I decided to do a No Spend November. It just made sense. here's why.
1) For years now, I have been boycotting Black Friday.
2) On October 11th, I declared a year long clothes shopping ban.
3) I have a very small debt of 2261$ left that I wish to repay ASAP
4) My husband and I have a big mid term goal and we need to focus to get it done right
I thought it would be difficult... much more than it actually is. We are half way through and I think we are doing great.
We have had:
7 no spend days
6 days spending money for budgeted stuff i.e. food, Starbucks, rent, utilities
2 red days.
These, I need to explain a little. The first one, as you can see was on November 3rd. I was not impressed. Actually, quite upset. My husband had forgotten that he badly needed rain gear for hiking. I agreed and bought it. Well, to this date, the rain gear has not arrived and we now have snow, so I am pretty sure that by the time it comes here, it won't be use for a few months until spring shows up. It's done now so move on. The second day, the car broke and it could not wait to be fix. Something to do with the direction. Safety first, we got it fixed.
These are not excuses, they are facts. From those facts, I learned a few things... I am really poor at budgeting. I want my budget to be so low, that it is not realistic. And then, when life happens, well, we're screwed - because all that extra money we thought we had we ended up spending on God knows what.
I also realize that I'd rather pay my bills and buy food and load up my Starbucks card on the same days when possible... having as many dark green days (0$ spend days) in a row as I can is really stimulating and exiting! I do realize that having to deal with really crazy weather lately, it is not always possible to go out and buy our food when we'd like... I have to accept that.
Another thing I am learning is that my food budget, which for me includes toiletries and cleaning product and all that stuff you need in a home, is not realistic. I am pretty set on how much it costs us to eat. And I try an squeeze all the other stuff in there, but on those months where, for some reason, we need to buy everything there is simply not enough. And that is this month. As a result, I am already expecting to exceed my food budget by a little. I also realized that I am better off taking out the money for food at the beginning of the month and pay cash - seeing the pile of money decreasing makes me more conscious of what I buy. Also, the no food waste challenge has HELPED a lot with lowering my food budget - it's amazing how when you don't throw food away, you need to buy less! You should try it! Unless you are already there. I was not. At all. Not even close.
Another thing, is when we group our purchases on a few days, we end up using the car much less which in turns saves us on gas! So far, we are halfway through the month and we have not use 1/3 of the gas we use on those months where we don't go anywhere special.
Moving forward, I am planning my budget for December now. I have increased my food budget to include toiletries. I also will plan for Christmas - a few gifts, a movie, a restaurant... you know! I don't want Christmas to be red days! As, even though I will take little break in December, we will still monitor our finances really closely.
My husband and I are also discussing the way to make the budget and track our finances starting January 2019 as this year will be another turning point in our lives. We are planning on finishing off this debt and raise an emergency fund. We will plan better stuff like license plates and driver's license, annual National Park access pass, car maintenance and repairs, socks and underwear replacement, a little money for hobbies and activities... By now, we know what we like to do at what time of the year so it's easy to plan accordingly. I also think that if we track everything for a year, I 'll figure out what we miss or forget and will eventually come up with a budget that reflects our life... and allow us, once we have the emergency fund in place to have all kind of extra money to travel!
We elected ME manager of finances! A role I've had for a while but never took seriously... Now, with this no spend November, I am getting dead serious about finances. I am proving that I can step up to the challenge, learn to say "No, this has to wait" and use the same discipline I have in other areas of my life to get us back on track money wise - although we are not very far. I know that. But with that little extra control over money, we'll be able to do more of the stuff we love!
By the end of November, I will get back to you and let you know all the other great and exiting stuff we are planning!!!
Can I ask you a favor? I know I am not writing this blog as a competition to get a million readers... but a little more would be nice... so if you do like what you read, can you please share it???
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Chloe 💜&✌
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