No Spend Month...

I can't believe that January is almost over!  And that means that February is almost here and our annual No Spend February. It's our eighth year. I can't believe we've been doing it that long. I personally love it. Coming off the spending frenzy of the end of the year, it's a nice change for me. I am, quite frankly, done shopping. We have no birthdays, anniversaries, etc until June so I like the 'cold turkey' aspect of a no spend month.

What, exactly, does 'no spend' mean @ September Acres?

-No shopping -that means we won't roam the aisles of Target buying stuff we don't need & sometimes don't even want. No trips to Costco. Grocery shopping is okay but limited as we will try eating from the pantry this month. 

-No vacations - Easy Peasy as school is in. 

-No going out to eat - If we are invited to go out as a treat we will go but otherwise we don't. I've also been really slack with meal planning since Christmas so now's the time to get back in the swing of things.

-No movies, bowling, etc. - That's pretty easy for us, except I haven't seen "13 Hours" yet. I'll try to get that in this weekend while it's still January. ;)

We do have a hockey tournament later in the month but we knew it was coming and it's budgeted for. We just need to stay out of the mall and Target and we will be fine. 

So basically, no unnecessary spending. I think it's good for our bank account (the money we save goes into savings) & it's a good exercise for all of us to realize that we have so much and we should use/play with and enjoy it. I feel like sometimes we just buy, buy, buy and never really sit back and enjoy it.

I'd love to hear if you do this and how your family does it.