Post No Spend Challenge Confessions

There was a lovely and thoughtful discussion over at Northern Cheapskate on the difficulties that people would have had with the No Spend Challenge. I want to stress that it was a completely voluntary experience and that while I committed to a no spend month, I wanted people to modify it to their lifestyle and what they felt comfortable with. If a day was what you were comfortable with, if it is a habit you are trying to break, if a week would shed light on your finances- then those were all great and wonderful ways to implement a challenge in your life.

Most of the comments said how difficult it would be to not go on a spending binge after the challenge was over. What a valid point that is! I have also received some comments and emails since the challenge was over wondering if I was having problems with spending and if it will have saved me money in the long run.

The weird thing for me is that other than my little $15 in yarn excursion for some gifts I am working on, a hair cut (which typically happens each month), a necessary birthday gift for my husband, and my $1 Diet Coke that I buy myself after grocery shopping, I had no inclination to run out and spend loads of money.

Here is the weirder part... My husband's birthday is this week and I got him a watch for his 30th birthday (a killer deal that I scored off of eBay). I took it to the mall to get it engraved and they told me it would take an hour before it would be ready. I had all of this time to shop and instead, I took my daughter over to the play area, whipped out my knitting project, and just sat and knitted while she played for an hour.

She was so happy running around and talking to the children and counting the blocks on the floor, and reciting her 1-2-3's at the top of her lungs and I drank all of that in and worked on my project. There was no tug to shop... although I did feel a tiny tug to get a cup of coffee.

What did change is that the challenge did shed light on some problems that I have with my spending.

I now know that there are a couple of days that are harder for me with my work and I am trying to get dinner prepared ahead of time or work on slow cooker meals for those nights to reduce our eating out.

I realized that I need to scale back on outings that cost money and so I am choosing to do one thing a week instead of a few.

I am entertaining more because, frankly, my house looks better when I know I have people coming and it breaks my day up.

And most of all, it has made me conscious of my spending habits and how I can improve them. Even a money-savvy gal like myself, needed a little wake-up call into how we could improve our financial situation.

As for the economy and the negative impact I had on it by challenging others to a No Spend Challenge... well, I won't apologize for that and I know that might anger some people. I live in a part of the country that is particularly plagued with job loss and I am doing what I can to prepare our finances and make our situation stronger. My husband lost his job for a year and it took us five years to recover from that. I want to build a safety net for my family and not spending helped us gain perspective on how we can make that happen.

I might not have the influence of Oprah, but I still hope I made a difference on how families can improve their finances. And can I say to Oprah, I thought of the No Spend Challenge first? You know, just in case someone needs that information for historical purposes.


Are you reducing your spending to protect your family or are you increasing your spending to protect the economy? Do you believe it is an either/or philosophy?

Day 28: 'Tis the Final Day of No Spend! Rejoice!

I am so proud of our family and what we have accomplished on this No Spend Challenge. I can tell you that we spent $55 overall for the month. $10 was spent on my trip to Blissdom and $45 was my recent trip to New York. I am sad that the total was not $0, but we did the best we could with some unexpected travels and expenses.

Let me share with you a little bit about what our family learned through our No Spend Challenge.

• I am more resourceful than I gave myself credit for. Committing to stay within our grocery budget was more difficult than I had expected. I did not realize how often I ask my husband to stop off at the store for one or two items for dinner. I found that many times I could whip up some really great cooking substitutes for the ingredients I needed or I was able to make those items I would have bought.

• Cooking every night is harder than I thought. I love working from home, but it can be challenging to get all my work done and get dinner on the table. Often I am in conference calls or working on a project until my husband gets home. I do love to cook, but I also love the occasional break so I can just relax. I realized during this month how often we actually do eat out. Trying to be inventive in the kitchen every single day was a challenge. I discovered that a box of macaroni or sandwich night was a wonderful way to still give myself a night off without spending money. I also learned the art of stretching a meal as far as it could go, reinventing it, or even double-batching meals helped give me the nights off I needed when I was working.

• I can still give to others. Do you ever feel like you can make very little impact on someone because you don't have the money to do it? I can admit that I feel that way often. There are so many around me that are affected by job loss, medical problems, and depression. Many times I feel so helpless to these situations because I don't have the financial means or connections to help someone out of these situations. It has been weighing very heavy on my heart these days. That is why I am so proud to tell you that I was able to provide five meals for others during this month and hosted countless engagements at my house caring and serving my friends and family. You don't have to have a lot to make a positive impact on someone else. What seemed like small gestures to me means a lot more to someone than you might think. We are so hurried, so busy, so tired. I know I often feel like I have nothing to give anyone. I realize now that a woman of small means can still give with her whole heart and make a big difference to someone else.

• My social calendar needs some revising. I never realized how many of my social engagements centered around spending money. Meeting up with friends for dinner, grabbing lunch for a play date, sharing coffee with a girlfriends are just some examples of things that are typically on my calendar. I will admit that I was a little bummed to miss some of these activities, but I was determined to approach this challenge creatively. We hit the library, we went to our friend's houses for play dates, we packed our lunches, and I hosted my friends at my home instead. What I found was that I had a deeper connection with the people in my life when I could sit at my kitchen table and our children played at my house then I would have at a play area where I am running around after my kids and dealing with crowds.

