a week without money

This week, I (Noah) tried something new. After our last coaching session, Rachel suggested we think about a “no-spend challenge” for the month of October to reign in any and all unnecessary spending. That meeting was September 30 and I was not quite ready to start the very next day, but after the camping trip I had already planned, I gave up my debit card last Sunday and haven’t spent anything since. We have purchased groceries from our list and gas from our spending account. We also bought an inexpensive used dryer from our home maintenance account as it was significantly cheaper than the repair bill to fix our old one. With any luck, we will get our monies worth from it.

I can say with certainty that I have only been successful in this challenge because I gave my card to Betsy for “safe keeping.” Once it was gone, I really started to notice when I would start to think about cheating. It is almost like the feeling of not having your phone with you, but for me it subsides when I realize there is nothing I can do about it. I could setup payment on my phone, but I have not taken that step, which is good.

The plan we have created to pay down debt has been working very well so I am hoping that by curtailing all non-essential spending for a month, or maybe two, we will be able to see gains in our goal to increase our savings as well. Time will tell.