In the final hours before my spending moratorium kicked in today, Day 1 of 31, I made three purchases.
1. I paid $.68 for a Twix bar at CVS on my way home from the library. (To me, candy should still be $.50. I won’t miss paying retail.)
2. I charged $31.65 for a Thai dinner after my dancing lesson with Hubby. Had some very tasty fresh spring rolls and curry at Chili Thai in LA.
3. I spent $12.61 filling up my gas tank at the 76 station. I’ve got a full tank to last me the month – roughly 400 miles.
Now it’s no more spending for a month!
Two brave souls stepped forward to join me on this frugal experiment.
Emily said:
I will be joining you on the Moratorium although I will have slightly fewer restrictions as I have recently moved and am not ruling out the possibility of unexpected expenses.
Tamara said:
I am going to join you on your spending moratorium for the month of July! I do have one question though, and I will post it in the comments, what do you think about buying wedding gifts? I have two weddings to attend in July and am not sure how to proceed with “counting” the spending on gifts. Am I allowed to, or not?
I wanted to make it easy on Tamara so I put her question into a poll.
[poll id="29"]
Related:
BB considers going on a spending moratorium
Votes are in! BB goes on a spending moratorium
Spending moratorium starts Wednesday
July 1st, 2009 at 12:03 pm
I have started a blog to track my progress, and if you are interested, you can follow me here http://july2009frugality.blogspot.com/
Tamara
July 1st, 2009 at 12:08 pm
I think it would be cheap not to give a wedding gift. How about if she does give a wedding gift but limit her spending to $25? I think one of the best wedding gifts my hubbie and i received was a $30 gift card from Cheesecake Factory. We ate there the day after our wedding and it felt good because we didn’t have to spend much more out of pocket!
July 1st, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Count me in on the July spending moratorium! I’ll have a few exceptions as well… 1. I’ll need 2 tanks of gas to get to work. 2. The ONLY groceries I’ll be buying are fresh fruits & veggies. All our meals will come from the overstocked freezer and cabinets that desperately need emptying. 3. If I go to a Dodger game, I’ll HAVE to buy a beer, a hot dog & some peanuts. I’m really looking forward to seeing how much I can save!
July 1st, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Emily Post has always maintained that a wedding gift can be given up to a YEAR after the happy couple wed. The gal on a moratorium with you can cut out a picture of what she will be giving and put it in a card, then ship after your month is over. OR, she can give an experience… “A Cocktail party at my house with your closest friends to celebrate your first 6 months together”… something like that! And that puts off the buying too.
July 1st, 2009 at 1:35 pm
I guess it shows my age, but I still think that a candy bar ( or a Coke, in a glass bottle) from a vending machine, should cost a nickel.
Of course, in those days working class people lived on $5000 a year.
July 1st, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Hi Nancy, your comment made me laugh. I have a hard time resisting getting a beer at the ballgame, too. Hope you can score some discounted tickets! Oh, just remembered the surprise tomorrow involves discounted Dodger tickets. Stay tuned!
July 1st, 2009 at 2:59 pm
I’ll join you too. I like the blogspot idea. Not sure if I have the patience for that.
As for the wedding gift, I like the ideas already given. Be original. If you feel you need to buy something, make sure you get a good deal..
July 1st, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Why don’t you give a non-monetary gift in July and explain why they won’t be receiving a physical gift until August. Then you could give them your top 10 tips for saving money for newlyweds written in a Calligraphy font on nice paper that you already have. Or you could decorate the paper with either online images or stickers that you already have.
July 2nd, 2009 at 6:11 am
All d best to all of participants … I finished my 30 days No Eat-Out Month in June
….. saved $74 … reduced my dining bills by 59% 
July 6th, 2009 at 7:09 am
We’re doing a no spend month (similar). I set our family’s budget to $750. For 6 of us (in an expensive area to boot!), this is about half our normal monthly spending. We’ll see if we can stick to it!
Good luck, BB!