You know how sometimes you meet someone and instantly you know you’re supposed to be friends with them?
That’s what happened to me when I was in Charlotte last year. I met this crazy awesome fun lady named Brynn (a name I love, by the way) who happens to run a blog, Femme Frugality, and we’ve kept in touch through email a bit and our blogs and that’s how I found out about her Frugality Challenge. She started it on Twitter and then, when she moved it to a Facebook group, I decided to go ahead and participate. She works so hard keeping track and putting it all together, plus I really needed to check myself after the spending orgy of December, and January seemed like a good time to reset my wallet because no joke, the end of December has me feeling like
So my need to feel not broke and my love of Brynn coerced me into participating.
The rules of her challenge are fairly simple but also complex. I know. Fortunately, she gives you a whole document full of all the ways you can earn points in the challenge.
I should probably back up.
The way it works is this: you get points for doing things that are financially savvy. Making all your own meals, forgoing a purchase, putting money in savings and retirement, doing a DIY project, finding free entertainment, having a budget, shopping with coupons…stuff like that. What I liked the most was that she does not encourage no spend days since she feels they encourage post-no spend spending binges but she does recognize that no spend days happen and you should get credit for them.
Each week, or day, or whatever you want, you check in with the group on FB detailing your victories and adding up your points. Whoever amasses the most amount of points in a month wins a prize ($25 gift card to Target!) so that’s a nice perk. Plus, it’s a competitive yet supportive group and that’s fun to have as well.
While I didn’t win last month’s challenge, I definitely did some things that made me happy. For instance:
- I went 3 straight weeks with cooking every single meal at home. Not one meal out until my daughter asked if we could and we had a gift card to Panera so off we went.
- I bought Weezer tickets with a Groupon! Save some decent money there which was nice coming off the expense of Pearl Jam tickets.
- DIY’d a couple of projects: homemade candy jar with an upcycled Yankee Candle jar, homemade sugar foot scrub
- Set a budget for my daughter’s cheer competition and stuck to it
- Got some sweet deals on Keurig pods thanks to combining coupons
- Took advantage of Showtime’s free trial weekend
- Had several no spend days (planned and unplanned)
Overall, I’m pretty pleased with how I did. It wound up being a good thing, too, because we just had a huge house repair bill, completely unexpected, happen this week and had we been blowing all our money on crap, we’d be seriously fucked right now. But we’re not and that’s nice.
While this isn’t something I’ll do every single month (I just can’t be that compulsively diligent), I’m glad I did it because it got me back to a place where I’m happy with our financial situation and was able to regroup from December. We’re back on a budget that allows for some discretionary spending without feeling too restricted and that’s comforting, too because I actually like being on a budget.
If you want to participate in the challenge, join the Facebook group or post about it or tweet about it or just do it in your own quiet way and then, at the end of the month, when temptation comes your way, you’ll be all
I think your January sounds like a huge win even if you didn’t win the challenge!!! Budgeting and saving are my two least favorite words lol. I love when I have good coupons or stick to a plan though. Such a good feeling!
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The woman who won basically did every single thing possible to earn points and I didn’t so she deserved to win. But for me, it was more about getting back in touch with my budget and habits and I definitely did that so it’s a win for me!
Great job. Eating at home saves tons. Packing stuff for road trips saves a lot and is better than what you would buy and you don’t have to go looking for a place to eat. Wonderful that you had the money to pay for your home repair. Just being aware is half the battle.
Love. Steph’s. Momma
It really does save a ton of money. And healthier, too!
I’m working on it this month, so far no money spent. I think you did awesome!! But now I want Weezer tickets… they play here on a Sunday though, and at a venue like 1.5 hours from where I live. Whomp.
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They’re playing like an hour from here but I live in the middle of nowhere so having to drive isn’t unexpected. We’re excited to go and we’re taking our daughter. It’s her first concert!
good job Jana! I tried that challenge too but I swear any time I do a challenge I start behaving in ways that are opposite of the challenge. I have no idea why. Booooo house bills!
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I was so pissed about it but thankful that we’d saved a whole bunch of money and could pay in cash without dipping into savings. It hurts the rest of the month but we’ll make it.
