I hope you each had a happy Easter! We enjoyed beautiful spring weather while celebrating the most significant event in the history of the world!
April has flown by! We’re starting the last week of our No-Spend Month! So far our no-spend month is going as planned. Our debt payment this month should reflect this sacrifice. Stay tuned next week for that.
Where We’ve Spent
- I spent about $30 to mail baby clothes to my sister. When I had my first boy, my sister gave me all her baby boy clothes (see more ways to get kids clothes free or cheap). After two girls, she is having another boy any day now. I used her boy clothes for both of my boys. I picked out the best things and jam-packed a box with something like 15 pounds of baby boy clothes. I meant to have them sorted, packaged and sent at the end of last month, but it just didnt’ get done. Since she is due soon, I couldn’t wait until next month.
For those of you who are thinking that paying postage for a bunch of used clothes is not very frugal, let me explain. Since the clothes (which are my sister’s entire boy stash) belong to my sister, I really wanted to get them back. She was generous to lend us those clothes, which saved us lots of money in clothing our boys. Spending $30 to send them back to her is small price to pay for the use we got out of them. Babies grow so fast, that the clothes still look nice.
Where We’ve Saved
- I love making special Easter outfits for my kids. My mom often sewed matching dresses for my sisters and me, which is a tradition that I wanted to continue. I sewed the dress for my daughter and the bow ties for my sons with fabric I already had in my fabric stash. In fact, the fabric is from a duvet cover that I got at a rummage sale years ago for $1. I had already used the fabric for a dress for her when she was little.
I used notions and a pattern that I already had in my stash. I got white sandals for my daughter several months ago at the thrift store for a dollar or two. They were new (still had the tag), but one of the straps was broken. With a couple of stitches, I mended the sandal to make it as good as new!
An unsuccessful attempt to get all three of them looking at the camera at the same time.
- Another tradition we have is Easter baskets. I spent $6 on Easter candy last month. I also used some non-Easter candy that we had on hand. My kids don’t care weather it is shaped like an egg or not– candy is candy. I re-used plastic Easter eggs saved from years past. I included a few small things (wooden games, new underwear, stickers, kaleidoscopes) from our gift box. My mother-in-law got the new heavy duty garden trowels to go in their baskets. We made finding the baskets part of the fun. My husband made treasure hunt clues for the kids to follow to find their baskets.
- We dyed eggs laid by our chickens. Even though the eggs are various shades of brown and tan, they still take the color just fine.
- We got together with some other friends for a play date. I had recently told my friend about my blog (see how I’m practicing what I preach about disclosing debt!). As we were leaving, she totally surprised me with a bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs. She saw that I was really missing them this year and made a special trip to the store to get some for me. They were just as wonderful as I had remembered. Is that true friendship, or what?
- We ate asparagus, spinach, chard, and lettuce from the garden.
- We had a park date with friends in town(two play dates in one week is unusual, but it was spring break last week). My mother-in-law had some appointments in town the same day, so we all rode together. She offered to drive. It’s 20 miles each way to town, so that saved us a couple gallons of gas! It’s too early to say, but it looks like we might be under on gas this month even though gas is up to $4 a gallon. Saving on gas is a nice side benefit of a no-spend month!
- When we run out of bread before I have a chance to make bread, we have pancake sandwiches for lunch. This isn’t a new thing for us, but I thought I’d mention it since I did it this morning. I just make pancakes from our homemade pancake mix for breakfast and then use the leftover pancakes to make peanut butter and jam sandwiches for lunch. My husband thinks it’s a fun (and yummy) change from regular PBJs.
How are you doing?
Once again, I look forward to hearing how you are doing, whether you are having an all-out no-spend month or doing some calculated budget downsizing for the month.
- What successes have you had? How have you avoided spending?
- What challenges or temptations have you faced?
Other Posts
If you missed the other posts in the No-Spend Month series, you can read:
- Planning a No-Spend Month
- No-Spend Month Update
- No-Spend Month Menu
- Does a No-Spend Month Really Save Money?
Linked at One Project at a Time, Thrifty Thursday
Let's Do This Together!
We're banding together to pay off some serious debt in 2019! We want you to join in the debt-smashing fun!
When you subscribe, you'll get monthly reminders to report your progress and you'll see how we're doing as a group!
You'll also receive frugal inspiration and financial motivation in your inbox to help you along the way!
Are you ready to smash debt with us?!