• I feel more grounded when I am home and not spending. Since we weren't out spending money, we ended up spending a lot more time at home. I suddenly had the time to tackle all of those projects I didn't think I had time to do. In fact, I had time for things that I loved to do. I haven't read a whole book in probably a year and this month I read four entire books in one month. I baked bread. I weeded through things that needed organizing in my house. I actually got caught up with laundry a few of those days. I hung out with my children. I finally felt centered. I felt like a calendar addict who was just given permission to take four weeks off. That first week I felt the withdrawals, but by the second week it began to feel wonderful. I used my “No Spend Challenge” as my excuse to detach myself from anything and everything so I could just relax and do the things I truly enjoy.

• The best things in life really are free. Comfort food. Homemade bread. Fresh clean towels. A delicious little library book. Giggling with my friends over coffee. Playing those dusty board games. Helping others around me. Snuggles from my sweet children. Good music. Dancing with my kids. Knitting. Soaking in the tub. Warm gooey brownies. A good movie. Snuggling up with my hubby on the couch. All free and all wonderfully perfect moments.

Overall, I am really proud of how well we did with our challenge! There were two things that people wanted to know when our challenge was over...what did we do with our saved money and what was the first thing I was going to buy when I could spend again?

I am happy to tell you that with the money saved, we were able to put down a deposit to refinance the interest rate on our home and moved from a 30 year mortgage to a 15 year mortgage, saving our family $90,0000 in interest. That is an investment that was worth every penny invested.

And what is the first thing I want to buy after this challenge is over? I scheduled myself for a good haircut, I am giving myself off a night from cooking, and I'm getting a little yarn fix over at Hobby Lobby. It is the little things that I missed, but the No Spend Challenge brought us great perspective and I am so thankful for the lessons I have learned from this experience.

Please feel free to rejoice with me. Toot your own horns about what you learned from this experience. Heck, I would be honored if you just gave me a pat on the back for my resourcefulness this month- I want to celebrate, friends!!

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Want to join in on the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge? Make sure to add your name to the linky list and read more about our challenge. You can also join our No Spend Challenge Flickr Group and upload your pictures of what you did each day.

To read all the entries on not spending, you can visit our No Spend Challenge category!

Day 25: A Sweet Little Pick-Me-Up

The month is coming to a close and this last week has been dragging a bit for me. I think that is why I was so touched when I got the most wonderful package in the mail that was totally unexpected and unprompted. In it were these beautiful little felt pins and the kindest note thanking me for featuring her site in the notebook entry. It was so kind that it brought tears to my eyes and I want to publicly thank Kimba, from A Soft Place to Land, for sharing this sweet gift with me. She makes the most beautiful handmade things in the world so please, please think of her when buying your next gift and head over to her wonderful Etsy Shop to pick up a pin for someone special in your life. It will make any outfit you have special and I have somehow found how to work one of these pins in with everything I wear. Even my aprons. Or my sweat pants. Or my television appearances. Thank you, Kimba, from the bottom of my heart!

As if that wasn't enough, I got another completely unexpected package in the mail. It is the boxed set of Anne of Green Gables. I hang my head in shame and tell you I have never read these books and I have never watched the movies. In fact, I think I was clueless that I was entering a contest on Metropolitan Mama and was just commenting on family films we had recently seen. I am horrible about entering giveaways and rarely enter them so that is why it was like a wonderful surprise when I found out I won.

I love a little pick-me-up when I am down, don't you?

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Want to join in on the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge? Make sure to add your name to the linky list and read more about our challenge. You can also join our No Spend Challenge Flickr Group and upload your pictures of what you did each day.

To read all the entries on not spending, you can visit our No Spend Challenge category!

Day 23-24: The New York Edition

I am back from The Mike & Juliet Show and am trying to recover from a terrible head cold that I caught on my way out there.

You can watch the segment here on Work-At-Home Scams. I am sure I don't have to tell you that I am disappointed that I did not get to share with women what a wonderful resource MomAdvice.com could be for helping moms navigate working-from-home. My soul purpose to leave my family for two days was to be able to help educate women on work-at-home scams and showcase a true work-at-home success story. Time ran out and I am very sorry for that because I had a lot to share.

You can't control live television, I have discovered, and sometimes the opportunities pan out and sometimes they don't. I once did a news segment on behalf of a company and they would not agree to say my website and the company I was representing because it was too long. After hours of preparation and a sleepless night trying to get ready for it, that was my first taste of how things different things can be, particularly when you are working with a show that is not local.

As I stood backstage this week, I talked with another one of the guests about that mystery shopping scam that was highlighted in the segment. I told her that there are legitimate opportunities out there and that I would be happy to share with her real information on mystery shopping. Perhaps, that was my moment and the reason for me coming there or maybe my story will help another mom who is struggling financially and looking for work. It is desperate times like these in the economy, when people find themselves victims of these scams because they are trying to put food on the table for their families.

I spent $45 on this trip on just eating. It was one of those things that I obviously could not control, which makes me sad since I had done so well on the No Spend Challenge so far. I am bummed, but I am still proud of how well I have managed this month with three out-of-town trips.

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Want to join in on the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge? Make sure to add your name to the linky list and read more about our challenge. You can also join our No Spend Challenge Flickr Group and upload your pictures of what you did each day.

To read all the entries on not spending, you can visit our No Spend Challenge category!

