people.
In my home, food is a necessity :) But, if you're wanting to not spend money on food, except for a few fresh items, the way other people accomplish this is they have food storage. Aka, they stock up ahead of time. In fact, a lot of people will go for a month of not spending money on food in order to rotate their food storage before it expires - out with the old to make room for the new. It's not a good idea to buy a ton of extra stuff all in one month right before you have a no-spend month. However, over time if you pick up a couple of extra items each time you shop, you'll slowly build up your stock pile without breaking the bank. Awesome deal on the frozen veggies! Good luck!
We have months like that but I do put groceries into the necessities list. You'd be amazed at what you already have in your pantry and freezer though if you want to go the "milk money" route. There are some months I refuse to make anything for dinner that we don't already have in the house. It's crazy how food piles up but you don't think of it as "dinner". Try using only what you already have and see if you can deplete your stock pile. That might work to help you out and get you to the "milk money" route. Good luck!
I agree that if you can get those veggies that cheap you'd be crazy not to!
I did it many times but not by choice;-0)
I am still trying to figure out if we save by having a huge freezer. Electricity is high and it takes up a lot of space.
Cheryl O. and I must have similar brain function, because that is what I first thought, too... why not just do it in January? That will clean out some of your "old" stores and make room for the frozen food month in February so you can go stock up again on the deals! ;)
We haven't done a nonspending month, but we've cut back so much lately it feels like we do it year round!!! We really surprised ourselves with how much we could cut back when we needed too - some really hurt, some didn't at all. It may give you an idea for what you can cut permanently, or for a long while, if you need ideas though. Good luck with it!
I have my monthly budget actually setup somewhat like this all the time. I set aside a set amount for groceries every week of the month (I can go over one week as long as I stay under the next week) It's not exact but it makes me think more about what I'm buying. I set aside money each week for gas for the cars and childcare - it's all included in the budget. I then budget for each person in the house to have a set amount of money they can spend during the month. It has helped us visualize what we are actually spending our money on and helps to make us think about what are some of the things we really need. I go groceries shopping on a weekly basis and do meal planning. Eating out is included in our grocery budget but that too is planned accordingly. We only eat out about 2 times a month. It takes a little bit to keep track of it all and monitor the spending of each individual's spending but it is working. It is especially helpful with my husband because he has to save the money is is alloted in order to get something he wants but doesn't necessarily need that would otherwise but a dent into our monthly budget.
I heard of people going a whole year of just buying the necessities. They didn't buy any wants or go out to eat or anything. Of course, they ones I saw an interview about didn't have any kids. =) I think if you just did that for a month, that would be great, even if you spent more than $20 a week for food. We just kept track of our budget this month to see exactly where our money is going (which probably should have been done along time ago) and found that we were spending WAY too much eating out! We did this to see if we could afford a second vehicle. Just cutting out eating out would allow us TWO (cheap) vehicles... Oh my what a shock. =) Good luck to you!
Sounds similar to Dave Ramsey's plan. You buy just the absolute necessities & have a tiny bit of fun money. You use a cash/envelope budgeting system. If you are dedicated & can tell yourself "no", socialize less, etc. you'd be amazed at how much money you can save.
I have never heard of a "non-spending month" done on purpose. I know situations come up but this doesn't sound like it (some tough months living alone and paying for college). I don't have the space or the motivation to buy a year's worth of frozen veggies, good for you though.
At my home it's me and sometimes my college aged daughter. We don't shop because we are bored and are very conservative when it comes to grocery shopping. That still leaves cleaning supplies, paper goods and supplies for the animals ($160/month for the pets).
I know that holidays/birthdays come the same time every year so I can plan for that. I didn't anticipate changing jobs in April where I must do the full blown suit attire thing now so I did have to do some shopping. I still had six months of severance and received a 40% increase in pay so it wasn't a hardship.
Good luck though. I don't think buying ahead is cheating though.
We haven't done one before, but it sounds like a great idea! I think we will try it.
