halfway

I'm proud to say I've done really well so far this month in the no-spending arena.
Other than the few things we had already planned on buying with our garage sale earnings, I've only had one non-grocery shopping excursion:
I went to Target.

I know. Spending suicide, if you ask me.

But I had to go; we'd been talking about getting SJ a new car booster seat for the second car and Target had the one we wanted on sale ($15 --score!!). So I went and grabbed that and got a few grocery/household things I needed to cross off my list and didn't even look through clothes or shoes or anything else tempting.

Okay, I did buy myself a Pumpkin Gingersnap soy candle that smelled soooo good. And was feeling guilty about it all the way home... but that guilt melted away when I lit it in my kitchen and realized how long it had been since I had a really great smelling candle and it just made the afternoon feel so cozy and happy and I decided it was a wise purchase.

I also popped next door to Michael's to replenish our running low for way too long poster paint supply for some kids' crafts. I just can't make it through a holiday month without kids' crafts! I spent $4 on four huge bottles of tempera paint. Score again!

So, we're halfway through the month and I've spent approximately $16 on non-necessities.
*$31 if you include the non-necessity luxury of having a second car seat. Which for $15? How could we pass it up?
Pretty good, no??

Anyone else not spending this month?

take 2

Last May I decided to try my hand at a spending strike. All monies for unnecessary items were to be not spent.
I did fairly well, did manage to save a good chunk of money, but was disappointed in my tendency to rationalize the extra spending I did squeeze out.

I'm ready to try again. It's been heavy on my mind lately how overindulged so many of us in our country are. Maybe it's all this financial crisis stuff, maybe it's the fact that gas and groceries are not getting cheaper anytime soon, maybe it's just that my pockets are empty. Whatever it is, it's just been more and more disturbing to me that we are so constantly bombarded with all the things out there... things we need, things we think we need, things we want, things to make life more convenient.

And we so often (at least I do) take it all for granted. It's too easy to swipe the card, write the check, run to the store for any little thing we "need". It's just been unsettling to me lately.
But of course I still I do it.

Not that I expect myself and my family to switch to a severely minimal lifestyle. I just want to definitely be more mindful of where our money is going and more intentional about the money we spend. To jump start that habit and make that a more regular way of thinking. And of course being kinder to our budget is a plus too!

Anyway, I'm challenging myself to the challenge again. And I'm going to do better than last time. For the month of October our money will only be spent on groceries, medications, bills and utilities and the like. NOT on cute fall clothes, deviations from the grocery list (especially in the non-grocery parts of the store), unplanned outings or purchases, or dangerous perusals of clearance tags at Target.

Anyone care to join me in the challenge for a little accountability and encouragement??

mission completed

I wanted to write a little post in wrap up of my no spending challenge for the month of May.
(and for the record, I did manage to not spend anything for the week since my last Wednesday confessional. Well, except that we went out for our anniversary, but that was a given)

I have to say, I feel like it might have been a poor month for me to choose this challenge. We spent a lot of money on our yard and landscaping (not like thousands of dollars, but lots of little things that added up here and there that we hadn't necessarily "planned" ahead of time, but needed/wanted to get done this spring) and I felt like that ate up a bunch of what would have been evidence in my cutback of normal spending. So in retrospect obviously it was good timing because we had the money to put towards our yard... but it doesn't have the big effect of wow, look at all this money I saved by not spending on extras this month!
Figuratively speaking, we came out of this month with an extra $200 from me not spending. But. If you take into account the yard stuff we spent and the baseball game we went to (which was an obvious out of norm expense... and we really splurged on all aspects of that game; the battle of the bands tickets, apparel, dinner at the park, snacks, souvenirs, etc.) really, the difference was closer to almost $500. $500 that normally would have just been spent willy-nilly, piddled away throughout the month on unchecked, frivolous spending. That's rather sickening.

