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Reduce excess crap in your pantry

The Plan

Every so often I realize that I've been spending too much. As a result I take a month (although the first time was 40 days) and 'fast' on spending. It's not easy, but it's quite helpful in many ways. Each time I've done this I have actually made between 50 and 200 dollars. Combine that with the money I didn't spend, and the fact that I reformed my spending, it can have a big impact financially.

 

Welcome to visitors from Budgets Are Sexy! And thanks to J Monee to posting my story

 

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Unless otherwise indicated you can't spend any expected income.
- Salary
- Wages
- Rent owed
- Established court settlements
- Alimony

 

NO spending of already existing money in your possession
- Cash on hand
- Gift cards

The only exception to this is spare change

 

NO stockpiling
- You can't buy gas on the day before it starts unless you need it.
- No loading up on extra food. If you're low on milk that's ok, but you can't buy a dozen frozen dinners

 

If you have any bills, you can pay them.
- Credit card purchases from previous months
- Medical prescriptions
- Mortgage/rent
- Utilities
- Cell phone

 

If you have any thing owed to you, you can call it in
- Owed lunches/dinners
- Money
- Take someone to court
- Stuff that was borrowed

 

You can sell get money by getting rid of things in your home
- Selling on Craigslist/eBay
- Returning things to Home Depot/Lowes (easy to find for any home owner)
- Unused gift cards

 

You can spend money that is refunded to you in that month
- Credit card cash back checks/ gift cards
- Medical reimbursement

 

Anything that you sell or get refunded must be spent after you get the money back.

So if you submit a reimbursement for medical expenses, or sell something online, you can't spend money in anticipation of getting it. If you submit it and you don't get anything sent to you that month... tough noogies. If you find out someone owes you money, you have to wait until they hand it to you.

 

Gambling is allowed with any eligible money (but I don't recommend that)

 

You can consume anything that you already have
- Food
- Toiletries
- Fuel (if you are a big commuter, consider this to be a utility)

 

You can barter
- Make dinner for someone with your own food, get someone to take you out for dinner
- Help someone out with a chore, get food or something else (not money) in return
- Sell anything you receive by doing chores for others
- Sell anything that was borrowed and then returned to you
- Sell anything for profit that you buy that month with eligible money

 

In the end you can potentially.
- Reduce excess crap in your pantry
- Eliminate items you shouldn't have bought
- Get evened out on things that people owe you
- Get in better shape from walking instead of driving
- Hang out with friends more
- Lose weight by eating more frugally (saving and eating leftovers)
- Eat healthier by cooking your own food
- Best of all, next month you'll have a lower credit card bill

 


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Send any questions to sox@vt.edu | Take a look at a previous or the next day

Check out the other spending pages too!

Cash: $81.99 (-$23.94)

Day 20: Apocalyptic flight


Today was a good day if you subtract out the blah of being at work. I went to Kobe for lunch. They have pretty good food but I haven't been theere in about a decade. One of the notable things about Kobe is that they make carrots that take like sweet potatoes. After work I went to the movies and Sonic with Brittany for her birthday. We saw 2012 which was a lot of... hmm.. energy. Definitely a good one to watch on a big screen. We split a Cinnabon pretzel. It was good but strange, was litterally a pretzel with a cinnamon roll attached at the criss cross. I had a splitting headache during the movie so on the way to Sonic I stopped in at CVS to get something to clear that up. Sonic was good of course but I think the headache kinda messed up my appetite. It was definitely good to hang out with Brittany before she left town. Especially since I hadn't gotten to celebrate her birthday last weekend. 20 days down!

Inventory

Acquired: lunch at Kobe, Sonic dinner, Pretzel
Consumed: $23.94, yogurt, lunch at Kobe, Sonic dinner, Pretzel, movie vouchers, movie gift card

Daily cash values:

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