Monday, July 20, 2009

no spend month check in

Well, I really did mean to update last Thursday, but we went camping and well, summer time just means busy time. I have lots of pictures from camping and lots of other fun stuff to share about, but for now, I just wanted to let you all know how we are doing with our no spend month.

Here are the Grand Totals up until today:

Groceries: $95.35
Gas: $30.17
Bus: $1.75
Ice Cream: $8
Fishing Trip: $10
Camping: $32.96
Eating Out: $6.50

Amount Spent So Far: $184.73

Now, first off, I have to confess that Don got a little tip money and we bought some coffee and other stuff with that. I really should count that in our grand totals, but I am not going to. I am cheating a little, I know.

It is pretty crazy actually to see IN BRIGHT LIGHTS our whole relationship to money. We get a little extra, we spend it. That is how we roll. Not very powerful or effective when we are wanting to save money to fulfill our dreams. And wow, we are so justified about it all.. I'm telling you, this is turning out to be such an incredible experience. Don and I are really learning a lot, and (I think) starting to establish some new habits.

Going camping really threw us off, however. Especially because we went for a little drive on Sunday and a coffee here, an ice cream there, it really adds up. I think we spent about $30 that was "extra" tip money on things that we for sure did not need, but wanted.

In writing this, I am going to go ahead and add that $30 into our grand total so we can see just exactly where we went over (which we for sure will with that in the mix).

So, here is our real spending:

Groceries: $95.35
Gas: $30.17
Bus: $1.75
Ice Cream: $8
Fishing Trip: $10
Camping: $32.96
Eating Out: $36.50

Amount Spent So Far: $214.73

The real challenge now would be to only spend $35 for the rest of the month. Very unrealistic given we need gas in the cars and groceries for the next 2 weeks, but I am going to try and get as close as I can.

That feels better. I am such a cheater all the time! Trying to make things look better than they are. But this whole experiment is to cause a shift in how we do things and "cheating" is how come we don't own a house or go on great vacations.

Sorry this post is so ramble-y. I think there is really a whole can of worms opening up here right before your very eyes. Don and I spent a good chunk of our mountain drive talking about this whole thing.. what we want, how our spending doesn't help us to get there, what we need to do to change... again, I am so happy we took on this challenge.. I think it is working, the pot is being stirred and new things are brewing!

Don even said yesterday, "let's cancel the cable" WHAT?!! Did my tv watching hubby really say that? We have some stuff we really want to do with our family and our lives and we DO need to live a little more frugally and give some things up in order to get there.

So here we are confronting what it will take to get from Point A to Point B and making some small changes along the way. I feel like the little engine that could...

"I think I can, I think I can..."

1 comments:

Liebe Lebenskunst July 21, 2009 at 10:03 AM  

Pretty impressive so far..and I guess a little cheating is ok the first time around ;o)
We have made the decision to NOT sign up for cable again, once we move. We want to see how we will do without it and if we should feel like we need it, we can always get it again. But I have a feeling that after a little adjustment time we will be just fine without it :o)
Our no spend month will come up soon too. Though I will give us 100 or 150 bucks more ;o)

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