Thursday, January 28, 2010

No-Spend January Review

Even though I have 4 days left, I figured it was a good time to take a look back at the month that was No-Spend January. How'd I do?


*First off, I kept all of my necessary spending in check. I came in under budget by $10 at the grocery store and under budget by $35 for gas. I think I was more deliberate about my spending this month even in categories that I excluded from No-Spend January. My more budget-minded mentality must have rubbed off on all of my spending. Woo hoo!


*Besides being under budget in essentials, I had another happy surprise - I lost 4 pounds! Maybe cooking more at home/packing my lunch, taking long walks to keep me occupied and not going to bars every weekend helped my health!


*Did No-Spend January add to my savings account? Well duh! I didn't spend money for a month! But how much did I save? I averaged my spending for 12 months on clothes, coffee, entertainment and other non-essentials. I saved...


$462!

Did I feel like I was scraping by? Did my quality of life go down to save nearly $500 in a month? No, and maybe my quality of life improved. I feel like I put more of an emphasis on spending time with people instead of spending money with them.

I also think this month taught me a lot about my spending habits. I think when my husband and I had nothing to do, we'd shop without a purpose. I'm credit card debt free and I pay my balance in full every month, but I have no room in my closet and I'd keep buying clothes I didn't need. As we get ready to move, I'm looking around at all this crap I have to pack in boxes and think "Why did I buy that?" As my husband and I embark on the new road of homeownership and starting a family (later, later), No-Spend January definitely helped more than just my savings account.

2 comments:

  1. Holy cow, that's a ton of money! That's $5500 a year, enough to fully fund an IRA with some money left over! I'm going to have to try that myself.

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  2. So true, David! I've long been thinking about upping my retirement contributions, and after seeing how much money I saved this month by cutting back, not only is it entirely possible, but it would be a hefty chunk of change!

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