no spend month – Page 2 – The Savvy Sagittarius Budgeting

October is so great for fall activities and some of the best foods on the planet. It was also a FANTASTIC month for my debt free journey. I did a NO Spend Month and made sure that I was only spending money on groceries, gas, and prebudgeted things. See here how I paid off $2000+ in one month on a SINGLE income.

October’s Debt Free Journey Report

By thesavvysagittarius November 2, 2017Debt Free Journey, Debt Free Updates4 Comments

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My Story

If you have been following my story at all, you probably know that I tell my story at the beginning of every monthly report for those who just stumbled upon my blog. I gain different followers every month and I don’t want anyone to feel blind as they find my posts! If you have read my story, feel free to skip ahead to my monthly report. I tell this story so I am not just some stranger, but instead someone who just might inspire each and every reader to follow the same journey!

My name is Elyse. I am 22, single with no kids and I am proudly on my way to being completely debt freeeee. I never really thought of myself as someone who was in debt. With no credit cards and no car payment, I was not the average American. All I had was a few student loans. It wasn’t until a few weeks before my 22nd birthday that I got a loan for a Jeep and my very first credit card. I should say credit card(S). For the month of December, I thought it was so cool that I finally had a credit card. I was excited over it actually. I was learning about all the different rewards I could cash in and it was fantastic.

Towards the end of the month, I was cleaning off a bookshelf, getting ready to move (again), and found The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness. This $15 book completely changed my life path at the time. Dave describes being debt free as such a rewarding and achievable thing. In his book, he says it will take work and it will be hard, but it will be worth it. He has been right. There have been days were I have completely questioned my sanity. I sometimes wonder why I don’t just make minimum payments forever like everyone else.

“Sometimes, you have to like like NO ONE else, so someday you can LIVE like no one else.” – Dave Ramsey

I know October is going to be a great month of paying debts off. This month I will pay off my smallest student loan! Find out how September went!

September’s Debt Free Journey Report

By thesavvysagittarius October 3, 2017Debt Free Journey, Debt Free UpdatesNo Comments

My Story

“Sometimes, you have to like like NO ONE else, so someday you can LIVE like no one else.” – Dave Ramsey

Fast food is the hardest part of almost every budget. It is usually where I go over every month. Most of that is due to poor planning. Here are 13 Things that I do that make it easier to say no to fast food!

13 Things to Do to Avoid Fast Food

By thesavvysagittarius August 10, 2017Food Saving Tips, Money Saving Tips, No Spend Tips5 Comments

Fast food has become the meal plan where homemade meals once stood. Many families who once ate at the dinner table for every meal are finding themselves sitting in a…

7 Steps I Took to Pay off $7000 in 7 Months

By thesavvysagittarius August 8, 2017About Budgeting, Budgeting Basics, Debt Free Journey, Debt Free Updates2 Comments

If you have followed me at all, you have heard all about my debt free journey. Maybe reading about my story has made you curious. Didyou stumbled upon my post…

8 Things I Learned From NOT Spending Money

By thesavvysagittarius May 10, 2017About Budgeting, Money Saving Tips, No Spend Challenges, No Spend UpdatesNo Comments

In the last few months of my debt free journey, I have learned so much! During the Month of April, I spent almost no money. I feel like I…

April Debt Free Journey Report

By thesavvysagittarius May 2, 2017Debt Free Journey, Debt Free UpdatesNo Comments

My Story

If you have been following my story at all, you probably know that I tell my story at the beginning of every monthly report for those who just stumbled upon my blog. If you have read my story, feel free to skip ahead to my monthly report. I tell this story so I am not just some stranger, but instead someone who just might inspire each and every reader to follow the same journey!

“Sometimes, you have to like like NO ONE else, so someday you can LIVE like no one else.” – Dave Ramsey

Why I Don’t Regret My $29K In Student Loan Debt

By thesavvysagittarius April 27, 2017Debt & Student Loans, Debt Free Journey2 Comments

Student loans are such a dumb and tricky debt when it comes to a debt snowball. I started this journey with about $29,000 in student loan debt left to pay.…

Week Three: NO Spend Month

By thesavvysagittarius April 25, 2017No Spend Challenges, No Spend UpdatesNo Comments

The farther that I get into the month, the more I find myself slipping up or at least considering it. Week Three was way harder than I expected it to be. I clocked out with 66.85 hours this week. It was a STRUGGLE because I was so tired by Sunday. Sunday’s are usually my organization days, but I had a lot on my to do list. I still needed to drive back to my parents. Meal prep, go to the gym, and get some stuff done for work.

Good News for the week: My dad fixed my brakes on my Jeep, so all is great!

I am finding it harder and harder to stay motivated to keep up with my writing. I would rather be writing than working a billion hours, but I am also working some extra hours to pay off my debts. I can’t wait to get into a routine where everything actually works out, but I am slowly working on it!

