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The holiday and work made week two a little hectic, but I am finally sitting down to get caught up!
Have you ever had something totally unexpected happen and it was completely out of your control?
Well Sunday while I was at drill, I get a call from my roommate asking me if I paid the water bill.
Yes. I did.
She tells me that the water isn’t working in our entire apartment. I ask her to check with the neighbor and sure enough the entire complex is without water. I get home that night. The weather is warm for this time of year and we have nothing cold to drink in the apartment.
I met with someone at Target to sell an item from one of the Facebook For Sale pages. As soon as I got that money, I went into Target to get a gallon of water (which I am usually against buying water, but it had to happen). As I was walking to check out, I saw cake mixes for $1 and frosting for $1.50. I gave in and got the supplies for two cakes. Brittney and I spend our water-less evening making cakes. While I still count it as part of my grocery budget, it definitely wasn’t the kind of spending I had planned. It was so worth it though. It gave us something to do instead of complain about the lack of water in our apartment and we spent most of the evening laughing in the kitchen.
I managed to make it through the drill weekend without spending money on lunch or any other food cravings. That being said, I have a long list of restaurants that I can’t wait to eat. One major lesson I have learned from the No Spend Month is that you don’t have to give into your food cravings. The other night, I desperately wanted Taco Johns. I didn’t give in. Instead I went home and used some chicken to make chicken tacos and I happened to have tater tots in the freezers. What could have cost $8-12 for one meal cost me nothing because I had the items on hand already.
SPENT DURING WEEK TWO:
Target Water/Cake Run: $4.83
Super Saver Groceries $ 16.43
Sam’s Club Gas: $ 25.09
Wal-Mart Groceries: $10.63
McDonald Slip Up: $6.10
Total: 63.08 Spent on Week Two
13.08 Over Budget
Paid Off:
Credit Card: $352
Student Loan #1: $324
Overall Evaluation of Week Two:
Halfway mark and I am still going strong. I may have been over budget this week, but since I was under budget last week and I paid off a ton of debt this week, I would say I am doing good. It is actually a lot easier than I expected. I have been working so much that it doesn’t seem to bother me that much when am home. I spend all of Saturday night laying around the house because I had the evening off. It was fantastic to just lay around and watch Netflix all evening.
Hardest Part of Week Two:
Planning. There are some nights that I am simply so tired that I want to grab food, go home and lay in bed. I don’t want to prep, pack, and plan for the following day. Since I am worked both jobs all week, I have to pack everything that I need for the entire day. I pack three outfits to change in between jobs, food for the entire day, and my supplements to keep me energized and fit. I have kept up the momentum so far, but I am afraid that by the end of the month, it might be a struggle.
Thursday evening a few friends and I decided to drink and hang out at one of their homes. We stayed the night there, but the next morning I quickly realized that I had failed to plan for breakfast and I was in desperate need of some quick energy. I gave in and spent $6.10 at Mcdonald’s on my way to work that morning. The worst part is that I didn’t even finish my coffee because I forgot it in my car because I was running a little late. This was a HUGE fail for me.
Easiest/Best Part of Week Two:
Instead of wanting to eat out, I went to the grocery store and got hot dogs and the fixings for Saturday. Brittney and I went to the Husker Spring Game. We got free tickets from the military. My armory is only a few blocks away, so we parked there for free and walked to the stadium. We didn’t buy any refreshments because we ate before and got water afterwards. We actually didn’t even take our wallets to the game so we didn’t spend money. OH! And I got a free T-shirt out of it too! 
When you start to enjoy not spending money and actually have fun doing free stuff, you know your money is going to work for you!
Goal For Week Three:
Find somewhere to sell books and reorganize my bookshelf. Any Suggestions?
Cash in my change jar and put that towards my debts
Take my clothes to Plato’s Closet and see what the will buy
Pick up shifts to add to my money
Overall, I would say that week two went over well. I seriously thought I would struggle with this No Spend Month a lot more than I have! What free things have you done that were a ton of fun!? What crazy experiences have you had while trying not to spend money?
