No Spend February?

So clearly I suck at life and had this ready to post YESTERDAY, but I forgot to hit that pesky "PUBLISH" tab.  Please forgive me!

Yesterday I posted about a possible "No spend February" and the thought that I might want to commit to that...  Well the thing is, I have a lot of plans in February, March and April so it kind of makes it a bit difficult.  I also read up and researched no spend weekends or weeks which seems much more my style.

The thing about not spending money is that you actually have to plan things out and really pay attention to what you are doing.  Clearly groceries and gas for the car are imperative as are paying the bills, but it really it is about planning out what and how you are going to do this.  Not spending money is a challenge and it should start small and snowball into more and more days not spending money.

I will say this... I hate when people say most of the money you spend is on a daily coffee.  It simply isn't true.  I have a coffee maker and I buy creamer and guess what, I am still not holing away that daily $4.57 because it just gets lumped into a different purchase.

Here are my week by week Starting the 1st with a new week beginning on Mondays) goals for saving money-

February 1-5: There isn't a lot going on through these days.  My goal is to not spend money on things I don't need.  For instance, I know I have a meeting at a pizza place so I plan on ordering dinner which will be money spent.  Sunday is the Superbowl and I plan on buying football squares which will be money spent.  Of course I will also have to get groceries for the coming week, which means more money spent.  I do plan on using my list and only buying what I need for the week.

February 6-12: So far there are no plans other than another meeting for this week.  My goal is to bring lunch 3 out of 5 days to avoid spending money every day on lunch.  I feel like this week should be a bit easier.

February 13-19: My plan for this week is to bring lunch four days since I am leaving early on Friday.  Friday is also the Blake Shelton concert so there will be money spent on dinner and beer.  The good thing about concerts is that I bring a set amount of cash and once that is gone, I am done for the night.

February 20-26:  Another week of bringing lunch and hopefully making a meal that will last all week so I won't have to be out and about trying to find dinner.   Another concert weekend, but this time it is Alan Jackson out in Laughlin.  This should not be overly expensive, with exception of buying tickets.  Then again, if the weather is shit I won't be going.

February 27-28: The last two days of the month... No plans, so perhaps these will be my best "no spend" days!

As you can see, my biggest thing is bringing lunch.  When you go out to lunch $10-$15 a day adds up fast.  Let's average that out at $12.50 per lunch, there are 19 wok days in February, I will be there for 18 which would be me spending $225.00 for lunch!  My grocery bill would be less than a third of that.  SO here is to bringing lunch in the month of February over eating out everyday!

How do you plan not to spend money?