Monday, July 1, 2013

No Spend Month: How Did We Do?

*snort*

Not great.

I mean, not terrible...but definitely not great. It all began when I went to Old Navy to return some dresses. Bear was at day camp and had only one pair of shorts she could wear, so I decided it was okay to buy her a pair of shorts, because she cannot wear the same pair all week. So I picked up some shorts for her. And a camisole. And a tank top. Also, I may or may not have perused the women's clearance and found a pair of shorts for myself. Nothing expensive, but that's not the point. I should not have been perusing any women's clothing, anyway.

However. I now own one pair of shorts. So I don't regret buying them, but it was definitely a no-spend fail.

Bear's tie dye roses
Then there were the flowers Husband and I bought for Bear to congratulate her before her performance at drama camp. Again, I do not regret buying them, as she felt so special and loved when they were brought to her before the show.

We may have had Arby's for dinner one night. I can neither confirm nor deny this possibility. But I will say that we did, and it is true.

Then a friend of mine got me a job doing some occasional work for a caterer and we decided that we'd use just that first night's pay to go out to dinner. Ahem. I got three meals out of my Olive Garden dinner. The dinner we bought. With money. Money we were not supposed to spend.

And because my brother is getting married this summer and I had to get new dresses (I bought them in May!), I obviously had to have an appropriately cut shaper to go underneath. I got the exact one I wanted on Ebay for a great price. With money. Money I was not supposed to spend.

Shorts, flowers, two meals, and some Spanx. Not a perfect record, but not as badly as I feared we'd do. I think we may try again in September. Anyone else planning to do a no-spend month?


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2 comments:

  1. mrslisraelsonJuly 1, 2013 at 11:03 AM

    We did a no spend month last September, and it was rough but we did ok. That month we started the Dave Ramsey class at church and in October switched to his zero based budget and our financial life improved 100%. It was life changing. And easier than spending nothing.

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  2. CincySarahJuly 1, 2013 at 11:06 AM

    Not bad at all, Jen! I'd argue that basic clothing (one pair of shorts, shorts for your kid who doesn't have many shorts , underwear) could be counted as necessary. Eating out twice in a month? Very impressive!! I think you did great!

    I'm doing a Very Frugal Summer Special episode around here. My biggest goal is limiting dining out (except when my grandma pays, lol) to no more than twice this month, including Kurt's lunches. We have one entertainment thing coming up this month, a trip to Entrainment Junction, and the goal is to otherwise stick to a very, very small weekly spending budget. The bigger goal is reducing a significant amount of what I call "stupid" debt by the end of the year. Debt I shouldn't have acquired in the first place if it weren't for bad spending habits.

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