AUGUST Challenge: Living Off Of Your Stockpile. WINNERS IN POST #737

[cody82414]

Is anyone up for an AUGUST challenge to live off of your stockpile and spend as little out of pocket as you can?


These are the guidelines:
*** We are going to do a one month challenge contest by living off your stockpile and only buying the bare necessities each week.
Post your weekly results here.
*** Each week I will try to chime in with our family's weekly "living off stockpile" issues/results/recipes/receipts.

Anyone else up for the challenge?

Exceptions:
1. Rolling RR, Catalinas, ECBs, existing gift cards, rebate funds that come in during the month.
2. Finding Items for FREE.
3. Finding items for less than $.10 on the dollar.

Can you do it?


FAQ

Q. What about fresh fruit, veggies, milk, eggs and bread?

A. Buy all your necessities each week to go with what you have in your pantry/freezer. This is all about cleaning out your stockpile. Here is an example: Say your usual weekly food budget is $150, and you would like to spend only $50 per week on the bare minimum, like veggies, fruit and milk. You would be saving $100 a week for the month.

Q. Can we roll ECBs, RR, and Catalinas?

A. Of course! Only the out of pocket expenses count as what you have spent for the week. Here is an example: We have $40 in ECBs and $12 in Catalinas. If I go to the store and use my ECBs, only the amount of money I spent on items after coupons and ECBs would count toward my weekly expeditures.

Q. What does $.10 on the dollar items mean?

A. We can't resist a sale can we? Of course not, that's probably why we have stockpiles in the first place! Example, So if your local grocer is having a sale on an item that is normal $4.00 and with a sale price and coupon discount you can get the item for $.40 or less, than it doesn't count towards your weekly expeditures.

Q. How is the winner of the stockpile challenge figured?

A. The winner of the stockpile challenge is the person that spends the least amount of out of pocket expenses for the month. Each week anyone participating will post their weekly out of pocket amount. I will keep an accurate count in the original post. At the end of the month, the person with the least amount of money spent for the month will win.

We don't want you to starve! Complete nutrition is a must, especially for small children. This is going to be fun, and hopefully we will all learn some valuable information about ourselves about sustainability and ingenuity.

Q. What about gift money? Or Rebate checks that come in during the month?

A. Simply speaking, my goal is to not spend money out of pocket.
Of course we all have "standard" expenses, such as mortgage/rent, car payments, insurance, utilities, medications, etc.
It's all 'other' money's: including food - which I feel includes dining out, hba, household items, entertainment, et al.

What I do not expect is those involved to stay home all month, with the lights off, eating cold cereal and milk (although I enjoy cereal ). Just challenge yourself and those in your family to participate, and we will share our experiences and ideas here.

Q. My state taxes food. Does tax count into our oop?
A. Yes. Tax is part of our oop (unfortunately, for some of us)

Q. Do perscriptions count?
A. GOSH NO!!! PLEASE don't forego your medications or those for your lo's just to not spend money. No. Perscriptions/meds do not count.

Q. Do birthday presents count and our traditional take the birthday person to their favorite resturant count?
A. As far as birthday gifts/celebrations, we have been counting these events. Simply trying to dine at restaurants we have gc's for and/or B1G1 meals, %'s off, etc. And as far as gifts, we Mom's often times use our gc's and rebate money for gifts for our kids

Just keep in mind that we are trying to live from your stockpile and not to spend oop.
So please celebrate! By all means!! You may just have to do things a bit differently,
***make the cake versus purchasing a Baskin-Robbins or DQ ice cream cake
***home made cards
***host a party at home
***con your IL's to taking your family out for dinner (on them)


It's a contest, so we need prizes!!!!
This month the runner-up will get: a potluck of qs

The first place winner will receive:
an even bigger potluck of qs

So???? Are you in?

Members currently involved in the challenge:
Name -- Totals So Far through post 736 --- Personal Goals
red denotes money spent, green denotes a profit