I enjoyed the month. Even though technically I flunked if you're looking at it in a no spending, none whatsoever view. I did have one or two things each week that I could or wanted to justify as needs, but in reality weren't. As in, if I didn't have the money, I wouldn't have bought it and we would have survived period.
But I liked that this challenge made me think about what I was buying. I like that it turned off that impulse buy reaction, because that's what I feel was most accomplished with this experiment. Previously I would walk through a store and grab something just because I liked it, and now I know that I will give it a good second thought.

They say it takes at least thirty days to break a habit, and I can feel that. I don't feel that compulsion anymore. I don't make a mental list of things I want to look at next time I'm in Target. I honestly feel like I just don't think about "stuff" as much.
I don't think that mindset is completely gone; I'd love to keep myself up on this challenge for like three months in a row and totally get myself where I can see a difference, where I'm totally used to not buying anything we don't need at the moment. And I'd love to try a whole month in the future where I can honestly buckle down and not spend anything. But I think it's hard with kids. If it were just me, no problem... it's the convenience and appeal and the "necessities" of kids that I personally found to be hard to not spend money on.

Another thing worth noting about a challenge of not spending anything but out of necessity, is spending money wisely. There were a few instances where I had to decide about staying true to my challenge and not spending on such and such, but weighing it against the fact that if I didn't or if I put off the purchase, I would be missing out on a deal which would be spending me more money in the longrun. You know what I mean? That was the case with the summer clothes I bought for the kids... sure I could have put them off, but they would have needed them at some point this summer and I wasn't going to see that good of a deal again until things are marked down after the fact. I returned some things at TCP and I purposely avoided "shopping" in there because they had rack after rack of huge mark downs and I knew I could come out of there with stacks of clothes my kids didn't need if I wasn't careful. The next day however, I was kicking myself for not going through those racks for clothes for the fall or for next year, planning ahead. Getting those $3 deals now for when they do need them later.
So it comes down to an issue of being smart and more intentional with my spending rather than putting a blanket of "I don't want to spend anything" on things in general.
Which was my point of the challenge. To just be intentional and aware of how I'm spending my money. Instead of having it all gone at the end of each month and really have no idea of where it all went.

And on this topic, in light of being frugal and creative, here are a couple of fun "deals" I'm proud for having managed this last month...
I've been meaning for months to get our dining room "finished". I've had a phrase I wanted to get for our wall through Uppercase Living or Wonderful Graffiti or other places like that. Then last month I started researching whether it might be cheaper (although through Uppercase Living it was only going to be about $20) to have it made by a vinyl sign company. I found someplace where I could do it for $14. And that was my plan. Until this spending strike month, and then I got this hair up my butt to just do it myself. I had black paint, I had two hands... why not save $14? Ryan thought I was crazy, that it was worth it to just spend $14. For me it was the principle... sure it was only $14, but I could do it without spending $14, so why not? So I did. Here's our dining room wall now...Also I've been rolling around the idea of getting myself some "business cards". No, I don't have a business, but in the past two years of moving, I found myself thinking a few times how convenient it would be to have a "calling card" of sorts to hand out upon meeting new people. Meeting families out and about, another mom with kids that my kids hit it off with at the park, not having to find a pen and paper to jot down a number for people we make plans with at church, a source of contact info for meeting new neighbors. Just a more informal way of, "here, have my contact info if you ever need it...". I'm telling you, moving into new areas where you know nobody, you learn that making friends and building connections is a lot like either dating or recruiting clients in the business world, depending on how you look at it. ;) Business cards are good for both!
Anyway, so I've been toying with this business card idea. I played with a few designs online, nothing fancy, and dawdled with a company so long that they finally offered them to me for free. I paid for shipping is all. So these arrived last week and I know it's pretty silly, but I'm stinkin excited to start handing these out!! To have in the diaper bag, to leave with our babysitters, to slip to new friends at church, other parents in Savannah's kindergarten class and to maybe even make some new playdates at the playground. It has our names, my phone numbers, email and blog on the frontside and then extra emergency contact info on the backside including alerts to Sawyer's allergies.So whatd'ya think? Silly? You think I could make up some of my own designs and cater these to part time/work at home/stay at home moms and start a business of my own? Heck, even if moms do have jobs outside of the home, it's kind of a fun way to recognize the fact that being a mom is a full time job in and of itself... and that we all need ways to reach out and connect with other moms too!

