text: #hartzogswag: baker | chef | aspiring lifestyle guru: March's "No-Spend (except for when I decide I want to!)" Challenge!
  March's "No-Spend (except for when I decide I want to!)" Challenge!
  It's that time again! The time where I decide I've been spending too much money and I need to save more!
  This inevitably resorts to me making a ridiculous plan to cut out all spending, or to stick to a cash budget -- which I inevitably will fail to complete. The latest of these plans?
  No spending* until my next paycheck!
  *(except for all the things I have to spend money on, like gas and groceries and rent)
  I'll be updating this post with my progress, so be sure and check back to see how I'm doing.
  In the morning, I realized there was an event downtown that I'd indicated on Facebook I'd be "interested" in attending. Have I ever mentioned reading The Skimm? It's a daily newsletter with a recap of important news..
  Which is perfect, because usually I only know what's going on in the world based on the headlines from Yahoo news. (sidenote: One of my favorite daily activities is identifying the most ludicrous headline on Yahoo's home page. Today was pretty tame:
  This was easy. He bought a horse because he's rich and he can. And because he and Gwen are milking the publicity from this relationship for all they've got.)
  Oh! So, the Skimm. I forgot. They were hosting an event in Houston on March 1, that I'm sure would have been filled with phenomenally cool people like myself, who like wine and like not really reading the news... but NEWS FLASH: fun is not free. I waivered half the morning on should I go/should I not go/how can I go and not spend money? before remembering that I wanted to vote instead. Both important events, separate directions. Decision made, crisis averted, no money spent.
  I ALMOST bought a book. By accident! I forgot, please forgive me! You can read more details on what I didn't spend on this post.
  Unfortunately, my car insurance bill hit my bank account today! Bye-bye, $790. It was nice when I knew ya. And a monthly bill for the storage unit I keep. #RIP $75 more. So mark March 2, 2016 down in your calendars as a real bummer of a day for my cash flow.
  HOWEVER! As I hope you will remember, I get to make the rules. So, I decided this money doesn't count* as part of my plan to not spend anything in the month - these are bills, they're ones I'm stuck with and can't change, and I saved a heck of a lot of money on my car insurance by paying six months at a time, rather than having it deducted monthly. Yay me.
  Days 3-15:
  March total spent: $865/Total spent that I am actually counting: $0. #win.
  *Rules I've made up so far to justify my purchases:
  The Progressive Rule: Bills or recurring payments don't count because I can't help it! Instituted 3/2/16.
  Do any of you make up rules to justify your spending? Let me know what they are!
  Labels: #hartzogswag, Adult, adulting, bills, cash, cash budget, credit, finance, hartzogswag, money, no spend, personal finance