February is going great so far with my Spending Fast! I did realize where I have some weaknesses though, and I'm not terribly surprised where I'm finding them...
1.) Eating Out / Drinking Out
During the week I have no problem eating at home. But on the weekends when everyone is out for a good time... ugh. I wanna join in on the fun. This past weekend it was even harder because we were in the mountains. It was John's birthday and we all went out to dinner to celebrate. Luckily John was nice enough to let me have his "free" appetizer (they were doing 2 for 1 appetizers for happy hour at the bar), so I didn't technically have to pay, and I could still join in. But no drinks for me!
It's not that I HAVE to have a drink, it's that I LIKE to join in on the drink-fun with my friends when we're out. I think it was even harder the next day when we were at A-Basin, and everyone stopped around 1pm for Bloody Mary's. I SO WANTED A BLOODY MARY! I could've even gotten it without the vodka and been happy, but that still would've been breaking my spending fast. Sigh - that was definitely the hardest part of the weekend.
I guess it's kind of a bonus though - not only am I not spending as much money, but I'm probably drinking less too!
2.) Gifts
Ughhhhh - gifts! I can't stand not buying them!! I know it is probably a silly thing for me to not be able to resist, but I am a gift-giver. I have been finding creative ways to be gifty (hosting a dinner at my house, making jam / handmade gifts, etc), but sometimes it just doesn't seem like enough. It shouldn't take money to show someone that you care about them, but sometimes it seems like that's the only thing that will do it. Does that make any sense at all? I think that's capitalism that's been burned into my brain since birth - because I really don't think it should be that way.
Ughhhhh - gifts! I can't stand not buying them!! I know it is probably a silly thing for me to not be able to resist, but I am a gift-giver. I have been finding creative ways to be gifty (hosting a dinner at my house, making jam / handmade gifts, etc), but sometimes it just doesn't seem like enough. It shouldn't take money to show someone that you care about them, but sometimes it seems like that's the only thing that will do it. Does that make any sense at all? I think that's capitalism that's been burned into my brain since birth - because I really don't think it should be that way.
Those are my two biggies right now. I'm fine with not shopping (I resisted going into Ross two weekends ago - AMAZING!!), that hasn't bothered me much so far - and coffee stops have been pretty easy to resist ever since I brought my french press into work! It's the going out / giving gifts that have been the most difficult.
What are your biggest spending weaknesses? Where do you have the most trouble?
I DO HAVE A SPENDING FAST UPDATE........
After checking up on my tracking sheet and doing a lil' bit of math, I just found out that I've paid down my debt by $1,379.40 since the beginning of 2012!! THAT IS SO AWESOME!!! I've been putting all of my un-spent money towards my debt, I had some extra income from being a study subject this month for a local university, I put my Xmas bonus towards it, my tax refund money, etc - and what a huge dent all of that made!
Please visit And Then She Saved to see where I got the inspiration to start a Spending Fast.
Images found via Google Image search.
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