No Spend September

Today is September first and this marks the start of a fiscal fast in House of Jaramillo.

Todd and I are going to try to not spend any money for the month of September, not my idea but I was able to warm up to it.  Now when I say “no money” I really mean nothing that is not a necessity. Obviously we have to keep buying gas, groceries and paying our bills. This fast is really going to cut out the extra-fat-spending that we do during the month. When I go through the list of how we will change our habits, it probably won’t seem that drastic since for the most part we are a pretty frugal couple.
Todd proposed the idea to me as this, “I really want to try and not spend any money in September to see how much we can put into savings.” I replied, “No, because once you see how much we save we will never go shopping again and I can’t live that way,”  which is true. Where others may enjoy gambling, buying booze or getting pampered, nothing is as exciting to me as shopping. I don’t even have to spend large amounts of money, but knowing that I can get a get myself a little treat, makes me so happy. However, since I married Todd I am learning that there can also be joy in seeing money in your bank account, not just new clothes in your closet. So I agreed to try it this September.
So what will be cutting back on?
entertainment: Level of Difficulty 3-Easy money.

 We are not going to cancel our Netflix, we did streamline this month to 1 movie at a time unlimited but this was done before we made the choice to do No Spend September. We made this choice because with instant-streaming on the Wii and movies on TV, our two movies might sit there for a really long time before we got around to watching them. As far as going to the movies? That is not really something Todd and I do anyways. It is just another way to watch a huge chunk of change go down the drain.
Food: Level of Difficulty 4-What about the value menu?

 

As far as eating out goes, we really don’t eat out that much, it is a super easy way to blow 40 bucks.  However, on the weekends it is a little fun for us to spin through a drive through and grab something for dinner. If we do go out to eat, we usually have a coupon of some sort. Since we got married and moved in together, I have been packing lunches for Todd and myself every day. If you think about it, it would probably cost us 10$ a day for both us to eat, and I am saying cheapy fast-food, by the end of the week that is $50! Add up it for the month and you are looking at about $200 in over-processed, un-digestible food. While not buying lunch will be easy, not eating out during the weekend will be harder. It is a nice break from me having to cook and also a nice little treat of eating unhealthy but yummy food. As far as groceries go, Todd and I started only allowing ourselves to go shopping every other week. We make a list for what we need for two weeks and stick with it. It get hard on the last part of week throwing together dinners, but I find we are wasting less food and using up our pantry staples.
Shopping: Level of difficulty 9 Is extra money really worth my sanity?????

Here we come to the hardest topic, but the one I feel we will probably be saving the most money with. When I married Todd I knew my single-girl spending days were over. Now I had to pay for my own gas, groceries and take on other bills. Bank of Mom & Dad was closing up shop and spending whatever,whenever was now going to be budgeted down to the bare essentials. Somehow along the way I found a loophole in the system. A way to go shopping not only with the hubs, but have him happily hand over the cash. This was shopping for items in our house. A trip to Kohls for kitchen gadgets, a stop by Ross for wall hanging or a run through Target for kitty supplies can usually be supported by the husband. I got my thrill of shopping with none of backlash from Todd. I guess is this is part where I say “Hi, my name is Heidi and I am a shopaholic.” So now it is with a sad heart, I say goodbye to my easy shopping weekends for the month of September. I agreed to do the fiscal fast and I can’t back out now.
Even though I know it is going to be tough, I am really not that stressed out about it. There was a major shift in my spending habits when I married Todd and survived that. Really, how hard can this be? I am going to approach this month with an exciting treat at the end of some extra rainy-day cash in the bank and maybe break away a little more at my shopping addiction. Wish me luck.
-Heidi J.
PS- We just got the medicine for Scioscia’s bum but we are waiting to start it on Monday since it is 8 days of treatment, I will post about it soon!