The Numbers Are In: No Spend July

The numbers are in and No Spend July came to an end a few days ago. What I have seemed to discover in the midst of this experiment is that....wait for it.....

WE HAVE NO MONEY.

Even in the midst of behaving myself and not spending money on Amazon, going out to eat at work, or further encouraging my latte habit, I still feel like we have been taking one step forward and eight steps back financially.

Hospital bills are killing us.

In the month of July we also both had to pay for our car plates & registration. I renewed my license.

I had people clean my house for one glorious month. That has now come to an end because we just can't afford it. I'm back to scrubbing my toilets like a normal person once more. It was nice while it lasted. I will look back and remember it fondly.

To be honest, I caved a few times. I'm just going to put that out there.

One day, I bought a chicken sandwich at Chick-fil-a. I was heading home to edit a real estate photo shoot and wanted nothing more than that sandwich. And waffle fries.

On the very last day of the challenge, we went through the Starbucks drive-thru.

I also ordered two things from Amazon but will argue that they were necessary. We ordered these for the crib because of my child's gymnastic and aerobatic abilities. We also ordered this teether because times are getting rough around here. Drooly & tough.

What are we going to do moving forward?

I probably need to start couponing again or use something like this.

Still no more Amazon. JUST SAY NO.

We are going to try and start paying our mortgage bi-weekly instead of once a month. We aren't hit so hard at the beginning of the month with a mortgage payment that pretty much empties out our bank account and we freak out until Ryan gets paid on Wednesdays. It also will help us pay off our mortgage faster in the long run.

Baby steps. Maybe I should do a no spend year? 

What are some of your financial habits? 

I would love to know. 

Goals for July

June. Good ol' June. I didn't accomplish nearly half of my goals for that month. Life was busy. Crazy busy. It was full of shows and anniversary celebrations. I was sick for half of it because I've been breathing in smoke from all of the fires in Colorado. I still have a pesky cough that just doesn't want to go away. I was a bad blogger. I did drink a lot of tea and read some, but that was about it. 

But, alas, here we find ourselves in July! The fourth of July is upon us. Usually once that hits, the summer flies by in the blink of an eye and I beginning preparing for fall (My favorite season of all!) I'm ready for fall already. Cooler weather is probably my main desire. That and boots, scarves, lattes, and preparing for the holidays. My favorite. I even want to try and start shopping for Christmas now. (Yes, I am striving to be one of those crazies.) 

Until that time though, I will continue to sweat like a crazy women in our un-airconditioned home and pray that it cools down long enough for us to sit in our house for a while every evening. I need some good BBQ's on the back porch. Some wine. A good book. July is promising. 

Work through this book with my man. We need it. 

Find a killer sangria recipe and enjoy it on our back porch. 

I've been brainstorming meal planning for the two us. I would like to expand upon that endeavor. Dinners together sound wonderful. 

Write my new 27 before 27 list. My birthday will be here before I know it. 

Go thrifting. I'm on the hunt for some maxi dresses/skirts.