February Spending Freeze: Recap

Monday, March 2, 2015

We have made it through No Spend February. Barely. Was it a perfect month? Not in the slightest. Did we cut back our spending from previous months? Definitely.



Now, for the money spent words of shame.

Powerball Tickets-Silly? Yup. But when your office has an office pool and you would be the only one saying no, you lose willpower.

Flowers-Brian forego the spending rule to be a super sweet husband on Valentine's Day. Not a total loss..

Wine-Turns out, giving up wine isn't quite as easy as I had hoped.

Eating Out-Brian did grab a few lunches this month at McDonalds, grocery store, etc. Each time I felt the need to remind him of our freeze ;) We also did end up grabbing Chik Fil A this past Saturday. But technically, was it even still February then?

Netflix/Redbox-Giving up Netflix wasn't even thought about. One of the expenses we didn't even consider an expense. This is a good example of why we needed this month to analyze our finances.

Groceries-We can't go without food but we did realize how much we actually spend on groceries. It's the average of a family of 4. Seeing as we are not one, we need to now figure out how we can fix this.

Target Run-After 3 months, I went back to Target to return a pair of shoes. Since I spent under the amount I had just returned, I do not count this as a cost. Plus, my purchases included cat food, chili beans, upholstery cleaner and chicken. Nothing fun there, folks.

Even though this month wasn't the complete freeze that we wanted it to be, I know I have adjusted my habits. I realize how much useless stuff I spend money on. Amazon is my weakness. Especially with Prime.

As mentioned, we did see how much we actually spend on groceries. This month we did much better than January & December, which shows meal planning does have its benefits. There is a still a lot we need to do so we can save on groceries. This means figuring out a few meatless meals and utilizing coupons when necessary.

Overall, I am still glad that we did this the past month. We had a few slip ups, yes, but we realized how much we could be saving by planning ahead and making a budget for the things we just can't give up. Like wine and the occasional lunches.
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8 comments:

  1. Have you guys tried doing the Ramsey cash system? It will work wonders on your spending. I do that, and was able to buy a car in cash with my husband after I totaled mine last week. Makes a HUGE difference and cuts out the fast food/Starbucks/Whole Foods/Target runs.

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  2. I've noticed that our grocery spending is high on the "average family of blah" scale, but I think it's because we've switching to eating fresh produce and cooking whole meals at home. It's so much cheaper to hit the boxed/frozen foods but not as healthy. It's something that I'm not willing to cut back on our budget because I want to eat healthy. :)

    Sounds like you guys did awesome!

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  3. I envy your willpower. I would not be able to do that - especially the Target part!

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  4. That is still an A+ in my book! We don't spend too much money, but I do always analyze our money! I think it helps a lot knowing where you are spending your money!! I bet your glad that this month is over!!

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  5. I have read a lot about it and we started it but I think we didn't know how to plan right. And when we felt like we couldn't do it, we stopped. Maybe we will give it another try!

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  6. We do eat a good amount of produce and meals at home so maybe that's it. And you're right if it's healthy I guess I shouldn't be so worried!

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  7. It was definitely hard. For me, Amazon was the hardest. I tend to just buy because I have Prime without realizing what I'm spending. Bad habit!

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  8. I am so glad it is over! But I am glad we did it so we realize how we are spending and why we are spending. The lunches out, the Amazon shopping, it all ads up.

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