No Spend Challenge Gone Wrong

These days everyone is looking to save a buck anyway they can, which is why I was all gung-ho about doing one of the no-spend challenges that are so hot these days. If you do a quick google search you can read up on how millions of folks are committing themselves to only buying the bare necessities as a way to save money.

So 10 days into this challenge, I decided to tally up what I have spent so far….drum-roll please…..I have spent a total of $613.71 for the first 10 days of the month and that includes the one day I only spent $3 on a Misto with mocha at Starbucks. This figure doesn’t take into consideration our bills just groceries and things that I am now using cash for; we have gone a tad off track since the little one needed art supplies and shoes, plus there is my pesky dry cleaning. I have only eaten out 2-3 times so far, so I can’t even say its eating out that got me off track. My original plans were for $200 in groceries and $150 in miscellaneous costs (excluding gas since that is a different line item in the budget)

Now I will say that this figure is better that what we usually would have spent by now which almost certainly would be closer to a thousand bucks but its still not as good as I had hoped for, as evidenced by the fact that yesterday I had to pull out my debit card.

Turns out my plans for a $400 a month grocery bill as a working Mama is fantasy, I use a few too many convenience items such as canned broth….tried to make pizza crust last night and ended up getting a Boboli crust since the one I made was a tad funky at first. Though I did turn it into a second pizza and it was edible.

So while I am still committed to reducing our spending and working towards truly not spending on anything that is not critical (guess one could say that my $20 eye brow wax wasn’t critical, on the other hand unibrows are not attractive) the reality is this shit is much harder than I thought it would be. The only plus is that I have put more in the savings account that I normally do by this time in the month.

By the end of the month, I will post again on how I wrap up this month’s challenge. As for today, I am grappling on whether or not I should spend $1.50 on a tasty cinnamon roll on my way home from my morning meeting…its these damn cravings that get me every time.