Week Two of No Spend February was great! Our total spent for the entire week was $21.62. Read the original No Spend February Challenge to see what spending we have cut in our budget this entire month. We ran out of milk twice this week, so I made two runs to the grocery store and spent a grand total of $0.87 using coupons. I spent $0.75 on air for the tire on our of vehicles because it was running dangerously low and I was 30 minutes from home. We did have one unneccessary expense, but we felt that it was warranted. One of my husband’s coworkers will incur burial expenses for their newborn and his office took up a collection to help this family. We decided to donate $20 to this fund even though it’s Frugal February, because it’s important for us to help others when we are able.

OUR GROCERY TRIPS
I employed my couponing skills to get our necessities for as low of cost as possible. I used a $20 Sam’s gift card and coupons for a free rotisserie chicken, apple pie and scalloped potatoes from a deal I purchased in October (no longer available) from Groupon.

Cost ZERO with Gift Card and Store Coupons

I made a second trip this week to Baker’s to use a $25/$50 coupon (no longer available) to purchase more dairy items, diapers and fresh produce. There are some non-necessities in this picture, but they were all free and helped me get my total to $50 before coupons for the discount. This trip cost me $0.87 after all my coupons were applied. If you want more details about this trip and how I did it, check out my Facebook page.

FUN ON A BUDGET
Our kids had a five-day winter break from school and I wanted to have fun with them without spending any money. We took advantage of Shadowlake’s free kid’s club on Thursday, used our Fontenelle Forest family membership on Friday and also visited the library to check out some books. My kids had a blast and we even saw a bunch of turkeys outside the indoor play area at Fontenelle.

My kids did beg to go out to eat for lunch on Thursday, but I explained to them again about Frugal February and the importance for our family not to spend money on things we don’t really need.

My Three Kids Playing at Fontenelle Forest Indoor Playground

Turkeys at Fontenelle Forest

OUR TEMPTATIONS
My daughter is a Girl Scout and brought home seven cases of those delicious, mouth watering cookies to sell and we can’t buy a single box this entire month. The temptation is strong. Seriously, if you’ve ever tasted Girl Scout cookies, you can only imagine what’s it like to stare at all those scrumptious boxes and know you can’t enjoy them.

If it were not Frugal February, I would have purchased a clearance slow cooker I found at Baker’s, stocked up on whole chickens and frozen vegetables that are on sale this week and enjoyed coffee at my monthly book club meeting at Panera Bread. We would have also ordered pizza yesterday for Valentine’s Day. I estimate we are saving $150 to $200 every week of this challenge and we contine to keep our long term goals in mind.

MOVING FORWARD – WEEK THREE
Two weeks of not spending money on non-essentials has been fairly simple and we do not feel like we’ve had to make sacrifices yet. I have already became more thoughtful of the little things I spend money on throughout the week, like coffee, impulse purchases and quick fast food runs. I think moving forward this challenge will become more difficult, but we are excited to see this through the entire month.

Our big challenge this upcoming week was how to pay for our daughter’s Bingo night. Grandma saved the day! After reading our article in the Omaha World Herald, she offered to come up from Lincoln to take the kids to the school Bingo night. It’s a win-win, because we will continue our no spend challenge and the kids love being spoiled by Grandma.

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.