Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Part 1 of My First Ever Spending Freeze

Three weeks ago I decided that I needed to do a big time spending freeze.  Even though I had more money than normal in savings, I wanted to be able to keep it that way.  Plus, I have a trip to Denver coming up in June that I wanted to make sure I could still afford come then.  I decided to do the spending freeze over 2 pay periods because I had hurt myself big time within the first week of the first pay period because of 2 concerts & because I wanted to come out ahead, not just break even.

So the first part of my spending freeze spanned March 30 - April 19 & allowed for 3 exceptions: Big Texas Beer Festival, my Houston trip, & eating out on nights I had grad school.  Here's how I did.

Week 1: 3/30-4/5
Thursday March 30: I spent $0.

Friday March 31: I spent $13 at happy hour & $7.57 on beer for kickball.  I spent $20.57

Saturday April 1: I spent $28.05 on Uber.  That's also all I spent at all of the beer festival.  I also spent $2 at the airport dropping my friend off.  I spent $30.05

Sunday April 2: I spent $18.40 on groceries.

Monday April 3: I spent $0

Tuesday April 4: I spent $0

Wednesday April 5: I spent $7.55 at Old Chicago because I won a free calzone but then felt bad not paying for something so I got a beer.  I also spent $21.83 on groceries & $30.44 on gas.  I spent $59.82

Total: I spent $128.84 (70.67 was on necessities, 28.05 was 100% an exception, 28.12 was questionable adjusted exceptions, & 2 was just unplanned.)

I had made eating out before/going out after class on Thursdays an exception.  I did not spend anything on Thursday so I justified the going out Friday & the beer with my free calzone Wednesday.

Week 2: 4/6-4/12
Thursday April 6: I spent $7.76 on supper before grad school

Friday April 7: I spent $21.35 on going out after kickball, but got $10 in cash for it from a friend, & justified it because I didn't go out after class on Thursday.  I also spent $33.47 on an oil change which was not planned but 100% necessary because I realized it had been 7000 miles since my last one.  I spent $44.82

Saturday April 8: I spent $25.27 on groceries & $ 11.41 on gas.  I spent $36.68

Sunday April 9: I spent $0

Monday April 10: I spent $0

Tuesday April 11: I spent $0

Wednesday April 12: I spent $0

Total: I spent $89.26 (70.15 was on necessities, 7.76 was 100% an exception, & 11.35 was a questionable adjusted exception)

Just like with the first week I didn't go out after grad school on Thursday so even though I did eat supper before class, I justified going out after kickball on Friday because I didn't go out after class Thursday.

Week 3: 4/13-4/19
Thursday April 13: I spent $0

Friday April 14: I spent $29.07 on gas, got $20 out of an ATM with a $2.95 fee, $2.21 at a gas station getting water & a snack, & $78.42 eating & going out in Houston.  I spent $132.65

Saturday April 15: I spent $28.84 on gas, $10.52 getting food & drinks at gas stations, $35.69 eating out & on souvenir type things in Houston, & $6.62 on groceries.  I spent $81.67

Sunday April 16: I spent $27.68 on groceries

Monday April 17: I spent $9.07 on eating out

Tuesday April 18: I spent $31.38 on gas

Wednesday April 19: I spent $0

Total: I spent $282.45 (123.59 was on necessities, 149.79 was for Houston which was an exception, & 9.07 was flat out not allowed)

Full disclosure: I also spent
$89.50 on a hotel room in Dallas (but it came out of my Houston Savings)
$296.40 on a plane ticket (but it was for a wedding I'm in & because it's over a holiday weekend I was too afraid to wait until the end of May to book it...it came out of savings)
$216.45 on new brakes which came out of savings

Overall I don't think I did too bad.  I didn't go insane with my exceptions, I ate out a lot less than I normally do, & spent less on eating out when I did go out.  Of course the brakes were definitely unexpected & the plane ticket is not a normal expense.  I know those are the things that my savings are for but it still hurts to pull from there.

7 comments:

  1. You're doing great! Spending freezes are NOT easy! I did one in college and am not sure I could do one again, LOL.

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  2. You are amazing! This takes diligence and you are so strong when you set your mind to something!

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    1. Thank you! The same hasn't been true since my last paycheck... :/

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  3. Good for you! This is so not easy to do and I've only semi-successfully done it once

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  4. Doing well, keep it up! Look at all those $0 days, that's awesome.

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  5. You did great! Look at all those days you spent nothing. I so need to do a shopping ban or a spending freeze. My shopping has been out of control.

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  6. You did such a good job! I need to do one of these!

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