NO Spend May!

Hello Blog Friends! I haven't had much time for blog reading of late, so I feel out of the loop. I am following some of you on Instagram. I really miss some of my blog friends, but time just doesn't allow for my endless blog list reading of late. 

Some of you may recall I did a "Keep Your Money May" way back when in 2010! I've joined up with some Instagram friends to do a no spend on clothing and accessories in May. Truth be told, I could dress out of my closet for more than a month and probably never wear the same thing twice (this is a fact I am proud of and not so proud of - bought it all dirt cheap, but still overkill!) So during May I will work on making my closet work and pare down what doesn't work! I've already shared many clothes with my friends at church and I've sold a few here and there online. 

 

Instagram is great, but it's terrible for feeding your "WANT" monster! I promise, daily, there is something adorable someone wears that is available at a retailer near me for and affordable price! I will try to keep the IG inspiration flowing, by using "like" items I already own. Can I do it? I don't know. The first email I got this morning was for Very Jane and a Jcrew knock-off Fan Necklace I've been wanting for months. Did I buy it? NOPE - but only because it was SOLD OUT! What if it was available? I probably could have justified a way to get it in my mind. 

The point is to try to STOP completely and be content with what I already have. End of story. Watch and see how it pans out............

Keep Your Money May comes to and end!

Well, I made it! I didn't buy a stitch of clothing all month and lived to tell the tale! There were many temptations - the big Anthro sale, shopping with friends, a Rebecca Minkoff sample sale............and I resisted them all! I feel good at the end of my no-spend month and I feel empowered!

All together I ended up spending around $300 - all for food. I didn't count the expense of our vacation as it was pre-planned a year ago. So, all in all, we did good! We ate through the pantry and the freezer and fridge!

What I learned by doing this exercise:

1. I will only buy clothes I love from now on! It doesn't matter if they are on sale or not - if I love it, I give myself permission to buy it! I won't buy things because another blogger loved it, or every blogger is getting it, but I will buy what I truly love and is truly my style!

2. I will plan out my meals and buy only what is needed for the week! No more stock-piling items. Get the good, quality food I need to make meals for 7 days and make a plan! If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!

3. Whatever I need or want, will always be there! In one form or another there is always a sale or a "must-have" item just waiting around the next corner! I don't want to get caught up in the "it's the last one" or "it will be gone" mentality!

4. I will try to "consume" less. I really want to work on this one. I don't just want to keep buying and buying and always be on the lookout for "the next great thing". It's exhausting to me. A lot of energy is zapped out of me by always living in the "want" phase. I want to keep my long-term goals in the fore-front of my mind each time I go to make a purchase!

5. I would rather invest in less quantity to get good quality items. For example, I need to spend some $$ on good skin care for one, instead of settling for the $5 Target stuff. This face has to last me a while longer I hope!

6. Comparison is the death of contentment! Don't compare myself to anyone else! I could never keep up with the monthly purchases of many of my friends. I can't have a new outfit every day in my OOTD posts and that's OK! I realize everything is relative and for me I know my limits and want to stay within them.

7. Be thankful for what I have and realize how very little you actually "need" in this life. God has blessed abundantly. I want to be daily thankful for His provision!

These are desperate times and desperate measures are called for.......

I'm pretty much at the bottom of the barrel, the end of my rope, fresh out of ideas and basically exhausted. Yes, I'm whining.

I'm tired of least common multiples, common denominators, converting decimals to fractions, fractions to decimals, mixed numbers, area, perimeter, volume, surface area, converting kilometers to meters, grams to kilograms, ecosystems, respiratory systems, digestive systems, circulatory systems, modern Europe from 1848 to the present, memorizing and mapping US States, using a dictionary, thesaurus, alphabetical order, syllabication, spelling, critical thinking, piano lessons, word roots, reading novels, dictation, typing lessons, EyeQ and the list goes on. Do I sound like a homeschooler about to go bonkers if summer doesn't get here soon?????? Good news, it starts tomorrow! Happy day.

My cupboard is like Old Mother Hubbard's and I'm tired of answering the age old question "What's for dinner?" with things like "potatoes and veggies", "rice and beans", "potatoes and beans", "beans and veggies". We have just about eaten every item in the pantry and freezer and I'm ready for a shopping trip to the grocery! If I don't get some meat soon, I'm going to punch someone.

This was tonight's meal.


Good news, my kids said it was great and asked for seconds - yea for sweet kids! By the time we got to this point in the day we had already had chard, romaine, kale, beet greens, beets, cucumber, apples, blueberries, purple grapes, raspberries, marion berries, banana and strawberries (all in juice or smoothie form) so we had plenty of nutrients and enzymes!

