I ended up with 18 no spend days for the month of October. I fear I may not do as well in November as I am trying to finish up my holiday shopping. I need to think about my goals for November above the no spend days as well. I plan to give that some thought and post my November goals later.

I will start with Friday since I am a bit behind. Dh and I had planned to go to a local fall festival and spend the evening there. It ended up being not as good as in years past. I got a candy apple (so good), and he got cotton candy before we left. We had not splurged on any fun stuff in a while so I do not feel too bad about that $5.

We ended up at the video store - our kryptonite. We both LOVE movies. We very rarely go to the theater, and we always buy rather than rent. With the rental fees and driving costs, it is cheaper for us to buy the previously viewed movies. I also like to watch movies over and over again so I think we are getting our money's worth.

Yesterday and today are no spend days, which brings my total to 7 for this month. I am about halfway to my goal of 15. I have been tempted by some online sales but am focusing on that debt total to the side instead.

The plan for this weekend was to have a yard sale along with some neighbors. The weather is not cooperating so we all decided to switch to another weekend. It was no big deal as that money would have gone into next year's vacatio fund.

Today is the second no spend day for the month. Yesterday would have been put I paid a bill early. I know I will have to run an errand in the next day or two. Otherwise I expect to have a few more no spend days to add to the total.

No much else money wise going on here. I am not spending any which is always good!

September was a better month financially than I expected. We were able to get the debt well under $7K. I ended up with 17 no spend days, which is 2 more than my goal. Even with the off paychecks we were able to handle the budget with no problems. We also increased the 401K contributions.

I am hopeful that we can pay extra on the loans again this month. I am hesitant to set a new total goal since I am not sure how much extra we can squeeze out of the budget. Other goals are to have 15 no spend days and blog more often. I have gotten a bit lax in the past few weeks.

Look out! You will be seeing a lot more of me this month.

Whew! I have spent most of the morning figuring out the rest of the bills that have to be paid and how much can go toward debt. It actually made my head hurt a bit and I ended up walking away for a few minutes. I came back with a clearer head and got everything squared away.

Here is a quick rundown of financial happenings here since I have posted last. Dh's bonus came to $147 more than expected so with $3 I was able to return all the money to the EF. The electric bill was $120 or about $30 less budgeted. I have about $300 between dh's bonus and saved money to add to the debt. I will update the totals after everything posts to the loans.

Basically I expected to have little or no money to add toward the debt this month. Obviously I am thrilled with have $300 extra. It helps to keep me going especially when I am tempted to buy something I do not really need.

Today will be No Spend Day #6 for this month. I am well on my way toward my goal of 15 NS days. For me that is the key to saving money and paying off this debt. I have been tempted to check out some clothing sales, but I want to inventory my closet and see if I need anything. That will be better than just mindlessly buying clothing because it is on sale.

My next financial focus is going to be on the upcoming holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas). I hope to estimate how much we will need for the holidays so I know how much more I have to save up. I want to do all cash this year and absolutely no charging or dipping into savings.

I think that covers everything recently. I do want to get back to posting more regularly as that helps keep me motivated and gives me a sense of accountability. Unless some unexpected expense comes up this month things should end on a positive note.

I think I ended up with about 12 no spend days for the month. Not quite as many as I wanted but still good. "Murphy" stopped by to visit too often this month. I am going to set a goal of 15 no spend days for September. I should be able to not shop for half of the month.

I am expecting a delivery sometime between yesterday and tomorrow. I am stuck at home waiting for it as I need to be here when it is delivered. I was planning to go grocery shopping and run a few errands today. That most likely will get put off until Friday. Today will probably be another no spend day.

I kept meaning to sit down and post but never quite found the time. The good news is that while I was busy, I was not busy shopping! In fact Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were all no spend days.

The temperatures cooled down a bit but are now on the way back up. I have already budgeted a larger amount for next month's electric bill so I am not worried about it. After this week the heat wave is supposed to break and things should get back to normal.

On the spending front though I am going to need a battery for my car. It just died all of a sudden with no warning. I have enough in the car repair fund to cover it though. The dead battery is one of the reasons for some no spend days. I am stuck at home so no temptations to go to the stores and shop.

We did end up with some extra money this month, which will be applied to the debts. Since I am on the subject of extra money, I have decided to teach piano lessons at a local private school one day a week. I have taught piano lessons in the past and enjoyed it. The school does not charge me a space rental so all of the money that I earn is mine. Having all of the students in one place is very convenient. I hope to get at least 10 students. This would be great in regards to paying off debt but would not tie me down too much.

We should be debt free in a year if this works out. I do not want to get ahead of myself, but it is nice to dream about. We are already saving any extra money (surveys, odd jobs, etc) but this will get us to our goal even faster.

Today is turning into my third no spend day of the month. Dh has spent the day cleaning out a spare room. I have been a bit lazier. My accomplishment is getting the eBay items listed. Now I wait.

I have never been one who felt the need to spend money. I know that I did it any way to some degree as I do not have a large savings yet. Dh has made a complete turn around during our marriage though. He always paid bills first but then spent every penny that was left over. It is great that he is now really excited about getting out of debt and saving money. We are forming a united front on this which certainly makes things easier.

I never kept track of my no spend days, but I think it would be good to see how many I can get for the month of August. I am going to set a goal of 14 no spend days. It should not be too difficult. I would love to do more but am going to be a bit conservative the first time out.