After having bought a new house, moved cross-country, hosted several houseguests (with the entertaining and eating out that went along with that), and spent too much on Christmas, I was inspired by Mrs. Frugalwoods to take her über frugal challenge in January.
I didn’t actually sign up for her daily emails, although I’m sure some people would find them very helpful; I just took her blog post as inspiration to go on a money diet for the month of January. Plus, it was nice to know that I wasn’t the only one tightening my money belt this month.
One of the ways I reduced spending this month was by eating down the contents of my pantry. Which means that my dinner one night was rice noodles with coconut milk. Not a terribly exciting meal, but it felt good to know that I was using up some food that has been languishing at the back of my pantry.
Being on a money fast helped me to break the habit of overspending that came from the move. When I was tempted to impulse spend, I thought about the ledger I kept this month. The challenge of trying to keep the row of zeros going helped me overcome the temptation to buy a gadget or a fast food meal. I liked seeing how many days in a row I could spend $0.00. [Of course, I’m only talking about discretionary income. But I am looking at my “fixed” expenses now too, to see if there’s any way I can reduce any of them.]
Just like with food, reducing spending will only be successful if it becomes a lifestyle change, rather than a restricted diet that is so severe that it is unsustainable long-term. After about two weeks on the spending diet, I started to feel a bit restricted by it. Although I had overcome the habit of buying things on Amazon when I felt like it, and I no longer went to fast food as a default because it was easier than finding cookware in my still-not-fully-unpacked kitchen, at two weeks into the diet I started to feel a bit deprived. I decided that if reducing my spending was going to become a lifestyle, I needed to actually spend on necessities, not just play games and wait until the month was over to buy things I needed. So I went ahead and bought dental floss.
It still felt a bit restrictive, and for at least a week I was really looking forward to buying more things when the month was over. I really wanted to buy some e-books, so I tried to find frugal ways to get what I wanted. I went to the library and got a library card, and got information on how to get e-books from the library. But when I got home and tried to download the app, I found out it only worked on Microsoft or iPads/iphones/ipods, and I don’t have any of those. :’-(
So how did I do with the über frugal challenge? Good and bad.
Good: At the end of the month, I had spent $0.00 on 23 of 31 days. The longest I was able to go without spending any money was 6 consecutive days, and I was able to do that twice. [Since I buy lots of perishable groceries (fresh fruits & vegetables), I had to buy groceries once a week.]
Bad: Despite trying to spend as little as possible this month, I still wound up spending over $950. :-O
Where did it all go? It breaks down as follows:
Total Spent: $960.61
Groceries: $453.42
Medications: $22
Gas: $43.33
Dental floss: $9.15
Holiday travel-related expenses: $61.25 [Getting home from Christmas travels]
Gifts: $63.04
Apple slicer: $9.42
Professional expenses: $299
You could argue that professional expenses shouldn’t be included in discretionary income, but I decided to include every penny I spent on anything that wasn’t a fixed bill.
Meanwhile, I recognize that I was privileged to be on a money fast because I wanted to reduce my discretionary spending and not because I was one of the federal government employees who were without paychecks, or otherwise in a dire financial situation. I acknowledge that many people count their pennies and tighten their belts out of sheer necessity. Then again, you could argue that my money fast was necessary, since I have become disabled and chronically ill and may never be able to work again.
Taking the über frugal challenge enabled me to break the habit of spending money for convenience/stress-relief, which is something I wind up doing every time I move. It also helped me to break the holiday spending mindset that I seem to succumb to every Christmas.
It also made reconciling my credit card statement super easy this month. Since I was aware of every purchase/expense, I just had to quickly scan the statement and confirm that there were no unauthorized purchases.
And even though I thought during week three that I couldn’t wait until the month was over to relax the restrictions and spend a little bit more, a funny thing happened. When the über frugal month ended, I was disappointed that I had spent so much despite trying so hard to be frugal. But I also enjoyed knowing exactly where my money went. So I decided to keep the challenge going.
Yup, you heard that right – I’m extending my frugal challenge through February.
Even though I was initially disappointed when I totaled up my discretionary spending, the über frugal challenge had the following benefits for me:
- It helped me get back to basics (tracking where every penny goes).
- It helped me stop spending mindlessly.
- It helped me stop spending for convenience.
- It helped me break the Christmas spending mindset.
- It made me start thinking about my “fixed” expenses and ways to reduce them.
- I saved money.
Yes, I did save money, despite spending such a ridiculous amount. I was feeling down about how much I’d spent, despite my best efforts, when I was reminded (while reading a post at Get Rich Slowly) that we spend less than we earn so that we can invest the difference. Right! I had been so focused on how much I spent that I forgot why I was trying to reduce my spending. So I went back and figured out how much I had not spent in January, and I was able to transfer my savings to the account where we’re saving money to pay for the repairs our new house needs. Success!
Even though she doesn’t know I was playing along at home, I’d like to thank Liz Thames, aka Mrs. Frugalwoods, for coming up with the über frugal challenge. I think I may do it every January to help reset my spending attitude after the holidays.
What do you think of the über frugal challenge? Is it something you might try?
