July Spending Freeze

Even though I do consider myself to be a frugal shopper most of the time, I also consider myself to be an excessive shopper. This meaning that I often go to stores just to "browse" and then end up seeing something that I'm sure I can't live without and I justify different reasons as to why I absolutely need to have it. This happens most frequently with clothing but it has been known to happen with other things like household items and books. But after sitting down and thoroughly going over all the debt that we have acquired (aka about $7500 just in credit cards alone) it's time to get rid of all that pesky debt and work towards a brighter future of buying our first place. 


Now my problem is not just paying credit card debt down and my HUGE little shopping problem. I also have a habit of eating out too much, because quite honestly? I am not a good cook and I do not find much joy in doing it. It's something that I am slowly working on but it is definitely a work in progress. My husband is a fantastic cook and he is usually pretty fast at throwing together a delicious meal which has been a huge lifesaver in our marriage. 


So on to the spending freeze...for the month of July I am going to be setting certain spending goals for myself and our household and I am going to do my absolutely best to stick with them. I'm not going to cut out spending entirely, because frankly when you have a small child random expenses are bound to appear. But I am going to set certain guidelines that I will try to follow.


1. NO CLOTHES/SHOES/ETC... - This one will quite possibly be the most difficult. If the munchkin and I are ever bored, I tend to find myself at places like Marshalls, Ross, TJMaxx, etc... and that is going to have to stop. Once I'm there, I can almost always find a cute top or scarf or some other adorable item. And while those items usually aren't too expensive and cost around $15 each, those items do add up when you frequently go to those stores. Just the other day I went in to Marshalls and found a shirt I loved that was $12.99 and I ended up buying it in two colors. Did I need both colors? No. But on the plus side I can wear them both with tons of different outfits. See what I mean about justifying? I also should throw in that I believe I have over 100 pairs of shoes (literally) so I should not NEED to buy anymore.

2. NO EATING OUT - This is also going to play a big role. The goal is to go grocery shopping more frequently so I do not need to go eat out somewhere. I plan to cook more meals and have more snack options available at home for all of us. I'm also going to have to ignore those late night McDonald's fry cravings. The only exception that I will make is if we go out to dinner with my in-laws (which happens maybe once a month) or if there is some kind of family event where everyone goes out to eat. But as far as us as a family? It needs to stop. I also want to try to be better about remembering to bring coupons so that the grocery bills do not become ridiculously out of control. Darn you healthy food for being so expensive.

3. STUFF FOR AMELIA - This will not be cut out completely because obviously kids end up needing things at random times. But I am going to be better about buying things for her "just because." If we are ever at Target or other fun stores, I will almost always browse the toddler area to see if there are any good deals on clothes and whatnot that we just cannot pass up. While I am saving money because I normally buy stuff on sale or clearance, I am still spending money which doesn't need to happen. I am blessed to have a niece who is about a year older than my daughter, so we get a TON of hand me downs. About every six months or so my awesome sister will go through all of my niece's clothing and put all the things in a bag that don't fit her anymore, and we will always get first dibs on any of the things that we want. This has been a lifesaver that I am totally grateful for. 

(I will have to refrain from buying you, you cute and adorable little dress)

4. MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS - This counts for a big portion of spending because I always end up buying things that I really don't need but think that I do. Things like make-up that I never end up wearing, or craft supplies for those crafts that I am going to get around to doing yet they are still sitting in the closet from a year ago. You know, THOSE items. There will be a few exceptions for things we really do need like toilet paper (which is huge in this house) and cleaning supplies and maybe some small crafts for the munchkin. Any by crafts I mean pieces of paper and stickers from the dollar tree. Nothing too excessive.

(One day I hope to have an amazing closet like this one.)

5. CUTTING BACK ON GAS/DRIVING - We drive a lot in this house. And I mean A LOT. My husband runs his own company and every job he does is in a completely different area. Some jobs might only be 5 minutes from our house. Others not so much. One job he did over the course of almost 3 months had him driving 40 miles each way to get to the job. Because of this, it's inevitable that we are going to have high gas bills every month. So my part of the goal is to cut back on my part. I am going to walk more places with the munchkin in her stroller, and if I do need to drive anywhere I am going to try to knock out going to as many places that I possibly can at once. That way I won't be going out every single day and wasting more gas. Because my summer class is online, I will be able to cut out driving to school all the time which will be a huge help. Now if we could only get more local jobs for the husband...

So at the end of the month I hope I can report back here that I was able to save a ton of money. Cheers for being cheap! =)