October Challenge: Spending Freeze! Living better with less.

My dear friend Ruth over at Living Well Spending Less, has challenged everyone to a spending freeze and I am going to join in.

My purpose is to get a last minute gift fund for Christmas this year and I am hoping that you will join me.

What is a spending freeze? Just what it sounds like. You are DONE, no spending on anything that is NOT a necessity. Eating out? Nope, find something at home, it might be a lot of sandwiches this month! Halloween costumes? Can you recycle from last year and or make something with what you have at home? That quick coffee or shake from the drive through? Not going to do it! I am going to pay myself back this month by NOT spending, and not nickel and dimming my self to death as I feel like I do sometimes.

Will it be hard? YES! Very hard! But I am going to give it 100% and in return I hoping to have an extra $500 by Halloween!!

Don’t worry, I will still be posting great deals, I know that not everyone is ready to join in. But consider giving it a try. Or what about making a few sacrifices and saving $250 this month? You will have that much more to spend in November/December as part of your Christmas budget, or to add to savings.

The coolest thing about this challenge is that you don’t want to feel like you are missing out or sacrificing. It is about finding more with less. When we have done this as a family in the past I have found that it has drawn us closer as a family, made us aware of how MUCH we already have and shown me what was REALLY valuable.

Are you ready? Do you need a day to think about it and get prepared? Thats ok, jump on in this month when you are ready. Each day I will give you a challenge and update. Please comment and let us know how you are doing and how you have saved and made this work.

I am going to track my progress and you can also: 

 Print your own cover for your notebook: Having a notebook will  help you keep track and motivate you in your progress. Plus it is cute!

I had a empty 1/2 inch binder that no one was using and I am making it our family project this month. We are going to all have to work together and I am adding cash to a jar in the kitchen to show the kids how much we are saving.

 

State your commitment!: You have to be committed or you will not stick with it!  If you are married, you will need your spouse on board with you, it isn’t fun to do it all alone. Have a goal, how much do you want to add to your Christmas budget or savings account? Work with each other, make it fun, get the kids involved. Have a family meeting, show them your notebook have them be contributors.

 

The Ground Rules: To make it easier to understand your goals, you need some ground rules. This is something you can even print and put on your fridge for the family to remember what you are doing.

There is no way you can spend NO money! We all have to get gas, fresh food and have some commitments that we already made. But you can spend dramatically less when you commit to doing so.

Make it fun! See what you can really do when you put your mind to it. See what you have at home that you can recycle, reuse and don’t need!

Each family is different: Every family will have different needs and different ideas of what can be cut out. Plus you already probably have prior commitments to what you have to spend. The idea is to STOP spending on what you can and go without. It might be a little uncomfortable but it is a good experience to do so. We plan on ONLY being able to eat from what we have frozen or in the pantry. You might not be able to do that, no biggie, just do what your family can.

There are a few suggestions that can definitely be cut out for the month:

• Eating at restaurants
• Starbucks
• Clothing
• Hobbies–crafts, golf, etc.
• Entertainment
• Toys
• Toiletries
• Alc & other vices
• Lottery Tickets
• Furniture/Home Decor

Obviously if you run out of toilet paper you should probably get some! But the point/idea is to see what you can cut out and do without or use what you already have.

Let’s make this fun and all work and encourage each other! How much money are we going to save this month!?