Day 22: Showing the Snow Day Whose Boss

We received another foot of snow outside so it was another snow day at home. What do my boys do on a snowy day like this? They bundled up and headed outside to build the world's largest snow fort and then record themselves with the camcorder destroying it. I would show it to you, but my little guy has a pretty shaky hand. Each time he let out a giggle, it would shake and lose focus from what they were showcasing and I am sure it was one of those things that would only be funny to us. It was so cute to watch them out there though and see Ethan laughing until he couldn't breathe. I was spying on them through the window, loving how enraptured my kids are with my husband.

Emily & I snuggled together on the couch and watched a little Food Network. I then got busy making the cocoa, some homemade waffles, and getting the table set for a warm and yummy dinner.

Wouldn't you know in the middle of cooking that I realized we had run out of syrup. I felt a little panicky, but then remembered that I am a resourceful girl, and pulled the ingredients out of the pantry to whip up some homemade pancake syrup. I love when I am able to make something at home instead of having to run out and buy it. We now have plenty of syrup and we didn't even have to spend any additional money to make it.

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Want to join in on the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge? Make sure to add your name to the linky list and read more about our challenge. You can also join our No Spend Challenge Flickr Group and upload your pictures of what you did each day.

To read all the entries on not spending, you can visit our No Spend Challenge category!

Days 20-21: Snowy Little Days

Snowy day. Comfort food. Homemade bread. Fresh clean towels. A delicious little library book. Snuggles from my sweet girl. Boots and footed pajamas. Dancing with my kids. Warm gooey brownies. A good movie. Snuggling up with my hubby on the couch. All free and all wonderfully perfect moments.


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Want to join in on the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge? Make sure to add your name to the linky list and read more about our challenge. You can also join our No Spend Challenge Flickr Group and upload your pictures of what you did each day.

To read all the entries on not spending, you can visit our No Spend Challenge category!

Day 19: '70's Bunco Style

I seriously cannot imagine missing a month of Bunco, but knew that I would have to sit out this month with the No Spend Challenge.

My girlfriends would not hear of it though and said that they would let me keep my money if I came to play with everyone. My concern was that everyone would feel like I was the charity case, but no one wanted me to sit out. They had all sorts of reasons to justify the spending ("Isn't Bunco as important as paying the mortgage and phone bills?"). With everyone's sweet insistence, I decided to throw in my $5 to play and hoped that I would win it back so no one would have to pony up my money for the games.

The disco ball for our Bunco night was something that had been gathering dust in my basement for the past five years. I brought it to a White Elephant Gift Swap for my mom's group and soon realized that my White Elephant in my house was one of the more sought after prizes. My friend Jessica won it and put it to work for a '70's Bunco night.

The delicious fondue pot and dippers.



The hot '70's attire. Mine came courtesy of my closet, others found their great finds at Goodwill!

The utter relief that I won my money back fair and square so no one had to pay for my Bunco money. Phew!

My amazing Bunco Babes who wouldn't think of letting me not join them for a fun night out!

Thanks to my Bunco Babes, I was still able to enjoy a fun No Spend night out with the girls!

Related Links:

Kentucky Derby Bunco

Retro Housewife Bunco

Wedding Bunco

Day 18: A Little American Idol With Your Homemade Enchilada?

It has been a busy week and I really need to unwind. I decided to whip up some chicken enchiladas with homemade enchilada sauce, Mexican rice (will share recipe later), and lemonade for an evening on the couch with my family. We needed this. I needed this. A little quiet, a lot of good food, and some Simon.

I am pretty proud of how we are doing so far with the No Spend Challenge. I will not say there hasn't been temptations, but I have been doing my best to ignore them as much as I can.

How are you all doing with your own challenges? I hope it is going well! I think of all of you that are doing the same thing as me and wishing we all lived close so we could have coffee at my house.

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Want to join in on the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge? Make sure to add your name to the linky list and read more about our challenge. You can also join our No Spend Challenge Flickr Group and upload your pictures of what you did each day.

To read all the entries on not spending, you can visit our No Spend Challenge category!

Day 17: Play Date Heaven

I packed my coffee and a lunch for two. Emily and I headed over to my friend Jessica's house for a fun play date and visit with our friends. Emily was pretty tired when she got home, but we made it home in time for...


Another play date with another great friend. I actually met my friend Renee (@ReneeCrabtree) through Twitter, if you can believe it. She was my first friend that I made virtually that I met up with in real life. She saw me tweeting about knitting and said she wanted to learn. I offered to have her over and teach her and we have been friends ever since. And her knitting? Amazing! She has been doing lace patterns and whipping up things I haven't even dreamed of trying.

Best of all, she is a work-from-home momma and has two kids around the same age as my children. It is so good to have a friend who can understand the trials of working from home and juggling the children. I am very thankful for my friendship with her and look forward to our knitting dates more than I can say.

Good friends. Good coffee. Good yarn. What more can a girl ask for?

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Want to join in on the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge? Make sure to add your name to the linky list and read more about our challenge. You can also join our No Spend Challenge Flickr Group and upload your pictures of what you did each day.

To read all the entries on not spending, you can visit our No Spend Challenge category!

Notebook Experiments: Can I Make Pretzels Like Auntie Anne's?

Experiment: Can I make pretzels like Auntie Anne's?

Experiment Taken From: Notebook Entry 01.29.09

Materials Needed: Please see maya made for the full instructions.

