No-spend September Final Update

This was by far our biggest No-spend September fail!

The kitchen remodel we are in the middle of threw a wrench in our plans that we were not prepared enough to tackle as far as our no-spend month went.

Our goal is to spend less than $400 on groceries and we far exceeded that. Probably by more than we have ever before in any of our no-spend months.  I was so depressed I stopped actually keeping track. And the worst part of it all, is that it all happened in the last week of our challenge. I think we spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $430 - $445. I'm sad.

In addition to overspending on out grocery budget. we spent money in other areas too.  We ran out of slow-cooker liners about 10 days ago and the store was out of them when we went to buy them. (Because we have no kitchen, we are very dependent upon our slow-cooker, but because we also have no kitchen sink (and therefor no garbage disposal) we are using the liners.) We were unable to make dinner at home a for a few nights and we ran out of frozen meals, so we went out to eat.

If nothing else, I'm going to remember that we did our best. We didn't buy Starbucks (without a gift card) this month. We didn't buy any new clothes or shoes. I didn't get a manicure or pedicure (even though I so badly wanted to). Neither The Husband nor I got a massage this month; and the vast majority of our purchases were either for or because of the kitchen. (I'm not trying to offer an excuse, but rather an explanation.)

This year's no-spend challenge was such an epic fail that it definitely gives us a goal to shoot for next year.

There were some positives that came from the challenge.  Our total debt load during this time decreased and we did increase the number in our savings account.  My goal next year, will continue to be keeping our grocery budget in check, to grow our savings account, and to stay under budget and NOT spend over $1000 at Home Depot during our no-spend challenge.

I'm still proud of us for trying to meet the challenge amid the chaos that is our home and life right now. Isn't there some saying that failure builds character?

Although this post was painful to write, I also wanted to be honest.  There's no point in publishing a blog if I'm not going to tell the truth.