127. The No Spend Challenge – January 2015: 31 Days Later What We Learned

I can’t believe it’s February! We just finished up our No Spend Challenge for January 2015. Our goal was to save 20% of our regular budget. We are happy to say we saved about 21%! We were relatively happy with the results of this challenge.

Would YOU like support during YOUR No Spend Challenge? Join the Facebook group with over 2300 members: “The No Spend Challenge”. When we started the No Spend Challenge at the beginning of January we had 1300 members!

What we did:

*We ate primarily what was in our fridge, pantry, and freezer.
*We bought very minimal groceries such as milk, eggs, fresh fruit, fresh veggies, etc.
*We ate out 4 times but spent $25 total!
*We were blessed to have family come over with food for meals and also to eat meals with friends or family.
*We spent $0 at Starbucks. We did have a few gift cards we used up though!
*We didn’t buy anything at the mall or department stores.
*We didn’t buy any movie rentals for the month on Amazon or RedBox!
*We bought no home décor.

*We avoided $1 toys at Target
*What was excluded from this challenge: Mortgage, Utilities, Netflix, Giving, Health related expenses, Sinking funds, Diapers, Wipes, etc.
*We gathered a pile of things to give away.
*The blender died and we felt it had to be replaced.
*We really spent a lot of money with online purchases related to the Facebook group: Dave Ramsey – Total Money Makeover. Totally worth it though in helping people on their journey to get rid of their debt, find financial freedom, and change their family tree!

What we learned:

*Some things we thought were needs are actually wants.
*We CAN resist the urge to impulse buy when we have the motivation to do so.
*Instead of a 24-48 hour wait time to evaluate big purchases this was like a 31 day wait period to evaluate large purchases.
*Surprisingly, $20.00 worth of gas lasted for almost three weeks with the civic!
*Probably not a good idea to start a No Spend Challenge the same month we decide to start a group with weekly giveaways.
*January is the first month of the year which means we haven’t met any of our health insurance deductibles. 
*January all of us got sick and had to go to the doctor. We made two visits to the doctor during the month! 

Highlights of Savings for the Month:

*We spent less than $375 for groceries and eating out for the month. Typically, we’d spend double that amount or more!
*We enjoyed some free meals with family, friends, and with our local church.
*We spent $100 for the entire month in gas. Typically, we’d spend double that at least!
*We were able to continue to pay ourselves a car payment for our next vehicle purchase.
*We continued to save for the kids college, vacation, and car insurance coming up.

For Fun…

*Went to the local Zoo a couple of times with our paid for membership. We ate before going so we didn’t buy any food or souvenirs while there!
*We went to the local public library a few times. One time we got to hear firefighters talk about fire safety and the kids got to climb in the fire truck!
*We went to the local Science and History Museum a few times during the month with our paid for membership. We ate before going so we didn’t buy any food or souvenirs while there!
*We went to friends’ houses to play games and the kids got to play together. Had a blast!

January 2015 No Spend Challenge? Done

Conclusions…
Overall this No Spend Challenge, while more difficult than the one in October 2014, was still a good experience. We highly recommend this challenge to others to try out at least once. It has helped us re-evaluate our financial and family priorities.

Maybe January wasn’t the best month to do this challenge. Still, we’re going to take a good portion of what we saved and apply it to our mortgage. The rest will go to giving and savings.

What about you? Have you tried a No Spend Challenge? What did you learn and how much did you save?

#NoSpendChallenge

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126. Total Money Makeover - Pay It Forward

One of the keys to financial success is giving. Dave Ramsey talks a lot about giving. Baby Step 7 is focused on it. However, you don't have to be debt free to give. In this group we want to win with money and part of that means creating a culture of giving as well.

Dave says: “Giving to those in need will bring more joy than money could ever buy.”

So what does it mean to Pay It Forward? Paying it forward can be defined as "responding to another person's kindness to oneself by being kind to someone else."

We have experienced this joy. Would you like to experience it to? The challenge is for you to do one of two things:

Challenge 1:

1a. If you don't own a copy of TMM buy a copy for yourself and your family. If you don’t have money to do so, sell some stuff or work overtime so you can buy a total of 3 copies.

1b. Give a copy of the book to someone in this group.

1c. Give a copy of the book to a friend, family member, or acquaintance with a personalized note stating how the book has impacted your life.

1d. Pass the TMM Pay It Forward Challenge on to someone else by sharing this post! Use the hashtag #TMMPayItForward

Challenge 2:

2a. If you already own a copy of TMM, buy and give away 3 copies of TMM to three people. If you don’t have money to do so, sell some stuff so you can buy the 3 copies.

2b. Give a copy of the book to someone in this group. (See the list pictured below)

2c. Give a copy of the book to a friend, family member, or acquaintance with a personalized note stating how the book has impacted your life.