Results: Remember when I mentioned that I totally failed on a notebook experiment? Well, this is the experiment that I did not end up doing well.

I thought it would be fun (my husband would say ambitious) to make my hubby some heart-shaped pretzels for a special Valentine's Day treat. One of his favorite things in the world is soft pretzels and I thought this would be a wonderful way to show him how much I loved him, particularly during our No Spend Challenge month. I mean, what says I love you more than baking for someone?

The first mistake I made was not using the recipe that maya made had used. I actually used this recipe and used my bread machine to make the dough instead of the stand mixer. The dough was difficult to roll out and kept balling back up together.

After finally maneuvering it into a heart shape, I then had to try and put them in the baking soda solution. My mistake, throwing in too many and leaving them in far too long. When I took them out, I started to wonder if it would have been better not to have put them in the solution.

I'm all like, what in the hay happened to these pretzels?

At this point, I keep pressing on. After mixing dough, shaping dough, dipping dough in baking soda solution, letting dough rise, and getting ready to bake them again there is no way in heck I was going to do that again. And my kitchen was the biggest disaster you have ever seen-flour everywhere, dirty pots and pans, baking soda spilled all over my stove. I was worried, but I was going to wrap up this horrible idea of a project.

Delicious? This picture might be deceiving!

I took the hot pretzels out of the oven. The bottoms were brown, the tops were still doughy. I stuck them back in for two more minutes and melted butter. Yup, another pan! I brushed the butter on top and ran one down to take a picture of it. It actually looked yummy! I gave my husband the first one and he devoured it. He ate a second. Maybe I was a success.

Then I took a bite and I literally spit it on my plate. It tasted like baking soda through and through. Meanwhile, Emily has happily ate almost the entire pretzel and then suddenly looks at me with utter disgust and hands her pretzel back to me. "I no like this, mommy." I think the cinnamon and sugar threw her off from the disgusting taste.

I didn't cry as I surveyed the damage in my kitchen and hurled the poor excuse for pretzels in my trash can. It is the thought that counts, perhaps, but I shall never think this thought again.

Conclusion: I will never ever make pretzels again. I will leave this task to the highly trained people at the mall and I will pay six dollars (or whatever outrageous amount is charged) to have someone else do this for me.

Call me lazy, but some things are better left to the professionals and this is one of those tasks I can't see myself repeating.

If you have made pretzels before, please feel free to share your tips! What has been your biggest cooking disaster?

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Want to join in on the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge? Make sure to add your name to the linky list and read more about our challenge. You can also join our No Spend Challenge Flickr Group and upload your pictures of what you did each day.

To read all the entries on not spending, you can visit our No Spend Challenge category!
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I am so excited to open our Notebook Experiments up to everyone and I hope that you will be able to participate this week or in weeks to come! I will be posting this each Wednesday so please mark your calendars if you plan to participate. You can post your entries at any time throughout the week and then leave your entry in the links below.

We have this handy banner that you are more than welcome to use, but it is not a requirement! It is just something you can add to add a little sparkle to your entry.

Rules for Participation:

1. Choose anything from any of our notebook entries (past or present) to do with your family. We have hundreds of bookmarked links of crafts, ways to save money, and organizing ideas.
2. Complete an experiment from the notebook and share about it on your blog or website. We would love to see pictures of what you accomplished or a detailed description of how your projects turned out. Please include a link to this entry, a link to the original posting of the entry (at the original crafster's blog), and (to help us relocate the project) the date or link of the notebook entry where you found it. You can use the same formatting as our entries or you can just include that information in your post in your own unique way!
3. Post a link below. Please include your name or blog name & a fast description of your project. Example- MomAdvice (WHO bread)

I can't wait to see what you create and what you find inspiring!

Day 16: Playing in the Kitchen

While Emily played with some of her homemade play dough, I worked on making dinner and tidying the house. Of course, there is no fun in having a meal and not sharing it with someone else so I called my parents to see if they would like to join us for dinner. I worked on making my Rotini with Turkey Meatballs, garlic bread, and even managed to make some Oatmeal Muffins (still testing recipes, but I promise to share a really good one when I find it!)

They were so excited to get to spend time with their grandchildren and we looked forward to sharing a meal with them. Sometimes the days feel longer without me running around so much and having some company during the evening helps to break up the length of the day. Best of all, we can spend as much time as we want together while relaxing in our own home. No waiter to give us the boot and I won't even ask for tips!

This No Spend Challenge just gets better and better.

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Want to join in on the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge? Make sure to add your name to the linky list and read more about our challenge. You can also join our No Spend Challenge Flickr Group and upload your pictures of what you did each day.

To read all the entries on not spending, you can visit our No Spend Challenge category!

Day 15: Birthday Parties Without Spending a Dime

We received a birthday party invitation this month and I was a little worried what we could offer to the birthday girl. I am always thankful for my small stash in our gift closet when times like these arise, and headed straight to my closet for this occasion.

In the stash of gifts, I found a book, a few homemade hair bows, and a cute little iron-on transfer for a t-shirt to give her. If I had been more ambitious that morning, I would have definitely made a container of play dough, but my time was limited that day.

The kids had an amazing time at the party and our hostess provided pizza and cake which was a special treat for the kids. The children played until they were near exhaustion and I heard barely a peep on our way home. Sweet quiet!

