I have to just stay OUT of the stores, I am guilty of the clearance rack sales as well!!! I asked my husband to go to CVS to pick up my prescription because I can pick up little "extras" anywhere! I have started making a list of what items are "allowed" during the freeze, but I haven't finished it yet.

Avoiding sale emails and clearance items.
Taking inventory of food and other items on hand.
I have an inventory of clothing for the girls so I don't buy anything I have.

I had to really think hard on this spending freeze. I didn't want to dip into my pantry too much for groceries, but I want to really work at these assignments. So here is what I have decided to do:

I always plan a menu and match ads with coupons. I buy what I need for my menu and I buy what I can get a good deal on using the coupons. For this challenge I am going to plan my menus around the ads and coupons and only buy what I need for each week.

We lost a lot of condiments due to our refrigerator freezing up. I decided I am only going to buy what we need immediately, rather than restocking. So instead of all the salad dressings, mayo, mustards, etc., I am only buying ketchup and Jelly.

Bob likes Nutrigrain bars and pop tarts for snacks. They are both on sale at our stores. I am only going to buy ONE, not both.

I'm not saving a lot more doing this, but I am learning more about what I want and need.

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"It's time to move from what we can do, to what we must do, to what we will do." ~Hillary Clinton

I have made a list of all the groceries in my freezer so I can plan my meals better.
I have about $100. of returns to do, which I had allocated the expense in December. I am using this "buffer" if I need to make any purchases.
I also am considering this challenge a game. I always have looked at saving money as "how much can I get for how little", and get a rush from making my dollar do $2.oo work!

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Children Learn What They Live, And Live What They Learn.
What have you taught your child today?
When life throws you a curve ball...it's up to you how you catch it!

I am trying to remember things Grandma did. And am looking at it as a challenge! Being creative and making the most of what I have. I love all the ideas here. I have lots of list to fill my time to keep my mind busy so I won't be shopping. My house will be getting alot of attention!

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"Before I was a Mom I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body." ~Anonymous

You guys all have great advice. I have never purposely done a freeze. We have had times where we just honestly didn't have a dollar to our name to spend though.

I am not buying any soda or snacks. In part for a freeze and for my diet, kill two birds with one stone. Also, for meals, I am using the meat we had stocked up on in the deep freeze. We like having that full for "just in case" but we need to save money right now. We also just refinanced our van, so we got a lower intrest rate, and added a few months to the life of the loan, so our payment went down about $75 a month.

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Jenifer
Proud wife to one amazing man
Proud mom to four awesome kids

Fall is my favorite season!
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

For my challenge- I first evaluate the difference between a "need' and a "want" - after I've got that clear in my head- then I evelauate my "need" once again. For example- Target has 90% off on thier xmas wrap. do I "need' this?? well... sort of I mean if I bought that wrap set at xmas it would have been 12.99. now it's 1.xx, so I will " need" it- eventually. However, since I'm in a spending freeze- I have to decide if I need it NOW. and that's a big step in my thinking.

Need it NOW things for me are usually just groceries and bills. I can justify just about any grocery and food purchase as a need. but not something I may need in 12 months. does that make sense??

Dd had a growth spurt- she "needed" new jeans- I didn't realize this until this week- too late to turn jeans into an xmas gift. How many pairs of jeans does a teen girl "need" ?? ( all her jeans were too small) I'm thinking 3 and I do laundry twice a week- or 5 pairs, and only do once week. tough call there.

so a "need" to me is something you need to use NOW and there aren't any substitutes. Anything else is a want, or can be postponed until after the freeze ( or until you forget you wanted it, which is what usually happens to me)
The kids shoes are too small- they need new shoes. you go buy them. the kids want a new paitof boots, but they have tennis shoes that fit. you don't buy them.

I think that's key to sticking to a freeeze. Only the most urgent needs are what you spend money on. Medical, groceries, bills, replace clothes that are unwearable. that sort of thing.

I guess also keeping in mind- there will ALWAYS be another clearance sale, another target 90% off sale. ect., IT's not the lastone on earth. That's what keeps me out of the stores.

I am working on defining NEEDS vs WANTS!! I don't always like what I find but I know that this will help us get our finances in line.

Stay away from anything that tempts you!!

Try your crock pot. I have found a couple of receipes that are GREAT!! and I didn't really know how easy it was to use one of them.

Also I have been writting down what we spend (everything) and what for. Boy that is a real eye opener. I am thinking of keeping this a habbit.

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