2d. Give a copy of the book to a complete stranger.

2e. Pass the TMM Pay It Forward Challenge on to someone else by sharing this post! Use the hashtag #TMMPayItForward

Note1: You can buy and mail a good used copy of TMM through Amazon for about $10 shipping included! Dave’s website www.daveramsey.com also usually has some good deals as well. This challenge is absolutely optional. Participate at your own risk. :-)

Note 2: If you are doing The No Spend Challenge you wouldn’t be “breaking” your rules by raising your income (making money by selling some stuff, working overtime, etc.) .

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125. The "No Spend Challenge" Day 1 - January 2015

Time for another No Spend Challenge! This month we are challenging ourselves again to cut spending drastically with a “No Spend Month.” Check out our first challenge last year in October 2014, also what we learned 31 days later from our October 2014 No Spend Challenge, and finally some highlights from the month of October 2014. 

We've actually created a group with over 1300 members on Facebook called The No Spend Challenge to encourage and facilitate helping others take the challenge to save. 

This is the first day so simply put we’re making the commitment and setting some ground rules.

I think both of us are a little apprehensive about doing this challenge again. Even more so trying this again on a month that once again is essentially 5 weeks.

Our goal is to save 20% of our budget by the end of the month. We believe this goal is SMART. It’s specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-sensitive.

Please note each family should account for their own circumstances. If there are known events like birthdays, vacations, vehicle maintenance, doctors appointments fit them in the budget and then move on. If you’re doing this for the first time and you don’t have a huge stockpile of food in the pantry, refrigerator, and freezer you’ll probably have to make a few trips to the store and include that in your rules as well.

We’ve set our sights again not to spend money on anything outside of our basic necessities and eat from our food pantry, refrigerator, and freezer as much as possible. We’re limiting grocery shopping to essentials (milk, eggs, fresh fruit, etc.) only.

These are the things that we will seek to avoid this month:

No eating out at restaurants.
No Starbucks.
No shopping at stores.
No shopping online.
No excess entertainment (we already subscribe to Netflix monthly, but no Redbox or Amazon Online rentals). 

No extras. (chocolate, manicures, pedicures, games, etc.)
No home décor.
No toys. (We tend to buy $1 toys at Target)
No crafts or hobbies.

We’ve agreed to a mini-budget to allow for our basic needs  this month. This includes a small stipend for DW, myself, and miscellaneous expenses outside of our normal bills we may incur this month. 

We're also accounting for some free give aways in our new Facebook Group: Dave Ramsey - Total Money Makeover (note the group has no official affiliation with Dave Ramsey). This group was officially launched last night about 9pm and already has 400 members! 

We hope this challenge will help us once again refocus our efforts in reducing our debt. We also hope it will motivate us to be better stewards of the resources God has given us.

We understand that life does not always go according to planned and our experiment may not go exactly as planned. However, we hope once again the discipline will prove beneficial and a good learning experience regardless of the outcome.


Source I used: http://www.livingwellspendingless.com/31-days/livingwellspendingzero/

#nospendchallenge

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124. FLOP – a Financial Life On a Paper

Here’s the 4 step process to filling out a FLOP – a Financial Life On a Paper.

Download the spread sheet here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1g5CLcVAiYSKvWr1f-5JA-8f0m44rrEQuuiH9EeV3WGo/edit?usp=sharing

1. Fill out a Balance Sheet

A balance sheet captures the full picture of your financial health. Update it twice a year to see your progress.

It not only accounts for all the debt you have been paying off but all of your good financial decisions such as increasing your emergency fund, paying down debt, making wise investments which will affect your balance sheet in a positive way.

To get a clearer picture of your financial health you need to look at Assets (What you own), Liabilities (What you owe), and Net Worth (What you own minus what you owe).

It looks like this:

Assets – Liabilities = Net Worth

2. Choose a Pass Code

A passcode is a phrase that you can use with different variations. For example, what if you chose the following Pass Code:

Good2know!

This Pass Code has a capital letter “G”. It also has the number 2. And it has a symbol in the exclamation mark “!”. You can rotate the Pass Code by putting a combination of letters or numbers at the end of it.

For example:

Good2know!14

I chose 14 because the year is 2014.

Using a Pass Code allows you to remember passwords a lot easier too!

I would recommend changing your Pass Code every 30 days. I wouldn’t wait longer than 60 days if you forget.

Set a reminder on your phone or mark your calendar. Or even perhaps simply make it a habit to change your Pass Code on the 1st of the month.

3. Organize of all Login Information

After adding all your accounts and balances above in the first step with the Balance Sheet simply start filling in the account information, Login ID, Website, Phone, and Comments.