I now realize that I don't need to go so overboard with party gifts and that my simple gifts can be just as much appreciated.

Day 14: A No Spend Valentine's Day Celebration

I will admit that I really did not feel like cooking this Valentine's Day. I spent the entire day working on a Notebook Experiment (which I will share with you on Wednesday and which I failed miserably at) and I was tired of cooking and cleaning up the kitchen.

I really didn't want to eat out of the pantry though so I threw the ingredients in the bread machine to make my pizza dough and cut all of the little pepperonis into hearts to make the kids smile.

I called the kids to the table and no one commented on the hearts.

"Ethan, look! Mommy made hearts for you & sissy for Valentine's Day? Do you see them? Aren't those cool! It's because I love you so much!"

He started to smile and then pointed to one on the pizza, "That one isn't cut right. It looks like a circle."

Regardless, they all enjoyed the homemade pizza and then we spent the evening playing on the Wii together as a family. The rest of the evening was spent sacking out on the couch with my sweetie and savoring those quiet moments after the kids go to bed.

Maybe we will go out next year... or maybe we will do this same exact thing again, minus the cooking marathon!

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Want to join in on the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge? Make sure to add your name to the linky list and read more about our challenge. You can also join our No Spend Challenge Flickr Group and upload your pictures of what you did each day.

To read all the entries on not spending, you can visit our No Spend Challenge category!

Day 13: Giving To Others When You Have Little To Give

Do you ever feel like you can make very little impact on someone because you don't have the money to do it? I can admit that I feel that way often. There are so many around me that are affected by job loss, medical problems, and depression. Many times I feel so helpless to these situations because I don't have the financial means or connections to help someone out of these situations. It has been weighing very heavy on my heart these days.

I had planned to make a meal for a girlfriend who just had a new baby. It is such a joy to get to bring a meal to a new momma and know that I helped make her day a little easier. Our mom's group provides meals to new moms and I try to sign up as often as I can because it is one thing that I feel so good about doing and nothing brings me more pride than cooking for others.


When I got home, I was tired. It was a long day of running around, returning email after email, and fielding phone calls. I put on a pot of soup for our supper and heard a knock at our door. It was my neighbor and she had come over to see if Ethan wanted to come over and play. The children immediately made themselves at home in my house and I told her to head home and they could play here instead.

As she stood in my kitchen she said to me, "Wow, something smells so good!" While the kids played, I hurried up to make the soup and put it in a jar to run over to her house. She was so surprised and thankful and it was a great reminder to me.

You don't have to have a lot to make a positive impact on someone else. What seemed like a small gesture to me means a lot more to someone than you might think.

We are so hurried, so busy, so tired. I know I often feel like I have nothing to give anyone. I realize now that a woman of small means can still give with her whole heart and make a big difference to someone else.

Day 12: Shopping Day is Finally Here

I never did use my free coffee coupon at the airport and decided to save it as my reward for good grocery shopping. I love to give myself a little reward for staying on budget. It is usually a giant Diet Coke for a $1 at McDonald's, but I thought I would use my coupon instead and stay true to the challenge.

The grocery shopping took much longer than I had anticipated though so once again I find this coupon is still waiting for me for when I need a little pick-me-up.

I budgeted $250 for groceries and I spent $219, leaving me just enough for our milk money for the rest of the month. I tried to cash on the coupons that I have been hording for a rainy day. I hope that we can stay on budget and I can prove to myself that with good discipline and thoughtfulness that we can put away more money than we thought.

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Want to join in on the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge? Make sure to add your name to the linky list and read more about our challenge. You can also join our No Spend Challenge Flickr Group and upload your pictures of what you did each day.

To read all the entries on not spending, you can visit our No Spend Challenge category!

Notebook Experiment & No Spend Day 11: Be My Valentine

Due to the MomAdvice Simplified podcast airing on Thursdays, I am going to be moving our Notebook Entry and Notebook Experiments to Wednesdays instead. I hope you will understand and will come back on Wednesday for these entries. Thank you so much for your patience!
Experiment: Can we craft up some Valentines?

Experiment Taken From: Notebook Entry 02.12.09

Materials Needed: Please see the long thread for the full instructions.

Results: Today's Notebook Experiment & No Spend Challenge picture are one and the same. Since we are not spending money this month, we have had to get creative with our Valentine's this year and are making them at home.

I loved the round-up of cute homemade Valentine's on the long thread and we decided to download and print the ones that she made available on her site. Unfortunately, we don't have a color printer so they are not nearly as cute, but they were free, which makes them the best kind of little love notes in the world.


Conclusion: This was a fun and free activity that I could do with the kids. Ethan is so excited to give them to his friends and I am so happy that we saved some money in the process. Thanks to the long thread for sharing such a sweet and fun little template!

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Want to join in on the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge? Make sure to add your name to the linky list and read more about our challenge. You can also join our No Spend Challenge Flickr Group and upload your pictures of what you did each day.

To read all the entries on not spending, you can visit our No Spend Challenge category!
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I am so excited to open our Notebook Experiments up to everyone and I hope that you will be able to participate this week or in weeks to come! I will be posting this each Wednesday so please mark your calendars if you plan to participate. You can post your entries at any time throughout the week and then leave your entry in the links below.

We have this handy banner that you are more than welcome to use, but it is not a requirement! It is just something you can add to add a little sparkle to your entry.

