No Spend November – It Begins

Well, it officially came and left. The first day of No Spend November.

I just wanted to pop in and give an update on the challenge. I intended to post a couple days beforehand with some things I had done to prepare (yes, prepare!), but well, life.

I love fancy coffees. My Instagram is full of coffee pictures. I mentioned in my last post, it will be one of the hardest things for me to give up for the month. But at $6 or so a pop, they are definitely an unnecessary expenditure.

So, knowing this, I made a little purchase. I searched around Amazon for a bit until I found an inexpensive milk frother that had good reviews. Here it is in case anyone is wondering – it is not an affiliate link! I figured that having a frothy coffee a few days a week would help my bottom line on this challenge, and that little tool was super cheap.

Well, I say some things, but really that was the only thing worth posting. I did buy some yarn and fiberfill, but that’s boring! Maybe not to the other yarnaholics but I don’t have pictures right now!

An interesting comment was left on my last post:

I really enjoyed reading jenoftheforrest’s experiences with the challenge and wanted to give a debrief as well.

Did I notice if anything was different?

I happened to go grocery shopping yesterday with my nine year old. That was definitely a different experience. We 100% went over the $125 weekly budget (by $60ish) I had set for us, which is 100% ok. I was far more mindful of our purchases. There were a couple of things we didn’t need now that were on great sale that would have been silly not to get – like name brand fragrance free detergent and batteries. So NSN isn’t about not spending in such a way to drastically decline our way of life, but being smart about it. There were other things I would have thrown in that I didn’t – especially since Christmas things were being put up!

One thing that stood out especially were the conversations I had with my daughter. The big stuffed dog or the cheap plastic clipboard were both things she *needed* right now, at that moment. I kept reminding her they were in fact not. That they didn’t fit into the parameters of the month’s spending. At one point she gestured angrily at the cart of groceries and said ‘but we are spending money on food it doesn’t make sense to be called No Spend November!’ And I had to take a moment to explain that we need food and other assorted things to, you know, live.

She at one point asked if she could put back some things she had picked out for her lunches to get the clipboard (let me explain that she already had a clipboard she just loves random school supplies) because she didn’t need the little cheese-wheels or the grapes. I had to tell her a balanced lunch were things she needed a lot more than more stuff.

That was about the extent of it, because by the time I was done with work, dog, child, grocery, all that good stuff, the day was done.

Some things I know I will be spending money on that I wouldn’t otherwise spend money on in a month:

•  Daughter’s dance costumes ($120)
• POSSIBLE 5k road race ($50) – haven’t decided yet but it’s a good cause and I haven’t run a proper 5k since June
• Haircut – I have a legit party in the back situation going on right now, and a 15% coupon ($80 less 15%)
• I would like to try out a Barre class ($20/class or less if you sign up for multiple classes)
• Enrichment classes for my daughter ($40)

That’s all for now. Please, chime in with your experiences! Any groups to join or other blogs doing the challenge? Any link parties I need to know about? Comment below!