This whole no spend thing has been very hard to maintain these last 6 weeks. We have been more creative in finding no-money solutions, but we have had a series of mishaps that has made the no spend months almost null and void. The series of mishaps and forced spending has included:

1. The air conditioning in my van ceased to exist due to leaks in two lines. No this has not been fixed yet, but I have already spent $160 trying to figure out the problem.

2. The brakes in my van needed to be replaced. The parts costs $175 and at least Rob is doing the work. Many, many thanks to him because I know he was very frustrated with the back brakes!

3. Jordan’s room project is to the point of needing carpet. At least I had money to set aside for that, but the cost of the carpet is giving me a lot of stress. That will go in on August 17th!

4. Two screens in our house needed to be replaced due to circumstances beyond my control. The front door screen was due to the dog trying to go through the front door and the living room screen was due to a teenager getting dropped off with no key to the house and a dead cell phone. Yeah. No idea on the cost of that yet. I need to check with Pro-Build to see if they are done yet.

5. Car search for Shali. I hate to tell anyone what I have spent in gas, phone calls, and Carfax reports to find one. Needless to say, I am up to about $300 in that area alone.

6. A very sick dog taken to the vet with tests being done. That costs $235 (ouch!), but she is 11 years old and I wanted to know if she was starting to have organ failure. She is very healthy and not sick anymore. That is a good thing.

7. The hard drive on my home computer crashed. I don’t know what he is going to be able to do with the hard drive or what the bill will be yet. I am not in hurry to see the bill either!

That is the major stuff and with school starting, I will be seeing more expenses. What I have done to knock down expenses:

1. I made my own granola for the first time! Woo hoo! Very delicious and I have made another batch since.

2. I made my own spray cleaner for the kitchen and dining room table. I love it! I didn’t realize how easy this was to make nor how cheap it was to make! The results are great too – cleans like a charm!

3. I have been saying no to a lot of teenagers’ requests to go to places, do things, and spend money. The movies are the big thing for my teens and the costs just about kills me! This has paid off in big ways.

4. Been taking a hard, long look at re-purposing things at home. Dane wanted to separate his Legos into separate clear plastic shoe boxes. I was able to clean out five of them I had at home holding other things and only had to buy five more. I call that a success! I even got to declutter to do it! Woo hoo! I have also been using empty totes as laundry baskets instead of buying more. I like the totes somewhat better because they hold more too.

5. I have been very intentional in taking a lunch every day. This doesn’t always happen every day, weekly, but I make sure I have stuff for sandwiches in the work fridge as well as yogurt and fruit. I have also been bringing my own drink instead of buying it from the convenience store. The money saved from this adds up very quickly. When I make my own coffee in the morning and bring tea for the afternoons, the money saved adds up!

6. I downgraded my Dish Network also. That alone will save me almost $20 a month as well as signing up for HD for life which will lessen the bill by another $10.

7. I really cut down on how much TV is being watched and how much the computer is being used. I cut that down to 3-4 hours a day instead of all day. I had another reason to do this, mainly Dane, but saving money is a great benefit too!

We as a family need to a lot more to save money. Most of the mishaps were unavoidable, but still account toward the overall money spent. I am grateful the child support is still coming in and thank my ex-husband for paying it. That has helped tremendously!

Thanks for reading! Have a great day!

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