Greatest lessons I got from my no spend January

I completed a no spend January month. I have a few tips now and some lessons learned.

The greatest thing I did was set myself up correctly. Instead of going from spending like a drunken sailer at the tail end of the year to no spend I did a gradual change.

Back in September last year I started to get serious about budgeting. I started September, October just tracking what I spent. By November, December I was getting really serious about really thinking about what I was buying. I am currently using the every dollar app (the paid version $80/year is so great and easy to use).

The phrase that helped my the most was “is what I want right now more important than what I want in the future”

more of this less of LED office lights

And my big scary goal for my future is to be in charge of my time. To be able to school my kiddo without draining my energy by spending 10-12 hours every day out of the house stuck somewhere. To have a job or way to make money that is flexible. To enjoy a cup of coffee every morning at my house or on the porch looking at the horses.

Currently my financial goal is to have a fully funded emergency fund by my birthday this year (September) and after that I can get serious about my next goal.

Options for goals after my fully funded emergency fund are:

·         continue saving into a sinking fund to invest in some sort of investment (rental, etc)

·         invest for kiddos future (college, retirement, etc)

·         dump heavily into the mortgage

I will for sure do option 2 to set my kiddo up but options 1 & 2 are up for debate. Throw in my insane idea of downsizing the farm (to be debt free to option number 4)...

Back to the no spend January. By January I was consuming solely financial podcasts, videos on tips on being frugal.

During January I cut my eating out to 0. However, my SO got sick and requested Fried chicken twice to it amounted to 50 dollars. AND I also had a small meltdown one weekend and got myself some food from McDonalds for under 5 dollars though.

It is now mid February and I am carrying over so many good habits. I am a lot better about packing more food so I am not tempted to stop and get a little snack after work or go to a vending machine. I also think I can just wait 1 hour and I’ll be home at the end of the day.

made this on a thursday for a treat with stuff I already had in the refrigerator

also making more food from scratch , it's a win win. kiddo gets to help me and then play in flour

I also now don’t pay full retail for anything if I can help it. I have needed deodorant for the whole of January now (the healthy kind) so basically I just went all of January not wearing deodorant. I finally found a brand I wanted and used reddit to get a 50% off coupon and it is ridiculous how happy I am with having bought deodorant.

I also have gotten a pair of jeans from a coworker for less than half of new.

The biggest hurdle I have left right now is how much brain power thinking about money is taking up. I feel somewhat overwhelmed thinking of the future. I know I will get a better balance as I automate more of the budgeting and putting into my savings. It will just take time for me to get there.

In the meantime, I am continuing to listen /watch FUN money videos that are uplifting or entertaining to me. Personally I am really loving Frugal, fit mom youtube and podcast, “I will teach you to be rich” and “ Raising Wildflowers”. All great shows that are keeping me motivated!

I would overall 10/10 recommend everyone to do a no spend month!

Happy savings .

-A