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Eat healthier by cooking your own food

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: $41.57 (-$49.11)

Day 25: Kung Pow ignite


Today was a travel day. As you might guess this means BK double cheeseburgers, and dealing with the hassle of paying for gas with cash. The place I stopped this time didn't make you pay in advance though so it was nicer at least. Before I left I polished of my leftover pizza from last night, folded laundry and watched a crummy cartoon version of a book I read when I was younger. Netflix had 'DragonLance' available for streaming and as the reviews stated, it wasn't that good.

The trip up was rather uneventful. I went home to my parents house and hung out with them for a while. We had beef stew and I did a great job spilling things. Mom got into it too. I don't know what my problem was. The good thing is that I spilled OJ all over the sale ads in the newspaper. Take that temptation!

Later on I drove down to see Anna. We had very tasty chinese food for dinner and watched 'Yes Man'. I was suprised how good it was since I tend not to like Jim Carey all that much. After the movie we watched Glee and she shared her birthday cake. The cake was fun because it was from work and as a result had some unique qualities. It didn't have 'Anna' on it, instead it had 'Dr Hodges'. So it's the first time she's had Dr on it, first time to have her last name on it, and maybe first time without Anna on it :). In any case it was tasty. As a special treat for me Anna bought me a Whatchamacallit. I'll be saving that for the trip back to Blacksburg!

Inventory

Acquired: BK lunch, Chinese dinner with leftovers, Whatchamacallit, gas, dinner at home
Consumed: $49.11, Leftover pizza, BK lunch, Whatchamacallit, gas, dinner at home, birthday cake

Daily cash values:

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