"No Spending" Goals

In this post, I talked about how we were doing halfway through our first month of "no spending." We were spending money, but not on things like shopping, eating out, random desires, etc.

Now I'm back to sum up the month and talk about how June can look as well.

• I allowed myself $5 per week between the drugstores in town and Target. I never went over, and only once did I even come close. I am changing this a little for June and challenging myself to $15 for the month between all of these stores.

• Our garden is blooming quite well, thanks to all the rain we have had. We got to eat some salads this past week with lettuce and sweet basil from our garden and have started picking peaches as well. Can't wait for more fresh food. It tastes so good and fresh and saves us so much in grocery costs.

• I don't know of any more great coffee deals coming up, but I do enjoy the Target brand Espresso, so I will have to watch for it to go on sale sometime soon.

• Our menu plan for May worked great and I am following another one that I made for June. We will also be out of town (with all meals provided for us) for a week in June so I did not have to plan for these days and this will help our grocery budget even more!

• Well, we did eat out once, as I talked about here, but we don't plan to again for June. It's not that hard, really, but I do miss Chick Fil A a bit. And it's a bit more challenging to plan meetings that aren't just grabbing a bagel and coffee at a local shop.

• Still keeping very detailed records of all the purchases I am making, and this helps me to see how I am doing as the month progresses, so I know this will continue for June as well.

Other small ways that we are trying to save:

• Reusing ziploc bags
• composting (saves on paying for our trash to be picked up since we don't have to put it out as often and it will help our garden)
• making our own coffee, and trying to drink less of it so it lasts longer
• using white washcloths as towels to clean instead of using paper towels
• I made my own "wet jet refill" so I don't have to pay for the name brand cleaner
• borrowing movies from friends instead of renting or going to a theatre

I hope this helps to inspire you in some way. If nothing else, it has inspired me to look back and see all the changes we have made to try and live and more simple and frugal life.