Sorry, I got distracted by the mention of Weezer. How cool is that??? 🙂 Sounds like January was a good month for you and cooking at home definitely saves money.
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Yes! And we’re taking our daughter! It’s her first concert and we’re going with some friends, too. She’s so excited!
Ahh, controlled spend/no spend… Brings me back to how we met. 🙂
I may consider taking the frugality challenge in March. Not this month, though, because we leave for DisneyWorld in 61.5 hours.
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It’ll probably be a good thing to do once you get back from Disney. Make you feel a little better about all the money you spend.
Have a wonderful time!!
Great job!
I like the sounds of this challenge. I agree that for me, no spend means post-no-spend binge, so watching myself and being really deliberate with spending works much better for me!! It also helps me differentiate better between need and want, which I need to do for myself every once in a while.
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congrats at cooking at home so much! that is awesome. last month, i didn’t waste money on lunch at all, but i ate out more than a few times for dinner. this month, i’ve eaten out for lunch but less for dinner. i totally get the no spend encouraging binge spending afterwards, i need to be careful with that after i do a no spend anything.
Sounds like you had a great month getting back on track, although major bummer about the house repair. 🙁 I hate unexpected bills and repairs. They normally happen to me when I’m strutting because I’m doing so well (at least in my mind) and that’s when I trip over a shoe and sprain my ankle. Ummm … not that’s ever happened. 🙂 I like Brynn’s philosophy around no-spend challenges. Yes, there are times we may need to have no-spend days, but I know when I completely deny myself, I get obsessive, so I would definitely binge afterwards and end up spending more money.
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Good job, Jana!!! I feel ya. After our dog got a large vet bill + Christmas gifts, I was getting worried for the new year. This challenge does sound fun! Too bad ya didn’t win but like you said, you learned stuff and that will make you a winner in finances in the long run. I’m checking out the group now!
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I’m impressed by all the meals at home! That takes a lot of extra effort. Saves SO much!
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I’m working on cooking more too. We do love to go out though but we try to limit it to 2 days a week.
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Well done you. Especially for doing it in January, which I swear is the worst, longest, most horrible month of the year.
It’s funny, my OH and I always get geeky and excited about our budgeting. Especially when we’ve underspent on something in our budget, meaning we have more for the next month. High fives all around!
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Thank you so freaking much, Jana! I’m so glad we met at FinCon, too…it was a match made in FinCon heaven. Because that’s a thing…
And you need to give yourself some cred…you came in at a very competitive second. I’m so glad it helped out when that unexpected bill came. That’s the absolute worst, but at least you had some padding! Also, like everyone else, I’m crazy tempted to get Weezer tickets now. They’re not here until summer, though, and I’ve heard mixed things about Rivers either playing the Blue album/Pinkerton in its entirety, or refusing to play anything off either at all. I wish I knew what he was going to do…I have a few months to save up. 🙂
Thank you again for sharing your experience and getting the word out!
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Great job! (Though it sucks about the house repair bill.)
One of my New Year’s resolutions is to be a little more frugal, and I think I’ve been doing pretty well. This challenge sounds very similar to the types of things I’ve been doing, and I think that really works well for me. I will never be able to do a complete spending freeze because I like to treat myself at least once a month to something “fun” (even if it’s just a latte or something small like that). I’m trying to be more conscious of what I’m spending money on, though, and trying to avoid regularly wasting money on things that are completely unnecessary (like snacks from the vending machines at work). I think just being more aware can really help.
Also, Pearl Jam tickets? Yay! I haven’t seen them live in years (I saw them on the Binaural tour when I was 15 and on the Riot Act tour when I was 18 or 19). I will say that one of the biggest perks of seeing a lot of the indie bands I like is how cheap concert tickets are. I can usually get a ticket for $20 or $30. I think The Decemberists show I went to last year was around $35 or $40 a ticket.
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What an awesome challenge! My spending freeze starts Monday, except for a weekend when a friend comes to visit. December-February is always tough because of Christmas, a bunch of birthdays, and usually a vacation. I don’t ever make a budget, but I want to start working on projects around the house so it’s time to reign it in. I can’t believe you bought Weezer tickets through Groupon! It’s totally sold out here.
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