I’d put a pass code or password hint in the comments section.

4. Leave A financial Roadmap for my Spouse or Significant Other

In most families one person manages the finances – this person is often called “the Nerd” in the relationship. As opposed to the “Free Spirit” – the uninhibited one. But I digress….

What would happen to the spouse or significant other if “the Nerd” were to pass away?

Are you the money savvy person in the relationship? Does your spouse or significant other know about or can they access your bank accounts, investment accounts, safety deposit box, insurance policies, email accounts, social media accounts, etc.?

I would either burn the file onto a CD or copy the file onto a thumb drive. Then put it in a safe or safety deposit box. Update the FLOP every 6 months. If you want to track your progress with your debt fill it out every month or two.

Losing a loved one is a terribly difficult process. Having a plan in advance for your loved one will eliminate additional, unnecessary stress.

Note: If you can’t open the file download and install the free version of Microsoft Office: http://www.openoffice.org/download/

#FLOP #PassCode #FinancialLifeOnaPaper #Login #NetWorth, #Password

Are you ready to do your...

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123. Tutorial on a (Written) Monthly Cash Flow Plan

This Monthly Cash Flow Plan is going to be a bit more involved than the Quick-Start Budget. But totally worth your time! This is where we get really serious about our budget, money, saving, cutting expenses, and changing our family tree! 

For clarification in the tutorial example I'm assuming I'm making this budget for December 2014 and including Christmas gifts in my budget. 

Here's the direct link to the video: http://youtu.be/PHyEG3B-SIc

Print off the Monthly Cash Flow Plan here and follow the video tutorial: http://www.daveramsey.com/tools/budget-forms/

Dave Ramsey says:

“Budgeting means spending every dollar on paper, on purpose BEFORE the month begins.”

“Having a plan with money doesn’t just help you right now, it also gives you a vision and hope for the end goal.”

“Budgeting for the first time can be scary, but you MUST face your fear.”

“Doing a budget means learning an ancient and powerful word: NO!”

“While getting out of debt, you’ll need to scale back on gifts or outings with family. Have the courage to be real about why.”

Are these tutorials helping you? Please like the video or post a comment so I can get a feel for how many people still are needing help with a budget.

#TotalMoneyMakeover #TMMChapterFour #Budget #Budgeting #MonthlyCashFlowPlan #FinancialFreedom #DaveRamsey

Find the group on Facebook! Dave Ramsey - Financial Freedom

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Follow me on Twitter! @JWKEagle

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122. Tutorial "Quick-Start Budget" - YouTube

Tutorial on how to create a "Quick-Start Budget". Hope this helps! Leave a comment, like, and share!

To find the form go to: http://www.daveramsey.com/tools/budget-forms/

“Budgeting for the first time can be scary, but you MUST face your fear.”

“Doing a budget means learning an ancient and powerful word: NO!”

#TMMChapterFour #Budget #Budgeting #MonthlyCashFlowPlan #FinancialFreedom #DaveRamsey #TotalMoneyMakeover #Eaglesoaringhigher

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Follow me on Twitter! @JWKEagle

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Looking for a particular topic? Please check out the new Table of Contents to see posts listed by topic.  

121. Zero Based Budgetting

Are you on a budget? Have you heard of zero-based budgeting? Why not try a zero-based budget today?

I've found the concept of a zero-based budget to be pretty simple and very useful. The basic concept is: income minus expenses equals zero.

Or... I'm more visual so here's how it looks:

Income - Expenses = $0

That way you know where every dollar is going and every dollar is accounted for. Not knowing where money is going hurts our financial situation, causes stress, and often means we end up with a shortage at the end of the month.

So… Here’s what I’d do:

1. Take a sheet of paper and list all your income for the month. Paychecks, side jobs, child support, etc. Then add it all up.

2. On the other side of the page write down every expense you have each month. This can include rent/mortgage, food, gas, car insurance, internet, cable/satellite, kids school expenses, and everything in between. Every month your expenses will vary so you need to adjust this on a monthly (or weekly/bi-weekly basis).

3. If the income doesn’t match the expenses don’t freak out. This just means you need to do something to adjust one of the numbers down, up, or possibly both.

4. If you spend more than you make you’ll need to make some cuts to help make your income match your expenses.

5. You should have $0 left over. Meaning if you end up with $50 ahead you haven’t finished your budget. Put the $50 towards a category be it your savings (emergency fund), your debt, another expense category, or something else.

6. Remember you are the boss of the budget. It doesn’t control you. You control the budget and adjust it as needed. It is a guide to help you win with money. :)

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Follow me on Twitter! @JWKEagle

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Looking for a particular topic? Please check out the new Table of Contents to see posts listed by topic.