Rules for Participation:

1. Choose anything from any of our notebook entries (past or present) to do with your family. We have hundreds of bookmarked links of crafts, ways to save money, and organizing ideas.
2. Complete an experiment from the notebook and share about it on your blog or website. We would love to see pictures of what you accomplished or a detailed description of how your projects turned out. Please include a link to this entry, a link to the original posting of the entry (at the original crafster's blog), and (to help us relocate the project) the date or link of the notebook entry where you found it. You can use the same formatting as our entries or you can just include that information in your post in your own unique way!
3. Post a link below. Please include your name or blog name & a fast description of your project. Example- MomAdvice (WHO bread)

I can't wait to see what you create and what you find inspiring!

No Spend Challenge Day 10: Caring For What I Already Own

Yesterday I escaped the house and avoided all of the things I needed to do. Today, I began to tackle the mounting projects that have been looming. I whipped open the windows to circulate some fresh air into the house, tackled a few spring cleaning items, and tried to get our house back into shape. There is still much to do, but I got a good start on things.

I will admit it, normally I would have left to escape. Not necessarily to shop, but definitely to do something to get away. The No Spend Challenge has brought to light the fact that many of the busy things I do are just that... busy things. With no reason to spend, I can focus on taking care of the things I already possess. That is a good feeling!

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Want to join in on the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge? Make sure to add your name to the linky list and read more about our challenge. You can also join our No Spend Challenge Flickr Group and upload your pictures of what you did each day.

To read all the entries on not spending, you can visit our No Spend Challenge category!

No Spend Challenge 9: Opening Pandora's Box

The laundry is laying in piles. The suitcase left unpacked. The bills lay in a stack. Do I address any of them today? Nope! I am sitting at my computer trying to play catch-up since I didn't have my weekend time to work.

I headed to my best friend's house this evening and left all the piles and to-dos for another day. She made me an amazing dinner that I didn't have to prepare. The kids played, we sipped coffee, and I knitted a little. Our children ran around until their cheeks were pink and they were sweaty and out of breath. And we sat at her kitchen table and gabbed until bedtime.

I headed home to do my work and put on my favorite free radio station- Pandora. This is a picture of what it looks like on my computer. Can you guess which radio station is my husband's in this shot? I bet it will make you giggle! He might murder me for pointing it out, but I can't resist!

A little catch up, a little Adele, a little quiet. The best things in life truly are free!

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Want to join in on the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge? Make sure to add your name to the linky list and read more about our challenge. You can also join our No Spend Challenge Flickr Group and upload your pictures of what you did each day.

To read all the entries on not spending, you can visit our No Spend Challenge category!

No Spend Challenge Day 8: Recovery

I will have to share more about days 6-8 in a separate post since it will require lots of photo editing and captions, but I just returned home from Blissdom '09 and I had the greatest time with my girlfriends ever.

I will admit it, I worked it hard while I was at Blissdom. There wasn't a single drop of a moment that was going to be wasted while I was there. I almost didn't even want to go to sleep and just knock on random doors and see if I could meet more people. There were so many great bloggers there that is hard to even know where to begin, but the friendships I have made are lifetime ones.

The real question is, how did I do on a weekend away from my family on spending? I hang my head and tell you that I did spend money. My grand total for spending was... $10. I almost had made it through the whole weekend on just my little gift cards, but yesterday I started feeling bad midday and knew I would need to eat something before boarding my next flight. I got a sandwich and water that put me into the "spend" category, but I am still really proud. I was one of the lucky ones though- dinner invitations and even a fabulous breakfast out. I can't wait to share the pictures!

I feel so lucky and so very tired. My dancing shoes wore this girl out. I will admit though that I don't think I have ever felt quite so confident or free to be me! I was just super proud to be there!

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Want to join in on the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge? Make sure to add your name to the linky list and read more about our challenge. You can also join our No Spend Challenge Flickr Group and upload your pictures of what you did each day.

To read all the entries on not spending, you can visit our No Spend Challenge category!

No Spend Challenge Day 6: Embracing the Freebies

The biggest challenge lays before me... tackling a weekend in Nashville without spending any money. I did admit that I might need to rely on gift cards a bit, and this is exactly why. I have saved two gift cards- an American Express gift card for $25 (given to me for bag check-in at another event and I carried my bag to save the card) and loads of gift cards for Starbucks given to me over the holidays. I imagine that these are going to get me by, but a lot of factors come into play here. Who will accept the American Express gift card? How much food will be at the Blissdom conference? And the fact, that I have numerous stomach problems that are aggravated by poor diet when traveling, how healthy can I eat with my gift cards?

I scan the paper quickly before I leave. I am horrible about coupons and don't generally spend a lot of time clipping them, but once in awhile you will find a coupon that makes it all worth it.

This coupon for a McDonald's free coffee is going in my luggage and I am hoping to redeem it at the airport for my morning cup of coffee. I love a coupon where a purchase is not required.

Fingers crossed that I can make it this weekend without spending a dime!
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Want to join in on the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge? Make sure to add your name to the linky list and read more about our challenge. You can also join our No Spend Challenge Flickr Group and upload your pictures of what you did each day.

To read all the entries on not spending, you can visit our No Spend Challenge category!

