October 2012
what (not) to do now {day thirty-one}
This is the last day of my 31 Days of Living Well & Spending Zero challenge. To read all the posts in order, start with Day One or visit the Overview Page. * * * Day 31. The end. If you’ve made it this far, you should feel very proud of yourself. In a world where the solution for every problem is to buy something new, you managed to make it an entire month using the things you already had. Way to go! Tomorrow your challenge will be over and you can go back to spending what you want, when you want, and you will have the choice ... read more
Plan for the Holidays {Day Thirty}
This is the thirtieth day of my 31 Days of Living Well & Spending Zero challenge. To read all the posts in order, start with Day One or visit the Overview Page. * * * October is almost over which means the holidays are literally right around the corner. My feelings this time of year are always mixed. On the one hand, I truly love the joy of holiday season, but at the same time, I can’t help feel a little stressed. There are so many expectations! So many things to do! So many things to buy! As my girls get older, I am finding it increasingly important ... read more
re-assess your budget {day twenty-nine}
This is the twenty-ninth day of my 31 Days of Living Well & Spending Zero challenge. To read all the posts in order, start with Day One or visit the Overview Page. * * * There are only a few days left of our 31 day zero spending challenge. We’ve spent the past 4 weeks taking care of our basic needs, cleaning and organizing our homes, fostering our creativity, and maximizing our resources. At this point it would be easy to pat ourselves on the back and congratulate ourselves on a job well done. But we’re not going to do that. At least, not yet. The whole point ... read more
week 4 reflection {day twenty-eight}
This is the twenty-eighth day of my 31 Days of Living Well & Spending Zero challenge. To read all the posts in order, start with Day One or visit the Overview Page. * * * Day 28. 4 weeks down, just a few more days to go. Can you believe it? I’m sure there have been moments where it has felt like this month would never end, but hopefully there have also been more than a few lightbulb moments where you were able to truly embrace the idea of spending zero. This past week was all about maximizing our resources, and I’m curious to know how that went ... read more
free family activities {day twenty-seven}
This is the twenty-seventh day of my 31 Days of Living Well & Spending Zero challenge. To read all the posts in order, start with Day One or visit the Overview Page. * * * If your kids are anything like mine, they might be starting to get a little antsy for this spending freeze to be over. Sometimes it seems like every fun thing to do as a family costs money, which means after almost 4 weeks of diligently refusing to spend money on anything “extra” you all might be feeling a little stir-crazy. But take heart. First of all, you’ve only got a few more days ... read more
have a free date night {day twenty-six}
This is the twenty-sixth day of my 31 Days of Living Well & Spending Zero challenge. To read all the posts in order, start with Day One or visit the Overview Page. * * * So far we’ve sold our stuff, found free money, gotten free stuff, & learned to barter. For the next two days we are going to shift our focus just a bit to spending time with the most important people in our lives, starting with our spouse. When money is tight it can be hard to justify paying for a date night. Between the babysitter, dinner bill, & movie tickets, “Dinner and a Movie” ... read more
try bartering {day twenty-five}
This is the twenty-fifth day of my 31 Days of Living Well & Spending Zero challenge. To read all the posts in order, start with Day One or visit the Overview Page. * * * Twenty-five days into this crazy (as in, crazy awesome!) spending freeze, you might be starting to miss one or two things. Or ten. Or fifty. Just a little bit. Or a lot. Perhaps even desperately. And that’s okay. It’s normal. If you don’t miss anything you either a.) are cheating b.) had way too much stuff to begin with & should probably keep your spending freeze going until you start to feel the ... read more
get free stuff {day twenty-four}
This is the twenty-fourth day of my 31 Days of Living Well & Spending Zero challenge. To read all the posts in order, start with Day One or visit the Overview Page. * * * I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: What’s better than free? There is just something so thrilling about getting something for nothing. Yesterday we talked about some great places to find free money; today we are going to score free stuff. Before we go on, however, I’d like to offer a little word of caution. Avoid getting something just because it is free. Use the following tips to help you find ... read more
get free money {day twenty-three}
This is the twenty-third day of my 31 Days of Living Well & Spending Zero challenge. To read all the posts in order, start with Day One or visit the Overview Page. * * * Have you ever gotten to the end of the month and thought to yourself, “where the heck did all my money go?’ (If not then you are clearly a much better money manager than me!) Life can get hectic sometimes and it is easy to lose track sometimes, but chances are you’ve got at least a little money hidden out there somewhere, or you are missing an opportunity to make some. Today we’re ... read more
Sell Your Stuff {Day Twenty-Two}
This is the twenty-second day of my 31 Days of Living Well & Spending Zero challenge. To read all the posts in order, start with Day One or visit the Overview Page. * * * We’ve made it to the home stretch–the last full week of this 31 day challenge! Our first week we focused on taking care of our basic needs, since hunger & boredom are the two main causes of mindless spending. Our second week we focused on cleaning and organizing our homes, learning to enjoy the space that we are in rather than to try to escape it. Last week we started to look at ... read more
week 3 reflection {day twenty-one}
This is the twenty-first day of my 31 Days of Living Well & Spending Zero challenge. To read all the posts in order, start with Day One or visit the Overview Page. * * * It has been a very busy week. Productive, creative, fun, exciting, good……but busy. I don’t know about you, but I am exhausted and looking forward to a day of rest and self-reflection today. I came across this quote this week and I just loved it. I have seen the first two lines before, but never rest of it. So powerful! My speech at church last Sunday went well, better than I could’ve ever ... read more
have a spa day at home {day twenty}
This is the twentieth day of my 31 Days of Living Well & Spending Zero challenge. To read all the posts in order, start with Day One or visit the Overview Page. * * * Can you believe we have already made it two-thirds of the way through this one-month challenge? We’ve tackled a lot over the past 20 days, and whether you have been fully participating or not, you could probably use a break, a day to simply rest and recharge. Well guess what? Today, we spa. Your assignment today is to spend a few hours pampering yourself. Take a relaxing bath or shower, give yourself ... read more
homemade spa recipes {day nineteen}
This is the nineteenth day of my 31 Days of Living Well & Spending Zero challenge. To read all the posts in order, start with Day One or visit the Overview Page. * * * I am such a spa girl! It seems like a million years ago now, but once upon a time I was the director of a day spa in the Seattle area. Part of my actual job description included receiving spa treatments on a regular basis for “quality control” and during that time I had more massages, facials, pedicures, manicures, body scrubs, body wraps, & hair treatments than most people will ever have ... read more
find new uses for old things {day eighteen}
This is the eighteenth day of my 31 Days of Living Well & Spending Zero challenge. To read all the posts in order, start with Day One or visit the Overview Page. * * * This week so far has been all about creatively using the things we already have. The intent has been to spark ideas, and the “assignments” this week (and this whole month for that matter) are not necessarily meant to be done day by day, but to be used as a rough guideline for approaching the things you already have in a slightly different way. I don’t know if it is working for you, but ... read more
Free Halloween Costumes {Day Seventeen}
This is the seventeenth day of my 31 Days of Living Well & Spending Zero challenge. To read all the posts in order, start with Day One or visit the Overview Page. * * * Can you believe Halloween is only two weeks away? Now none of you mentioned it out loud when I first brought up this 31 days challenge last month, but I know at least a few of you were thinking “Spending freeze? In October? Yeah right! What about HALLOWEEN?” Or something like that. But I promise I didn’t forget about Halloween. In fact, the girls and I have been working on ideas for this ... read more