Beth @ Goodness Gracious Living says
April 21, 2014 at 12:31 pmI love to reuse the holiday items; for Valentine’s day, I have given my kids treats in the same gift bags for 5 years and they haven’t noticed yet! When they empty them, I fold them back up and put them into the closet. BTW, pancake sandwiches sound like heaven 🙂
Stephanie says
April 21, 2014 at 1:56 pmHa ha! That’s great Beth! Your kids would probably think something was wrong if their Valentine treats came any other way. 🙂
Angie Young says
April 21, 2014 at 2:26 pmI’m so glad I found your blog. Today is the first day of our no spend month. So far so good. Haven’t spent any money today at all.
Stephanie says
April 21, 2014 at 9:09 pmGreat job Angie! You’re off to a good start!
Liz S says
April 21, 2014 at 3:30 pmI am so proud of you…you are doing so well! When my sister and I were little, my great aunt made us easter dresses and also made matching dresses (and bonnets!) to fit our Cabbage Patch dolls. Now my kids both play with the dolls and we still have those dol easter dresses and bonnets. 🙂
My daughter also wore a dress with all the same color polka dots on it…I had gotten it a couple years ago at Gymboree for just a few dollars.
I had the same idea to do a treasure hunt! I did 14 clues and my kids LOVED it! How funny that we came up with the same fun idea. 🙂
Stephanie says
April 21, 2014 at 9:11 pmHow cute that you had matching Cabbage Patch dresses! That’s fun that your kids play with them now. Next time I’m at my parents’ house I need to dig up some of my old things like that. My kids would love it!
Liz S says
April 21, 2014 at 3:53 pmI forgot to mention, we did not buy easter baskets this year…we arranged their little things nicely on one end of the couch for each of them. (One of their gifts was fake colorful diamonds that they’ve both been wanting for a long time–THAT was the one gift we hid in our dryer for them to find at the end of their treasure hunt…the rest of their little candy and gifts were what we put on the couch.) But the funniest part is that we also did not buy anything for them to collect their eggs into when they did their easter egg hunt…we had them use their pumpkin buckets from Halloween! They didn’t mind at all and thought it was neat.
Stephanie says
April 21, 2014 at 9:14 pmWe use the same real baskets every year (though they are kind of a pain to store). We went to an egg hunt at the local park and I thought about sending them with their trick-or-treat buckets instead of baskets (since the baskets are nice and a little more fragile), but I ended up letting the take the baskets (and they survived).
That’s fun that you did a treasure hunt too! It was my husband’s idea to do is last year and it kind of stuck. The dryer is a good hiding spot! I’ll have to remember that one!
Kidsheartrn says
May 7, 2016 at 8:57 pmI know this was a really old post, but I have to comment on the “treasure hunt”. We used to do standard Easter egg hunts. Then the kids got older and I was afraid they were going to outgrow it. So, we did a treasure hunt. I wrote rhyming clues in “riddle style”. Each clue is in a plastic egg and they follow them to finally find the cache. We have four kids (now ranging from 23-13). They still are determined to have the hunt each year. I make the clues very tricky now. It is great when the younger one figures out a clue before the grown-up-kids. I hide each kid’s cached stuff in a specific colour egg and there are always four special prize eggs. These may have gifts or a couple of dollars, depending on how life is going. This has become the highlight of the kids’ family time on Easter. Watching them work together as a team helps mute memories of the bickering we endured when they were all living at home! 😉
Laurie @thefrugalfarmer says
April 22, 2014 at 5:47 amYou’re doing awesome, Stephanie!!! We’re doing better at cutting things down too. I can’t sew, unfortunately, but I didn’t buy any Easter outfits for the kids, instead we just rummaged through the closet and found stuff they already had, which worked out fine. We used to buy them new Easter outfits every year, but it felt good to be frugal about it, you know? Couldn’t agree more about Easter being the most significant holiday of the year too. Glad you had a great one!
Stephanie says
April 22, 2014 at 1:53 pmGood for you Laurie! Way to stick to your frugal guns! I agree– it feels good!
Liz says
April 22, 2014 at 8:36 amYour kids are adorable! I love the bow ties! Too cute. Looks like you had a great Easter. Our April is turning out to be rather expensive between our dog who needed some emergency vet care and now a plumbing issue that needs to get fixed. Looks like we may need a no spend May and June!
Stephanie says
April 22, 2014 at 1:56 pmThanks Liz!
I’m sorry that April is being rough on you. Unplanned expenses are never fun (and plumbing costs a pretty penny). Hopefully April showers will bring some figurative May flowers! 🙂
DC @ Young Adult Money says
April 22, 2014 at 9:58 amYou seem to be doing REALLY good at this no-spend challenge! I was impressed as I went bullet point to bullet point of how you avoided spending money but still were able to enjoy things like Easter. I have never heard of pancake sandwiches and I’m not sure whether it sounds good or not. My wife and I love pancakces, though, so maybe it’s worth a shot?
