The No Budget Woes.....

[draglink]

Heres what I did. I have my 'fun' money that I use to buy/finance projects. This has worked pretty good for years....until 3 kids(daycare, school tuition etc). Actually when they were very young(they are 4,6 and 9 now) it was still fine, I could go and work in the evenings or part of the weekend as needed. Now that they are getting older we are doing more things together, and I am spending less time out in my shop.

Last spring I really started thinking about this so I took my 'fun' money-what was left
and bought a motorhome. I cannot tell you the amount of fun and bonding time the family has had camping. We dont go far, from our favorite spot about 10 miles away to 3-400 miles whatever we feel like. I never thought I would be a motorhome kinda guy, but as a family we love it, wife included(miracle)!

......oh and I still have a fun budget, much much smaller 'fun' budget

Kinda off tract from you original post, but when broke, we camp!

 

[Falcon67]

Same situation with our current double house deal. Min water bill here is $60 even if you don't use a drop. The damn blower switch on the heater at the other house stuck on last month and the electric bill for the empty house was higher than the new house that's all electric. But I have plenty on the to-do list, since I have materials to finish the other house. Trying to get that done and get it on the market. Once it's up on the market, THEN I'll have the hands-in-pockets thing going on. Well - dead trees to thin out, water well electrics to cyper out and fix, vents to install on the roof - got lots of things to take care of that don't cost very much to implement. But - we may have to hammer savings to get buy until the old house sells. I hope not as that could be used to jump start a new shop project after the sale. So I'm in the "no-buy zone" until then. I'll go shoot hoops or play dodge ball with the neighborhood kids, wash the cars - I'm not a good sitter.

 

[Freefallin2000]

I am always thinking of ways to fund project such buying more detailing supplies and supplies to get my garage looking its best. I am constantly thinking "what do I have that is valuable for resale that I really do not need?". I end up finding a piece of car audio, detail a co-workers car, or play cards to win a little extra scratch to fund my insanity.

Here is the way I think of it: if my fiance doesn't know I spent $150 on detailing supplies and especially if the money didn't coe directl from my pay check, who is the wiser?! I snuch on about $200 in detailing supplies in the last month without her noticing only a few small items until I put them into use. She can't tell me to return a pad when I have already polished paint with it!

 

[Theloniousmonk]

Have some spare wood lying around?

 

[Milton Shaw]

Inventory your shop/house make listing and keep off site in case something happens to your house. Also before you have a toddler replace all the outlets with the new now required tamperproof outlets, They are so much safer and more convenient than the plastic safety plugs you used to see. Of course turn off the power before doing this.

 

[minhster]

Hah! That's cool, but a real man would build one of these!

 

[lowbucktruck]

Yeah... going out to your garage/shop for a bit of a "sanity/alone adult time" break is definitely important. I feel that need from time to time, so I know what you mean.
So two whole days to yourself when you have a newborn/younster is a rare thing.

One thing I found was finding some raw material I had laying around and figuring out what type of project I could make from it for resale at the local flea market. (I know, I know, go to the flea to sell instead of buy??? What madness) Last year I sold birdhouses make from old fence boards for $20 each. (You never know what people will buy) The profits went into my project fund.

 

[southpier]

....So, how do you guys occupy yourselves when there is no budget? Or perhaps a better way to ask is: what do you guys do around the house / garage that's free- requiring no supplies, new tools (the horror!!), or other expenses? ...

i usually have *** with my wife

 

[1redTA]

I would let some of my buddies without a garage come over and drink beer then I recycle the beer cans and repeat

brush up on infant specific CPR

 

[DYNA BILL]

I polish the hell outta the stripper pole with Brasso.
Then grab the wife and 2 or 3 bottles of wine.
Both get drunk and naked and take pictures, only to get deleted the next morning when we've seen what we did the night before.
Pretty cheap entertainment, if you ask me.

 

[DYNA BILL]

i usually have *** with my wife

Hey! Me too! Not with your wife, but with mine.

 

[usmc_noma]

My wife tells me that she's never seen one person organize the same space so many times. I just go in the garage and reorganize several times or clean any previous mess I've made. I also take scrap wood to build things. Depending on where you are, you can do yard work or vehicle maintenance.

If you need money start selling things on ebay or craigslist. I have a single income home and this is how we get extra money if I don't do overtime. Within the past month I'd have to say I've sold over $150 worth of stuff lying around.