I failed, I wanted to save 700 and only got half that. ONWARD! Reality checks are only bad if you don't put solutions to action.
No-Spend February - Finance thread
bought things i shouldn’t have but they brought me happiness. so i say i failed with panache
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OK, final report time!
Overall, a successful challenge, but not a perfect record, as several unavoidable expenses popped up. We had a grandmother birthday and also a little kid birthday pop up ,so we had to spend a bit on some gifts. I don't think that marks the event as a fail though, or if it does, the event sucks, because I am not going to tell my daughter's grandmother we couldn't get her a birthday gift because of a no-spend challenge!
We ate out zero times
My wife didn't go into a store for retail therapy even once.
No coffees purchased the entire time.
Zero online purchases, no trips to the movies etc.
As explained earlier in the thread, we bought a car. This was pretty much unavoidable, as our car had become illegal to drive, and i wasn't throwing good money after bad repairing it when it was getting long in the tooth. This clearly falls under the Transportation category, which is allowed, so this is fine. I would also mention I have already replaced the entire amount withdrawn from savings for all fees, title, sales tax and the down payment (the portion not from the trade-in), so we are back where we were there. That said, we were unable to deposit any additional money into savings, so not a win in that regard.
As for how much we were spending before? Our spending was the lowest it has been in the last six months, and this tracking included the money we spent getting the car.(!!!)
Clearly some things were out of control previously! There are some factors I am unable to discuss to really piled on some expenses over the past few months, all of which have been completely mitigated or neutralized at this point, so from what I can tell, as long as we remain disciplined, we should be able to really start stacking up some savings this year.
Overall, a rousing success!
Now, I am off to buy a coffee at the place next door as a lil reward!
Overall, a successful challenge, but not a perfect record, as several unavoidable expenses popped up. We had a grandmother birthday and also a little kid birthday pop up ,so we had to spend a bit on some gifts. I don't think that marks the event as a fail though, or if it does, the event sucks, because I am not going to tell my daughter's grandmother we couldn't get her a birthday gift because of a no-spend challenge!
We ate out zero times
My wife didn't go into a store for retail therapy even once.
No coffees purchased the entire time.
Zero online purchases, no trips to the movies etc.
As explained earlier in the thread, we bought a car. This was pretty much unavoidable, as our car had become illegal to drive, and i wasn't throwing good money after bad repairing it when it was getting long in the tooth. This clearly falls under the Transportation category, which is allowed, so this is fine. I would also mention I have already replaced the entire amount withdrawn from savings for all fees, title, sales tax and the down payment (the portion not from the trade-in), so we are back where we were there. That said, we were unable to deposit any additional money into savings, so not a win in that regard.
As for how much we were spending before? Our spending was the lowest it has been in the last six months, and this tracking included the money we spent getting the car.(!!!)
Clearly some things were out of control previously! There are some factors I am unable to discuss to really piled on some expenses over the past few months, all of which have been completely mitigated or neutralized at this point, so from what I can tell, as long as we remain disciplined, we should be able to really start stacking up some savings this year.
Overall, a rousing success!
Now, I am off to buy a coffee at the place next door as a lil reward!
__________________
“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” ― Thomas Sowell
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OK, final report time!
Overall, a successful challenge, but not a perfect record, as several unavoidable expenses popped up. We had a grandmother birthday and also a little kid birthday pop up ,so we had to spend a bit on some gifts. I don't think that marks the event as a fail though, or if it does, the event sucks, because I am not going to tell my daughter's grandmother we couldn't get her a birthday gift because of a no-spend challenge!
We ate out zero times
My wife didn't go into a store for retail therapy even once.
No coffees purchased the entire time.
Zero online purchases, no trips to the movies etc.
As explained earlier in the thread, we bought a car. This was pretty much unavoidable, as our car had become illegal to drive, and i wasn't throwing good money after bad repairing it when it was getting long in the tooth. This clearly falls under the Transportation category, which is allowed, so this is fine. I would also mention I have already replaced the entire amount withdrawn from savings for all fees, title, sales tax and the down payment (the portion not from the trade-in), so we are back where we were there. That said, we were unable to deposit any additional money into savings, so not a win in that regard.
As for how much we were spending before? Our spending was the lowest it has been in the last six months, and this tracking included the money we spent getting the car.(!!!)
Clearly some things were out of control previously! There are some factors I am unable to discuss to really piled on some expenses over the past few months, all of which have been completely mitigated or neutralized at this point, so from what I can tell, as long as we remain disciplined, we should be able to really start stacking up some savings this year.
Overall, a rousing success!
Now, I am off to buy a coffee at the place next door as a lil reward!
Overall, a successful challenge, but not a perfect record, as several unavoidable expenses popped up. We had a grandmother birthday and also a little kid birthday pop up ,so we had to spend a bit on some gifts. I don't think that marks the event as a fail though, or if it does, the event sucks, because I am not going to tell my daughter's grandmother we couldn't get her a birthday gift because of a no-spend challenge!
We ate out zero times
My wife didn't go into a store for retail therapy even once.
No coffees purchased the entire time.
Zero online purchases, no trips to the movies etc.
As explained earlier in the thread, we bought a car. This was pretty much unavoidable, as our car had become illegal to drive, and i wasn't throwing good money after bad repairing it when it was getting long in the tooth. This clearly falls under the Transportation category, which is allowed, so this is fine. I would also mention I have already replaced the entire amount withdrawn from savings for all fees, title, sales tax and the down payment (the portion not from the trade-in), so we are back where we were there. That said, we were unable to deposit any additional money into savings, so not a win in that regard.
As for how much we were spending before? Our spending was the lowest it has been in the last six months, and this tracking included the money we spent getting the car.(!!!)
Clearly some things were out of control previously! There are some factors I am unable to discuss to really piled on some expenses over the past few months, all of which have been completely mitigated or neutralized at this point, so from what I can tell, as long as we remain disciplined, we should be able to really start stacking up some savings this year.
Overall, a rousing success!
Now, I am off to buy a coffee at the place next door as a lil reward!
I’m not placing anything on anybody, but I can live like a monk by myself and have. The challenge I face is incorporating teammates 😎
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Thanks for spearheading this, it’s been a great follow all month!
I’m not placing anything on anybody, but I can live like a monk by myself and have. The challenge I face is incorporating teammates 😎
I’m not placing anything on anybody, but I can live like a monk by myself and have. The challenge I face is incorporating teammates 😎
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nerds gotta nerd. there are definitely more expensive and less useful hobbies, so i should count my graces that i haven’t gone overboard. 15 lights is enough, yes?
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nerds gotta nerd. there are definitely more expensive and less useful hobbies, so i should count my graces that i haven’t gone overboard. 15 lights is enough, yes?
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I am unfamiliar with this hobby. Why on Earth do you have 15 different colored lights? What are you using these for?
Here’s the full list of my collection sorted by brand:
Surefire
6PX
P2X
E2L
L1
Princeton Tec
Apex Pro - x2
Manker
E02H II
Reylight
Pineapple Mini
Skilhunt
M150 - 4500k
M150 - 3000k
Maglite
3 D LED
Eveready
2 D incandescent
Coleman
4 D lantern
Ledlenser
ML6 lantern
Emisar
D4V2 - 2700k - 219B
D1 - 2700k - SFT40
DW4 - 2700/5000k - 519A DD
EDIT: as to why, i never had great camping equipment and the flashlights i had all through scouts were always cheap off brand junk. so i take enjoyment in getting and using better stuff as an adult. plus, i hate the dark
😅
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This torch looks great!
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