During the final week of the low- or no-spend February, I did what I did the first week: spent money. It started out very small and got a lot bigger – but not much more expensive. I coped by:
- Using a gift card from shopping apps/rewards programs, and
- Reminding myself, again, that it was low– or no-spend February, not “don’t you dare” February
Here’s how it all began: While doing a little Shopkicking (see shopping apps/rewards programs link above), my eye was drawn to a clearance-colored shelf tag. Turned out the store had cake icing (which some of you know as “frosting,” but I’m from South Jersey) for 25 cents a tub. I double-checked to see if a digit had fallen off the sign but nope, it was 25 cents.
I couldn’t not buy it at that price. And as soon as it was in my hands, I remembered a reader named Wendy, one of the recipients of this blog’s Giving Cards partnership. She used her $20 gift card to buy cake mix and icing, packaged them with disposable cake pans and birthday candles she already had, and dropped them at a food bank.
If you give a mouse some 25-cent icing, she’s going to want cake mix. Then she’ll want candles to make the celebration a little brighter. And what about a birthday card? Every mouse wants one of those.
Referring, of course, to the “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie” books. (As an Amazon affiliate, I may receive a small fee for items purchased through my links.)
I decided to make a pair of birthday party kits to give away on the Buy Nothing Facebook page. To do that, I’d need to buy the aforementioned cake mixes and candles. The mixes were on sale, two for $3, so not too bad. The candles were zero dollars out of pocket because I cashed in some Shopkick scrip. Finally, I added birthday cards from my card stash and put the two kits up for grabs.
But that wasn’t quite the end of the story.
One of the recipients has three kids and is underemployed right now, to the point where the household is having trouble buying food. (He belongs to the Buy Nothing page, too; other members and I have dropped off some groceries.) His middle child’s birthday is coming up, so my guess is that the cake and card would be it for the little dude.
Except dang, how could I let that go unchallenged?
After asking what little fellow liked (surprise! it’s “Spider-Man and cars”), I used up the rest of that Shopkick gift card. Total haul was a Spiderman T-shirt, Spider-Man coloring book and (because I’m old) a two-pack of Spider-Man toothbrushes. Topped it off with a 24-pack of crayons from my evergreen gift stash.
Again: Low-spend rules. And that’s true of the other 11 months of the year as well.
Low- or no-spend February isn’t just for February
I don’t mention all that to show what a great guy I am. I’m pointing out that a little careful planning means we can make our budgets go a lot further.
Most of you seem to know that already, as comments came in through the month about how you folks:
- Did a little advance planning, such as buying a supermarket gift card for fresh items
- Got very creative about using what was in the pantry and freezer
- Fixed things that needed fixing, instead of tossing them
Some readers were so pleased with the experiment that they plan to continue it a while longer. Which brings me to my next point: You can have a low- or no-spend month any time you want.
Hit by a furnace repair bill? Had to take the family dog to the pet ER? Need to come up with a $90 fee so kiddo can apply to Dream School? Sure, you could take the money from your emergency fund, but sometimes it’s tough to get that money back in. (Especially if another emergency pops up – and don’t they always?)
Instead, consider going into low- or no-spend mode until the books balance. It might take only a couple of weeks, or it might take a month (or more). The point is that doing the low/no dance could help you fix things without shrinking your EF.
You could also do a proactive low/no month (or more, or less) in order to save for stuff you want. Maybe that’s a spa day with your visiting sister, a weekend down the shore* or tickets to a play. Add up the cost and make it a game to see how quickly you can set aside the dough by cutting back spending.
Bonus: You use up stored food instead of having it go bad. No waste!
Heck, some people live their entire lives in low- or no-spend mode. Some do it because they must, and others just like the challenge. My partner and I belong to the second group. We don’t stint on what matters to us – gifts for family and friends, donating to charity, my weekly lunches with Linda B. – but for the most part we enjoy seeing just how far we can make our money stretch.
Readers: How was the rest of your low- or no-spend February? Got any anecdotes to share?
*New Jersey residents understand.
Yes, down the shore is the place to be!
In Maryland, it’s called “Downey Ocean”
that’s so funny!
First of all, thanks for helping to keep me on the frugal track. I love your icing story (frosting story here in Massachusetts) and how it evolved to the outcome of the little boy’s birthday which I’m guessing will be a whole lot better now. My lift-me-up for the day!
Second, I want to say I know you didn’t share this story as a pat on the back for yourself but instead shared it knowing us readers could perhaps use the information for our own frugal benefit and maybe even for others. Thanks.
I did pretty well on the whole with the low-spend February, judging by both my grocery receipts (faithfully tabulated on Fridays over at The Frugal Girl) and the bill for the credit card on which I put most day-to-day expenses. Of course, the weather for the last half of February–in which Central NY finally seems to have realized that it’s supposed to be a snow belt–helped too. The maxim “It’s harder to spend money if you can’t go anywhere” applies here.
March will see some unusual spending, primarily because I’ll be visiting my JASNA (Jane Austen Society of North America) BFF in NYC for the first time since 2015. And I’ve got two large expenses (the annual bill for my long-term care insurance and the quarterly property taxes) coming up in April. So I’ll probably be back in low-spend mode in April and May.
And thanks again, Donna, for the opportunity to win the Amazon gift card! It won’t go to waste, I assure you.
You’re welcome. Have a great time in New York. Don’t suppose you live near a town where the Megabus operates, do you? My best-ever Megabus price is Philadelphia to NYC for $1.50. Love that line.
