Okay, so I have to apologize to everyone. When I put this little challenge together I didn’t realize that for those of us in the US we’d be starting this adventure over the long 4th of July weekend. What was I thinking?!! Good grief!
For those outside of the US, you have it a little easier but not much since it still is starting over the weekend. Well, I guess we all have to go big or go home.
Are you ready? Honestly, I’m not. But the thought of not spending money for 6 months is something I’ll never be completely ready for. So let’s do this!
Since I attempted the No Spend month in March, and failed miserably, I had a pretty good idea of how I was going to tackle a 6 month no spending plan. This post contains affiliate links.
I am allowing myself to spend money on:
- Bills – Unfortunately, I have to still pay these guys.
- Gas – I drive a lot for work, so this is imperative. But, as for the weekends, I’ll be staying put as much as I can.
- Food – Read how I am tackling this monster, here.
- Daphne – Now that I only have one little girl buying litter, treats, and food has really been cut in half. But, I have still budgeted keeping Daphne VERY well cared for.
- Birthdays / Christmas presents – For the next 6 months I only have two more birthdays to buy for and then Christmas. This is something I still have to include but I’m thinking of a handmade gift and a less expensive gift for Christmas.
- Driver’s license – I don’t have a choice about this one.
- Vet / Eye Dr. / Dentist – Whew, baby! These guys can really add up but they are on my calendar for the rest of the year.
- Eating out – This is ONLY once a month with friends and in November for NaNoWriMo. If you don’t know about NaNoWriMo it is also known as National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write a novel in a month. I’ll post more about this later in the year. I missed out last year because of my big old bust of a craft fair, but I am joining in this year. We do a lot of write-ins at restaurants so I’m holding all of my eating out days until November and even then I won’t be participating as much as I have in the past.
I will NOT be allowing myself to spend money on:
- Crafts – NO CRAFT SUPPLIES! I have to keep repeating that to myself for the whole rest of the year. The only exception will be if I need something for my new designs for my Etsy shop. I have an idea of what I might need to pick up once I get working on them, but it shouldn’t cost me more than a few dollars.
- Home Decor – A 6-month spending moratorium at Pier 1, Kirkland’s, HomeGoods, Target, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Macy’s. . . And the Halloween and fall decorations are hitting the stores soon. Super sad face!
- Clothes / Shoes / Purses – I just purged my closets so I really don’t want to bring a bunch of new stuff in. But, I do have a couple of items that I will need to replace over the next several months. Those 4 or 5 pieces are all I’m allowing in the clothes & shoes department for the rest of the year. Purses are my downfall but I found a couple during my purge that I haven’t used in awhile so I’ll be using them throughout the next few months.
- Makeup – I just bought a brand new Urban Decay eye shadow that I am hoping will last me for a few months. Then I’ll move onto some of my other colors. I’m going to try really hard to not buy anything other than foundation for the rest of the year.
- Netflix / Hulu / Spotify / PicMonkey. . . – As of today I’ve gotten rid of PicMonkey Premium and Netflix, although Stranger Things and Longmire are coming back this fall and all of the seasons of iZombie and Pretty Little Liars will be added soon, so I might splurge with my wild card (see below) and buy one month to binge-watch everything. Hulu and Spotify I love and are paid up until the end of October. I’m going to reevaluate both of them in the fall. I no longer have cable so giving up both Hulu and Netflix will be rough!
- WordPress web hosting – My Etsy shop, Retro Girl Design, has its own website. Not many people know about it and I’m hoping to change that in the next few months, but for right now there is no need for me to be paying for web hosting on WordPress. So, I will not be renewing the web hosting but I am renewing the URL yearly fee with Namecheap. I am in the process of updating this blog as well as setting up a new crochet pattern blog and moving my Etsy shop website over to a blog all for FREE on Blogger. I’m hoping to have all 3 blogs completely done and all of my destash and last call handmade items posted in my shop by the end of July. I am going to be one crazy busy girl. 🙂
- EVERYTHING ELSE!!!
Wild Card
I will be including $20 a paycheck as my wild card spending. I get paid twice a month so that is $40 for the entire month! Some things I will most likely need to spend the money on:
- Potting soil / plants
- Grass clippers
- Kitchen rug
- Hair cut / hair dye
- URL renewal fees
- Air filters
- Oil change(s) / tire rotation(s)
- Light bulbs
- Contact lenses
- Leaf bags / large garbage bags
- Toll road fees
- Insect repellent / ant & roach traps
- Cold weather care: lip balm / hand cream / tissues
- Christmas lights
- B&B / Starbucks
I know some of these are minor but I wanted to show just how many little things can pop up over the next 6 months.
Gift Cards
I am also allowing myself to use any of the gift cards that I currently have or will get for my birthday and/or Christmas. I view these as free money so I can enjoy a treat or two without actually spending any money.
Goals for Month 1
- Make a list of all of my bills, monthly payments, and the outstanding balances – This one will probably cause me to have an anxiety attack, but it something that must be done. Once I get the exact amounts I can figure out the best way to start to tackle the payments.
- Contact my credit card companies to see if they can reduce my interest rates – I’m really not looking forward to calling my credit card companies, but if I can get even one to cut me a break it will be worth it.
- Compile two weeks worth of meals – This will help especially when I’m budgeting for my weekly/every other week food shopping.
- Delete all shopping emails and unfollow companies I will not shop from for the rest of the year – I’ve been meaning to do this for awhile so this one won’t be too hard to do.
Here is the thing. I want to save as much money as I possibly can over the next 6 months, but I also don’t want to be totally miserable. I feel it is perfectly fine to have a little fun now and then, which is why I budgeted in a wild card and my gift cards. I think it is a pretty good start!
