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. 

An Update: No Spend July

This lovely little exercise of not spending any money, aside from necessities, has been eye opening for me. Probably the thing that has surprised me the most in all of this process is that I feel like we are poorer than ever. No money. Our bank account is constantly making me nervous and I am always waiting for payday.

How did that happen? I mean, what the heck? I haven't spent any money!

Granted, I haven't spent any money on credit cards either this month. That is where the real, true, heartbreaking realization lives: we tend to use our credit cards too often, too much, and for stuff we don't really need. Don't get me wrong, we manage our finances decently well. I was brought up that way. We even have paid off a TON of stuff this year which is super nice. We pay our bills on time. We pay more than the minimum amount due.

But, life happens. Amazon happens, which I know is not a legitimate excuse at all. I know. I know. I know!

In the past few months we have also added on some other expenses even though we have paid off some others. For example, I am going to be paying the hospital for the birth of my child for a while. It would have been nice to not be making the amount of money that we do and qualify for some aid in that area. That is a rant for a whole other day. I do believe the middle class though gets the short end of that stick. It's super unfair. We work hard, pay our bills, and want to have a family. Simple as that. End rant. For now.

We also have had someone come and clean our home and mow our lawn in the last two months or so. It was kind of an experiment for both of us because having a baby changes every single thing and since we both work and I have a billion side businesses going on, it was hard to keep up with stuff. I like cleaning my house. I still think I do it better than the people we have come clean. But, on a weekend, the last thing I am able to do with a crying baby in tow is scrub the crap out of the grout in my bathroom. It's a constant struggle. I don't know why I am trying to justify this but I feel like I need to. I am thinking of going to a once a month cleaning instead of bi-weekly and mowing will cease once we hit the fall. I am constantly hit by the fact that I want to spend time with my kid and not be remembered as the mom with the clean kitchen and the neglected child. No way.

I've managed to not go to Starbucks since June 10th. I am usually a regular at a few coffee houses and the baristas are all probably wondering if I'm dead or moved. The only few times I've had coffee is for work meetings and I don't have to pay for it. I don't think I've ever looked so forward to work meetings in my life. An iced caramel macchiato helps any crappy day get at least a little better. We had quite a few crappy work days lately too. I'll take what I can get.

 

I have received things from Amazon but they were diapers, wipes, diaper pail bags, and some keurig cups. We have those shipped to us monthly and I see those as necessities.

This has been a good experiment and I only have 6 more days to go. I need to get my eyebrows waxed. I would love a pedicure. I need a hair cut. Maybe I don't need any of these things, but I sure do want them. They help me feel human again.

I feel the need to still overhaul our budget and really hunker down for the next few months. I also feel the need to go through everything we own and just get rid of half of it. Too much stuff.

6 more days.

No Spend July: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I've decided to embark upon a season that probably seems crazy to most. For one month, the month of July, I am not going to spend any extra money. Obviously, we still need to buy groceries and diapers, and pay our bills,  but other than that....nada, zip, zilch. I've been realizing over the past few months that I spend way too much money on way too much stuff. Amazon and I are very tight friends that need some time a part. We need a "break-up" period, if you will. I should probably admit to the fact that I might have a bit of an online shopping addiction. There's so much cute baby stuff, so many new books, so many new anything and everything-s that I don't need to buy. The FEDEX and UPS guy probably know the location of my house by heart by now. That is a problem.

I know a lot of people do No Spend November, but I am doing No Spend July. Maybe I'll do November too?

It's simple. Don't spend any money except for the bare necessities. (I feel like Mogli from the Jungle Book should sing us a little tune every time I write those words.) 

WHAT IS ALLOWED: 

+ Obviously, groceries and diapers are needed.

+ We need to pay our mortgage, bills, and buy gas to get to work to pay those bills.

+ One date night out with my husband is allowed. Finding a coupon for the evening's festivities will be a must. 

+ Anything related to building my business with Doterra falls under what I can spend. I need to spend a certain amount each month to keep building my business and earning commission. Which is awesome! I have a few classes this month so I shouldn't need to dip into my spending. 

WHAT IS NOT ALLOWED: 

+ Coffeeshops. (Boo)

+ Any salon appts. (ex: manis, pedis, eye brow wax, etc, etc, etc.)

+ Nothing from Amazon

+ Nothing from Target, Ross, or any other store for that matter.

+ Eating out. Grabbing a big ol' delicious salad at Whole Foods. Then leaving after buying half of the store, ie. half of my paycheck. 

+ Etc.

+ Etc.

+ Etc.

I am ready. I need this change. I need this challenge.

I will update periodically as to how the challenge is going.

This will be a month of taking my lunch to work. Making my coffee at home. Not looking at Amazon, ever. 

I can totally do this. 

It's funny because as I have been working on this, I have seen so many ads for 50% off everything in the store, BOGO free with this purchase, and the list goes on and on. The struggle is real! 

Here are resources to help: 

+ Read about how Fun Cheap or Free buys her groceries. No coupons! 

+ Cheap or Free Date Night Ideas

+ 5 Simple Ways to Accomplish Your Financial Goals 

+ Dave Ramsey is the master of getting out of debt. Here are few of his budgeting forms. 

+ I've been using ReadyForZero to help manage my payments and get us out of debt. 

Intentions for July

I desire to have good intentions for this new month that we find ourselves in. The summer is flying by. Once the 4th of July hits, I feel like school starts again and then Christmas hits. Here we go.

+ No Spend July (more information coming soon)

+ No TV binge watching until later at night with my man. Read a book.

+ Walks and exercising with Marin. I so enjoy this and need to do it much more often than I do. Now if I could only get my hands on one of these....

+ Edit the Wedding. We photographed a wedding and I need to edit like crazy.

+ Eat as clean as possible with one cheat meal a week. One. One. One. One. (my high school reunion is at the beginning of August. Oh my!) I am currently in the middle of a Facebook competition where winner takes all if your lose the most percentage of weight & inches. The winnings would not be bad at all.

+ Start introducing solid foods to Marin. (research, research, research.) Right when we have breastfeeding down, we have another thing to throw into the mix.

+ Work through BLOG LIFE. I haven't hardly touched it yet.

+ Teach a few Doterra classes. 

+ Revisit my 28 Things Before 28 List. August will be here before I know it.