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I was on the Debt Proof Living website and saw an article about how this couple didn't spend a penny on anything but monthly bills for an entire year. Has anyone else read this? It started because they had seen an article in a newspaper about this reporter who was going to try to not spend anything for a year. So, they decided that they were going to try it for a month, but then 2 weeks into the month, they were drinking powdered milk and didn't have money for gas. So, the next step was to not spend anything for 3 months. This time, they bought gift cards in $10 increments to certain stores for gas, milk, eggs, etc. Also, they bought gift cards to a few of their favorite restaurants, so they could eat out a little. They went to the store and bought all of the non-perishables they needed for the 3 months, including toilet paper, feminine products, soaps, shampoos, etc., so they wouldn't need to get those with their gift cards. It turns out that they spent 1/2 of what they normally would have in that same time period. Anyone try anything like this? It sounds interesting, but DH was like, "great, I'm going to eat twigs and berries and not have any gas to drive to work". He's so pessimistic sometimes!! I've decided that I'm going to give it a try for 2 weeks, which most of you probably already do to some extent. If it works, I'll go for the whole month. The one thing I really need is a deep freeze, so I can stock up on meat. My freezer in my fridge is really small.
Here is the link...
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That would be so difficult for me. I like fresh fruit. I also like shopping!!!
It does sound interesting though. I would like to see a comparison of expenditures for the year before, the year they did it, and a year after to see if it really was a life learning experience!
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Thank you for posting this information. I find this inspiring. I have been spending the last few days thinking about my money resolutions for 2007, and one of them is to really cut our spending on food. I also want to cut our spending (or should I say "my" spending - lol) on non-necessity items. I can very easily get sucked into impulse buying. I'll check out the article.
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Originally Posted by Christy_K_
That would be so difficult for me. I like fresh fruit. I also like shopping!!!
It does sound interesting though. I would like to see a comparison of expenditures for the year before, the year they did it, and a year after to see if it really was a life learning experience!
That is why they bought the gift cards to the stores. That way they could get fresh fruit and veggies, as well as milk and other things.
I added the link to the article onto the first post.
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If i could just get dh to follow a budget with me!!! His cigarette expenses each week really add up!!
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This sounds similar to the book 'Not Buying it' by Judith Levine. It is a good read if you haven't read it. She and her dh went an entire year without spending money on anything but bills/food and gas. They ran out of q-tips and her dh wanted her to buy some but she said no way. It covered all her feelings on spending- how some days she just wanted to shop just because. At the end of the year she had an extra 6,000 in the bank and had lost like 15 pounds.
I got the book at the library- but had to wait 3 months to get it- it is very popular. I need to look it over again before I have to return it- it is very inspiring and opened my eyes to the unnecessary day to day spending that I do.
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This blew me away! I had DH read this article and he was shocked too. But we talked about it and he pointed out that they had the advantage of not having any kids. We have a 2 year old in diapers, etc. He said that I was doing a different version of this by stockpiling and getting things with coupons/sales. I'd like to be able to stockpile once a year (or even once every six months) so that I don't have to go out and buy it, but now that I've been stockpiling, I don't want to spend full price on something just to have it conveniently stocked for the entire year from one single buying trip. I'd rather hunt down my deals and get things for dirt cheap! (I love the challenging game!) But this is so cool - it does show how much people can spend and not even realize what it's spent on. I did tell DH we should try doing the gift cards thing though.
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Originally Posted by mnmomma
This sounds similar to the book 'Not Buying it' by Judith Levine. It is a good read if you haven't read it. She and her dh went an entire year without spending money on anything but bills/food and gas. They ran out of q-tips and her dh wanted her to buy some but she said no way. It covered all her feelings on spending- how some days she just wanted to shop just because. At the end of the year she had an extra 6,000 in the bank and had lost like 15 pounds.
I got the book at the library- but had to wait 3 months to get it- it is very popular. I need to look it over again before I have to return it- it is very inspiring and opened my eyes to the unnecessary day to day spending that I do.
The woman who wrote that book appeared on Oprah. Though i haven't read the book myself, i have gotten reviews about it from other readers when i inquired about it on another message board. They all pretty much said the same things: she is pretty much well off to begin with so it's almost like she decided to go slumming for awhile and live like the lower class do(their words not mine!). She didn't struggle to live paycheck to paycheck like alot of people still do. She gave up things like the theater,operas,the ballet,expensive dinner parties. It didn't seem to impress the majority of readers on that board. I say, send the woman somewhere where there is real poverty and see how they live.
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I agree with country~mouse. I can live pretty darn cheap stockpiling and getting good coupon deals.
allgirls
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I really want to learn how to stockpile and use coupons. I used to use coupons, but I didn't feel like I was saving as much as people say they do. Maybe I'll try again.
I also have one in diapers and couldn't just stockpile a years worth, because I don't know what size he will be in by that time. That would suck to have 4 months worth of size 3, if he's in size 4 or 5!
I talked with DH about the gift cards and we decided that we are going to give that a try. Even if it means only getting gas at one station or whatever. I'll have to think it out better.
Gosh, I feel like I have so much to learn!!