DECEMBER Challenge: Living Off of Your Stockpile. Winners announced :)

[cody82414]

Is anyone up for a December 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 –
only buying the bare necessities each week.
*** Post your results here.
*** I also will chime in with my family's "living off stockpile" issues/results/recipes/receipts.

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

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.:christmas94:

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.

Q. What does $.10 on the dollar items mean?
A. We can't resist a sale can we? Of course not, that is probably why we have stockpiles in the first place! So if you find an item(s), using the current sale price (not the original price), and using your existing resources (coupons, store discounts, gift cards, OYNO Catalinas, et al) and you can purchase that item for 10% or less, than it would not count towards your total out of pocket expenditures.

Let’s try to play on an even playing field.
This is a friendly, personal challenge and accountability thread.

Examples:
10, Sobe waters @ 1.00 (sale price)
Using 10, .50/1 coupons.

If your store doubles you would have the result of:
10 x $1.00 = $10.00 + tax
-10 x .50 doubled, or $-10.00 = 0.00 + tax
The tax would (hopefully) be less than 10%, so this transaction would not count towards your oop.

Same transaction at a store that does not double.
10 x $1.00 = $10.00 + tax
-10 x .50 x10 or $5.00 = $5.00 + tax
This transaction would count towards your oop as the total is 50%.


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, or the greatest profit 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 and our spending patterns.

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, which IMO does not include Gift money or rebate money.

Of course we all have "standard" expenses, such as mortgage/rent, car payments, insurance, utilities, medications, etc.

All 'other' money's: including groceries, fast food, hba, household items, entertainment, et al, that would make up your out of pocket expenses.

What I do not expect is those involved to stay home all month, with the lights off, eating dry, cold cereal (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?:ccane2:
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 loved one's.
No. Perscriptions/meds do not count towards your oop balance.


It's a contest, so we need prizes!!!!
In the spirit of all that's holiday fun, this month's winner will get a $25 Amazon.com gift code from Hotcouponmama/Queenofthehivemomof5

The first place winner will receive a bigger potluck envie from me!
And the satisfaction that you proved to yourself that you are awesome at what you do!

So???? Are you in?

Members currently involved in the challenge:
Name --- Totals So Far through post 1115--- Personal Goals
red denotes money spent, green denotes a profit

cody82414 $33.36 realistically, $300.
MoneySavinDiva $113.26 my goal to $250 for this month.
Lucky1307 $77.13 my goal will be $50 for the month
Weinergirl $326.20 'I'm going to lower my goal to $300 for the month
Zansammommy $219.28 I will lower my goal to 250.00 a month.
nateNnatsmommy $21.30 I'm in! $100 for the month
kandpsmom $441.10 I'm in for $300 again this month for our family of 4
irishsaver withdrawn I am in for $300 again. 2 Adults 2 Hungry Teen and 2 Dogs Woof Woof..
to1drland $102.06 I'm in again! dropping by budget to $100.00 for the month
amys $462.83 My goal is to stay under $50 oop
thickbluebug $397.71 I am in again, same goal as always - to rotate the stockpile.
jenrose $263.55 I'm still here. Lets do $200 Again for me.
sandygirl $509.81 My goal is $375 total, including one in diapers.
Homeschoolmomof3 $205.68 I'm in, my goal for the month is $200.00
tambro $584.76 my goal is, $550 for the month.
Domestic Gal $196.68I am in for $40 a week.
pkchicken $101.90 I'd like to continue to try to meet my goal of $100.00 spending for the month and getting to the bottom of the chest freezer.
grainne5 But my budget is $350 this time
bourneheather $331.62 I am in! This is my first stockpile challenge. My goal is $250 for a family of four (2 adults, 2 kids) for groceries, HBA (including one in diapers).
junebug30523 $354.19 I'm going to do it!! Most of you will laugh at my goal of $350 for the month
GJohnson39 $73.32 Count me in with a goal of $300 for the month - I have 2 adulrs and 2 teen age athletes to shop for
kremsh I'm going to set my budget this month at $100.
Lee0808 $148.45 I'm in. My goal is going to be $350.
neglectarino $192.54 Same OOP as last month, $100.
Mablestables withdrawn $300
sarahheckman $62.90 I have built up a decent stockpile and it is just dh and I so I think $100 should get us through the month.
court122 $206.82 I would like to set a goal of $300 this month!
W0Wme $41.07 0.00
Maxie1101 $47.64 My goal is $200.
Ggbwg $110.69
busyasabeecrg my goal will be $10. for something unexpected
Amniculus I will not spend more than $150. this month.
cdarrow26 $124.80 my goal is $65.00 for the whole month
angeleyeza $520.55 no more than $350 realistically for the month of december for a family of 7 with 3 kitties ,mind you 3 of the 5 kids are teenage bottomless pit boys LOL

