30 Days of Nothing Recap

We completed our 30 days of nothing challenge. When we did the challenge 2 years ago it was definitely eye opening. We developed a new way of living after that month. While this challenge wasn't nearly as eye opening it did remind us that we can live (for a short while) without consumerism.

It got us back on track with our composting and recycling. We are better at remembering to turn lights out and appliances off when not in use. We learned that we can live with the heat set a little lower. It made us get a little creative with some meals and to be grateful that we actually have food to eat and there are others out there who aren't as lucky.

We are going to continue to eat from our pantry. I don't feel like I need to rush out and go shopping for anything. I will be happy to buy some fruit and Cheerios though! I love our canned items but fresh is best. I will be making a trip to the grocery store for some dairy and fresh produce. I also need to make a trip to Sam's Club to stock up on baking supplies.

We were able to stick to only spending $30 on groceries for the month. In fact we have almost $4 left. We didn't eat out the entire month, we spent $0 on entertainment. There was no shopping. I did make a Pampered Chef purchase at the end of the month but that was the only non necessity item that we bought for the entire month.

I am pretty proud of us. Here is what I figured we saved in these 30 days based on what I budget each month for these categories. The first number is the amount we budget for the month and the second number is what we actually spent.

Grocery $500 spent $26
Entertainment $150 spent $0
Will and Sara Allowance $80 spent $0
Clothes $50 spent $0

We saved about $754. I was able to pay a couple of large medical bills with this money. That feels pretty good!

If you did a no spend month how did you do?