Wednesday, April 1, 2015

A Month of Spending on Necessities Only... Wish Me Luck

I was reading my friend Molly's blog this past week and was completely inspired by her post documenting her month long journey in not spending excess money. Her goal, to sum it up, was to spend money only on food for an entire month, then document what she wanted to spend on and then what she actually did. I think it was a great exercise and so obvi, had to take a go at it myself. Imitation is the best form of flattery, right Mol? Starting today, and continuing through the month of April, I will be doing my darndest to put money in the bank and keep it there and this ain't no April Fools Joke!



I'm laying out the rules as follows:
  • I can only buy food (including pre-arranged meals out), gas, necessities for baby such as diapers, wipes, bum cream etc. 
  • I can pay set monthly bills- Car pmt, Internet, Cell etc
  • I cannot ask my husband to pick up anything besides food, though we are on the 21 day fix so I do most of the shopping anyhow.
  • Trips to Dunks, Starbucks, Fast Food etc should not be considered food purchases

Things I had already pre-paid for/have on the books in the month of April:

I will keep track of the following:
  • What I wanted to buy but didn't
  • What I wanted to buy and did/didn't for the baby
  • How often I wanted to shop out of boredom, if I could pinpoint the feeling
  • When did I succumb to the urge to purchase for something unnecessary and did I put thought into this purchase before pulling the trigger.

I think this is an exciting challenge/exercise to become more aware of what I am spending and where I am spending it. My end goal is to make more mindful purchases and far fewer impulse ones. At the very least, I can make it through a few weeks keeping my shopping urges under control! *crosses fingers* Catch me on the flip and I'll let you know how I did!

What do you think? If Molly can do it, so can I!

4 comments:

  1. You're a brave lady! Let me know how brunch is at the winery- I've been meaning to go there!

    Alyssa

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think I can do it. I don't "need" anything at all, so I will be resourceful, keeping myself busy doing other things! The brunch at NVW is for Easter and it's $45 bucks a pop which I think is more than usual because it's a "special" one. I sure hope it includes wine LOL.... Imma gonna need it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is a great experiment! It can be so eye-opening! We've been using a budgeting software lately that I really like - YNAB - every time you make a purchase you enter it into the app and takes it out of the balance you set aside for that category. It has definitely made me think twice about things that aren't necessities!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh I'm def going to have to look into that after this month is over! I think I'll want to keep things in check for sure!

    ReplyDelete

Gimme Gimme Some Lovin'