No Spend Months: Preparing
Tomorrow marks the beginning of our family’s no spend months. I am pretty excited about this whole project and am hoping it will change some of our habits and save us some money to finish paying off our student loans.
Ramping up the challenge
We have decided that not only will we not be spending for two months, but we will also try to save & make money everywhere we can.
Gas. Frankly, our dependency on foreign energy sources makes me sick. We need to cut back as it is, challenge or no challenge. We will not be taking the car anywhere besides my husband’s work, our weekly milk & egg pick up and 1-2 trips to the park/library per week. The park and the library are both within 5 miles from our home. Now that gas prices are practically half of what they were we won’t save as much, but this could save us approximately $100.
Energy. The one place that I know could save us some money is in my dryer usage. We wash approximately 4 loads of laundry per week plus approximately 5-6 loads of diapers. According to the chart on page 7 of this page, it costs $.46/use to run the dryer. If I do 10 loads of laundry per week that totals $4.60/week. That may not seem like much but over two months time that runs us a total of $36.80. Realistically I am setting a goal to hang half of our laundry on drying racks for a savings of $18.40.
Selling our stuff. Oh man do I hate stuff. We have been de-cluttering and paring down our junk as much as possible. I will be posting the piles of unnecessary stuff that we will be either giving away, or hopefully selling. Why clutter our lives with unimportant objects? Lets sell it off and hopefully make some money while we’re at it.
Preparing food to sell. We have a close family member who does not have the time to prepare healthy meals for himself. In the past I have prepared double batches of easy-to-freeze meals like soups, stews, casseroles, etc. I am hoping to get back into that now that I am full on cooking for my family. This doesn’t bring in much money, but possibly $50 over two months.
Between the above savings of $168.40 and the possible $400 we will be saving in grocery money we could save well over $500.
Preparing: in the kitchen
Before last night I had not bought groceries in two weeks. Last night I bought some tea, cheese, chicken, fruit and vegetables. Knowing that I wouldn’t be buying food for 2 months didn’t bother me up until the past couple of days. Now I am feeling the freeze coming on and I’m a little anxious to see how this will go. I know we have enough food in the house to feed our family, I am just thinking we’ll be eating nothing but pinto beans and canned vegetables the last two weeks :).
I have calculated out the following items weekly rations:
- butternut/buttercup squash: 1 per week
- large heads of cabbage: 1/2 per week
- chicken: 1 lb. per week
- beef roasts: 1 every other week
- apples/pears: Eat them fresh for the first two weeks and then 1 qt applesauce per week
- jam: 1/2 jar per week
- peanut butter: 1/2 jar per week
- cheese: 1/4 lb per week (pulled from the freezer)
So that will basically be what we are eating every week with beans, grains, onions, garlic, celery, carrots, dried seasonings, almonds & sunflower seeds, and canned vegetables filling in everything else.
I have a feeling we will get to a point when fresh food is all used up and everything will be canned or cooked. This whole challenge is forcing me to do things I have wanted to do for a long time, but never made the time.
- I am planning on sprouting sunflower seeds to keep us getting some sort of fresh greenery in our diets.
- I may even plant some herb seedlings for a window garden.
- Because I am able to get milk and eggs I am making yogurt and butter from those.
In the spirit of full disclosure I should tell you that I have 17.5 pounds of coconut flour purchased from Tropical Traditions on the way. We will also be receiving a bulk order of grains, beans, nuts and seeds around Thanksgiving time. These were both pre-planned purchases. So if nothing else – rice & beans, right?
Preparing: household & everyday life
As we have started to run out of things the past few weeks I have tried to come up with ways NOT to have to buy them again, knowing that this challenge is coming up. I finally made the jump to cloth rags instead of paper towels. It is about time. Since the baby was born I have been using the last of the store-bought laundry detergent up. I have the materials for homemade and will be whipping up a 5 gallon bucket of that this week. We stocked up on vinegar and peroxide for cleaning purposes as we were already low. We also stocked up on toilet paper because in the words of my husband “we will never NOT have toilet paper in this house.” *smile*.
From time to time I like to give random gifts to family & friends as a way of showing our thankfulness for having them in our lives. I am hoping to get off a gift package as well as a couple of ‘internet’ packages today before the clock hits 12, but if it doesn’t happen before then we will still pay the postage on these when my husband mails them off (the post office is on the way to work :)). Likewise, since their is already money set aside I will make the online purchases next week if time does not allow today. Giving is too important to put a hold on.
Preparing: our hearts
I have found myself thinking “What do I need to buy before Saturday?” I don’t want to think like that. As long as we have food to eat and a warm shelter we are not in need of buying anything. I am hoping this challenge will be a sort of consumerism cleanse for myself and my family. Mostly myself. My husband is a very practical and thrifty man – he doesn’t buy much that isn’t completely useful or needed. Perhaps nothing. I don’t buy a lot of unnecessary items either (I don’t think), but I think taking a break from the mass consumption that is everywhere this time of year will be a good thing, both physically and spiritually.
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If you would like to join me for No Spend Months, please leave a comment so that I can follow along with you. Feel free to copy and paste the button from the top of the page or leave a link to my blog. Thank you for following our frugality journey.
Wow, it sounds like you have been extremely thoughtful in getting ready, and this will be an enriching experience for you and your family. I hope it goes well!
