No Spend September Update – How’d We Do?

Hey there friends! Well, my month of “no spending” has just about come to an end. So, I went ahead and did some calculations to see how we did. And, it was no surprise to find that we have saved a ton of money over the month!

Honestly, this month was way harder than any other “no spend” month I’ve done in the past. That is just how bad my shopping habits had become! It was good to take a month off from aimlessly wandering all my favorite stores. So many times I don’t resist the temptation to spend $20-30 here and there. But those here and theres add up over a months time. It was also good to make myself get back into the habit of cooking at home. Making sure I have a plan for dinner everyday – even on the busy days with the wacky schedules when no one is eating at the same time – helps keep us from spending money eating out. Hey, it’s good for my body too!

So….(I feel I could use a drum roll right about now)….our total saving for the month comes in right around $1800!!!

That’s amazing right!! And, sad all at the same time. It’s hard to hear that you’ve gotten into a habit of just throwing that much money right out the window to things that you probably didn’t need in the first place. But, hey! Now is a great time to get everything back in check – right before Christmas shopping ensues!

I always like to break spending down into categories so I can see where we saved the most money.

Again, no surprise – our biggest area of savings was eating out. The next two categories sort of don’t count because we took a trip to see our son and daughter-n-law (gas) and kids started school (kids activities and such). So, after that was miscellaneous spending. Which, is mostly clothes and house stuff.

If you find yourself in a pattern of thoughtless spending. You know, those trips to Target for one thing that end up in a shopping spree. Then this exercise might just be for you. For some tips and tricks that helped us, check out our original post here. Thanks again for cheering me on! The plan is to keep going as we did for September. Shopping isn’t always evil, but it should always be done in moderation. 🙂

Have a great weekend friends!!