May NEEDS to be a "Minimal spending month" for us. Anyone else?

[blane,j,&morgansmom]

Im in! I guess I have to drop this wonderful idea. My ods broke his arm and therefore there will be a lot going out! But I wish everyone luck! You can do it!!

May:
1- 3.00 cokes (trip to er, had to occupy kids)
2- 3.00 cokes before church - yes, I need to work on this!
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4- grocery shopping today we shall see what the damage is!
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[Mysweetseven]

I'm in....we have so many expenses in July/August even if I didn't spend a dime in May/June it would still be a stretch.

May 1-$0 (off to a good start)
2-$1.50 soda at the conv store. $30.00 gas for van ($31.50)
3-Dentist appts: $20 gas, $2.00 cokes for DH and I, $6.42 BK drive thru for lunch for 6 of us so not too bad, $3.00-2 avacados. ($31.42)
4-Grocery shopping day--this one could hurt.
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[justjacqueline]

Originally Posted by Mama2ManyBoyz Hurry!!!!!!! Sorry I assumed all you thrifty Mama's would have heard about it...Walmart has the basic Kindle for $79 and you get a $30 Walmart gift card with purchase, making it pretty much $50. There are a few other Kindles included, but not sure which ones. Hurry up, there gonna go fast once people catch wind of the sale!

Is this for the FIRE?

[Mama2ManyBoyz]

Originally Posted by justjacqueline Is this for the FIRE?

You would have to call, I have no idea. I just go the basic Kindles.

[justjacqueline]

My DSD has already requested the Fire for Christmas. I'm thinking ahead and looking for a deal. And if she changes her mind by then, oh well. LOL. If I find a deal and I buy it that's what she's getting

[2queens&1princenmyhouse]

I'm reading along for inspiration. We'll be bleeding money in May, but I'm on the bandwagon in June and July.

Originally Posted by hiding57 I need to not spend to, we had $2500 out on cars last month and four (!) times as much as usually on food and eating out. It was insane. And this month expecting 2-3k in medical bills. Thankfully we did get about that in tax return but I wasn't expecting it to go so quickly. Anyways we eat on the run so often. I need some ideas for things that I can bring in the car that are something less than total junk food but are actually food. Like granola bars are ok but at say $1.50 a box a box will not fill as well and two mcdoubles kwim? And most other things rot and or are messy for car food. Ideas appreciated.

Originally Posted by Mama2ManyBoyz I KNOW that darn dollar menu does me in every time! There has got to be some alternative. If you know you will be needing to eat a meal, what about pigs in a blanket? They may not be piping hot, but still yummy. I'm gonna start bringing a cup of ice and a can of pop to avoid all the $1 McD pops. Even if I don't want the drink immediately, I'll be good if I bring the ice with me to get it cold later. How about just some of your favorite snacks, it's gotta be cheaper then the drive thru, you just have to make it something appealing. Any other suggestions for HOT meals on the go though???

We do alot of meals on the go. We only do hot if we are planning to eat it from the house to our destination (practice, meeting, etc.). I just cook a regular meal and then put it into one of the easylunchbox containers. Each kid gets a box and a pot holder (so it doesn't get too hot on their lap). They eat it on the way and when we reach our destination, I put the lid back on the container and stack them up in a large tote bag or cooler. That's mostly so I gather all of the food items and don't find a gross mess under one of the seats a month later.

If we are out and will need to eat before making it back home, I do cold items. I have found that using tortillas to make wraps works better than sandwich bread (I think it gets soggy). We do mostly deli meat/cheese since that is what my kids prefer, but I also like bean burritos or chicken/tuna salad, pb&j roll-ups, etc. Again I use the elb and put the wrap in the "entree" section with chips or crackers around it. The two side sections get some cut up fruit and veggies. I try to make them as mess free as possible--sometimes it works and sometimes not.

I've also done mini 7 layer dips by layering the ingredients in the medium sized ziploc containers and then giving the kids bags of tortilla chips for dipping. The same can be done with egg salad or other salads and crackers. My kids are older, so they can accomplish this without "too" much mess, but with younger ones, this might be difficult. If this is the case, small bowls of cheese cubes, ham cubes, sliced strawberries or apples dipped in OJ (to prevent browning), etc. might work better... or at least it would be easier to clean up.

In general I try to keep pretzels, dried fruit and/or pb crackers in the car for the "OMG I'm going to die of starvation" moments. In pinch situations, I hit the dollar menu and get double cheeseburgers and water and then eat the pretzels. Usually it is enough to get us home.

[AfWife8405]

I'm in also. Today is May 2nd, but I will included yesterday. My sister is visiting until May 7th and I need to make sure I don't use it as an excuse to not focus on spending. We plan to go to the beach a few times (free!) and spend one day at the Zoo. I am going to buy yearly passes at the Zoo so we have something to do with the kids over the summer. We had them last year and used them quite a bit.


May 1 - $4.14 @ Starbucks $24.04 @ Target on books for the kids, $16.38 @ Commissary on groceries
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[b bright]

Man...I almost just gave in and sent some money on a diaper I don't really need. Lol. It was only $10 though. For a used lil Joey. oh well, some other time I supposed.

[bluecandi]

We are totally bleeding money lately!! I way blew the grocery budget. It was technically crap we needed.....I bought dh a bunch of his Breakfast to go items, and some sandwhich fixins so he will stop eating out twice a day. Now we just need to not spend anything else for the next 8 days. Im looking for a second prn job. I found one thats rigjt up my alley for a defense contractor. We gotta get ahold of this. Urgggg

[2queens&1princenmyhouse]

Originally Posted by bluecandi We are totally bleeding money lately!! I way blew the grocery budget. It was technically crap we needed.....I bought dh a bunch of his Breakfast to go items, and some sandwhich fixins so he will stop eating out twice a day. Now we just need to not spend anything else for the next 8 days. Im looking for a second prn job. I found one thats rigjt up my alley for a defense contractor. We gotta get ahold of this. Urgggg

I had to do a double take b/c I added an "o" when I read the above word!