I saw your link at “The Nourishing Gourmet” and liked the name of your blog, so I decided to visit. Glad I did. Your post is very interesting to me and I am anxious to read how it all goes for you. I have tried similar things from time to time – not complete no spending but close to it – and I was amazed how much money we saved. You have inspired me to give it another go. 🙂
Do you have any recommendations on how to sell one’s stuff? I am like you and can’t stand “stuff” so I usually have a bag hanging on the back of my laundry room door to collect “stuff”. Once it’s full, I tie it up and drop it off at Goodwill. I am always so happy to have it out of the house. I would love to have a garage sale, but they are not allowed where I live…and to be honest with you, I am worried about the time trying of trying to sell things on e-bay.
Thanks so much for your blog. Looking forward to reading more.
All the best,
Mary
Oh Goodness! I just realized the dates of your no spending. You will go through Thanksgiving and Christmas without spending! God Bless You. That would be tough for me. I read that you are able to get milk and eggs. Are these your own…or from a nearby farm? Might you be able to get a chicken…or maybe even a Turkey…wild?…for Thanksgiving? Maybe a wild boar for Christmas? (Sorry if this sounds odd…I live in the Texas Hill Country and these things are easier to come by than in other places).
Good luck with all of this and please keep us posted. I am anxious to hear how it all goes.
Oh – I meant to mention that if you are thinking of doing a window garden of herbs, might you be able to do any sort of outside gardening…maybe even in a cold frame? I worry about you not having enough fresh veggies and/or fresh meats (hence my suggestion on the wild turkey and boar.) For a great book – get it at the library – on container gardening, try…
Homemade in the Kitchen by Barry Bluestein and Kevin Morrissey. They also have a second book called the Bountiful Kitchen. See if you can get that one too. They will give you lots of great tips for gardening under less than ideal conditions…and then all sorts of stuff that you can make with your bounty!
All the best,
Mary
First of all, I want to wish you the best. I started, at the end of september, a “no-spend end of the year”, but was a softie compared to you. I allowed ourselves to a total of 500€ for the rest of the year, including gas, food, everything. We’re doing quite well, and yesterday we posted about what we’ve learnt this past month, you may want to check it out.
Rachel – Thank you and thank you for linking to me on your blog.
Mary – I have some ideas, but none that I have used myself. I’ve heard ebay and Craig’s list are good ways to go. I actually just decided to give away a bunch of stuff last night rather than trying to sell it, but there will be more stuff, I’m sure. We get milk & eggs from a nearby farmer. We can also get all sorts of meat from them as well, so if my stock runs out I can get it there. Thank you so much for those book recommendations, I will definitely be looking those up at the library.
Gracia – It sounds like your challenge is a good one as well. Perhaps I will shift more towards that direction next time instead of cutting off all grocery spending for two months. I will be checking i on your progress – thank you for sharing.
~Shannon~
First let me say-SUPER GREAT IDEA and good luck….but I do wonder how you plan to celebrate the holidays. I’ve been finding ways to slash our budget for years but this time of year gets a little out of hand sometimes with the cooking & gifting. We moved quite far from the family this past year so I am cooking our holiday dinners. I know my food budget will be higher than normal ($200/month) so are you planning on cooking a family holiday dinner? If so, how do you do this without spending any money??? Also with small children in my home, “Santa” can get out of hand if he’s not kept in check. Short of shopping sales & simply reducing the amount spent for Santa, we are planning a handmade holiday for friends, relatives, and neighbors. We’re keeping the budget low ($300/child or less) plus another $300 for supplies and shipping costs for the handmade gifts. I thought I was doing well this year but after reading your post, I need to rethink our entire budget. I look forward to your updates!
I think this is a fabulous idea. I may not be ready for it this month, but I will for sure follow along and hopefully start to put the breaks on. Maybe this will be something I can prepare for and do after the holidays.
I just wanted to share a story about saving money on holiday shopping…
With the faltering economy, our family has to be very conscious – like all of us – about the money we spend. I was explaining this to my son (he’s 10) to brace him for the possibility of not too many toys at Christmas time. I started to explain things to him and he said…with a big smile on his face…, “Not to worry Mom, Dad already explained things to me and he said that we’ll go shopping in the attic for Christmas gifts. I think it will be great. Besides, Christmas isn’t really about getting toys.” And then he gave me a big hug!!! I have to tell you – I wanted to cry with joy. He was so sweet and sincere and very happy to simply bring out things from the attic that we had put away from lack of use, etc. Kids can be amazing! So for those of us on a tight budget (and who isn’t?) think about those forgotten treasures in your attic or garage.
Love,
Mary
Mary –
That is a sweet story. I’m glad to hear that your son is so understanding. I’m afraid that not all children would have the same response.
Blessings,
Shannon
Great work! I started a slow year in October too (full moon in Taurus must’ve inspired us 😉 but mine has a little different ground rules. The one hard and fast rule is no buying of new manufactured goods. After that it will be a matter of being thoughtful about purchases of used goods, local foods (as much as possible) and working hard to build savings and pay off debt. Through the summer I was doing slow weeks where I would spend no money Mon-Fri but could spend a little on the weekends and I’ll probably incorporate that habit into this slow year as well.
I’m glad I found your blog! I’m so going to be reading more 🙂