Tomorrow's another day Scarlet, and I will hope for renewed energy to make it to the end of May with as little spending as possible.

Who wants to be a millionaire??

Do you know you have the power to become a millionaire using only the income you currently have? Do you have goals for your money or do you use money based on feelings and emotions? (Right now, after just looking at Rosa in the Perilla dress, I could care less about having $2 million down the road - I want that dress NOW! See what I mean?)

America is a consumer society. Marketers have done a fabulous job of convincing us we NEED so many things. Just look at the ads - the people buying things are so happy, they are with friends and family, their life is enriched by owning and having the products offered by all different kinds of companies. You will be prettier if you use X brand makeup, you will be slimmer if eat X brand food, you will have great times if you drink X brand beverage, you will be in high fashion if you wear X brand clothes. When I really truly stop and think about marketing and all the stops they pull out to get my money, I am really, really turned off by consuming. I am turned off by being wasteful. I am turned off by letting some one else tell me what I like and want and need. (Then the kid in me comes out again and I say I want it, I want it, I want it!)

Here is a chart based on one in the Dave Ramsey book that makes a big point!

Daily Decisions can make a HUGE impact!

Expense	Cost per month	If invested in interest bearing mutual fund from 16-76 *
1 Jcrew shirt	$90	$11,622,000
2 pair of shoes on sale	$150	$19,371,943
1 Anthropologie dress	$160	$20,663,319

You may say these are extreme examples of saving from a young age, and you are already 40. So let’s take a more conservative approach. For example, a 40 year old just starting to save could put $150 a month (the cost of one Anthropologie dress) into an interest bearing mutual fund* for the next 35 years and at retirement have $974,290 – or almost a MILLION dollars!!! If you want to retire at 65, you would have $284,645. So you can see, time is on your side. The younger you start saving and investing, the more you will have in the end.

I took the cost of an outfit I recently saw on Polyvore – total of outfit $276. Invested monthly in a mutual fund* starting at 40 until retirement will bring $1,792,694. So the decision is ours - closet full of clothing that we tire of, give away, donate to Goodwill, constantly replenish or almost $2 million in cash........hmmmmmm.................

This stuff blows my mind! I write this as I am thinking about life and expenses and what I want over the long haul. It's true you may be able to save money and still buy whatever you want each month. It's all relative and it's all very personal. Everyone has to find that balance. Of course in this life we want to have fun and enjoy things! I am just trying to bring to mind a different way to look at things and become more mindful of how my daily decisions influence the big picture. I am also mindful that I am a steward of God's blessings and no money is really "mine" but entrusted to me to manage in this life.

Let me also say that there are many ways to go about managing finances. I really have a hard time reading budget books that say I have to wash out my Ziploc bags and line dry all my laundry- I'm not going to do it. But that works for some people. I love reading Money Saving Mom about how they have saved cash to buy a house! They will have no debt at all! It works for them. I also know people (like my boss) who are already multi-millionaires and have become so by using the OPM (other people's money) method and creative financing. It works for them! There are many ways to financial success!

If you want to do some "number crunching" of your own, based on your actual expenses there is a great calculator HERE. Go through your receipts or credit card statements from the last few months to get a true and clear picture of what you are actually spending on clothing for yourself. Put that number into the calculator, choose 12% as the rate of return (because over the long haul, that is typically what a good mutual fund return is) and you can play with the number of years you have to work with, etc. You may have it within your power to become a millionaire!

*I am using 12% rate of return on the mutual fund scenarios as Dave Ramsey does in his books. He said in the videos, even though the market is currently down, that over the long haul good mutual funds typically return at 12%.

Keep Your Money May - Half Way There Baby!!

Well, today is the 15th and that means that I am half-way thorough my Keep Your Money May experiment (well technically tomorrow at noon it will be half-way). Even eating through my pantry and freezer, it's been hard. To date I have spent $245 total this month. It's way more than I thought I would spend by this point, but I seriously do NOT know what I could have done differently, because I have only purchased needed grocery items. Things like milk, bread, fruit, greens.

The other day I was at Costco, getting something for work and I caved in to the 2 loaves of "whole grain white" bread for $4.59. Two huge size loaves for that price? That will make a lot of lunches for 3 hungry kids. It said "no high fructose corn syrup and no trans-fat" - so I was tempted because it was cheap and I didn't have a lot to spend. So I bought it. Even though I know that this bread is not what I would consider a healthy choice. I don't consider any store bought bread a great option except for sprouted breads because they are all so highly processed, full of chemicals and give essentially no real nutrition. But when you have $20 in your wallet, you do crazy things!!

On the plus side, I have spent nothing on clothing. Yea me! Now about that Tuesday Anthro sale.................

I have been gifted items this month that total $385!! Many were items that I had on my wish list for a long time! Amazing!

