No-spend month is underway

I mentioned last month that November was going to be a no-spend month for me. Well, today is the 2nd November and so far so good. :) Only another 28 days to get through.

Just to re-cap, no-spending to me means no spending on anything other than essentials. So I will still be paying the mortgage and other bills and will still be buying groceries. But no spending is allowed on entertainment, eating out, hair appointments, clothing purchases etc.

Yesterday was a struggle but I managed to get through with no spending. On Saturday night (still October) I went out to celebrate an impending wedding with friends. This was a big night out for me and I had booked into a budget hotel for the night so I didn't have to find my way home. I woke in the morning feeling slightly under the weather and quite tired. Normally I would have found a nearby cafe and had a nice hot breakfast to kickstart my day. But it was the first day of my no-spend month so I headed home and made myself breakfast. It was a lovely sunny morning so was nice to be at home having breakfast in the sun. After breakfast I spot-primed two walls of the garage in preparation - I get all the fun!

In the afternoon I met a friend to go to the movies. I made sure I ate lunch beforehand and took along a bottle of water from home. That was a successful strategy except that the movie (Julie and Julia) made me feel hungry! I had a voucher for the movies (part of my birthday gift from one of my sons) so no money spent there. After the movie I went straight home and cooked dinner. So no money spent on Day 1! Yay!

Today I have made sure I have brought along plenty of food from home to work so no need to go buy any snacks through the day or on my way home. I made a muesli slice on Saturday to use up some old cereal so that is my "treat" for the day.

I will be posting a bit more frequently this month to give you progress reports.