Friday Follow-Up...

Well, it is the end of the month. I am officially calling today the last day of my 'No Spend Month'! It has a been a great month and I've learned a lot!

The biggest accomplishment for this month was paying off $1400 worth of debt...yay! February will be a restock month for my pantry. I'll be heading to Sam's Club to buy 100lbs of flour! And many other items. It sounds like a lot of flour but that will have to last for two months and half of it is for our 'emergency supplies'. I also do a lot of baking and we eat homemade pizza once a week, so it doesn't last long. Plus, at $7.50/25lbs, it is a great deal.

I will pop in each week to give an update on my stocking up progress...and other tips.

Have a great weekend...

Motivational Monday...

No Spender's, we are in the home stretch! Can you believe in less than a week we will have completed our first NSM!? It hasn't always been easy that's for sure but oh how rewarding it has been...wow!

I just want to say that I am pleased with our accomplishments. I wasn't real sure if we could do it and for the most part, we exceeded my original expectations. Though, I was motivated to begin my first 'NSM', down deep I was a bit worried if I would be able to follow through.

I've had some unplanned for expenses, that I've learned to plan for, for the following NSM's. I've even had a few weak moments. Still, eating out a couple of times this month is nothing compared to the 10+ times we would typically eat out.

I went into our little grocery store twice this month, compared to the twice weekly I would have usually done. I didn't even set foot into the local Kmart, which I would do weekly and drop a minimum of $50.

There were no real temptations for me because we didn't have money sitting in our account with no place to go. I spent all but $50 of it on bills. That is really the way to go in my opinion. For me, I just don't do well with having a lot of money in my bank account so for my next 'NSM', I will do it the same way and just spend all the money on bills.

Lets finish strong this week! Ending our first 'NSM' with a bang! No matter what your personal goal was for the month, just thinking about where you are spending your money is a very good thing. Thinking twice about making a purchase will help so much in improving your financial situation.

Now lets hit the ground running...