Low Spend Update

I'm guessing you are here because you want to know how my low spend week is going. Not too bad. It could always be worse. Thursday was a no spend day, which I'm happy for. The spending started about 4pm yesterday. The afternoon munchies hit my daughter. She knew we didn't have much at home she wanted to snack on. This resulted in a stop at Super Target. We bought 11 items. Some were basic junk food, but I did buy mushrooms and another ingredient for a soup I will make tonight. I also bought a bottle of semi cheap wine...definitely not a need. Our total for that trip $27.25.

You would think the spending would have stopped there for the day, but it seems I fell for some marketing. I received a Pizza Hut email offer for two medium pizzas for $5.99 each. It just sounded good for a Friday night. I wasn't in the mood to cook, even though the plan was simple pancakes. I spent $12.82 with tax on the two pizzas. We ate them for dinner last night and finished up the leftovers for lunch, so the expense was not wasted. This is not an expense that I should be having during a low spend week!!

No that wasn't the last of the spending for Friday. We wanted to watch a movie. One of my daughter's and I looked for nearly 30 minutes on Amazon for a free movie we could download. If it was just me, I think I could have found something. Yes, I am blaming this expense on my daughter! We ended up renting Mr. Holland's Opus for $3.99. You would think the price would be far less considering how old the movie is. It was an enjoyable movie. We even cried tears at the end!

Our Friday spending alone was  $44.06. I'm glad I wasn't spending this amount every day this week. Today, I did have to buy gas for one of the vehicles. I was out driving around and the light indicating I was low on fuel came on. Considering it is snowing and the roads are deteriorating I figured it really was time to buy fuel. I spent $58.01 to fill the tank up. And yes, that is the rest of the spending for today. We don't need any food. We don't need to rent another movie as we really do have plenty of free entertainment options.

The total from last Sunday through today, Saturday is $183.90. I don't think I could have whittled this down too much further. I know there were things that could have been skipped entirely, like the wine, pizza and movie, the car wash and a snack item or two. I would have still spent about $150 without those items. I'm actually really pleased with the results.

I'd like to try for another week, but I don't know that I would get similar results. We may be having guests one or two nights this week, so that could change my meal plan slightly. I think I can keep expenses pretty low through Tuesday, if I work on it. I know I will be going to the store before then. I might as well give it a shot to buy only needs for the next few days. Then I guess instead of a low spend week, we could call it a 10 day money fast. :)

Did you attempt to keep your spending low this week? Or maybe you just told yourself no to some of those things you buy nearly everyday? Tell me about it.