Our “no-spend” month isn’t getting off to a very good start. I just checked the bank account and to say I was dismayed at the balance is putting it mildly. On Wednesday, October 1, I managed to make it through the day without spending a dime. (I did attend a bar association lunch, but that $11 came out of my business account.) My husband came home with a cigar and a half-pint of brandy — together they make up one of his favorite relaxing activities — but I hadn’t warned him that the no-spend month started that day. So that was just under $10 for the day.
Then Thursday rolls around, and I go to my dentist appointment only to shell out $150, which is actually just half the balance for the crown I’m having to get. I came home with a sore mouth and lighter wallet, nonetheless. Hey, at least we’re brown-bagging lunches. I also bought a pack of cigarettes (I know, I know, major health concern, big money drain. I’m working on it, starting with cutting back) for $3.54.
I also had to hit the grocery store that day. Here’s where it gets interesting: I spent a little time doing sale and coupon research. When it was all over, my receipt totaled $40.12 for 25 items. The YOU SAVED line read: $39.08. I was almost giddy at the prospect — all my food at half-off! I got $40 in cash out and divided the money between myself and my husband, with instructions that it was all that was to be spent during the next week, feeling hopeful.
That feeling’s gone. I arrived to drop off my two-and-a-half-year-old daughter at daycare on Friday morning, only to find out that it was make-up picture day. She had flat-out refused to take a picture on the regularly scheduled day, and we desperately need a posed photo of her, so I decided to stay and see if I could work my mom magic to get her in front of the camera with a smile. When pleading and bribery with candy and stickers didn’t work, I pulled out the big guns: Wanna go to McDonald’s? Worked like a charm. Then I was beholden to a toddler, and had to make good on my promise. I put her back in the car and headed for the closest McD’s, the one in the local Wal-Mart Supercenter. We had breakfast from my cash savings to the tune of $5.77.
Sadly, being in the giant warehouse of consumer goods made me remember a few items on our shopping list, like new shoes for said toddler, ketchup, underwear for my five-year-old, and make-up for me (at least I buy drugstore brands instead of department store counter luxuries). The damage: $63.91.
So, in the first three days of our “no-spend” month, we spent about $122, not counting the medical expenses of $150. We still have a little cash in our pockets, which I can only hope stretches over the next week. Though the start has been a little rocky, I’m not giving up. We can’t regain the loss, but we can stop the bleeding. After my daughter’s soccer game this morning, I plan to come home and alternate housecleaning with putting outgrown clothes and other unused, but good, items on eBay. Then we may go to the local fall festival for a little cheap entertainment. Or, I may just unleash the girls into the backyard for some totally free fun. Yeah, that sounds better.
