31 Days of Nothing-- Recap

I am very proud of how our family did during "No-Spend January".  It was very enlightening to know that we didn't HAVE TO have anything extra this month.  For the most part, we escaped the world of consumerism and survived!!

Here are the details of our month:

1.  Typical grocery budget: $250.  Spent this month: $123.  Amount saved: $137  

• I originally planned to spend only $100 this month but I did stock up on some chicken, cheese, soup and purchased diapers, detergent, and a couple of toiletries too as well as a bunch of produce so I feel like $137 is pretty darn cheap!  I'm happy with that.

2. Typical restaurant budget: $150.  Spent this month: $6  Amount saved: $144

• I'm happy with this number.  We went until the 29th before we spent any and that is only because we in Des Moines with my sister for the day.  We ate as cheaply as we could.  :)

3. Typical entertainment budget: $200.  Spent this month: $0  Amount saved: $200

• The beauty of living in a small town is most often, you make your own fun.  We went to lots of ballgames, went to grill steaks at a friend's house and hung out with family for the month. 

4.  Typical gas budget: $250.  Spent this month: $70.  Amount saved: $180


 5.  Typical blow money ($100)  and shopping budget ($150): $250  Spent this month: $24.50.  Amount saved: $225.50

• $14 was for our monthly memberships to Rhapsody and Dolly Drive.  I could have canceled these for the month but didn't think about it until it was too late.  Oh well...I can live with $14. :)  The other $10.50 were the girlscout cookies that were def. not a necessity but Justin was in my room when they asked us to buy so of course, he couldn't say no.  Oh well!

6.  Typical items sold each month.  $0   Sold this month: $607.  Amount saved. $607


Amount to go in our get-out-of-the-trailer-fund:  Grand Total:  $1493.50


I am SUPER happy with our progress during our no-spend challenge.  Sure, we could have cut a few more corners but over all, we did AWESOME.  I am so happy that my prayers of a healthy family in January were answered + we had no unexpected expenses. PRAISE GOD!!!

I had so much fun reading how others did with this challenge too. I'll miss reading about the progress.  Maybe I'll find another challenge for us to be in this month.  :)