Megabus does operate here. But I was put off it for life when a Megabus driver got into a completely avoidable accident in my city by taking a wrong turn near the bus station and hitting a low railroad bridge, which resulted in four deaths and numerous injuries. I’ll be taking Amtrak, for this and various other reasons. (But I did use my senior discount.)
Yikes! I have had nothing but good rides with them, but I can see why you’d be wary.
I love the story about the frosting (native Seattleite here, that’s what we say, as you may recall from living here 🙂 and the birthday kit for the little boy! Did you hear back from the dad about how it went? My birthday was last Friday and I usually buy myself a little something (less than $50) like hand-made earrings from my favorite woman-owned Etsy shop) to mark the occasion. This year, I sponsored breakfast at our local homeless shelter instead. That made me so happy! Like you, I save money where I can (I made my own birthday cake and frosting from scratch, for about a dollar I’d say—store bought cakes are so outrageous these days!) so I can spend on something else that’s meaningful to me. Hugs!
Tomorrow is when the package will be dropped off, but I do hope he’ll let me know next month how it went.
I love the idea of sponsoring breakfast. What a kind thing to do. And yeah, homemade cakes are pretty inexpensive if you know how to bake.
Great idea for the cake mix and icing/frosting for the food bank. I think I might just do that!
I thought it was a brilliant idea, too. Wendy, if you’re reading this, we all salute you!
I recently did a no buy use up challenge on tiktok last 2 weeks of February. To be more conscious of the products i have already the house like makeup, beauty items, hair stuff that i tend to buy a lot of or try new products before using up what i have first and buying multiples or duplicates where i buy like items that do the same thing (hair conditioner) It also helped changed my mind frame that hey the money is spent already so i need to tell myself to use this first b4 buying new. I’m been loving it makes me excited to use up so i can treat myself to something new
“The money is spent already” — again, no waste. Unless, of course, you don’t use up the product and have to throw it away. We could all be a bit more mindful about that, I think.
“Had to take the family dog to the pet ER?”
HOW DID YOU KNOW?
Oh dear….I hope there was a positive outcome.
Did a good job! Kept the grocery bills very low and watched all expenses. I did go to Wal Mart to get a few needs. While there I found Reeces Big Peanut Butter Cups on sale for 38 cents!. I do love a good Reeces but will absolutely NOT pay the $1.50 or so they generally cost here. My concession to Low Spend Feb was not to buy every last one they had in stock!! I did buy 6. Worth every penny! Also, Kroger had an entire buggy full of “last day ” apples for 99 cents a bag…4 to 6 apples in each. I bought 4 bags and sauteed with butter and cinnamon and nutmeg and froze. I did not have to throw out a single one.
I enjoy all the posts!
I love the birthday story. Things like this encourage us all to be better people.
Except for an expensive plumbing repair, February went well. We kept our grocery spending at just under $90 a week for 2.5 adults (our son buys some of his own food). I did a lot of sewing to mend and alter clothes. Read a lot of library books, cooked everything we ate except for DH’s birthday lunch out, and a spell of warm weather had us out doing a lot of yard work of the cheap, unglamorous kind: pulling up vines, cutting trash trees, raking up leaves, and generally just getting ready for spring.
Thanks for the post and reminding me I may have a couple of cake mixes to donate to my local food closet. I asked a volunteer what they needed and she said desserts are always special. But I question about the cost of eggs needed to make the cake. But I’ll donate what I have.
My birthday was this past Sunday and hubby asked me what I wanted. I told him that we are going on two vacations this year and that was present enough for me. We leave for our son’s wedding in Singapore in a week. Then we are renting a house down on the North Carolina shore. So I asked for filet mignon, baked potato and an angel food cake with chocolate icing. Hubby bought and grilled the filet mignon, he made the cake, daughter got me 4 $5 scratch off lottery tickets and I won $5.
Tried to be a low spend month. One week was a low spend grocery purchase. I have dresses I need to return because I will not be taking them on my trip. Also stopped doing couponing at the drug stores for the time being. I got excellent ear plugs (Mack’s silicone ones you can mold to your ear) and a good eye mask for the very long plane ride.
There aren’t enough heart emojis to illustrate how much I loved your story!! What a wonderful way to use your frugal superpowers!
Awww, thanks. But I seem to remember your doing similar things for your own community.
This was a wonderful idea and I hope it brought much joy to their day!
The birthday cake kit idea did originate with another reader, though, and I think it is a great idea. Will do it again if I see deals like those in the future.
Someone had commented on the high price of eggs for cakes. An alternative would be to donate an angel food cake mix, some brands only require the addition of water.
Good point.
Low/No spend February:
Weeks 1 & 2 were fine.
Week 4 (last 8 days of the month) I spent nothing, not even for gas. On March 1st., I did need to fill that tank.
Week 3 was a crash and burn. I spent over $60 combined at three different grocery stores, for the two of us. One of those trips was to Food Lion and included 6 of the 8 oz ham steaks for $1 each, and two 12 oz packages of breakfast ham for $2.67 each. I cut one of the ham steaks/slices in half and fry it for dinner, along with with a veggie or two for the two of us.
I have been reducing the amount of fresh fruit that is purchased. Trying to use up what is already in the house. Only buying one container of berries, instead of one of every kind that is on sale. Buying two or three bananas at a time, and eating half instead of the entire banana. My husband no longer eats them, and if I make fried bananas with leftover over ripe ones, I eat the entire pan.