Day 5: The Most Glamorous of No Spend Days

I am guessing that this is going to be the most glamorous of no spend days because Redbook Magazine came to my house for a photo shoot. I mean, it doesn't get more glam than that! I had the very fabulous and super sweet Jonathan Sprague (and his assistant Brittany) fly to good ol' Indiana to take my picture for a story that is slated to air in April.

The clothing and shoes? Those were borrowed and then styled by the best fashonista in town, Kathy Friend. The make-up artist? Gabrielle from Camellia Cosmestics. The set? My little home transformed into a studio set. The coffee? My little coffeemaker hummed along for me all day. My nerves? Shot.

We are sharing our family's journey into becoming debt-free with the Redbook readers and I can't wait to see how the story turns out. I am so proud of what we have been able to accomplish and this feels like a wonderful reward for all that hard work.

A big thank you to Kathy & Gabrielle for making me look fabulous, Jonathan for flying out here to take my picture, Becky for taking care of my Emily so I could accomplish this, and my husband for taking care of Ethan while his wife played dress-up!

I have a feeling, this is the best no spend day yet!

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Want to join in on the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge? Make sure to add your name to the linky list and read more about our challenge. You can also join our No Spend Challenge Flickr Group and upload your pictures of what you did each day.

To read all the entries on not spending, you can visit our No Spend Challenge category!

No Spend Challenge Day 4: Fun In a Box

This box has been sitting in our garage for the past six months or so and we like to get it out when we have had a particularly long day with the kids. We hand them a big recycled coffee can full of crayons and let them go to town coloring, creating, and pretending in this box. When they lose interest in it, the box is drug back out to the garage until another long day comes along.

No Spend Challenge Day 3: Glam Up The Lunchbox

No eating out means I need to pack up lunches for my husband. I normally do this, but have a desire to make these lunches extra special so he won't mind this No Spend Challenge so much. A sprinkle of fresh parsley and a little bit of grated cheese make his lunches a little more glamorous this month.

I truly adore cooking and I love when he opens up his containers at work, after a quick zap in the microwave, and his coworkers curse him as their stomachs growl in protest. I admit it, I am a total showoff and completely live for his work feedback.

"Did anyone say anything about your lunch?" I slyly ask. "WHAT? No one was there! They must smell this! They must!"

I live for little moments like those.
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Want to join in on the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge? Make sure to add your name to the linky list and read more about our challenge. You can also join our No Spend Challenge Flickr Group and upload your pictures of what you did each day.

To read all the entries on not spending, you can visit our No Spend Challenge category!

No Spend Challenge Day 2: Super Cuts

The boys needed haircuts and luckily I have become quite familiar with a pair of inexpensive Conair clippers. My husband and son each take a seat on my thrifted bench and I give my son a good old-fashioned buzz cut. Next, I work more cautiously on my husband's hair so he still looks sharp for his job. They both seem happy with their new looks and I tidy up the bathroom that is now covered in hair.

I look forward to the haircuts al fresco to help with the clean-up this summer.

Each time I do this though, I imagine that money all fanned out that I would have had to spend at the Super Cuts, and it makes me feel like a superstar.

Want to be a superstar? You can read my haircutting tips right here. Remember though, these tips don't come from a professional, but my boys look pretty great!

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Want to join in on the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge? Make sure to add your name to the linky list and read more about our challenge. You can also join our No Spend Challenge Flickr Group and upload your pictures of what you did each day.

To read all the entries on not spending, you can visit our No Spend Challenge category!

No Spend Challenge Day 1: Reduced Commitments

We begin the month by getting the calendar ready with the month's worth of activities. Normally, the calendar is overflowing with commitments and fun things to do with the kids. As I jot down the activities, I begin to see the many things that we won't be able to do. No playdates that cost money (meeting up at fast food restaurants, the mall, the bouncy house) and many solo activities that I would have loved to have been a part of (a mom's night out dinner & fundraising night at a local restaurant). I suddenly feel a little wave of melancholy and then a tad bit of guilt. I wanted to do this, it was my "grand idea" as my husband refers to this challenge, and day one has already greeted me with a little disappointment.

I think it will be time to get creative with my friends. Impromptu playdates at my house instead and coffee get togethers with my favorite friends at my house. I will have to embrace my New Year's Resolution this month for simplicty and maybe just enjoy some blank spots in those days instead.

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Want to join in on the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge? Make sure to add your name to the linky list and read more about our challenge. You can also join our No Spend Challenge Flickr Group and upload your pictures of what you did each day.

To read all the entries on not spending, you can visit our No Spend Challenge category!

Will You Take The No Spend Challenge?

Today is the first day of my family's challenge to not spend money. Starting today, I will be uploading a new picture to our site and the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge Flickr group that has been set up. I can't guarantee I will be writing something every single day, but I will try to photo document our journey.

Again, you can tailor the challenge to your family and what you need to do. We bought groceries, some family's approach a no spend challenge by raiding the pantry. We chose a month, you can choose a week. Don't be limited by my restrictions at all!

If you are looking to eat from your pantry, I encourage you to visit 5 Dollar Dinners this month and visit Erin's frugal recipes to get some wonderful ideas. You can also visit our recipes, The Aldi Queen blog, or even our general food section for some inexpensive ideas to accomplish your challenge.

However you do it, whatever length of time you do it...heck, even if you fall off the wagon doing it, I am proud of you for trying!

For moral support among participants, please leave your name on the link list and let us know that you are participating. We can visit each other's sites and offer support as we take on a great challenge with many benefits!

