Happy April everyone! I can’t tell you how excited I am for this blog post. I have always wanted to implement a new way to saving money, but I am taking it to another level. I do love me some shopping, however, I found myself buying mindless nothings just because and it reflected dramatically in my bank account and the number just dwindled. That is just not a good feeling and I ultimately would have buyers remorse and beat myself up about it. So, I will only be purchasing necessity items in April. I woke up today and immediately started online browsing and then quickly stopped. So here are the details to every aspect of my life on how this will pan out over the next 30 days…
Clothing: I did buy a few items in March for myself and the kids just in case their is a crazy hot front. I just decided to try on re-think all of our wardrobes and pair what we already had vs. going out and buying items we didn’t need. I love surprising myself with what I can come up with in our closets. We have a wedding in April and the rehearsal dinner the night before, but all of us already had wedding appropriate dresses in our closets.
Food: I will of course be spending money on groceries, but I am going to be very strict with how I buy groceries. I usually shop at Trader joes, Sprouts, and Target for our food. Trader Joe’s never has coupons, but their prices are so low and if I map out meals and what we will need for the week, I’m assuming I could get by with $40 a week at Trader Joe’s. I buy all of our meat and produce at Sprouts because I have found them to be the most cost efficient. At Target is where I buy name brand things like our milk, cereal, bread, juice, etc. BUT I’m taking this a step further… I will not be buying any Starbucks or lunches out and about while on the road for work. With the exception of having to eat out while I’m with my mom for work & she will kindly foot the bill as I am her employee. This is going to force me to pack a lunch, which will also help in another area of my life. I’ve needed to stop eating like crap and get back to my old habits, but thats pretty hard. This is my way of having tough love with myself and kickstarting better habits!
Household Items: I also buy our household staples at Target because they are always on ad or have a great cartwheel coupon attached to those items. Luckily I only need laundry detergent, a pack of diapers, and wipes mid April for our one year old.
Car Expenses: I’m convinced that when it rains it pours because both of our vehicles need oil changes and windshield repairs all at the same time which equates to roughly $400. My car currently needs new tires, but thankfully after shopping around I have found Costco to be our best bet for $500! I don’t need these immediately, but they are a potential looming debt in April that I need to be prepared for. It’s things like these that I don’t want to worry about anymore and just be able to get them done without using a credit card. And as for gas we pretty well use $80 a week together on gas and I get reimbursed through work so that always helps.
I hope this inspires some other people to do the same and I will fully report how I did on May 1st! I’m going to compare and contrast March to April and visibly show where I saved and how much I don’t need to be buying for the simple reason of “I deserve it” or “I like it.” Now off to map out our weekly meals and budgets 🙂
xox, Jasmine
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