No-spend-September

Starting today, is our family's fourth annual No-spend-September.

Many years ago, I was reading a blog and read about this concept of having a spending hiatus for an entire month.  With a little coaxing and cajoling, I was able to get my family on board too and now we are in our fourth year.

We chose September for a couple of reasons.  Due to my son's soccer schedule, we are home most of the month because he has practice during the week and games every weekend, school is newly back in session and summer credit card bills are coming due, and we don't have any family birthdays or commitments we need to meet during September.

No-spend-September is a family effort, even if sometimes The Kids wish it wasn't; for the month of September, we halt all unnecessary spending and try to keep our gas and grocery bill to a minimum. During this month, we don't go out to Starbucks or out to eat unless we have gift cards. We don't buy any lunches, and this includes the kids who buy lunch once a week at school.  We don't get haircuts or manicures or pedicures. We don't get massages. We don't go clothes shopping, or shopping at all really, unless it's for food.

The goal of No-spend-September is two-fold: to make us more mindful and conscious of our spending and to save money. (For the last couple years, there hasn't been much money saving going on, but it has helped us to cash-flow our home renovations.)

We have some ground rules that we follow, but all of our rules have exceptions.  We want No-spend-September to work with our lifestyle, not against it, because it's a tradition we want to continue. Every year during September I choose to still buy The Kids school pictures. To us, that's non-negotiable even if it is to other people. We also continue to buy gifts if it's necessary. We also pay for any school fees and kids activities fees that pop up during this time.

During the month, we try to find free activities we can do with The Kids; things like hiking, going to the park, or going to the library. We also save any gift cards we get throughout the year to use during September. We currently have Red Robin, Baskin Robbins, and movie theater cards.

Unfortunately No-spend-September does not mean we spend NO money throughout the month.  We still pay all of our bills: mortgage, utilities, car payment, credit card payments, cel phone, cable, etc. We also still need to drive to work and to eat.  The idea of No-spend-September is that we don't buy any extras.

Our normal grocery budget is $500 a month, for September we try to scale it back just a little and spend no more than $400. We also try to eat what we have in our freezer, fridge, and pantry. Some years we do better than others.

Our normal gas budget is $600 a month. Even in September this remains the same because we still have to do most of the same driving: to and from work for both of us, the grocery store, to and from The Kids school, and to and from all of their various activities.

Essentially, we just try to spend less and save more.  We don't stock up before the month begins or go crazy shopping once the month is over. It's just one month of mindful spending and purchasing.

As the month progresses, I will write updates about how much money we've spent and what we've spent it on. Wish us luck!