Month 2

- Oh Happy Daze

Month 2: Spending update

For those of you just joining me and wondering why I’m counting months: read here.
In the interest of full disclosure, I’m going to be totally honest with my spending {I’m sure you would expect nothing less from my blog… there’s kind of no filter – it’s all truth up in here}!
Here are the only places I am supposed to spend money this month:

  • Farm Fresh {groceries}
  • 7-11 {gas, no coffee or snacks}
  • Online Bill pay {student loans, electric/water, mortgage… the usual “I’m an adult now” bills}
  • childcare
  • Walgreens {pharmacy}
  • Target {for random, emergency life needs only}

Here are some of the ways I have broken that rule so far:

  • A few weeks ago I worked a 9 hour day, snagged Charlotte from the sitters, fed her dinner then passed her off to Chris as he walked through the door and I headed back out to speak to parents about speech therapy stuff as it relates to Kindergarteners. I left the school meeting at 8:45pm and promptly stopped at a drive-thru to shove a burger in my face. It had been a long day.
  • While cleaning out the garage Chris found quite a bit of cash stashed in his golf bag. After some discussion we decided to keep enough for a breakfast date after church on Sunday and tithe the rest. totally worth it. plus it was extra money…. so I’m pretty sure it doesn’t count. wink.
  • Yesterday I had a procedure {we’ll just call it a lady procedure}. Recovery required a large milkshake and fries. doctor’s orders.
  • Today was long. and rainy. and our toddler was being, well, a toddler. and Chris worked late. and there wasn’t anything in the fridge that could be thrown together for a meal. At 8pm we still hadn’t eaten, so I convinced Chris to order pizza. and it was yummy.

So, just to summarize… not spending money is SO HARD! {said in my best whiny voice}. I thought the hardest part would be staying away from Target and or TJMaxx, my usual spots for retail therapy. Keeping busy with other activities and projects {like the community garden I discussed in my last post} has really helped me keep away from my retail loves. I’ve been {well, my hubby has been} making our coffee at home so we are not tempted to stop and grab some on the way to work. We’ve been inviting friends over to eat instead of going out with them {it’s still pricey to cook for a bunch of people, but we try to do ‘potluck’ style and it’s definitely cheaper than always eating out}. As it turns out, the random excess money I have been spending has been on fast food! When I’m in a time-crunch or following an exhausting day I just can’t keep by brain on for one more second to try and cook something, or have nothing in the fridge that I can grab on the go.
We’ve got another week and I am going to sit down tomorrow to meal plan so we aren’t caught off guard with nothing in the fridge or a schedule that doesn’t allow us to come home for food. Hubby just reported, “We are nearing payday and we still have money in our account… it’s working” {very scientific reporting}.
Where does your money go? Are you spending excessively?

- Oh Happy Daze

Month 2: Spending

Welcome to month 2: spending.
Before I introduce the parameters for this month, I’ll back up a bit for those of you who are just joining in on the ‘fun’ {ha}.
I have been experiencing a little self imposed self-reduction after reading {and being totally changed from the inside out by} Jen Hatmaker’s book 7 – you can read about all that here. I am mimicking her experiment, just taking the components and tweaking them to fit my life {since I’m not her, not in Austin, and don’t have her awesome life… I’m dealing with my own kind of awesomeness over here, so had to shape the project to fit me}. For my first month I chose to tackle my excessive possessions. Ouch. I’m still hurting from it a bit. You can read about the beginning of it here. I journaled throughout the experience and cataloged almost everything I purged during the 2 months I focused on getting rid of the things that clog up my life {there were too many things to keep the experiment contained into just January, so February became Month 1b. I’ve added up all the days in January + my extra purging month of February = 59 days. Letting go of 7 things each day x 59 days = 413 possessions. Guess how many things I was able to get rid of? 583! Even if I hadn’t counted all the clothing and jewelry I purged my total would still have been over 413. I am shocked. And slightly disgusted that even after removing all of those things there are still things in my house. I thought 583 would look like more. I am feeling so much better, though. Literally less burdened. Less overwhelmed. Less distracted. If you are feeling weighed down by your things, do some Spring cleaning…. but read Jen’s book 7 first to get your heart in the right place. If your heart isn’t in the right place, you won’t make sacrifices. You won’t end up actually letting go of the possessions that are burdening you. You’ll just go through your stuff and get rid of extras {the stuff you never use, the stuff that is broken}. Freedom won’t come until you’re getting rid of things that you actually love too much. It is possible to love stuff too much. and it makes you sick. It’s time to let it go.
now sing this, you know it’s in your head anyway:
 
 
Now on to Month 2: Spending.
I did a little research on our spending habits.  On average, we spend money at 25 different places each month {different places, not repeat spending at the same place}. I’d say that’s a little excessive. For this month we have chosen to spend our money at only 6 places:

  • Farm Fresh {groceries}
  • 7-11 {gas, no coffee or snacks}
  • Online Bill pay {student loans, electric/water, mortgage… the usual “I’m an adult now” bills}
  • childcare
  • Walgreens {pharmacy}
  • Target {for random, emergency life needs only}

It sounds pretty easy. Well, since I have already been living these limitations for almost 2 weeks I’ve got firsthand knowledge – it’s not! It is so incredibly easy to just walk into a store and spend money. so easy. I had no idea I was so absent-minded with my money. Now, like my buddy Jen Hatmaker, I could sustain all my life’s needs in Target alone. During the next month, though, I am only allowed to walk into target to purchase an emergency item or for unforseen need: a gift, toothpaste, or {like today} to buy a pack of sposies since we ran out {I have a really hard time keeping track of the emergency disposable diaper stash we keep for random use, like in the church nursery, since we use cloth the rest of the time}.
Having such a limited arena for spending means we will be really cutting back. No playdates with the mom’s group that cost anything, passing on lunch for the coworker’s birthday, getting up early enough to make coffee at home instead of stopping at DD on the way to work, not buying the tools from Home Depot to re-caulk the tub until the month is done {the mold can wait another month, or six}.
ok and there’s a small confession rattling around in my brain that I just have to get out. I had a long day on Thursday {like 13 hours of work long}. On the way home from giving a lecture that evening I realized my stomach was practically eating itself since my last meal had been lunch. I caved. I visited a drive-thru and crammed fries and a burger down with minimal guilty feelings. It wasn’t an accidental purchase. It was a flat out refusal to follow the rules.  Whew, glad that’s over with.
Where do you find you spend most of your money? Will you participate in cutting down excessive expenses for this month with us?