No/Low Buy Update: Week 4 and a Monthly Tally!

Every Monday during 2022, I am posting an update on what I spent for the week as a way of keeping myself accountable for my No/Low Buy Year. Also, in order to see my true savings, I am also tracking items I was tempted to buy but didn’t. 

Photo by Harvey Reed on Pexels.com

It’s now the end of January and I’m wrapping up the first month of my year-long low/no buy challenge. This month had some challenges (controlling my impulsive spending!) but they were expected. As long as I kept remembering my ‘why’, I stayed on track! Yay me. 🙂

This week I purchased a few items for my daughter, topped off groceries, and replaced a couple of items that either didn’t work or were worn out.

What I spent (January 24 – January 31).

• Groceries: $41.58
• Household: $80.29 (two new fry pans, laundry supplies)
• Spontaneous Giving: $63.96
• Gift: $20.00 (Grandkiddos)
• Home Repair: $20.00 (new faucet head for kitchen sink)
• Take Out: $21.00 (Chinese food)
• Hair Cut/Color: $75.00
• Dog Food: $86.88
• Personal Care: $52.47 (shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste)

Total: $461.18

Although I wasn’t thrilled with ordering take-out, I was happy with the spending. Everything was intentional and needed. However, I believe I’ve spent my limit on spontaneous giving this month. 😉

Here are the items I was tempted to buy this week but didn’t:

• Books, books and more books: $72.92 (I was trying to complete a series)
• Sweatshirt: $18.00
• An apple pie: $10.00

Total: $107.48 (includes tax)

I’m not sure what was going on with my desire to buy books this month. It seems to be my only real temptation. All four weeks. I felt I needed to do something about it so I typed out all the titles of the books I already own but have yet to read. I was surprised at how long the list was. I have more than enough books to read for 2022. I’m hoping this does the trick. If not, I will just keep putting books I want on a wishlist.

The apple pie? What can I say — I was hungry when I was walking around BJs. My wallet and waist thank me for not buying it.

JANUARY SPENDING

Total spent: $1,707.00

Total I almost spent: $792.66

My takeaway for January:

WINS:

• I stayed under my food budget.
• I blessed others with spontaneous giving.
• I found other places to purchase items instead of Amazon.
• I replaced household items instead of adding more.
• I found an inexpensive solution to get dog off bed (for the most part).
• I ordered extra dogfood before price increased in February.
• I ordered personal care items when I ran out of what I already had.
• I kept my impulsive shopping in check and ‘saved’ almost $800 in the process.

LOSSES

• I spent way too much money on eating out. 😦

Since there are way more wins than losses, I’d say January was a success!

How did you do in January?

If you missed it, here are my weekly No/Low Buy Challenge Updates:

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3