For the month of September I am taking on a challenge with one of my fav blogs: Smart and Sassy with Sprinkles. She is going on a spending freeze for the month of September, and I gladly accepted the challenge. To be quite honest, we don't have a spending problem. This summer we buckled down big time on our expenses because my tuition sky rocketed. We cut back on things such as eating out, movies, shopping, etc. It has been hard, but we haven't truly stopped all spending in those areas. Well, technically, I haven't stopped all spending...it's truly more difficult than I thought!
With my sister's wedding coming up as well as Christmas shopping right around the corner, I decided to freeze spending on all non-essential items to start saving.
Here's my rules:
1) No eating out- this includes coffee, Starbucks runs, date night dinners, happy hour with coworkers, last minute Souplantation splurge because I'm too tired to make dinner, etc. The hardest part about this is most likely going to be no coffee runs. With school and work in full-swing as of next week, an afternoon coffee is super tempting to keep me awake for class. I'll post later how I'll conquer this!
2) No Clothes- No browsing through Target just to look and stumbling upon something I just have to have, no new shoes, no belts, no shirts, nada, zip, none!
3) No Entertainment- Right now our only entertainment bill will be for our Netflix instant streaming as well as Hulu plus. We don't have cable, so those are what we use in place. Therefore, no going to the movies, no fun shenanigans, AND no workout classes! I know that wouldn't generally be considered entertainment, but it is for me since I enjoy it so much. We will look for ways to have fun without spending money!
Ways I'm cutting back as well...
- Target/ Wal Mart runs will be for essential items only. If we don't need another box of swifter refills, it won't be in the cart.
- I'm a teacher and it is easy to run out and buy something for my classroom. For everything I think I need, some heavy discerning will be done to decide if it truly is a must right now.
- Right now we spend roughly $400 a month on groceries. That isn't too bad since we don't go out of dinner, but I do want to see if I can cut that down a bit. I'm looking for recipes that I can use leftovers for another recipe currently.
Exceptions:
1) Brow waxes are still in the budget. I can't part ways just yet, and I don't trust myself with the tweezers. Trust me, you're glad this is an exception!
2) I already had a hair cut scheduled for today...after that, no more money on beauty.
3) My sister's birthday is on the 11th so a gift and shipping charges will need to be spent.
4) I have a friend's birthday coming up at the end of the month, so I'll get a gift for her as well.
5) I've been on the search for the perfect "back to school" dress and haven't had any luck just yet. If I do happen to find it and it is reasonable, it's mine! But, that's the only clothing exception.
I will be posting struggles, tips, tricks, and solutions each Thursday of the month, so stay tuned!!!
You go girl! I love your list and can't wait to see how you rock it out! Its so annoying when all our money goes to tuition...I'm so over that whole issue :) I can't wait to keep each other accountable. Best of luck and happy freezing :)
ReplyDeleteI think the no eating out thing is going to be the hardest for me! I did make exceptions for a couple times a week. I found on the Krafts recipes site a while back a section to where they do a 5 day meal plan called 5 days 1 bag. I will use them sometimes and just substitute on the days that I don't like. Here is the link I hope it helps! Good luck and I will be checking up ya along the way :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/dinner/1Bag5Dinners/main.aspx