Cheapskate challenge, Day 1

So all three of you who read this might be wondering.....what is she talking about with this "Cheapskate Challege" business?

Well, since you asked:
While having the the inevitable "New Year's Resolution" talk, Honey and I were discussing goals (his) for the year. I'm not much for resolutions, since I never have managed to follow through on many. Ok, any. But he did bring up a good point: finances in a devastating economy. He suggested a month long spending fast.

A spending fast? Excuse me, as any dieter knows, fasting usually brings on binging. MAJOR binging. Certainly, getting control of spending was a wise idea. So, I rolled it around in my head for a while.

And here's what I came up with: Cheapskate Challenge.


How little could we spend in a single month and still get by. How could we minimze spending on the things we have control over? Obviously, mortgage, insurance, taxes, utilities would be have to be paid. But we did have choice when it came to food, entertainment and other discretionary spending. So I proposed a challenge. To see just cheap we could be over the course of one month. Fortunately, February is the shortest month of the year!

We've planned a month's worth of low-fuss meals (thanks $5dinner Mom!), and agreed to put a moratorium on restaurant, take-out and other expenses that are not absolutely necessary.

So after just one day, I tortured the cashier at Dominick's and almost had a nervous breakdown in CVS, but that's a story for another day.