Friday, August 1, 2008

No spend day 1

Don't worry, I won't be recording my daily troubles with cutting back on my spending. But I did want to write about my first day because it was......well....harder than I thought it would be.

The first thing I did wrong today was I did not plan for my day. I'm in the car a lot for my job so sometimes I stop at the gas station to get a little snack or treat. I told myself I would not do this anymore and guess what I stopped today! I needed a water and wanted some turtles. Strike 1. What I should have done was had a water bottle with me that I filled up at work and brought another snack from home like fruit or string cheese. Ok so note to self, plan better next week.

I had a NY&CO coupon for $10 off a $20 purchase. I wanted to use this coupon today. I thought well $10 out of my monthly budget was not to bad to spend on clothes. So I went to the store, found 4 sale items and proceeded to take them to the register. The cashier started taking the clothes off the hangars and I gave her my coupon. Ooops she told me, can't use the coupon on the sale items. I said ok then I don't need the clothes. And I left! Yay me. One bad spend and one small victory makes me even for the day.

I knew lunch would likely be a problem for me since I'm not always in the office and its hard to plan. I bought lunch for a client today so I was saved by that one because I get reimbursed for business expenses. Ok good deal. Next week I will have to try to pack something in a cooler. Will that work in this 100+ degree weather? I don't know. We will see I guess.

This weekend is the no sales tax weekend in the state of Missouri. You have to give me huge brownie points here because I am not going to let this lure me out to possibly buy something and blow the budget!!!! I do need to make a trip to get a few groceries but I should spend under $10 on that as everything on the list is on sale.

So all in all I think my first day went ok. It was definitely harder than I thought but really and truly made me realize how I am more tempted than I thought to spend money each day. The thought of paying off my car 14 months early is what keeps my wallet shut!!!!

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