Frugality – A month of no spending – part 2

February was a true eye-opening month for us. The first of “No Spending February” was especially hard because we became aware of the mindless spending we did that had become a habit. By the end of the month, we still had grocery money left in the envelope. We spent the better part of an hour trying to figure out why we had grocery money left because it had never happened before. This left over grocery money gave us a freaked out feeling. Neither of us realized just how much of our “grocery budget” we snatched for covering things we should have a separate budget envelope for. It was amazing how much money was spent blindly on snacks while shopping, coffee, etc.

I would have to say our “Month of No Spending” was a success. Anything we wanted to purchase during the month we put off until the first of March. Delaying purchases also turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We realized that by implementing delayed gratification we made much better decisions and we found that we were just as happy making do with what we had rather than purchasing something new. Yes, at the first of March we did do a lot purchasing but we spent a month talking and thinking about those purchases in order to make sure they were not unnecessary or impulse purchases.

Something I noticed about “No Spending February” was that by not spending money I was able to get caught up on my chores around the house. This became even more evident when I made the first of the month purchases and the house looks like a train wreck because I am trying to deal with the items purchased as they get delivered. The minimalists may have something here. Weird how things work out when you actually pay attention to what you are doing.

We are already talking about doing another month of no spending because “No Spending February” was such a positive experience for us. So, watch for our “No Spending October” coming later this year.

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