Look where you’ve been without losing sight of where you’re going.
You’ve made it a whole week in a spending freeze! It’s time to look back and check out your awesomeness.
I learned some stuff about myself in the last 7 days. I thought I was a saver, but I’m a spender. I get a rush from finding a good deal and getting pretty things. It was emotionally harder than I thought it was going to be to turn down a good buy. I had to look for other ways to feel fulfilled–and honestly, telling myself it was only for 31 days helped a lot.
The glitter of pretty things fades for me over time, so if I tell myself to wait 31 days, I probably won’t even care by then. If I still care, It’s probably something truly useful.
So far I’ve spent $4.25 for a head of lettuce, a stick of celery, and supplies for a baby gift. I saved $45 by not spending on sale items that I normally would have snagged. I took back items to a store and got $12 on a gift card–$8 was used for lunch, with $4 left over. My net loss for the month so far is $.25. I’ll need to get groceries at some point and gas. I haven’t done it yet, only because I’m slightly lazy and there are a bunch of other things I’d rather do than leave the house in these frigid temperatures.
Interesting to note: I mentioned last night that I needed to get groceries and oldest daughter said, “Are you sure? Let’s dig in the freezer and scrape the bottom of the pantry.” She’s really INTO this spending freeze and I love that! I pulled a turkey out of the freezer to thaw and roast this week. I love when we take positive steps and our kids are affected it by it.
Now I want to hear about you. Tell me positive experience from the week, what you are saving towards, or something you’ve discovered about yourself.
And another “reflection” picture just because.
P.S. The French Pastry giveaway ends today. There’s still time to enter: French Pastry Giveaway
This has been a learning experience for me. I never realized how much I spend without much thought to what I’m buying and why I’m buying it. A few times I found myself putting things back because it wasn’t a necessity at the time and I can hold off.
Thank you for that Yolanda. I’ve had some similar experiences. I can feel myself being “retrained” 🙂
Update on truck repair. Quote from our very fair mechanic was $1500-1800. $226 spent on tools and parts, 2 1/2 hr of hubby’s time. Fix done, truck runs! However, I donot have $1300-1600 cash to put toward our debt, but now we have a tool we can use again, and hubby has knowledge to fix something else around here!
Rebecca! This is an awesome story. I’d say he made a really great hourly wage in time doing that job. At the $1500 estimate, your hubby just clocked in at $510 an hour!
I can’t believe how little you have spent on groceries. Very impressive. I do my grocery budget every two weeks and I have almost spent all of my grocery money for the first half of January. I’ve done great in other aspects of my budget, except for the groceries. My husband and I started on the “Zone” this week and I keep having to go back to the store for more fresh fruit and vegetables. They are expensive!
Meredith, we will have to buy food eventually but are eating out of the freezer for fun. We have lots of organic fruits and veggies in there and meat…so it hasn’t been a big deal at all.