I set a few ground rules for myself. My husband was also very much on board on this; so it was for both my personal and our joint account.
1. No random trips to Target
2. No clothing or jewelry purchase
3. Eat out for lunch no more than 1 time per week (individual account)
4. Eat out for dinner no more than 1 time per week (joint account)
5. No spending on credit cardsI think overall, we did pretty well- especially for our first month of trying a no-spend month.
First of all, I did not go to Target ONCE all month. Not even kidding. I think this is my biggest accomplishment, considering I pass a two story Target about 4 times a day. But I knew if I stopped for anything, I would be too persuaded to look at the stuff I didn't need. So mission accomplished there.
I didn't buy any clothes- which was a little rough. I kept seeing things I thought I needed...though now I can't even remember what they were, so obviously I didn't need them that much! Another no-spend month win.
As for jewelry...I failed, but just a little bit. A co-worker sells Premier Jewelry and decided to clean out her closet and sell a lot of her pieces for a super deep discount. I managed to snag a pair of earrings, watch and this ring for only $15. And considering the watch was originally $79? I'll take it!!
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| my hands are weird |
We did pretty awesome meal planning and doing one big grocery trip each week. This prevented us from stopping at the store every day after work and buying things we didn't need. Which also meant we normally had leftovers and I was good about not going out for lunch during the week. Mind you- the few days we failed in the leftovers department, I did bring Ramen for lunch, and once- an awesome co-worker gave me her leftover pizza so I didn't have to go out.
And now the downside...
There was one budgeted outing with friends on the 10th. We probably went over what we should have spent, as we sat and played Uno and continued to drink beers longer than we should have. Sorry not sorry. I love beer and Uno.
On top of spending too much out that night, I was also hungover the next day and insisted on McDonald's for lunch with the largest Coke known to mankind. This was not a solid weekend for no-spend.
On MLK Day, I worked at a Cavs game and after a slightly stressful day, went out for a drink and apps with co-workers. It wasn't budgeted, and while I'm not making excuses, I needed a damn drink after that day. And it was less than $20.
And we also went to Bar Louie for dinner- not budgeted- after we put in the offer on our house. A $5 martini was much needed- but we did each stick with only one drink and bought off the happy hour menu.
So overall- I'm happy with how we did. Just the idea of doing a no-spend month really kicked our butts in to gear to look closely at our budget and make sure we were being realistic with ourselves. We also set some long term goals in terms of paying off our loans, saving for a vacation, and buckling down to make sure we're ready for this house!