Anyway, those are my freebie brags for now.
Back to the topic at hand...
any of you who tried this no spending challenge with me, what are your thoughts on the process? Was it a success to at least some degree? Anyone else who has in the past or is thinking about trying a challenge like this in the future?... Any thoughts??

wednesday confessional

I do believe I have nothing to confess this week. I'm racking my brain and I really can't come up with anything I bought out of want. Well, we did buy that new Playstation game, but I'm shifting the blame off of me... Ryan bought it. And it's not like it's a habit for us... we buy maybe one game a year. His hand was forced by the rainy holiday weekend. ;)

I'm feeling pretty good though, because aside from gifts and a couple of summer clothing essentials for the kids (what?! Cardinals baseball caps aren't essential?! Ryan said they were.), I stayed away from spending this week. Four more days for this months challenge!

*****
A sidenote to whoever's in charge of the weather patterns in our area:
I'm not one to usually complain about the rain. I like a good shower... probably more than the next person. But we're getting a little sick of all this wet weather around here. Could we get a little sunshine going here please?!! Maybe even some nice dry sunshine without the heavy humidity we know we'll have for the rest of the summer? Too much to ask? Okay. How about JUST STOP THE RAIN?!!

And just because I've noticed there's been a huge imbalance of words vs. pictures on these pages as of late, here's a quick pic of Sawyer from yesterday...











He would like the rain to go away so he can ride his bike without the rainboots, thankyouverymuch.
And because we're going to the Cards' game this evening.

still spending

So my spending strike didn't go over too well this week. Honestly, it wasn't too bad. I know I bought the kids some $1 red white and blue 4th of July flip flops from Target... and a bubble machine. I think that's it for really want-y wants.

But I spent a bunch more. And I tried to rationalize it. I bought a couple different curtain rods and drapes/shades for the dining room window. I'm reasoning that out in my head saying I've been wanting to do this for the whole 11 months (11 months!!) we've lived here, it's kind of been a planned (although not saved for) expenditure, I just have never gotten around to finding what I like and what I want to do in there. I don't know why I picked this month to finally bite the bullet and do it now. -Actually I probably do know why... just because I shouldn't, that's why. But I got some good deals, I only spent about $75 and half the stuff is going back, so it's not a horrendous amount of money. I'm just antsy to get it done.
Also I broke down and bought Savannah a swimsuit on Ebay for $10. Brand new with tags, adorable Gap suit. All my favorite suits for her have been Gap suits and they hold up so well... and she just finally outgrew almost everything from the last two summers, so she was down to only two suits. Which you might think is plenty, but in the summer here, with the amount of time we're at the pool, we wear them almost every day and the kids need a few to choose from and have clean.

So those are my rationales. As petty as they sound.
Let's see if I can pull off this last week of the month with really. no. spending.

Anyone else want to fess up on their success or stumblings with this challenge?

wednesday confessional on tuesday

How's that for a clever post title? hehe.

I've determined to stay off the computer tomorrow. Well, 'stay off the computer' may still be a very loose definition... I'm just going to scale back my blogging/blog reading/dinking around time a bit. From the looks of my house, being busy and being sick don't pair together well. This place is Trashed. Notice the capital T. So I'm devoting tomorrow to laundry and vacuuming and dishes and digging out the playroom and oh yeah, there are probably 2 kids to entertain thrown in there somewhere tomorrow. And I have a feeling all of that will take most every waking hour and sadly leave minimal time for extra-curricular activities.

