How My No Spend Month Went

 

I thoroughly enjoyed my no spend month.  It did feel a little weird at times, but I actually found it very liberating.  For the first time in my adult life money came and nothing went out.  Having a completely no spend month forced me to really look at the things I already have and use those things, making the most of them too as I wasn't going to be able to go right out and easily replace something.

 

I learned a lot about myself, my habits as well as my perceptions of what I thought I knew and how shopping and spending has been a large part of my thrifty life.  I am a thrifty person and I do know I don't spend money like a lot of my peers, but I also know I have a lot of room for improvement.  A big thing I learned was that I don't need much to take care of myself.

 

I need far less food than I originally thought.  I'm really good at making something stretch or last and when you focus on really minimizing food waste and using up things that are already open or in use you can get really creative.  At one point I wanted to go out to our favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner, but instead I made a great beef enchilada meal from scratch using $4 worth of ingredients I already had on hand.  Not only did I have a great meal, but enough leftovers for four more meals making it only 80¢ per meal.  The portions were so large that I ended up eating half of the meal for lunch and the other half for supper which meant I ate for less than a dollar a day for five days.  Quite a bargain because that same meal at the restaurant would've been closer to $15 ( plus tip) and I may have had enough left to take home for one more meal, but definitely not four.  It was so good too.

 

Easter was another challenge for me because I wanted to give my girls something, but instead of shopping and buying them something I made some English Toffee and put it in a Rubbermaid container that they could keep once the candy was gone.  In that same vein I made a really good holiday meal using items I already had in our pantry and freezer including some of our Christmas ham I had intentionally vacuum sealed and frozen to save for our Easter dinner.  I made baked beans, macaroni & cheese and a cabbage salad to go with the ham.  I also made a coconut cream pie for our dessert.  It was a very thrifty, but an absolutely delicious meal.  No one left that table feeling deprived, that's for certain.

 

FREE offers this month

I love to cook, meal plan and shop for groceries and I managed to still do this without spending a dime.  I only went to the store once and used a gift card to make my purchases.  Along with my single shopping trip my daughter went to Albertson's and Fred Meyer to redeem a paper coupon and two digital coupons for FREE items that were offered to me through my store rewards cards.

 

Moving forward I know a completely no spend month might not be very realistic because I do have regular monthly bills to pay, however I do feel confident in continuing with very low spend months and making extremely mindful purchases in the future when I do decide to spend my money.  I'll continue to talk about my money saving adventures in my regular Monday posts.