November 2, 2015

Hello again, savvy savers! October’s No-Spend Daily Challenge, as part of the #31DayLWSZ Challenge, is now over! I want to discuss my experience this past weeks savings victories, challenges, and learning curves this past month of challenges. 

The rules were pretty simple:  

• No spending on anything  beyond absolute necessities.
• Eat from your pantry & freezer as often as you are able.
• And make changes to the way you purchase and consume goods, services, and commodities in your home. 
• The idea of the challenge is to keep up with your daily activities,, but the main goal is simply to stop spending.  
• This challenge can be a life changing experience, as you may just be amazed at how your mindset and perspective will change after just a month of seeing how you can enrich your life, without spending more!

There were a few exceptions to the rule as follows:

1. Unavoidable expenses related to employment, such as gas, are okay.
2. Unavoidable school related expenses.
3. Doctors appointments, veterinarian appointments, co-payments, family/pet prescriptions, and therapy sessions are okay.
4. Do keep existing service and repair appointments that can’t be rescheduled to “Spending” months, such as hair appointments, lawn care services, trash removal, in-home repair services, etc.
5. Do keep existing tithing and charitable giving.
6. Do have an adequate stockpile of necessities prior to beginning this challenge, such as pet food, bedding, litter, laundry detergent, dish soap, snow salts, bottled water and emergency staples (if you live in areas frequently affected by seasonal weather), etc. 
7. Do keep up with healthy living habits. I will continue to use my envelope saving system to fund app purchase rebates (iBotta, Shopmium, Snap by Groupon) for fresh produce and milk savings that may pop-up during my no-spend months; due to my PCOS I need several servings of fruits and veggies daily, and these app savings help keep my freezer stocked on a budget. 
8. And it goes without saying, please do pay all of our monthly obligations; rent, mortgage, insurance, utility payments, banking fees,  student/financial/business loans, medical expenses, and assumed or credit card debt. 

This NO Spend month was not just about a decrease in spending, but a  challenge to find ways to live well, live better, find new sources of joy, will spending less. This month proved to be a time of being able to a life rich with family, friends, and creative planning, secured by fiscally responsible measures. This month was made all the better by the amount of encouragement and accountability shared by all of my readers, too!

I’m not gonna lie, there were tough moments, moments I felt I was simply doing without;  I longed for Cherry Coke Zero, Brumble & Brown Strawberry Spread, and a large bag of Life Should Taste Gluten-Free Chips!

This month I was able to save a total of $1,021.34, and some of the ways I did this were by:

• Pantry Organization
• Utilizing On Hand Food Options To Help Make Weekly Menu Ideas Sheets
• Learning Home to “Dine Out At Home”
• Working on a personal #Choose30 Challenge
• Creating a local Coupon Swap
• Rain-Check Shopping for next months needed coupon staples and groceries
• Learning ways to  Save On Monthly Utility Bills
• Learning ways to better clean my home
• Establishing Cleaning Routines & Decluttering Zones)
• Establishing new, lasting ways to organize by Bathrooms & Linen Closet
• I clean off my Counter-tops
• I Clean Out my Closet
• I organized my Home Office & Craft Room 
• I sold my closet finds on Facebook Local Groups, Craigslist, and eBay which garnered $213.00
• I sold crafts on ETSY totaling $109.00 from items I had on hand
• I started selling patterns on Crafsty

All-in-all, I am pleased with this months progress and will be thinking of new and better ways to save come December’s next No-Spend Month Challenge! The funds from this challenge went towards my yearly savings goal for acquiring a rental property/tax sale in the year and a half to come. I am proud of myself, and so proud of you all as well. If you were able to follow along with this challenge, I’d love to hear about it!

Last month my top new ways to save a total of $838.46 by:

• Pantry Organization
• Utilizing On Hand Food Options To Help Make Weekly Menu Ideas Sheets
• Learning Home to “Dine Out At Home”
• Working on a personal #Choose30 Challenge to be more positive daily.
• Rain-Check Shopping for next months needed coupon staples and groceries from this last weekend.
• I clean off my Counter-tops to use as workstation areas for donating, sorting, and prepping donations.
• I listed and sold items via eBay, Craiglist, Facebook Local Groups, and Craftsy patterns. 
• Had an in-home spa day and saved $32.00! 
• Upcycled several new home projects. 
• Our family ate from our crock-pot for a week! 

I did have a few set backs this week though. My husband needed to take the entire $80.00 cushion I set aside for this months produce and incidentals budget for an impromptu school robotics club he is the sponsor of, as well as the funds needed for an oil change (for his car that was suppose to have previously been taken care of). Mind you I was a little taken back to find my home stripped of cash, sodas, and my pre-purchased Halloween candy (candy and sodas to help supplement our family and his 14 students going with him on this trip). My saving grace? Three hours after he left for his day-trip, I received not one, but four ETSY shop orders (that I already had the materials on hand for, score!), which not only reimbursed my budget, but paid for the missing household staples, and set my savings goal ahead by $27.00!

So, all’s well that ends well here is the Roberts household. 

As well here are a few ways I have been able to accomplish my no-spend goals this past week: 

1. I woke up at 6:25 daily, walked my fur babies, showered, & dressed to my shoes. (Thanks, Flylady!)
2. Worked on my daily Motivated Moms Planner.
3. I read three review books. 
4. I finished today’s Day 1-7 No-Spend Challenges!
5. I enjoyed a free Chik-fil-a- frozen latte!
6. I cooked from my pantry, eleven times.
7. I walked for three miles every other day!
8. I finished all of my daily blog posts on time!
9. Read my daily devotional.
10. I cleaned out my coupon cabinet, paper files for my ETSY business, and recycled numerous bins of random scraps of fabric around my craft room, too! 

My tally of last weeks savings are:

• I was able to procure 16 new rain-checks savings $54.00 in savings.
• I completed 2 surveys online via Ipsos-iSay, and earned a $1.00 towards my next Amazon gift code.
• I eat at home thirteen times, saving our family $77.93. 
• I recycled, upcycled, and composted one bins of deluge, and saved $1.20, the cost of 6 trash bags. 
• I enjoyed a free Chik-fil-a frozen latte, for free, a savings of $2.99!
• I received $32.98 worth of product review items, which can be placed in my home gift closet!
• My family drank water for one, and saved $7.30, the cost of a five 2-liters of soda.
• We made DIY fireplace starters, savings $12.98 over commercial pricing. 
• We used earned gift card dollars at Sam’s Club to buy gas, saving us $20.04.
• We made DIY hand sanitizer bottles, saving our family $7.98.
• We made DIY wet dog food, saving out family $19.98 over a case of pet food cans. 

So, overall my family saved $138.38

This months savings goal remaining: +$49.62 for this month. 

All-in-all, I am pleased with this past months progress and will be thinking of new and better ways to save come the next months ahead! Mind you this progress is in part due to my families use of earned and gifted survey cards; I’ve read a lot of people state that they will not be using them on the challenge, but for me and mine, we love them. I legitimize these cards as ALL were earned from taking surveys, using savings apps, or by wining contest, paid affiliate campaigns, and giveaways. Free money is just that, free. 

I’m excited to note that these funds will be able to be allocated for last-minute holiday gifts, holiday donations, and Angle Tree presents this holiday season. As well, a fourth of the funds from this challenge went towards my yearly savings goal for acquiring a rental property/tax sale in the year and a half to come.  I am proud of myself, and so proud of you all as well.

If you were able to follow along with this past weeks #31DayLWSZ challenge, I’d love to hear about it!

Here’s to Saving,