I have run out of my Clinique moisturizer, my Cover Girl 415 Blushberry shine lipstick, my Neutrogena Pure lip gloss - I even had the q-tip out scraping the bottom of the tube! I've walked longingly through Target wanting to buy another lipstick, but I decided I'm going to use up all the ones I already have so I got out my Burt's Bees lipgloss and the Clinque lipstick I got in the last free gift with purchase set!

My friend Rachel, got me interested in the Natalia Rose books and putting more raw foods into our diet. I wanted to go buy her book so badly today - but guess what I did? I went to the bookstore, found a nice seat and read over several chapters! I also requested it from the library and hope it comes in soon. Now because of what I learned in those books, I want a Breville Juicer, so I will have to start saving for that purchase!

At any rate, I've spent WAY less on groceries than I normally do, so that is a plus for this month! After my pantry is used up, I am going to change to a different method of shopping where I make a menu, and only buy what I need for that week's meals. I have a good friend at church who does this very successfully and I want to give it a go. I guess that will be my June experiment!

Keep Your Money May - The Pantry- Pickins are getting Slim!

Oh boy. Is it only the 12th? Help me. This is hard. Food is getting scarce around these parts. I am really doing my best to use it up and make do, but soon we are going to be eating quinoa and water only because that's about all I have left! Well, that's an exaggeration, but just a tiny one. I had to go back to the store today for a few items in order to create meals out of what is left.

In the next few days we will be having Quinoa Pesto, Louisiana Red Beans & Rice, Pinto Beans and Fried Potatoes and the Chipotle recipe for Black Beans with cornbread. I have no meat left. We ate the last of the venison steak we had in the freezer from last year. I spent $21 at the grocery and I will need milk tomorrow. I bought a 10 pound bag of potatoes because those will go a long way and I still have 1/2 of my Costco size bag of pinto beans. If need be we can have Pinto Beans 101 ways! I gave myself $200 at the beginning of the month and I think I only have about $20 left!! I am not going to make it to month's end on that $20.


These 12 days have seemed like a month. I just want to go to the store and buy what I want! I want it, I want it, I want it!! (This is me throwing a temper tantrum!) I guess I am finding out I am spoiled. I pretty much buy whatever I want, whenever I want. So blessed. So much to eat, so much variety, so many choices, so easily available! I can go to 1 of 10 stores within 10 minutes and get choice, organic, beautiful food. What if I was my great-grandmother who had to grow her own food and butcher her own chickens, mill her own wheat (oh wait, I already do that- I am kinda crunchy is some ways!)

I'm feeling extra hippie and healthy today. I did 5.5 miles on the elliptical, did my Total Gym workout, I am dehydrating almonds as we speak and I had 2 Green Smoothies today (along with some Dove Milk Chocolate Caramels and a handful of Chex Gluten-Free Muddy Buddies - gotta keep the balance).

So, if you have any fabulous, can't live without pinto bean recipes, please send them my way!! June 1st is a loooooong way off!

P.S. - I won Maria's Giveaway at Infinite Whimsy!! So excited!! June can't come soon enough for me to spent that Anthro gift card!!

Day 6 - Keep Your Money May Expenses

Today I had to buy some food - my children were begging for fruit! How pitiful is that? My house that is typically over flowing with fruit but I am buying less and trying to making things stretch. So I had to stop for some fruit and a few perishables.

Safeway $10.60
Trader Joes $20.51
Farmers Market Unpasteurized Almonds to dehydrate $20 for 5 pounds (ouch) did you know almonds have to be soaked and dehydrated to release their nutritional benefits?
Total Spent $51.11

It's pretty hard to spend next to nothing on food..........I seriously do NOT know what the people eat who write blogs and spend $200 a month!! My grocery budget is one area where I really try to make the most of our food - organic, grass-fed, free-range, preservative free, fresh. I always make an effort to buy on sale, etc. but let's face it - eating healthy is more costly than eating junk. I think I'm going to try the organic delivery box soon. Pay for it now or pay for it later in the form of medicine and doctor visits! Looks like some good tips are to be found over at Simple Mom on the subject!
So anyone want to chime in?? What do you spend on groceries? Do you think buying organic and fresh is worth the investment?

Day 5 - Keep Your Money May.....Returns and Expenditures

I had some items I decided to return to Target today. Everything was a return except one item I did not have a receipt for that did not show up in the computer, so I had to take it back with me. I will either loose the pounds to wear it or ship it to my sister!

