May I Save Challenge!

I have frequently seen no spend challenges on other frugal sites, and I watch intently to see if they do it and how they do it. I guess it's kind of like window watching into people's lives. I am the type of person who, when I drive by the beautiful old apartment buildings downtown at night, I love to slow down just to catch a glimpse of their living rooms. I guess that's why I don't have a problem sharing such personal information about what I purchase. I like to read about others' purchases so I contribute as well. I suspect there are many others like me because when I share a shopping trip, my traffic goes up! I am also a teacher at heart and hope what I do helps others.

Anyway, I am going to try something new this month. Generally, I budget $100 per number of Saturdays in a month for food, personal products and pet food for our family of five people, three dogs and a cat. This is still less than the Government's thrifty plan that food stamps are based on (which does not include non-food items), however, I am beginning to think even this is too much for our family because our stockpile is overflowing. So it's time to reduce my stockpile and save some money.

This idea began as I worked on our taxes the night before they were due. Yes, I am a procrastinator. I have to go back in time a little to explain. Way back in 1997 (pre-children) I filled out my application to get my Master's at one of our local universities. At the same time I picked up another application and filled it out for my husband. I called and told him that he was going to get his Master's at the same time. My wonderful husband of two years was okay with it. We both worked and took night classes. He graduated in 1999. It's now 2009 and I am still writing off the interest for his school loan which is now around $1,000. That means we have been paying on this loan for ten years. T-E-N YEARS! I am so ready for it to be gone. I want it gone by the end of the year. That means I have to pay some extra, around $300. I won't even talk about my school loan - it's probably on the lifetime plan. However, I can do something about this payment.

So for the month of May, I am cutting my budget down to $80 total. That's enough to buy milk, fresh produce, some pet products, and free or nearly free deals. This will kill two birds with one stone: reduce my stockpile and pay down this one debt. To keep me honest, I am going to tell you what I buy and the running total. To start this fun project, I must tell you that I have a few other resources to draw on. I have twenty dollars on a Publix gift card from a recent rebate, a $25 Rite Aid gift card from a prescription transfer (and may get $50 more), around $20 in ECBs for CVS, $10 in Register Rewards and $8 on a Walgreen's gift card from rebates. Oh, and don't forget, a great collection of coupons! I still plan to shop, let's face it, it's fun. I will just aim for basics and the free or nearly free products. I'm hoping it will be good practice on reducing our weekly budget.

If you have something that you would like to pay off, feel free to join me in this challenge.