To access all of the information on the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge, please visit this link to read all of the entries!

No Spend Month You Tube Introduction

First, I just wanted to thank everyone who has expressed interest in taking on our No Spend Challenge. On February 1st, I will be posting a link list where you can add your updates and share about your experience with not spending money. I think this is going to be so much fun and it will be great to have moral support as we venture into the habit of not spending.

We also have a MomAdvice No Spend Challenge Flickr group and you can join by making a commitment towards not spending for a set amount of time and taking a picture of it. It could be a day, a week, a month, or even a year. You can make that commitment to your family and share a picture of what you do each day when you are not spending money. Get your finances back on track and have fun documenting the creative ways you spend your time together.

Second, here is our first You Tube video about the No Spend Challenge. I think this truly captures how goofy our family is and how hyper my children are. Emily was napping when we filmed this so she missed being in the show this time, but I am sure she will be in the future episodes. I don't know if we are half as funny as we think we are, but we thought it was hilarious! I wanted to capture who was MOST enthusiastic and who was LEAST enthusiastic. It will be interesting to see how this all progresses!

The MomAdvice No Spend Challenge

Our family is planning to take an adventure for the month of February into the world of no spending. We have sat down as a family and discussed the benefits of doing this and what we hope to get out of this challenge.

What can be gained though from a no-spend month can prove to be of great value for families. When you are not able to spend, you suddenly see how plentiful your life already is. The richness of what is around you and how little you truly do need to be happy quickly comes into focus.

As a consumer, we become conditioned to spend so I imagine that first initial week will prove challenging. I know the rewards are great though for families who can overcome that hump and break the cycle of spending. A no-spend month does come with challenges, but it also comes with the gratification of knowing that you have let your bank account grow!

When we say no spending, we mean no spending outside of our normal daily living expenses. Some things will still need to be purchased in order to keep the lights lit, food on our table, and diapers on our baby. This is what we have set aside for the month:

Clark Family February Spending Plan:

$250 for the month for groceries (including diapers)
Normal utility payments
Gas for cars

We will be doing our best to not spend on anything else for the month and share our experience with you.

I really wanted to come up with a creative way that people could share about their No Spend Challenge that would be fun and also insightful into what people do when they aren't out spending money. My brilliant idea was to document it by creating a Flickr group where people could pick up a No Spend Challenge any day, week, month, or year that they would like to document their adventure.

To join the MomAdvice No Spend Challenge group, you simply need to make a commitment towards not spending for a set amount of time. It could be a day, a week, a month, or even a year. Make that commitment to your family and share a picture of what you do each day when you are not spending money. Get your finances back on track and have fun documenting the creative ways you spend your time together.

Would you like to take a no-spend adventure with me? Just think of all of the free time you will have if you are not out shopping and spending for a month.

Here are a few ideas for how you could spend all of that free time!

• Get your finances back on track by trying out a free program like Mint.com and get in better touch with your past spending.
• Dust off those old board games and spend an evening playing them together.
• Watch free movies on Hulu.com or take out the DVD collection and watch your favorite movies again. If you are really craving a new release, sign up on Redbox.com to get a free movie code every Monday and use that to get your movie fix for the month.
• Break out that really old game system and relive those games again with your kids.
• Dig through your old cookbooks and try out recipes using some of the ingredients in your pantry.
• Play a game of Iron Chef with your spouse and let your children be the judge of the best dish by having your very own cooking contest. You might be surprised that even dad’s toasted Pop-Tart might be the judge’s favorite in this contest.
• Actually use the craft supplies that you have bought and start tackling some of your crafty ideas for the holidays.
• Find the floor in your laundry room.
• Look for free community activities that you could do as a family.
• Volunteer or find things in your home that you could donate to those less fortunate.
• Visit the library and actually read the books.
• Clip coupons and plan your grocery shopping in advance for next month.
• Take a wonderful and delicious nap.
• Learn a new skill set or check out books on self-improvement to help make your life better or easier.
• Get free museum passes from the library or check the local museum’s websites for information on their free admittance days. Don’t forget to pack a lunch!
• Have a potluck-style swap night with your friends and exchange three of your things for three of theirs.
• Read that pile of magazines or newspapers that never gets read.
• Exercise.
• Listen to free music on Last.fm and make a fun mix of songs you listened to when you were dating your spouse.
• Take a bubble bath.
• Play on the floor with your children.
• Organize your closet and take inventory of your wardrobe.
• Put batteries in the children’s toys to make them “new” again.
• Tackle a home improvement project that you bought supplies for, but still haven’t finished.
  

However you decide to spend your no-spend day, weekend, week, month, or year, I hope that it brings into focus how great it can truly be to not spend and that it gives you the opportunity to build meaningful relationships with those around you.

The group will always be open so if February is not a month you can commit to, feel free to commit at any time.

Next week (starting on 1/29), we will be sharing on The MotherLoot an adventure that we got to take with Mercedes. The company is coming out with a more budget-friendly car and we will be giving away $50 Visa Gift Cards for each day that the campaign will run. In total, $250 of gift cards will be given away and I hope I can give these to a no-spend participant to give you a night out on us! I will be sure to let you guys know when these posts start running so you can enter to win!

Would you like to join a no-spend challenge with me? How long will you be committing to? (Feel free to grab our banner and share about your adventure on your own blogs!)