No Spend September

 Hi again.

I know it's been a while, but I have been busy. Distance learning is no joke! I went back to school in the beginning of August and our district is requiring us to teach from our classroom. I actually like it as there are way fewer distractions and all my "stuff" is in my room. That being said, I am so tired and so busy! Teaching like this is not what I signed up for and a lot of work! Even though I'm in my 15th year of teaching, it feels like it's my first year and I'm having to create and adapt curriculum like never before.

Okay, rant over.

We are doing our No Spend September challenge again. This is technically year 9, but last year wasn't very successful.

A successful No Spend September is one of my 20 for 2020 financial goals. With the whole pandemic thing, some of my goals have totally fallen by the wayside. However, I'm thinking the pandemic might actually help No Spend September because we can't really go anywhere or do anything, so we don't have a lot of opportunities to spend money.

Just as in years past, we are going to try to only buy food, gas, and bills.

Our normal grocery budget is $600, but for the month of September, we try to only spend $500. I know it's not a big difference, but every bit helps.

Because of the face covering requirements due to Covid-19, I am not doing very much shopping. The Husband does almost all of our grocery shopping now. He is not as "frugal" as I am. In September, I tend to stick to the grocery list and he's a little more loosey-goosey. However, the reality is that we will eat whatever food we buy regardless of how much money we spend so it's won't be a waste.

On the first of the month, The Husband mad a trip to Costco. He spend $177.57, a good chunk of our budget for the first of the month, but he did buy 10 gallons of milk and a bunch of fruits and vegetables so we should be pretty good on those fronts for about 10 days or so.

With the pandemic, we have definitely been eating at more more and being more adventurous in our cooking, which often translates to more expensive; but it has been good. Hopefully, for the month of September we will stay on budget and not have to spend too much money on anything!

Wish us luck!