No-spend September Update

This has already been a very challenging no-spend month for us.

First of all, we did buy our kids' school pictures, which we choose to do every year even though many people think they are a waste of money. In the days of film cameras many people didn't have their pictures taken and printed often. Many people would argue that today, in the days of digital cameras, that's not the case. I would argue, however, that it's the opposite. Because of digital cameras, a lot of people take pictures, but very few print them out.  Anyway, long story short, this cost us $93. Of that $93, we had $50 in cash in our school budget envelope and we will just pay the rest.

On Saturday, we went to our local Farmer's Market and spent $41.50 of our $400 food budget for the month. At the Farmer's Market, we allowed each kid to pick out a small treat to eat.  That is included in the $41.50.The Boy picked out a piece of alligator jerky and The Girl chose some homemade salted caramel marshmallows.  Soon we need to make a trip to Costco to get milk, bread, and some snacks.

On Saturday we had to make multiple trips "out of town", about 30 minutes away and so got gas in my car beforehand.  We put $37 of gas into my car and that is also included in our gas budget for the month.

The above are all normal spending during our No-spend September, however with our kitchen situation, we have already had to eat out twice this month... That makes me sad.  The first time was after church Saturday evening. We had to go to my sister's and brother-in-law's house to pick up some to more kitchen cabinets that he has completed.  By the time we would have been done, we wouldn't have gotten home until about 8:00 pm and since we had planned to grill that night, we wouldn't have been able to eat until 8:30. We did choose a cheap option and ate at Taco Bell.  The next night we were invited to a friend's house to barbecue, but we opted to stay home and spend more time working on the kitchen. We dropped The Kids off at our friend's house and we went over later. Cooking for two is no fun so we opted to grab Taco Bell on the way to our friend's house later that night.

These aren't excuses, just explanations. I do think this is going to be the most challenging No-spend September we have ever had. Having no kitchen definitely puts a cramp in our style and takes the importance of planning to a whole new level.

I'm hoping that going forward, we will do a better job of planning and not eating out. We have plenty of food and for the remaining 3 weeks of the month I want to make sure that we are honoring our goals for our no-spend month.

Off hand, I can't think of anymore unplanned spending we will have for the month and I hope we are able to save money to help pay for the kitchen and to make sure we aren't spending any money unnecessarily.