Spending Freeze: Week 1 reflection

So how are we doing with the spending freeze??!

I have to tell you, some days at the end of the day I feel a moment of panic and think "DID I SPEND MONEY!?" and when I think about it I hadn't...but it felt a little TOO easy (part of that is all the gift cards I have left over from Christmas, hahaha).

Week 1 reflection

So I wanted to do this on Monday (when it was actually a week), but guess what? We (meaning I) live in Bennett's world now, and that wasn't going to happen, haha. So we will do it now!

What was the scariest part of starting this challenge?

To be really honest here, the scariest part of starting this challenge was posting about it on this blog. The reason for that is in the past I have struggled with follow through. My blog readers have seen some successes and probably a lot of untied ends. Welp, that was me, true and real...but it's not my favorite part of myself. While it is something that I have been working hard on, and have definitely changed a bit, I think I still have a lot of fear that that part of me is going to creep out again and erode some of the self-esteem that I have created by following through on projects. I really need to follow through on this one.

What is the ONE thing you are most excited to get out of this project?

Well already I have a great deal more in my savings!
On the way home from San Fran Nick and I were having a great conversation (I LOVE car trips with him, it's always either power audio to pump us up on life, or amazing, stimulating conversations that, well, pump us up on LIFE!). It came up that I've never really SAVED for anything big. Yeah...weird, I know...here I am almost 32 and I have never really felt the satisfaction of saving for something big and enjoying the fruits of that labor! So, he turns to me with all his Nick intensity and says, "you HAVE to do this...you HAVE to save for something Jen!". So with discussion around what my biggest financial values are (family, travel and eventually a home of our own in Santa Barbara), we decided that I am going to take our family to France and Switzerland next year (I have wanted to go to Paris as long as I have lived...its in my blood, n'est pas?). We decided that as soon as I save $5000 I can book the plane tickets. I have already been scouring Air BnB for a sweet little Parisian flat for us to live in while we're there, and I literally cannot handle my excitement. I think this will ABSOLUTELY motivate me to keep saving and spending less on useless things. Meanwhile, Nick is going to use the money he's been saving from this experiment to save for a house/throw extra money at our debt. WIN WIN WIN!

What has been the biggest struggle for you this week?

I think about spending constantly, and this has been such an eye opener for me. I have quite a loud little inner epicure, and she wants coffee while she strolls the farmers market, magazines every time she passes the stand in the grocery store and misses the activity of State st on a Friday night while we sip a glass of wine and watch the people go by...ugghhhh.

What has been the most surprising this week?

Like I said above, it has been surprising how much I THINK about spending...what I want, what I neeeeeeed..etc.On the other hand, it's actually been MUCH easier than I anticipated to not actually spend the money...so there's that! :)



I would love to hear how this week went for you if you are joining the challenge as well!! :)