Anyone want to join my March No-Spending Madness??
After the holidays I said to myself, phew that's over and now we can reign in the spending. Well two months later we are still going over budget every month (with money we do have but at the expense of saving more). I think a serious part of the issue is the credit card grace period - I want to start paying the card off at the beginning of the statement period rather than the end because I think that will really help me better control spending. To do so though I need a really lean month!
Also my husband and I are seriously considering him becoming a stay at home dad in the near future but first I want to practice living on the income that would leave us.
Why not start this in practically the longest month of the year?! (Actually as a teacher March IS officially the longest month).
Rules:
Only spending on groceries, gas and regular household bills.
Actually stick to grocery budget.
Only free outings, no restaurants, take-out.
No amazon (or any online) orders. I always feel that I "need" the things I'm buying off amazon but we know I wouldn't be buying as much if not for amazon prime and the crazy convenience of it.
No clothes - hoping my daughter might get some stuff for her birthday this week but if not we have a couple gift cards that we could use if we really need new Spring stuff.
No Target - too tempting.
Anyway, these are just my personal rules that I know will help me spend less. Anyone else have any other tips? I'm thinking about deleting my saved credit cards from various online retailers but I'm not sure that's going to be necessary. Also hopefully the weather will improve - I definitely feel like the more time we spend outside the less I feel the need to self-medicate via shopping! I also need to make sure my husband is supportive - he really never buys stuff himself but he is always very encouraging of my own spending.