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Two years ago we decided to see how little money we could spend in February and did our first NO Spend month. It went really well and we ended up saving $1200! You can read more about doing a No Spend Month here if you are curious what it’s all about or are thinking of doing one yourself.
After reading Raising Grateful Kids in an Entitled World and having a spendy January including buying a few new appliances, we decided it was time to do another NO Spend February. This time we are a little more prepared, we hope and are looking forward to adding in some educational aspects as well.
Here is the breakdown of our plan:
Pay our Bills. Duh. Just checking to see if you are still reading.
Target – Goodbye Target, I will miss you! Yes, I will once again be fasting Target for the month of February. My only caveat, if I am working on a room for someone else then I will be there but only buying for my client not myself.
Eating Out – Curious to see how much we save this time as we haven’t been eating out as much now that I am gluten free.
Meal Plan – I have already created a list of meals and have been trying to stock up little bits here and there when out grocery shopping so hopefully we won’t spend as much in February. I know it’s sort of robbing Peter to pay Paul in a way as we are spending now to not spend in February but the less trips I have to make to the grocery store in February the less we will spend in general. I am not disciplined enough to just buy ONLY what’s on my list. Usually a few extras will end up in the cart. We are going to focus on buying only eggs, milk, bread and fruit which is still a lot but I’m hoping we can stick to $150 every two weeks. The other challenge will be my gluten free aspect that makes meals a little trickier.
Meals – I am hoping to do just a few meals of rice and beans throughout the month and talk about places around the world where starvation is a real everyday way of life. I have some entitled kids who are picky eaters as well so it’s something we are all going to work on.
No Extra Expenses – Last time we did this I missed out on a wine and canvas night in town with the neighborhood girls along with some other fun stuff. I am sure that will happen again this time in one way or another. Again, if the kids are invited to a birthday party that is something we will let them do. Our calendar is pretty empty at the moment besides our annual Super Bowl Party which is exempt from the No Spend and we are budgeting $3o for cross country skiing some Saturday as the weather is usually perfect in February and the kids have been begging to go. So we’ll have fun at home playing games, reading, re-watching Downton, doing some projects, organizing, cleaning, exercising and spending time at the Athletic Club where we are members.
I’m looking forward to this month and seeing what we can accomplish financially and also in our hearts working on entitlement, being more grateful and content. Anyone else doing a No Spend month?