cody82414 $19.24 I'm going to try to keep it under $80. total oop
agator $ 4.58 I have a family of 6 so my goal is going to be $150. That will save me at least $250 for the month.
frugalstafar withdrawn
MoneySavinDiva $171.27 This monnth I am going to budget myself $60/week for grocery/hba/cleaning. This is my normal budgeted amount, but we've really been struggling with staying on lately, so that is my goal! So $240 for the month!
DomesticGal $167.12 I want to keep it at $120 total for the month.
roxygirlie1021
brokenangel $82.37 I'm setting my goal high and hoping for less. $300 for the month for my DH, 3 teens and friends. We will see how it goes.
rtnrjk $65.xx I won’t be official but I will follow along. I wan to keep a $50. A week budget and use my MIR checks to buy any extra stockpile items.
mom2lucas withdrawn
nwright0019
Lucky1307 $553.04
foggierbard9 withdrawn
couponlover24 $100.00 My budget is 300. for the month family of 4
thickbluebug
Zwella Ingrid $212.71 My goal is to stay under $200. oop.
crabtree122202 $60.72 My goal this month is to keep it under $100 oop.
Cynthiabutterfly $116.54 My goal is $100, $25 per week.
Lee0808 $ 463.75 My monthly budget is $400 per month for a family of four, but I would like to see it at only $300 for August.
tambro $585.15 I want to only spend $400 this month.
rdot $224.40 My goal will be to keep my total spending under 200.00 total.
cdarrow26 $78.78 My goal is $80 for the month. It's just me and 4 furbabies.
swillson76 $55.47 I have a family of 5 with no pets. I plan to spend $50 a week/$200 for the month.
phinphana $451.80
soapstone $24.16
latte $ 26.87 i am aiming to keeping my spending down to 400$ this month
scscbc $ 49.24
cjnelson $122.81 Budget $200 for the month.
puakinikini $82.77 $200 for the month.
ELLE-TN $224.59 My budget is $100 per week for my family of 5
wholesalebiker $76.86
cjpsmom $204.46
ashley72906 $16.34 60.00 for the month


* PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF I AM OFF ON YOUR TOTAL OOP*

[cody82414]

me, of course!!!!

[agator]

I would like to join. Even if I don't win the prize, I will win by saving money! I have a family of 6 so my goal is going to be $150. That will save me at least $250 for the month.

[frugalstafar]

I need a clean out and a break on my wallet so I am in for August. Usually I spend around $80/wk for groceries,hba and household(cleaning and such) so I'd really like to aim for $100 for the month. Looking forward to the challenge!!

[MoneySavinDiva]

I'm in! I'm in! I've been lurking on the June and July threads and now I think I'm ready to participate! I don't really want to use up my stockpile persay, I just want to stay on budget! This month I am going to budget myself $60/week for grocery/hba/cleaning. This is my normal budgeted amount, but we've really been struggling with staying on lately, so that is my goal! So $240 for the month!

Here's what I have to start my month off with...

$5 WalMart Gift Card
$5 Target Gift Card
$15 Visa Gift Card
$9 Register Rewards
$16.75 ECB's
21 Stamps
$0.11 in PayPal
$7.99 Rebate Check needing cashed

Thanks for the accountability this month!

[TBEventer2002]

Hey! I watch these threads for ideas each month and love seeing what you all do! I can't participate per say, but I'd like to help contribute to help others. :) I am willing to post items at CVS, Wags, and RiteAid that you will save atleast 90% on (does that follow your $.10 on the dollar rule?). I get this info weekly and would like to share that little bit to help you all out. If interested, I can start this coming week!

[cody82414]

Hey! I watch these threads for ideas each month and love seeing what you all do! I can't participate per say, but I'd like to help contribute to help others. :) I am willing to post items at CVS, Wags, and RiteAid that you will save atleast 90% on (does that follow your $.10 on the dollar rule?). I get this info weekly and would like to share that little bit to help you all out. If interested, I can start this coming week!

Super kind and generous of you to offer the heads-ups.

I, for one could use the Wags and CVS help.

SJ

[frugalstafar]

I forgot about eating out, which my husband insists he deserves once a week. I know this was included in the original challenge but how about now?

[Domestic Gal]

I am in again.
The last 2 months I have spent right at $100 OOP.
But I had about $35-$40 per month in GC and rebates that I used. This month I do not have to much in GC left.
I want to keep it at $120 total for the month. I will be including any GC I use into my spending and will not be adding the rebates I receive back into the budget.
School starts the 12th and that means that I go back to work then also. So will not have as much time to shop either so that may help in keeping me in check not to spend.

Want to get the stuff for the Kellogg's rebate this month also so will have to watch the spending.
This will be a challenging month for me as they have lots of back to school sales.
My garden is giving me lots of veggies so this will help in that area. Plus will be doing some canning this month and will need a little $$ for supplies.

[roxygirlie1021]

I'm in! This should be fun - and a good way for me to force myself to stick to the budget DH and I just started