Wide Open Wallet
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Another no money day
Author: Ashley9 Jul
We had another no money day yesterday. I’ve really been thinking about this quite a bit since the other day. I think no money days are much easier on my soul than the no gas days I was trying to do. No gas days means that I can’t leave the house, but no money days are a totally different story.
My husband has been brining his lunch to jury duty so he didn’t spend any money. The kids and I went to visit a friend and then later we went to McDonalds to play in the play area. We didn’t get food, we just played. Here’s where it gets sticky. They have Transformers in the kids meals right now and my daughter really wants one. I let her take her allowance and buy one of the toys. As a family we did spend $2. But it didn’t come out of the household budget. Does that count as spending money? I didn’t want to tell her how to spend her allowance. That kinda defeats the purpose of giving her an allowance. She earned it, I think she should be able to spend it how she wants.
To me a no money day means just that, no money. Period. On my last no money post several people said that they go 3,4, or 5 days in a row every single week without spending money. I need more info about that. How you guys pull that off? I know you take your lunch to work, that’s fine. But you never stop for gas, or swing by the grocery store on the way home from work? You never run out anything during the week? Do we have different ideas of what it means to have a no money day?
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4 Responses for "Another no money day"
Grocery shopping is done in one big trip every two weeks (when we get paid). Supplemental trips are rare, and usually occur only when putting off the big trip for some reason. If we run out of something, we live without it until we go shopping unless it’s something like toilet paper. Lunch is taken to work 3-4 days a week as we have a standard once a week lunch date, with the occasional forgotten lunch or lunch with coworkers. Gas is always filled all the way up, also usually every two weeks (we carpool and live within 10 miles of work and often carpool with friends for outings).
Bills tend to be paid together a couple times a month, maybe 5 days out of the month taking automatic payments into consideration. So altogether for regular expenses, 10 days we are spending money if none of the days overlap. Errands/ entertainment/ eating out/ fun money has a habit of getting spent on Fridays and Saturdays. So that’s another 8 days at worst. So worst case is spending on just over half of the days of the month. This is rare, as there is usually a lot of overlap in spending days.
Really though, it’s all about sticking to your budget. You only spend on what you budgeted for. Cut out the splurging. Plan your spending. I also generally don’t nickel and dime my fun money away. I usually buy ‘X’, or buy x amount of something(clothes, books, etc). Obviously, this requires a bit of will power. I’m still so excited about having fun money at all and being able to buy new socks when I need them.
I agree with you that a no money day is really no money, and it happens at least a few times a week (yesterday was a no money day, for instance, and today will also be one I believe, and probably tomorrow). I usually get gas once a week, groceries once a week, etc. I’m not sure how it’s harder or easier for people… I know that typically if I’m working, it’s likely to be a no money day.
I think your no money day should not impinge on your daughter’s spending — after all, she’s not the one who has debt!
And with your good example she might not ever have any.
For us, a no money day would mean that no money leaves my wallet. We walk everywhere, and usually spend the day at the park or the library (both within walking distance, although it’s quite a walk!).
In addition, and perhaps more importantly, we plan our spending ahead of time. No spending days are useless if we blow our budget the following day
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