Week 3 of the No-Spend Challenge

Three is usually the charm-except this week I struck out.  I had this big fancy post typed up about what I spent this week and then I took it down—because I was really freakin’ embarassed. I spent more than in the last two weeks COMBINED. Nearly 100.00 per day, most of them on “needs”, some of them on wants. 36% on wants actually.

Ugh. Yikes.

I can offer up plenty of reasons as to why my spending was a bit grandiose this week-rainy weather=me feeling cooped up all day at home and more likely to go out at night–And the biggest expense of the week-maintenance/insurance on my new car, which is really just my old car that recently became new to me again. I also bought a few things for the new apartment that I did not “need” per se, but I would have just gone and bought them after the challenge was over anyway. I can proudly say however, that everything I bought for the apartment was second-hand. My dog needed a haircut.

I will also say that this was the first week where the challenge really irritated me. Like, really pissed me off. I was out for job interviews and hungry and had to wait till I got home an hour or two later to eat instead of just grabbing something like I normally would have. It frustrated me. I wanted to go see a movie to get out of the house, but I decided not to. These things really irritated me, and perhaps it’s because I didn’t set a specific “savings goal” when I set up the challenge. I’m just saving money to see if I can, and all the savings just go into my bank account and not towards something important or fun. I’m beginning to realize I am going through this bass-ackwards.

I also think I’m frustrated because I am realizing my entire lifestyle, my “New York” lifestyle if you will is going to have to go out the window. Spending challenge or no, nothing good is going to come unless I change my lifestyle and expectations to match my current situation. I can preach all I want, but it’s a hard thing to let go of.

Even still-I had a GREAT weekend. Got free tickets to see an improv show on Friday, went antiquing and had dinner with my parents on Saturday, and spent Sunday fixing up the apartment and attended a Pool Party the complex was having (read=free barbecue sandwiches..win!). I didn’t work on the blog at all, which was a much needed break since it (like the no-spend challenge) was frustrating me at the end of last week. Thank you guys for all of the supportive comments and feedback-it definitely pulled me out of the funk.

I hope you’ll forgive my lack of line item detail in this post. Instead I’ll just tell you this week was a big ol’ bust. I am already on track to come in way under budget for the month, if I can get it together for this week and stick to the challenge.

Have you ever had a week where you failed at your budget? What did you do about it?