So I'm here for my confessional early.

Forgive me bloggers, for I have spent.
I did great this past week. Until Monday. I blame it on being sick. I blame it on the weather. Or better yet, I blame it on my husband. If he hadn't dragged me against my will, kicking and screaming, into Costco (really, it's true!)(alright, I probably shouldn't lie in the confessional)... I would never have transgressed. Really, it all started with an innocent Polish Dog. We needed a few things from Costco and decided to make a dinner date out of it. I'd have let that one slide. Honestly, if you go to Costco and don't get the $1.50 lunch, that might be considered a sin itself. So we had our dinner in the food court. And it all went downhill from there. Adorable! Carters! Sundresses! And Osh Kosh Polos. And summer pajama sets ...of which I could rationalize, as both kids finally outgrew all of their summer jammies. Sawyer's been wearing white undershirts and his boxer briefs (over a diaper... don't jump to conclusions) to bed these warm nights. Pretty cute if you ask me, but the kid could probably use some real pajamas.
So yes, I bought SJ 2 sundresses, Sawyer a shirt and a set of pajamas. But I'm sticking the pajamas in the need column.

And the final sin expenditure? Tonight I went out to dinner with Heather. We ate here and had a long, leisurely, wonderfully quiet Mom's night out. And it was worth every penny if you ask me. I might just tack that one on the need side too.

That's it. And I solemnly swear to no spending for the rest of the month.
Or trying at least...

mid-week confessional

I'm going to do a weekly "confessional" in regards to my no-spending challenge.
I did well this week, I think, for going cold turkey like that.
Outside of groceries, preschool tuition, gas and a trip to Lowes, I think I only spent any money on what would be considered "want-y" items twice:

On Monday, we wandered through Target waiting for Savannah's prescription, and I told myself other than the envelopes and laundry detergent I was picking up, we were strictly window shopping. But then Savannah reminded me that she was wanting to buy a tennis racket with some of her birthday money. Backstory: The kids have been hitting the ball around almost every day for the past few weeks and taken a couple around the corner to the tennis courts with their dad, and they've been loving it. Well, Sawyer mostly... Savannah gets discouraged quick and loses interest fast. But she is impressed by the fact that the neighbor kids (4-6 year olds) all play (with their kid sized rackets) and she had decided that was an investment she wanted to make. Now, if anyone needs a tennis racket, it's Sawyer as he obviously loves to play and will stand out there missing ball after ball for hours (but whacking back quite a few for a two-year-old!), still begging for "one more time!". And being only three feet high, our rackets are a *little* big for him. So we hadn't decided what to do about rackets... it was great that Savannah had decided she wanted to spend her money that way, but what about Sawyer? Obviously we can't get Savannah one and not Sawyer, I don't quite feel like it's fair that we pay for his when she's forking out her own money for hers, and I wouldn't normally spend the money on two pint sized rackets just because. Savannah actually offered to buy him one too. Aww...
Anyway, we got two of them on Monday... haven't really decided what's coming out of our pocket or the kids' piggy banks... but I purchased them non-necessarily!!

Also, yesterday we grabbed lunch at McDonalds. Savannah's dance class time changed as they're combining two classes to rehearse for their end of the year show these last few weeks, and that gives us just 45 minutes to get from dance, get changed, get lunch and get to preschool. So I was lazy and spent $$ on fast food. Bleh.

But that's it. I think that's a decent cut back from my usual habits. I found myself picking things up at the grocery store and putting them back after checking myself. Same with even waiting in the checkout line at Target... I saw some new Softlips tinted gloss hanging there and immediately found myself thinking, oooh, I need lip gloss and that little hint of color is perfect.... and almost put it in my cart, but caught myself. It's just sooo easy!!

