Spend Fast

One of the resolutions that hubs and I made this year is to complete a number of monthly "Spending fasts". There are a number of reasons for this but the main one being - just like any diet or fast, it will be wonderful to cleanse our credit cards and replenish our bank accounts. We also want to make sure we are staying on top of any "little" purchases/expenses that are not in our budget. There is nothing like a spending fast to point out exactly where you're spending too much money! Last year we did a similar fast for approximately 3 months in a row, excluding the cost of cell phone, gas and a small budgeted amount for groceries. It was amazing how much faster our savings increased! And this coming from two accountants who tend to watch every penny!

Since we are preparing to move in soon, even possibly this month (Feb.), we intend to leave some wiggle room in case we have to adjust to allow for the extra expenses that may come with that. Otherwise, here are our "rules" or exclusions (these don't count towards the spending freeze):

1 Tank of gas per week per car (gotta get to work and public transportation or walking is not an option)
$ for 1 large meal per week cooked for entire family (it would require purchasing too much food prior to the beginning of the month & we simply don't have the room- we already stock 3 fridges and 2 chest freezers)
Skate sharpening and & a few roles of hockey tape (can't really be done ahead of time)
Philies baseball tickets (they go on sale the 18th-it can't be helped)
Braves, White Sox & Cubs baseball tickets (ticket dates haven't been announced so we intend to plan on them being released in Feb.)
$ for throwing a Vintage-kitchen themed bridal shower (shower's late February so it also can't be helped)

Ok, so that really is a lot of exclusions, which is frustrating but the fact of the matter is-there are always expenses that are going to come up each month. Obviously if one of our cars breaks down, we will have to adjust. The main point of the spending fast is to enforce no money spent on extras. No money on groceries, no money on clothes or shoes or eating out or dates, regardless of what good deals come up (and I'm sure I will get 50 emails after I post this from all these different stores having once in a lifetime sales). Hopefully it will encourage us to think creatively for dates and teach us me better resolve. We loved it last year, so we're hoping for the same effect!

Now, I realize the tickets would be considered by most to be extras, however, we have a number of travel plans in the works that will be affected by the ticket dates & prices and since the goal of this fast is to save money, it didn't make much sense to not buy them at face value when scalpers & online ticket retailers will charge exorbitant mark-ups.

Has anyone ever done a spending fast like this before? Anything you think I might be missing? I'll definitely post updates throughout the month with how it's going as we plan to record every penny that walks out the door!