I think that ever single year I set out on some yearly challenge with the best of intentions. I usually do well for a month or two until I lose steam, and then I drop off. You know…the usual. Just like 99% of the world does.
This year, though, I have been motivated to do something DIFFERENT every month. I don’t have the entire year planned out, and I usually start thinking about the next month just a few days before it begins. I think this helps keep the excitement and motivation going for me. I like having a different challenge every month so that I can switch it up.
I have written a few posts about our monthly challenges so far this year. January we focused on limited media and I wrote about it here: No Media January, Game Night!, 10 Kids Games that Everyone Will Enjoy.
In February we focused on limiting spending and I wrote several posts during that month: February Spending Freeze, 15 Ways We Save Money, Living on Love, and Tips for Saving on Your Grocery Budget. Stay tuned at the end of this blog post to hear what my March challenge is!
I wanted to do a little recap of how our February challenge turned out. One of the goals of doing a “spending freeze” was choosing a goal or something to put the saved money towards. Since we needed a new couch, we decided to try to save enough money in one month to pay for our couch- $638.
Just as a recap, I did my best to focus on as little spending as possible in the following categories: gas, groceries, eating out, entertainment, and miscellaneous spending (especially on Amazon). I did not try to cut back on any bills because I feel that those are already as low as possible. Bills is one area that is good to check every few months, though, just to make sure that we are not paying more than we should be in certain areas. As you will see in this recap, we actually spent more on bills this month than last month. I attribute that to moving, but I also know that some months will just fluctuate on bills. And that is ok!
There are SO MANY different ways a spending freeze could be
I also want to point out here that the point of a spending freeze is NOT to go one month without spending money, and then spend money on everything I was missing on March 1st. NO. The point was to go without things that we did not need and simply say no to them, not wait until they were “approved” to buy them all.
And that is a wrap on our February spending freeze! I told Theo that I am going to plan on doing this again- probably in September (we have no interesting events in Sept). I would like to save enough money to buy my kids a Nugget Couch thing. I know that $600 may not seem like a lot for all that hard work, but it means a lot to me when I can cut spending in other categories just to purchase a big ticket item with the money that was saved. This would also be a great thing to do if you have loans and are trying to pay off a big chunk at a time. It’s probably not feasible to save this month money every single month, but to take a month or two out of the year and do it as a challenge has proved totally worth it to us!
And now..for my March challenge!
During the month of March, my challenge to myself is to get dressed and ready every single day. Now, dressed and ready can mean something different for everyone. For me, it means:
- Getting changed out of PJs or workout clothes
- Putting on basic makeup (mostly just mascara)
- Putting on earrings
It does not mean getting dressed up in professional clothes every day, but it does mean putting forth some kind of effort into my appearance- every single day. Honestly, I’m more nervous about this one than a spending freeze! As a stay at home Mom, I don’t NEED to get dressed or presentable, and I often find myself at 3 pm still in the same clothes I wore to bed the night before. I take care of everyone else all day long without a single thought of how I look. I’m trying to not set my standards too high. I’m not committing to showering every day or doing my hair at all. I also consider wearing a t-shirt “getting dressed” as long as it is clean and I put thought into picking it out and matching it to my earrings.
You are more than welcome to join me! I’m going to try to share daily on my Instagram stories if you need reminders! I’m excited to learn more about myself and what I can accomplish when I’m willing to get myself dressed and ready for the day!