No Spend November

Today, November 1, 2013 officially begins our No Spend November. Huh? That's right, during the month of November Trent and I will be spending no money… well except for bills and groceries. You're probably wondering why… The idea struck me while reading Jen Hatmaker's 7. She talks about how much money we spend and the competitive side of me was wondering if  we could go a whole month without spending money on meals out, clothes, extra groceries, ice cream etc.

We really have planned ahead. We did the bulk of our grocery shopping for the month, bought birthday gifts for parties in November and stocked up on household items that we might need. Grocery shopping is allowed in November for items that won't last the whole month, but no frivolous items will be purchased. What about Christmas shopping? Last weekend I bought a Partners Card (the money goes towards The Family Place and lots of stores in Dallas participate and give 20% off to card holders) and got 75% of our shopping done. I will finished come December.

We realize that by participating in this we will give up some social outings or meals with friends. To be honest while we are sad about that we are really looking forward to this challenge. Friends, please forgive us if we turn you down this month… nothing personal :) It may only last a day, a few days or even a week but we just want to try and see if we can do it. Jonah and I will be spending lots of time at the park, outside, the library and maybe even the play place at the mall if it's not too hard to resist the stores! Here's to No Spend November!!