After reading all about Mary's adventures with a month of nothing over at Owlhaven, I was intrigued. I really wanted to do something similar but wasn't sure if I'd be able to get my family to go along with it. Then my 15 yo saw the article, "My Family's No-Buy Experiment," in Reader's Digest and said, "Hey Mom, we should totally do this!"
So, we're doing it.
Starting October 1 (which is Wednesday - yikes!), we will be embarking on a Month of Nothing. What this means is that we will be buying NOTHING that isn't necessary and very carefully deciding whether we really have to buy those things we consider necessary. For example, Hubby and I will be filling our tanks with gas before the month starts and the goal is to not fill them again until November. I have budgeted $50 a week for groceries for my family of 6 (don't panic! I have a well stocked pantry, also know as the Crazyville Food Shoppe, and I'm not going to let my family starve just to prove a point.) We won't be going out for dinner during the month, or renting movies, or taking trips to the ice cream store. We will make do or do without. (Confession: I will be taking a trip to Costco on Tuesday to stock up on a few things we are either out of or almost out of. I am giving myself a budget of $75, because it wouldn't really be fair to spend $300 and then brag about how I "only spent $50 a week on food!")
So here is the first week of menus for our Month of Nothing:
Breakfasts:
- Oatmeal, frozen berries
- Cereal (still have lots from our stock up)
- Toast with jam or peanut butter, fruit
- This is going to be the hardest part of the Month of Nothing. I usually buy a lot of
convenience foods - cheese sticks, Wheat Thins, lunch meat, Babybel cheeses, etc. I don't buy Lunchables or prepackaged applesauce or whatever but packing lunches is hard from scratch! - Peanut butter and jelly
- leftovers (for Hubby and I)
- applesauce and graham crackers, fruit, cheese sticks (while I still have them)
- yogurt with granola
- Bean soup with bread (make extra bread for snacks for the week)
- Spanish Tortilla, tomatoes from the garden
- Zucchini Pie, bread sticks
- Bean burritos with homemade refried beans, rice, cheese, etc
- Vegetarian Slow Cooker Something (I borrowed my friend's vegetarian slow cooker cookbooks, so I pick something to try)
- homemade granola bars
- Cinnamon Bread
- Zucchini Bread
- Homemade bread toast
- fruit
- veggies with ranch
- leftovers
Wish us luck.
We are going to need it.
If you want menus from people who aren't totally crazy, visit Org Junkie.
Jill
5 comments:
wow...good luck with your month of nothing. I think Hubby would have a fit if we did this, or maybe not. You've convinced me to ask him lol. It would be great to do that one month(or two). You are awesome for trying it!
I hope your month of nothing goes well, I'm interested in reading about how it goes!
Hope your month goes well. I'm sure it will defintely be worth trying at least to see what can be done without and to substitute.
Wow, what a great idea! I'd love to try this.
But I fill my gas tank at least once a week, often 5 or 6 times a month.
And I'm pretty frugal, but $50/week for food? Yikes, I'd have to cut out meat, and cut down on cheese and eggs.
I think I'll try my own amended version of the Month of Nothing and just cut out movies, beer and dining out. (Not that my budget allows for much of this, but I imagine I can still save a bit!) My poor fiance, he won't know what hit him!
Alison, I know what you mean! My husband fills up the tank once a week or so. Fifty dollars is going to be hard for me, too, but I'm determined to figure out a way to do it.
Plus, I figure it is only for a month!
I'm going to be posting more details tomorrow, so stay tuned!
Jill
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