My Wallet is Closed....

Today is the first day of summer and the first day of my no spending for a month challenge.  For the record, it will only be me participating in this little experiment, not the twinadoes or Mr. Housewife.  But let's be honest, I'm the main spender in the home so this should be interesting.  Food, bills, necessities will all be purchased and paid, but all extras will be ceased. 

I've been thinking about doing something like this for a while, but just didn't feel like putting the effort out, but dang it, I'm doing it.  Yes, one month doesn't seem like a lot and I think that's why it seems doable.  Saying one year would start me out in a place mentally that I would already be thinking of failure.  At the end of the month I will assess what I've learned, what was really challenging and what I've gained (other than money).

One of the first things I did was figure out where I was spending the most money, and it was quite obvious when I looked over the bank statement..... Amazon!!  The daily deals, the suggestions they give from previous purchases, and the list goes on.  Another area I'll be avoiding are the endless emails I get alerting me of sales and deals.  Just this morning alone I deleted 17 emails that I knew contained deals, didn't even open them.

Boredom shopping, now this one is a killer for me.  Sometimes I pop into a store "just to see what they have" and the next thing you know I'm walking out with bags of stuff.  That is coming to an end.  Kind of on the same lines, all the little add on items I throw in the cart when I'm shopping for something I need.  Everyone goes on and on about shopping lists and sticking to them, well, I'm going to have to do that if I want to succeed.

Oh I won't lie, this is going to be a challenge, but what I'm really hoping is that it will show me that I can survive without all the extra shopping (yes, I'm being dramatic).  Money can be saved or put towards one of our large home improvements we want to do. 

Lastly, I'm curious if Mr. Housewife will notice the extra money we have in the account at the end of the month....  I'll be doing weekly updates on the blog and daily ones on my Facebook page.  Anyone else want to do this with me?