Stephanie says
April 22, 2014 at 2:01 pmI’ve found that it is really empowering to not spend money. As strange as it sounds, it’s fun!
Pancake sandwiches might be weird with meat and cheese, but if you go the PBJ route, it is actually really good!
E.M. says
April 22, 2014 at 10:22 amI think that $30 to return the clothes to your sister is perfectly reasonable. It’s great that the clothes are getting so much use! The dress for your daughter is so cute, she’s adorable. You guys are doing so amazing! This month has been horrible as far as spending goes, considering we moved several states away. Hopefully we will be getting reimbursed for some of it soon, as it was a job transfer for my boyfriend.
Stephanie says
April 22, 2014 at 2:03 pmThanks EM! Moves are rough! It seems like they always cost more than you expect, plus there are lots of costs you don’t think about initially, but everything adds up. That’s great that you’ll be getting reimbursed for some of it though!
Sicorra says
April 22, 2014 at 10:47 amI love the dress and bow ties. Your children look beautiful. I wish I could sew too. I have actually been thinking about teaching myself.
And I know what you mean about the Cadbury Eggs. They are yummy.
You guys are doing a great job with your finances while still enjoying your life. That is so important when dealing with debt 🙂
Stephanie says
April 22, 2014 at 2:05 pmThanks Sicorra!
Oh my! I went through those Cadbury eggs in 2 days. They didn’t disappoint!
You should totally teach yourself to sew. With so many tutorials online, it’s probably easier than it’s ever been!
Belinda says
April 23, 2014 at 2:45 amSounds like you had a wonderful Easter! You children look so adorable in their Easter outfits!
You are doing so well on your No-Spend journey. Love how you have been so creative and able to adapt…and have continued to eat tasty and nutritious food.
We are not doing a No-Spend Month this month, but have certainly been very strict with our budget in the last few weeks. Always feels so great to have extra cash to put towards paying off debts.
I’m so glad that you got the treat of the Cadbury mini eggs – very well-deserved!
Goodluck in your final week!!!!
Stephanie says
April 23, 2014 at 10:20 amThanks for your encouragement Belinda!
That’s great that you’re being strict with your budget and that you are feeling and seeing the pay-off. When it’s a challenge or a game, I think it helps keep the energy up.
Leslie says
April 23, 2014 at 6:10 pmYou’ve done a great job keeping a holiday inexpensive. The dress and bowties are so cute. I never would have thought that the fabric came from a duvet. I can’t boast anything like a “no spend” holiday, but we definitely cut back on what we spent for Easter this year. Mostly, I just went to the dollar store and shelled out $20 for little things to give the kids. We reuse baskets and eggs from previous years, and my mother always sends a big bag of goodies for the kids, so there’s no fear of them being disappointed.
Stephanie says
April 24, 2014 at 10:03 amGreat job cutting back Leslie! Not only is it good for the pocketbook, I think it’s good for kids to not be overwhelmed with stuff. Keeping holidays simple has helped us focus on the holiday itself instead of all the stuff.
Kim says
May 1, 2014 at 11:25 amI love the idea of a no spend month! My husband is in school for his PhD, and we’re all six figures under… I can’t tell you how much stress it’s caused me, but God is helping me place it in His hands and do the small things that I’m able to do. Looking forward to seeing more tips here, too!
Stephanie says
May 2, 2014 at 11:08 pmWelcome to the club Kim! It’s amazing how much comfort can come from doing all that you can and leaving the rest in God’s hands.
Missy says
May 9, 2014 at 1:04 pmI have spent the better part of the last 2 and a half hours reading through your blog posts. Good thing I’m subbing for the high school computer teacher today! haha!! I’m blown away!!! I’ve always had terrible impulse control when it comes to money and unfortunately my credit score shows it. I’m finally getting my score back up and paying off my debts, but you go above and beyond this. Because of you and the information you’ve been so gracious to share with your readers I am implementing a low-spend (unfortunately I can’t do the no spend…maybe for Sept or Oct) summer. From June 1st through August 30th we will only spend what is absolutely necessary. We will focus on doing free activities and just spending time together as a family. We desperately need a new vehicle and with a low-spend summer I believe that we will have a sizable down payment for a nice used by Sept. Thank you for your inspiration!! I look forward to celebrating your debt free success!! 🙂
Stephanie says
May 9, 2014 at 7:21 pmThanks Missy! Good for you for setting a goal of a low-spend summer! There are so many fun things you can do for free. It’s nice to have a specific goal to work toward! Best of luck!