Our Frugal Journey

We did it.
For 28 days, we lived in retail rebellion. No money exchanged hands. No credit or debit cards were swiped for discretionary spending of any type. We survived unscathed to tell about it.
Why, exactly, did we choose to do a No-Spend Challenge?
There are many reasons, really, the least of which was saving money.
That might [...]

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On Feb. 1, as we began our No-Spend Challenge, I snapped a couple of photos of my freezer and pantry to illustrate just how much we had in our stockpile as we began our cashless existence. And on March 1, I documented our much-depleted stockpile. Thought you might like a peek.
Pantry BEFORE

And Pantry AFTER

Freezer BEFORE

And [...]

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OK, I caved.
I succumbed to the lure of Harris Teeter’s Super Double coupon promotion.
I really didn’t want to break my No-Spend Challenge for the month of February, but I also really hated to miss out on all the great deals.
In the end, I took your advice, my awesome readers, and scavenged for coins in the [...]

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Darn that Harris Teeter.
It had to go and offer Super Doubles right smack in the middle of my No-Spend Challenge for the month of February.
What’s a frugal girl to do?
There’s a whole list of groceries just waiting on the shelves to be taken home for free. Not to mention that Super Double promotions don’t come around [...]

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Sixteen days down in the No-Spend Challenge! Want to know how we’re doing?
Here’s an update on the highs and lows of living without money for the month of February. I admit to entering three retail establishments, but NO MONEY exchanged hands. I promise. Here’s the lowdown:
***Milk I started out the challenge with two gallons, which I purchased Jan. [...]

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Since I posted my plans for celebrating Valentine’s Day in the midst of our No-Spend Challenge, I’ve had lots of requests for my recipe for cheesecake. 
It seems there are lots of folks out there who have the same overabundance of cream cheese that I do after a great sale with coupons several weeks back.
I am thrilled to share [...]

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After announcing our family’s No-Spend Challenge for the month of February, a reader asked how I would go about celebrating Valentine’s Day.
Amy P. wrote:
I think that your No-Spend Challenge is a great idea! I had a question about how you handle Valentine’s Day. Did you buy little gifts ahead of time, do you make things for [...]

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It’s Feb. 1, the start of our 2nd annual No-Spend Challenge.
In case you missed it, click here to read all the details of this year’s money moratorium. Click here for a look at what happened during last year’s Month of No Spending.
But in a nutshell, we won’t be spending any cash this month on food, cleaning [...]

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Starting Monday, Feb. 1, we won’t be spending any money. The entire month.
No groceries, no movies, no large diet sodas through the drive-thru, no clothes, no gifts. No discretionary spending, period.
No kidding.
Unless, of course, we can devise some other way to pay for the item in question that doesn’t involve money. Bartering? Yes. Credit? NO. Borrowing? Yes. [...]

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Harris Teeter kicked off its latest triple-coupon promotion Wednesday, which meant more free and ridiculously cheap groceries pouring into my pantry. So, in preparation for the new items, I took a good hard look at the shelves to analyze the stockpile.
Seems I was a tad overzealous purchasing cereal.
With Kellogg’s at 25 cents a box (or [...]

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