Jerry and I were recently chatting about all the stuff we have to do but never get to because we're constantly off on "adventures" on our days off, or I have a ton of projects but never finish them because I'm always starting NEW projects and having brilliant new ideas! Essentially we both agreed we weren't being grateful enough for the things we do have and the beautiful house we live in. We're too busy then too tired.
We were also thinking about all the little spending we do without thinking about it. "Oh, I'm just running to the store for peanut butter." then we grab coffee because we're getting low or decide to pick up a special treat after a long day. While none of these things go to waste, we really don't NEED it. When we look back over the month we're always scratching our heads when we wonder 'Why did we go over our food budget again!?" A buck here or there adds up to a lot at the end of the month. Especially a "target buck". You know running into Target just for diapers is a terrible idea because I've never gone in and only gotten diapers. I hope I'm not the only one!
We finally came to the decision that we wanted to do a "No spending" month. We've set up some rules and are excited to start tomorrow (July 1st).
Regular monthly bills will be paid. Ha. No getting out of that one.
Our grocery budget will tighten up a bit too, and there will be no eating out. No coffee out, no car wash for a month (I'm a little bit OCD about our car. I hate having a dirty car above almost everything else. I go to teh carwash and vacuume out the car about twice a month if not more! Bad/good habit!). I'm even planning to pack Jerry's lunch for work *gulp* and send him with a travel mug of coffee!
Our savings and investments will carry on as will pre-planned things. We have planned to purchase a dinning room table a few months ago and that will definitely still be happening! We have a couple other small-ish things going on, like my plan for my phone expired and we're changing phone service around - more on this awesome money saving plan later!
Some of my goals during this upcoming month are to finish some craft projects, get the mudroom re-organized, and empty the pantry and fridge of things we buy but don't eat often enough.
Jerry's goal is to replenish our savings account from when we bought the car (we paid more for the car than we originally budgeted and had to pay from our "safety net" savings.) and from too many trips to Spokane that weren't budgeted but very necessary for my sanity!
We aren't doing it because we're spending out of control or even because we're broke, we're doing it for fun. We want to be more conscientious about the things we're spending our money and time on.
My hope is that we can be more grateful for what we have rather than looking for new things we could use that would make our life awesome. Though we HATE saying it to each other we've decided to support each other by giving little reminders that, "Oh, that's not really in the budget." and a special agreement that we won't get upset about it (okay that was for me!).
We have a lot of activities going on in July, but most of it is already paid for. I'll blog again about our budget for the month when I get around to it. :)
If you want to join me let me know because I'd love to have someone to lament to when I want coffee out or a new book!
We were also thinking about all the little spending we do without thinking about it. "Oh, I'm just running to the store for peanut butter." then we grab coffee because we're getting low or decide to pick up a special treat after a long day. While none of these things go to waste, we really don't NEED it. When we look back over the month we're always scratching our heads when we wonder 'Why did we go over our food budget again!?" A buck here or there adds up to a lot at the end of the month. Especially a "target buck". You know running into Target just for diapers is a terrible idea because I've never gone in and only gotten diapers. I hope I'm not the only one!
We finally came to the decision that we wanted to do a "No spending" month. We've set up some rules and are excited to start tomorrow (July 1st).
Regular monthly bills will be paid. Ha. No getting out of that one.
Our grocery budget will tighten up a bit too, and there will be no eating out. No coffee out, no car wash for a month (I'm a little bit OCD about our car. I hate having a dirty car above almost everything else. I go to teh carwash and vacuume out the car about twice a month if not more! Bad/good habit!). I'm even planning to pack Jerry's lunch for work *gulp* and send him with a travel mug of coffee!
Our savings and investments will carry on as will pre-planned things. We have planned to purchase a dinning room table a few months ago and that will definitely still be happening! We have a couple other small-ish things going on, like my plan for my phone expired and we're changing phone service around - more on this awesome money saving plan later!
Some of my goals during this upcoming month are to finish some craft projects, get the mudroom re-organized, and empty the pantry and fridge of things we buy but don't eat often enough.
Jerry's goal is to replenish our savings account from when we bought the car (we paid more for the car than we originally budgeted and had to pay from our "safety net" savings.) and from too many trips to Spokane that weren't budgeted but very necessary for my sanity!
We aren't doing it because we're spending out of control or even because we're broke, we're doing it for fun. We want to be more conscientious about the things we're spending our money and time on.
My hope is that we can be more grateful for what we have rather than looking for new things we could use that would make our life awesome. Though we HATE saying it to each other we've decided to support each other by giving little reminders that, "Oh, that's not really in the budget." and a special agreement that we won't get upset about it (okay that was for me!).
We have a lot of activities going on in July, but most of it is already paid for. I'll blog again about our budget for the month when I get around to it. :)
If you want to join me let me know because I'd love to have someone to lament to when I want coffee out or a new book!
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