#TinyChallenges: The April No-Spend
Identifying KPIs
The thing most people are curious about my tiny challenge — and by people, I’m talking about the two teenagers who live here, but mostly ignore me while consuming energy and food — is how much money I expect to save.
To be honest, I’m not really doing any of this to track actual dollar amounts, per se. I’m just more interested in how and why the dollars leave.
However, after only three days of this challenge, I have noticed the following:
- I really want a new watch with a mother-of-pearl face, but I don’t need one.
- There’s no point watching QVC if I can’t buy anything from the QVC.
- Rather than spending approx. $60 on coffee/breakfast pick-ups this weekend for the three of us, I spent $0. Same with not picking up lunch, or going out to dinner — I estimate I saved around three meals I would eat at a restaurant from Friday-Sunday, which is about $210.
- Number 3, above, looks super crazy and irresponsible when I see it written out on the page.
- By sticking to the “edges” of the grocery store — and hitting up one farmer’s market — I only spent the following: $22 at Walmart, $17 at Trader Joe’s, $18 at the farmer’s market. Under $60, compared to the $250 I’d normally spend on a weekend grocery trip.
I’m still not sure where this challenge will take me. I’m not sure how long I can keep it up. (I really do want that watch, you guys.) I can’t even guarantee the items in my pantry and linen closet are enough to see us through to the end.
But, I’ve made it this far. And, we have 11 rolls of toilet paper left to go.