OUR BUY NOTHING CHALLENGE: 2018
After taking a few years off, we've decided to return to the challenge in 2018.
It's possible we may pay of the mortgage this year
and become debt free!
Our question is:
Could we then live on only one salary?
Can we find a way to make part of a living off of this website
so we can do more of what we love?
Being conscious of our spending, and continuing to remove ourselves
from the American consumer cycle will only help toward these goals.
We want more time in our lives, not more money!
See the main page of Our Buy Nothing Challenge (BNC),
for a explanation of how our challenge began if you aren't already familiar with it.
It's possible we may pay of the mortgage this year
and become debt free!
Our question is:
Could we then live on only one salary?
Can we find a way to make part of a living off of this website
so we can do more of what we love?
Being conscious of our spending, and continuing to remove ourselves
from the American consumer cycle will only help toward these goals.
We want more time in our lives, not more money!
See the main page of Our Buy Nothing Challenge (BNC),
for a explanation of how our challenge began if you aren't already familiar with it.
Plans for 2018
From Theresa:
On New Year's Eve Bear and I had a long discussion about returning to our Buy Nothing Challenge, since it had been so useful in the past. We had our huge splurge on a trip to Scotland in 2017 to celebrate our 50th birthdays. I used the trip to decide where I want to go from here in my life and some of my goals will happen much easier if we can get our spending lower.
So below are what we agreed to for 2018. "Buy Nothing" is a great short hand for what we're trying to do, but of course it really means buy nothing extra that you don't really need. Here's what we think we're going to need in 2018:
On New Year's Eve Bear and I had a long discussion about returning to our Buy Nothing Challenge, since it had been so useful in the past. We had our huge splurge on a trip to Scotland in 2017 to celebrate our 50th birthdays. I used the trip to decide where I want to go from here in my life and some of my goals will happen much easier if we can get our spending lower.
So below are what we agreed to for 2018. "Buy Nothing" is a great short hand for what we're trying to do, but of course it really means buy nothing extra that you don't really need. Here's what we think we're going to need in 2018:
Exceptions to the Challenge (what it's okay to spend money on):
- Food & other staples from the grocery store.
- CSA for our veggies.
- Bulk meat purchases.
- Cat needs: food, liter, health supplements, vet visits
- Bird seed to feed the birds.
- Monthly bills: gas, electricity, water/sewer/garbage, local & long distance phone/internet service, house & car insurance, Netflix, the mortgage
- Wood for the wood stove- this usually costs us around $500
- Annual fees: website fee ($50), state park pass ($27), emergency cell phone ($100)
- Health Care
- Gas and car repairs
- Eating Out: can do this once a month. Can eat out for anniversary & birthday.
- Bear gets to choose a special restaurant as a reward for getting chores done. List of chores to be agreed on by both of us and posted.
- Bear gets $3/week to spend on food at work.
- Bear goes out with a friend for drinks every other Wednesday: anything beyond 2 drinks has to come out of the $500 allowance.
- Scottish Country Dancing: $4/week
- Theresa’s classes: at Joyful Path, for Master Naturalist, Herbal Apprenticeship, art classes
- Bear classes: blacksmithing & cooking
- Pop Shop in Mt. Horeb for Bear: 10 sodas/month = $25
- Free Little Library: cedar post, will we need to buy books for it?
- If Bear gets down to 285 lbs he gets to buy $200 worth of clothes.
- Garden plant budget: $150.
Other things we know we may need to buy:
- Increase website fee to be able to open an on-line store.
- May need to purchase Adobe programs for money making projects.
- Book publishing fees.
- Solar panels, rechargeable batteries.
- Buy a used station wagon or truck.
- Supplies to remodel upstairs & get furniture.
- Supplies to build catio bridge.
- Shoes for Bear, Spring tennis shoes for Theresa.
- Bear wants to go to Beer World (and buy beer).
- Theresa may need to buy pants. Wants winter slippers.
- Replace broken lid for skillet.
- Get new filters & metal spike for Berkey Filter.
Here's some of the Scottish money we spent on our trip.
Hopefully this year we'll save money instead.
Hopefully this year we'll save money instead.