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

[MoneySavinDiva]

MEEEE!! I was considering lowering my OOP goal this month, but then thought otherwise since I need to stock up on a lot of baking and cooking staples that are at their lowest prices right now...so I'm actually going to raise my goal to $250 for this month. This will include all coupon, grocery, HBA, etc. purchases.

[cody82414]

realistically, I am guestimating that our family will be contributing a check for $300.

We spend the entire week between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day with DH's side in South Dakota.

And they eat!!!!!

Additionally, this year I believe DSS1 will be bringing his GF



Questions:
wrapping paper, tape, decorations??? Yes, that counts.
food? eating out? alcohol? yes, those counts
gifts? no. Hopefully you have a separate savings/account for that
pretzels and hot chocolate while you are out hunting bargains? (I'm so snarky) yep

[junebug30523]

I really want to do this and have a question. Does eating out count? My husband usually likes to eat out lunch every day.:sad: I told him I was thinking of doing this, but he thinks December is a bad month to start. I've been lurking for the last month and really love the sense of community you have built with this challenge/thread!

[cody82414]

I really want to do this and have a question. Does eating out count? My husband usually likes to eat out lunch everyday :( I've told him I was thinking of doing this, but he thinks December is a bad month to start. I've been lurking for the last month and really love the sense of community you have built with this challenge/thread!

Yep.
Eating out is a big money sucker upper.
Definately counts for this challenge.

I agree, December will be tough,
but doesn't have to be any tougher than any other month.

Just makes us have to work a bit harder, and really question ourselves.

Do i REALLY need another tube of toothpaste in order to make a penny?
Can i use my RRs on something that my household NEEDs, rather than something that simply rolls my RR?

Tough questions for us "addicts" sometimes

[Lucky1307]

Hi everyone! I'm back in for December. I have been playing with my goal amount which orginially was no oop for Nov or Dec(I blew Nov). I don't think I can do it. I have been watching our eating trends and there is too much dairy and fresh produce that we eat. So my goal will be $50 for the month(hey I have 3 freezers full so I think we will make do). We are now a 3 family home(DS1 comes every other weekend) and sadly we have lost some of our fur family. I already have all the baking goods and all the items for the Christmas dinner I will be making(for the first time) for SO's family. I have all the wrapping paper, cards and tape(from clearance last year). With money tight we won't be buying new decorations this year, plus we bought alot of new stuff last year(clearance of course!)

[Weinergirl]

Sign me up. The November challenge has been fun.

I'm going to lower my goal to $300 for the month (for 2 adults, 2 human kids and 2 furry kids) which should be OK since there is no Thanksgiving to buy for and I have some rebates coming in.

[zansammommy]

I think I can do it again and hopefully better. So I will lower my goal to 250.00 a month. DH,DS6, DD4 and me! I have a stuffed freezer but will need to buy baking things (not alot but some butter atleast)

Thanks for doing this, helps me keep track!

[nateNnatsmommy]

I'm in! $100 for the month

[saving-n-va]

I'm back in for December. I need to do some freezer cooking sometime during the month, and Dec is a meat stock up month for us, but our "stock up" is like $50 worth, nothing major. Once January hits I'm going to be crazy busy, so freezer meals are high priority for Dec or the beginning of January. I may plan/shop in Dec. and cook ahead the first few days in Jan.

We had to do thousands in repairs to our house in FL so staying within or under budget for the next several months will be a MUST.

My goal is my normal budget of $250 which shouldn't be an issue at all. Plus I have rebates pending. I'm actually under budget for groceries for Nov. but the extra went toward all the repairs etc.