David gets paid every two weeks. More often than not, that means two paydays every month, but sometimes the stars align and we get a Three Paycheck Month.
August is a Three Paycheck Month.
Given that the third check has a little extra in it (nothing but taxes come out of it, since insurance etc. are deducted from the first two) David had a brilliant idea. What if we don’t spend any money all month? What if everything–bonus dollars and all–goes right into savings? WE’D HAVE SO MUCH MONEY.
Try to contain yourself, Margot. It won’t be SO MUCH, but it’ll definitely be more than we currently have. We used to be all kinds of poor, remember? It’s hard to get over that. Every little bit in the bank feels like a major triumph.
Anyway, we decided to give it a shot. We’re going to abstain from spending money for 31 days.
Naturally we can’t just stop altogether; there are bills to pay and mouths to feed and gas to be guzzled. But we’ve decided to limit our outward cash flow for the month of August to necessary expenditures only. This includes:
- tithing (of course)
- utilities & mortgage
- debts or other outstanding payments
- subscriptions (i.e. Netflix)
- gas
- groceries
That’s it.
But Jen, you’re thinking, that doesn’t sound like very much fun.
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You’re right. It’s not. We’ve really got to rein in some of our bad habits. David isn’t allowed to eat out for lunch, which he usually does every day. I’m not allowed to hit up West Elm or etsy or Home Depot or anywhere else for that matter, online or off. Neither of us can fall back on Cafe Rio for dinner if it’s been a long day, and if we have a chance to go on a date it’ll have to be a free one. It’s going to be a challenge for both of us.
BUT. It’ll be good for us to be more mindful of how–and how often–we spend our money. And the dolla bills in the bank won’t hurt too much either.
Of course, there’s a concert I really want to go to in a couple weeks, and David might be going on a business trip soon and I’m seriously considering tagging along, and my phone is dying so maybe I need to get a new one, and suddenly we’re looking at possibly trading my car in too, and we’re only a week in but the siren call of Target is testing every ounce of willpower I have.
Oy. Wish us luck.
That's awesome! I wish you the best of luck with that. It's so hard to stop spending money! I just started using YNAB for my budgeting software, and it is doing wonders for the money in our accounts. Don't know what you use or if you even have a program, but I highly recommend it. They have a 34-day trial that I did last month and it rocked my socks off how much money I found. They have a bunch of free videos online to help you out with it too. Not to sound like an infomercial or anything… lol. It just has done such wonders that I had to share. 🙂
I've heard good things about YNAB. Haven't taken the plunge yet, but this month may be the kick in the pants we need to get serious about budgeting.
Ugh I absolutely have the same problem. I am a money spender to the max, my savings account can vouch for that. I need to implement this asap. or maybe go to Target in honor of this post… yup, that sounds better. stay strong!
Give Target my love and tell it I'll be back to visit soon. 🙂
Garrick and I do the same thing every once in a while. We call it a "spending freeze." I love it. It's funny the conversations we have trying to convince each other that the stickers we just bought for James were a necessity and not just because they were scratch n' sniff and I couldn't resist…
Why is it always when you are trying to be frugal that everything awesome is suddenly for sale? I might cave for scratch 'n' sniff stickers too!