For the frugal among you ...

[Amy in Orlando]

Here's a link to an interview with a guy I used to work with a million years ago. He's written a book and was interviewed by Matt Lauer. I love his idea of going a full week with spending NO money (this might kill my teens lol). Anyway, he hasn't changed a bit since I knew him and I thought some of you might get a kick out of this.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22578458/

[Jean in Newcastle]

Except for the transportation costs, I guess I fast pretty regularly! We are not eating out at all right now. I only shop once a week (because I only have a car on the weekend- we're a one-car family). Our entertainment is games, walks or broadcast t.v. I only pay bills every two weeks (on payday). Interesting interview!

[jubilee]

As I was reading I was telling myself,"Hey, you do that now!"

Fun read! Thank you for sharing!

[Karin]

So, how long do you think it'll take before I can borrow it from the library for free, lol??? Thanks for the link.

[Karenciavo]

I love the philosophy of consuming less, and a money fast would be a good exercise, but I always cringe when these frugal gurus suggest things like stealing air sickness bags, ketchup, etc.

[rivendellmom]

Hey our library has it! How frugal is that!

[debbiec]

We get to an unplanned fast about the last week of every month :) It's always turned out to be a great week ~

[Faith]

We already fast from spending at least 2 weeks out of the month. And, it's not intentional.

[Amy in Orlando]

I love the philosophy of consuming less, and a money fast would be a good exercise, but I always cringe when these frugal gurus suggest things like stealing air sickness bags, ketchup, etc.

I sooo agree with you about the air sickness bags and condiments. That's one of my pet peeves.

[mcconnellboys]

Wow, that is so awesome, thanks!

We've actually just begun a budget, opting to use cash and limit weekly spending and get away from credit cards as much as possible. It's been somewhat awkward for me to begin using cash again after so many years of virtually never using it.

We're running into our first "fifth week", when I budget on a four week month. So we've been brainstorming ways to get through this next week on as little as possible. My husband and I both have some miserly qualities, LOL (I gave him Tightwad Gazette as a gift years ago and read it as much as he did....), but we're actually having a lot of fun with this!

Regena

[JennifersLost]

spending any money this week either.

And things are getting ugly around here. At least I'm not the only one.

[godpoetry]

Well, it is hard to spend money you do not have. We play the" let's get creative with dinner game" always the last week of the month, because we get paid by the month. :D

[Crystal in VA]

We are not eating out for 30 days to save money. We'll go out and do something as a family after we reach our goal...and it won't be eating out. My family has gotten spoiled with thinking anytime we're out doing errands or what ever, they must eat out. I'm tired of it and want to show them just how much money we spend eating out versus eating at home.

[rivendellmom]

We fasted from eating out in November for the same reasons. We haven't had fast food since! We did order pizza in for my 17 year olds birthday- but now that we've broken the habit, I don't think we'll ever go back to eating out regularly. I've loved having the extra money and its a lot easier to bring food with if we are going out for an extended day. We even brought lunch with us at the RV show and I'm sure that saved us $50 of overpriced, not yummy fast food!