No-Spend Month, April
May 1, 2007
“Let me ‘splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up….”
Gas: 183.11
Food: 23.36 (Restaurant/eating out only, doesn’t include groceries.)
Clothes: 100.60
Personal Care: 10
Travel: 0
Entertainment: 0
Wow, that looks like it was a miserable failure. Actually, I really bought the clothes in March, which is what kicked off the no-spend months to begin with, but it showed up on my credit card statement on April 2nd. I think that means it comes off. I think that gas should get a free pass too, because I always have to pay for gas for the cars, whether or not I drive that month.
So, really:
Food: 23.36 (Restaurant/eating out only, doesn’t include groceries.)
Personal: 10
Travel: 0
Entertainment: 0
Total: 33.36
Now that I’ve meddled with the data, I think it looks like a rousing success!
No, really, the eating out and other personal spending are the two true variable categories where I actually have a choice to make about whether or not to spend the money. Sometimes I don’t have a choice, I have to spend it on a haircut, etc., but other than that I don’t have to spend on entertainment, or eating out and I can be more careful and plan ahead when I’m going to travel.
I did have one slightly shady transaction which was the pair of sunglasses that my friend bought for me. It’s a little shady (no pun intended) because she bought them simply because it was no-spend month for me. It’s a close cousin to mooching, I’m afraid.