Total Returns back to my card:$42.31
Total Returns on gift card: $12.01

So I used my Gift Card to buy:
2 boxes Granola Bars for hubby (on sale and $1 coupon) $2.38
Organic Milk half-gallon: $3.54
Total: $5.92

Then I finally mailed my last giveaways out: $3.80
Got some groceries: $7.77

Groceries: $13.69 (only $7.77 out of pocket)
Postage: $3.80
Total Spent Today: 11.57
Total for Month: $43.24

Not shabby. I haven't even showered yet today. I worked out once in the morning doing Pilates, then a mile hike up the mountain. Then our teacher came to meet with the kids for review, during which time I baked a gluten-free cake. Then more cooking, cleaning, school, trying to come up with a dinner from the ingredients I have on hand. Then I did 5 miles on the elliptical, so I now need to get ready for church. Not spending is a lot of work!

I googled garbanzo beans because I had a can of those and some potatoes. So tonight we are having this Easy Chickpea Curry with peanut rice (I used my last cup of rice and last of the peanuts to make). I just took a bite- it's absolutely delicious! Eating from my pantry is GOOD!



I'm learning a lot already from my little experiment. I'm learning true appreciation for what we have and what we take for granted daily. I told my kids it's hard being in the grocery and having to put back the yogurt, because $.50 a cup is too much. It's hard coming up with things people actually want to eat from what you have on hand. It really, really makes me think of those who are less fortunate than I..........really makes me feel a little bit of what they must feel on a daily basis (on a very small scale, not that I can even really know the trials and stress of poverty in America).

Does anyone remember that scene in The Pursuit of Happyness, where the mom is cleaning up the dinner table? She puts back every scrap of food they didn't eat in a Tupperware and pours the Kool-aid from the USED cups back into the pitcher. That scene has stayed with me and I've thought of it over and over as I scrape food into the trash can after dinner. They were so poor, they couldn't throw away a scrap of food or a bit of drink. Wow.

It's been good to take a spending hiatus, step back and think.

One obsession replaces another........

I've replaced one obsession with another.

I better start shopping again soon or I'm going to kill myself (with exercise).

I rode my bike 5.5 miles and did 6 miles on the elliptical.

Maybe as a side benefit to saving money, I'll finally get back into my workout groove........

He blesses and blesses again......

I'm only 3 days into my resolve to spend more intentionally and be a better steward, and yesterday I was gifted a brand new Excalibur Dehydrator! This has been on my Amazon wish list for 2 years now and I had just posted about wanting it HERE the other day! Wow, I can't believe it! Thank you to my friend Tami!! I am so excited to start using Robyn's recipes in this thing - making more raw, live foods!

OOTD- Happiness

I got up this morning to take a walk because it was such a beautiful day! We are hiking Half Dome this spring, so I really need to get some sort of training going daily. I thought I would save some gas money and walk to the store for the ingredients I needed to make the Dr. Oz Green Drink for breakfast. Going was pretty good - but coming back with 3 pounds of organic apples, 2 bags of chard, a cucumber, 4 lemons, 2 limes and 1 mango in tow was harder! I mapped it when I got home - it was 7.5 miles round trip!

If you think that is impressive, let me brag on my husband for a moment- last night he rode 21 miles on his bike - practically all of them up hill! I'm married to a machine! This is also impressive in that he has only been on his good eating and exercise plan for 2.5 months! He is a born athlete - guess that is the benefit, once you start back to exercise, you just spring right back into shape. He has lost over 30 pounds in these 2.5 months!

So, I spent $9.43 this morning on my ingredients. I made the Dr. Oz Green Drink for our breakfast and it did taste like a "glass of fresh" as Oprah puts it!

Here is my outfit of the day.............happiness in a Target hat! That's about all..........happy with intention to reach my goal in May and have fun along the way!

Keep Your Money May Day 2!

It's only day two, but temptations lurk everywhere! They started in the form of my Anthropologie catalog arriving yesterday and ended with a drive to the city, to my favorite area, with my favorite coffee shop and I resisted! Score one for Peg!

Today's Dave Ramsey lesson was on "The Debt Trap". Because of my husband's planning and fore thought, we have never done debt (save our mortgage - which is only a 10 year) but the lessons today made me really, really re-think my use of credit cards for convenience. Statistics show people spend something like 20% more when using credit cards as opposed to cash.......hmmmm......food for thought. I know to me, using cash hurts much more than swiping my card. The loss of funds is immediate, so I really have to think twice if I want the product.

Anyhow, I think I'm off to a good start. I'm even feeling like I am going to return some "unnecessary" items I bought at the end of April (Dave Ramsey has that effect on you!) Today for potluck I made veggies that I already had on hand and a cake I had on hand with homemade icing (only takes powdered sugar, butter, vanilla and a dash of milk)! Typically I would spend about $15 on the dishes I prepare for potluck, but today the brethren had to endure my "pantry" food!

Only 29 more days to go!