This week I learned a lot about staying organized and prioritizing when it does come to my free time. I also learned that after 13 hours at work, I have very little will power when it comes to food.

SPENT DURING WEEK FOUR:

Super Saver Groceries $ 31.15

Sam’s Club Gas: $ 25.00

Additional Gas: $10.00

Total: 66.15 Spent this week

16.15 Over Budget

Paid Off:

Student Loan #1: $104

Jeep: $77.88

Total Debt Paid Off This Month: $1,088

Week Two: No Spend Month

By thesavvysagittarius April 18, 2017No Spend Challenges, No Spend UpdatesNo Comments

The holiday and work made week two a little hectic, but I am finally sitting down to get caught up!

Have you ever had something totally unexpected happen and it was completely out of your control?

Well Sunday while I was at drill, I get a call from my roommate asking me if I paid the water bill.

Yes. I did.

She tells me that the water isn’t working in our entire apartment. I ask her to check with the neighbor and sure enough the entire complex is without water. I get home that night. The weather is warm for this time of year and we have nothing cold to drink in the apartment.

I met with someone at Target to sell an item from one of the Facebook For Sale pages. As soon as I got that money, I went into Target to get a gallon of water (which I am usually against buying water, but it had to happen). As I was walking to check out, I saw cake mixes for $1 and frosting for $1.50. I gave in and got the supplies for two cakes. Brittney and I spend our water-less evening making cakes. While I still count it as part of my grocery budget, it definitely wasn’t the kind of spending I had planned. It was so worth it though. It gave us something to do instead of complain about the lack of water in our apartment and we spent most of the evening laughing in the kitchen.

I managed to make it through the drill weekend without spending money on lunch or any other food cravings. That being said, I have a long list of restaurants that I can’t wait to eat. One major lesson I have learned from the No Spend Month is that you don’t have to give into your food cravings. The other night, I desperately wanted Taco Johns. I didn’t give in. Instead I went home and used some chicken to make chicken tacos and I happened to have tater tots in the freezers. What could have cost $8-12 for one meal cost me nothing because I had the items on hand already.

SPENT DURING WEEK TWO:

Target Water/Cake Run: $4.83

Super Saver Groceries $ 16.43

Sam’s Club Gas: $ 25.09

Wal-Mart Groceries: $10.63

McDonald Slip Up: $6.10

Total: 63.08 Spent on Week Two

13.08 Over Budget

Paid Off:

Credit Card: $352

Student Loan #1: $324

My first week of my #NoSpendMonth was GREAT! Read about how I spent less than $50 on everything I needed this week!

Week One: No Spend Month

By thesavvysagittarius April 8, 2017No Spend Challenges, No Spend Updates2 Comments

Week One of my No Spend Challenge was not nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be. I had a few ups and downs as I expected, but I really think I excelled all week! Thank goodness for my Instagram #debtfreecommunity. HUGE shout out to The Budget Awakens and Frugal Desperado for doing this challenge with me! All three of these have been amazing sources for me when I wondered if this challenge was really worth it!

Buying supplies for my no spend challenge

The few days before, I spent $21.43 at Super Saver getting chicken, fruit, veggies, and other stuff to make for my meals this week.

Then I spend $25 at Sam’s Club getting enough toilet paper to last through the apocalypse and coffee creamer for the rest of the year. They were both killer good deals and I won’t worry about needing them for a while so I am not constantly using my small budget this month to buy items. (Update: I bought the toilet paper in March and I still have a ton left in August. My coffee creamer lasted until July.)

I put $25 worth of gas into my Jeep! Gas is probably going to be the hardest part of this month because it doesn’t really matter if I go over budget, I have to go to work. That being said, I have been trying to monitor how often I am driving places and if I can make multiple trips into one instead of driving all over town! Most of my driving is to and from work and the gym.

I had to buy more pre-workout and ended up spending $90 at Max Muscle (They still gave me a killer deal) for some pre-workout. BCAA’s are good for sore muscles and recovery. Since I have been insanely sore after my last few workouts, I decided to give it a try. I had a little bit of money in my supplement fund. While it was an impulse, it was worth it to get me through week one.

Week One of my No Spend Challenge!

I think I have done great on my No Spend Challenge so far! I have forced myself to keep packing my lunch no matter how great McDonald’s coffee may sound at about halfway through my 12-13 hour work days.

My coworkers for the week were eating out and I kept sticking with it all week! I desperately wanted some food at work a couple of those days, but I stuck it out and made the best of it. Some of my coworkers were actually nice enough to share their food with me if they didn’t eat it all.

SPENT THIS WEEK:

Wal-Mart Groceries 16.21

Sam’s Club, Groceries 5.48

Sam’s Club Gas: 25.09

Paid Off:

Student Loan #3: $78

Student Loan #4: $92