I can feel myself getting more and more lax about my No Spend Month Challenge, but these blog posts are helping me stay a little bit more accountable.
Sunday, July 14
We stayed home for most of the day but did go out for dinner. We spend about $30 on mediocre food from the mall food court. I suppose it’s still slightly better than the restaurants my husband was suggesting. Normally I would be all for going to our favorite restaurants, so I was pretty proud I was able to say I didn’t want to eat out and spend more than $50 on dinner tonight. We did have ice cream after though and that put us over the $50 mark ($54.30 to be exact). 🙁
Perhaps if we had had a meal kit on hand (we alternate between Hello Fresh and Home Chef) maybe I would’ve said we would just stay in, but I guess something I struggle with is sometimes it’s just something for us to do when we’re bored, so we’ll go out to the mall or wherever and get something to eat. This is especially true for my husband, who stays home with our two-year old. Sometimes he just needs to tire her out and the mall is a good place for her to run around (she likes looking at all the toys at the Disney Store and Target). Along with this, of course, comes spending though, so I think we’ll definitely be trying to move toward more field trips that don’t involve retail stores.
Monday, July 15
No unqualified expenses. I’m super shocked I didn’t get tempted to make any Prime Day purchases. Woohoo!
I did send my husband a product link to another lunchbox for our daughter, but fortunately it sold out before he was able to purchase.
Tuesday, July 16
Husband wanted to get food from the food truck fair again and I didn’t say no. Spent $16.39 on dinner from the barbecue food truck.
Wednesday to Friday, July 17 to 19
Cooked meal kits from Hello Fresh the rest of the week.
Has been surprisingly easier to not be tempted by purchases. There is a gently used cardigan on Mercari that I really would like to purchase once this month is over though if it’s still available then.
Saturday, July 20
Weekends are always the hardest. I suggest that we go to a park/trail and walk around, but the husband says it will be hot and he’d rather walk around the mall–obviously, not the best choice for my No Spend Challenge, but I’m finding it very hard to make my family sacrifice when this is a challenge I chose to do on my own. Husband gets Pinkberry (I don’t get any, but I do benefit from my daughter’s leftovers) and we get Shake Shack for dinner ($40.86 for the family, sheesh!).
Thoughts
I’m doing way better than I thought I would. Early in the month there were times were I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue with the challenge, but now I’m pretty confident I’m going to make it. I’ve spent more on non-grocery food than I planned, but in comparison to my typical spending in this category, I’m doing pretty good. I think it rubs off on the husband too, since he’s inclined to want to eat out less as well.
Spending less time on social media and more time reading books has been helpful too. So much of the social media I’m exposed to lures me even more into consumerism, so reading has been a nice distraction. I even read this short book (free on Kindle Unlimited) called The No-Spend Challenge Guide for even more encouragement.
Wanted to Buy But Didn’t
- Cardigan: $17
Total saved: $17
Spent
- Food court dinner: $54.30
- Dinner from food truck: $16.39
- Shake Shack lunch: $40.86
Total spent on “unqualified” purchases: $111.55
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