So, for any of you trying to reign in your spending this month with me, how you doin' so far? Any confessions to make along with me?? ;)

p.s.
We're headed back to the dr. today, for now Sawyer finally decided he wanted to get with the pink-eye program too. Which means another prescription to fill. Wish me luck on Target temptation resistance-Take 2 this week!!

spending strike

Big News here folks.
I'm giving up Target. I'm giving up TCP. I'm even giving up garage sales, craigslist and ebay. I'm giving up mindless, time-killing, clearance rack browsing, shopping of any sort. If I don't need it, I don't buy it. And I mean NEED it, as in a physical necessity, not "oh my gawd, I NEED those shoes!!".
For one month.
I'm pledging to not spend any money aside from basic needs and bills for the month of May.
Is it sad that this is so scary to me?...

We've probably all heard of the Buy Nothing Day uprising in opposition to "Black Friday" in November. Well, lots of people in the last few years have taken that a step further and challenged themselves to a full 30 days of not spending --and apparently some have even taken that challenge to a whole nother level-- all for a variety of reasons; As a protest against the consumerism that is completely overtaking our country, as a way to take a good hard look at their own habits and break the cycle of spending, or simply as an experiment because they're curious to see if they can actually curb excessive spending for a set amount of time.
For me, it's a combination of all three of these. #1, I don't like that kids are growing up to be spoiled brats. Okay, that's kind of harsh, but really... my kids want for nothing. And I feel they are far less indulged than many other kids in families we know.
Which is directly related to #2; it's because of my spending habits and the ease in which we can just run to the store for something we "need". We "need" none of it. I'm an admitted impulsive shopper. I love shopping. I also love just wandering the stores for ideas of things to make or put together, but of course it always ends up in purchases. I love great deals and I'll seek them out, just to be able to get things at such great prices... but really, did I need it in the first place? We all know how amazingly fast all those little things add up. I feel like in this day and age so many of us blow through money without giving it a second thought. We don't feel like we're being extravagant or spending excessively because everybody is doing it. I want to get out of that mindset.
And thirdly, I'm really curious. I'm curious to see if I can really do it. I'm curious to be reminded (on almost a daily basis, I'm sure) of what I am normally inclined to spend money on and what the difference would be if I didn't.

And I'm also reeeeeally nervous, haha! Isn't that sad? I don't know if I can go 30 days (or 31 in this case, -smart thinking Heather, pick a long month to start this HAHA!) without buying things I want.
But I'm going for it.
And I've been putting off thinking about it or writing about it until now, because I didn't want to be planning for it. I didn't want to be mentally making lists of what I need want to be sure and buy before the month starts... I didn't want to be binge buying to "stock up" or to go on this spending frenzy to get my shopping fix out of the way. I haven't bought a thing ahead of time in preparation for this. In fact, the only thing I've spent so far this week was taking the kids out to have lunch with Ryan yesterday at Chick-fil-A.
And I don't want it to be a "save it for next month" mindset either. I don't want to be counting down the days until June when I can BUY AGAIN!!
I hope really let it sink in that it's a point of whether or not what I am buying is a necessity or something frivolous... not just I can't buy this for x more number of days. Not that I will never make frivolous purchases ever again, but I want to be sure I have a little perspective on the fact that there's a time and place for those purchases and whenever I get the whim is not the rule to live by. It's not what I want my kids to live by.

So that's my challenge for myself. No spending for the month of May.
Anyone care to join me? Anyone else intrigued and up for the challenge? I know it's kind of last minute, but that was kind of the point. If you are, leave me a comment and let me know and we can be a support group for each other, HAHA!
And don't worry, I'll be reporting on this adventure regularly... you can all keep me accountable!

*While I've had this all mulling around in the back of my mind for a long while now, something I've always thought I'd like to do "someday", I have to give credit to Crunchy Chicken and to Cass (even though she wimped out and isn't doing it after all, ;) totally kidding Cass!) for bringing it back to my attention this past month and inspiring me to just bite the bullet and do it once and for all.