Week three of our No Spend Challenge has gone very well with one unexpected expense. Read the original No Spend February Challenge to see what spending we have cut in our budget this entire month.

Our Grocery Trip
I had a very good trip to the grocery store and purchased all our essentials for the entire week for only a quarter. To read how I did it, check out my Facebook post. It was a little bit of coupon luck to be able to get my total so low. I also submitted my receipt to Checkout 51 and earned an additional $1 cash back on my purchases.

Bingo with Grandma
One concern I had during this challenge was how to pay for my daughter’s fundraiser bingo night at her school. I knew she would be extremely disappointed if we didn’t attend and it’s definitely not considered a necessity. Luckily, Grandma read the Omaha World Herald article and offered to take the kids to Bingo. They all had a great time and everyone won at least two Bingos. Thank you Grandma!

An Unexpected Expense
Our router, which is required for Internet access, quit working on Thursday. I spent an hour on the phone with our Internet provider to troubleshoot and we discovered the router would need to be replaced for us to use the Internet. Since I conduct my business online and my husband is in the final week of his online classes at Bellevue University, we decided a new $133 router was a necessity. Although this goes against our No Spend guidelines, we made the decision that this is a purchase that needed to be made.

The Final Week
I’m so excited that this will be our last seven days of this challenge. The first two weeks were very easy, but now it is getting harder. There are several items in the grocery sales that I would have purchased for my pantry and freezer. CVS and Walgreens have had some great deals and freebies and I am looking forward to coupon there again. My husband and children are becoming weary with this challenge and are ready for it to be finished. However, the cash we are not spending is piling up and we are looking forward to seeing this challenge through the entire month as a family. Next week I will report our results and how much money we saved.

Are you participating in Frugal February? What changes have you made in your own spending habits? How do you feel about this challenge? Please leave a comment.