This is a guest post from my friend, Suzanne Cramer, a social media specialist and blogger for Care One Credit. Make sure to check out her blog, A Straight Talk On Debt, which features not only posts from Suzanne but posts from some of my other blogging friends. 

I know Jana wants another furry friend and she knows that the “all around” expenses associated with a third dog will be tough. Sometimes you just can’t say no (and Jana, this may happen to you in your quest for a third dog). Rest assured I know from first hand experience that pets can be like our children and no expense is too much to make sure they are healthy and safe.

Owning and caring for a pet doesn’t have to be a budget-buster whether you have one, two or three, but preparing for your pet’s expenses by budgeting for them is a must!

Here are a few tips to keep expenses for your furry friends under control.

Feed one, feed them all

There are lots of ways you can keep your furry friends well nourished and happy.

• Buy in bulk.  Try to buy in bulk, checking unit prices to ensure you’re saving money, and preserve your pet food in airtight containers. Always comparison-shop, checking websites, supermarkets, big box stores, and pet shops, as well as utilizing manufacturers’ coupons and loyalty programs. This is especially important if you have several pets.
• Make your own.  You can find many healthy recipes online. Your veterinarian can also recommend essential ingredients to ensure you safely meet all of your pet’s nutritional needs.
• Try generic or less-expensive.  Less expensive doesn’t have to mean less nutritious. Check pet-food labels carefully, and look for the words “complete and balanced,” which indicate the contents can satisfy your pet’s sole nourishment. Also, look for a statement that the food’s nutritional value meets standards set by the American Association of Feed Control Officials. Armed with this information, you can be confident about swapping expensive brand name labels for less expensive generic versions.

Health care is important for Fido too

Just as humans do, pets benefit from preventive and proactive health care.

• Get all their shots.  Remain current on recommended vaccinations, which can keep your pet from contracting common diseases.
• Use your resources. You can often find low-cost options for common procedures and vaccines though local humane societies and shelters, such as American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). You can also visit www.Pets911.com and enter your zip code to find a list of animal shelters, animal control agencies, and other animal organizations in your community.
• Healthy diet and exercise. Our pets can suffer the same complications from obesity as humans, such as arthritis, high blood pressure, and diabetes, so don’t overfeed them. Increase their activity by taking them on walks and trips to the park.

Keep vet bills under control

No matter what you do, there might be times when your pet needs veterinary care.

• Check for discounts.  Many veterinarians offer discounts, including senior discounts and multi-pet discounts. Also, ask about military and law enforcement discounts.
• A new puppy or kitten. Your veterinarian may offer discount packages that cover all vaccinations, spaying or neutering, microchip identification, and other procedures. Likewise, shelters often include these services in their adoption fee.
• Go generic.  Ask if your veterinarian can prescribe generic equivalents of name brand medications. Moreover, ask if there is a human equivalent, such as baby aspirin. Not all pet prescriptions are more expensive, but it’s worth checking out.
• Get pet insurance.  The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) recommends coverage for catastrophic expenses. Policies typically run between $10 and $20 a month. Petinsurance.com is a popular online resource for obtaining pet insurance information. If you’re without pet insurance, ask your veterinarian to submit an assistance request to the AAHA’s “Helping Pets Fund”.

Your pets deserve care and attention, but not at the expense of destroying your finances. If your pets are causing you to seek debt help its time to start implementing some of these money-saving tips.

What is your best tip for keeping your pet’s expenses down?

Not my legs. Or my feet. And for the record, those shoes are creepy.

As part of my non-medicated therapy, I’ve been required to start exercising. Apparently there’s some link between depression and exercise (and sleep, which is essential and I definitely don’t get enough of that either) and my therapist ordered me to start exercising. Fortunately, we have a membership to the YMCA that I can use to fulfill this order.

When I first started exercising, I was using the cardio equipment exclusively. It was easy and a great way to get back into the routine of sweating on purpose.  There were no combinations to remember, no other people around (well, except the other people on the equipment), no instructor. Just me, the elliptical machine, my iPod and my sweat. It was blissful. Until I got bored.

There are only so many days in a row you can use the elliptical machine without wanting to tear your hair out. It was making me remember why I gave up exercising in the first place (oh, right. And I’m kind of lazy, too). Then it dawned on me that the Y also has group exercise classes, which, up until 3 weeks ago, I’d actively avoided for a number of reasons. The main reason? I was completely and utterly embarrassed.

I was embarrassed because I have absolutely no coordination. At all. I routinely walk into walls and fall down stairs and drop things for no good reason. I spill food on my clothes every day and if a day goes by that I don’t trip over my own giant feet, it’s a good day. I can’t dance, am not flexible and sometimes, right and left confuse me. I am absolutely the last person you want to stand next to in an exercise class (or near on a flight of stairs or in a hallway, but I digress). Then I had another revelation.

I didn’t care.

Although I experienced a tremendous amount of trepidation the day I stepped foot in my first class, I reminded myself that I was not going to attend those classes to impress anyone. I was going to those classes because I wanted to exercise in a manner that was fun and didn’t make me feel like I was on a hamster wheel. Attending those classes was intended to make me feel good about myself, and if other people were better than me, so what? Most of them have been doing it a lot longer and, at one point, they were just like me. A complete noob. A bumbling, uncoordinated buffoon just trying to make it to the end of class without passing out. But as time went on and they went to more and more classes, they became better.

And I’m 98% sure that they don’t care what I look like doing the routines.  Because they’re focused on themselves, making sure they get the most out of the class and they don’t have the time or energy to worry about me.

I think we need to apply this attitude to our finances. No matter where we are in our financial journey, there will always be someone who’s ahead of us. There’s always going to be someone we’re looking at and thinking “Wow, if I only had her income (or his savings account or their house or whatever), I’d be set”.  But most times, what we fail to look at is the hard work it took to get there. Almost no one becomes financially successful without starting at zero and putting in the hard work. They all had to start somewhere, and for most of them, the decision to be in control of their finance is that somewhere. There’s no reason you can’t make that decision, too.

To those who are paying off debt, please know this.  Anyone who begins a debt repayment journey walks into the metaphorical room feeling like a lumbering oaf. We all think that everyone is staring at us, judging us, making fun of us.  I can assure you that they’re not. They’re most likely looking at you with admiration for trying to gain control of your situation. And for a lot of them, they’re remembering how it felt to be in your sneakers.  But don’t let your fear of what others may think prevent you from doing it.

Because even if you fall flat on your face, you’ve tried. And then you get back up and keep trying.  And rest assured, no matter how awkward you think you look, you look better than I do when I’m at Zumba.

Trust me on that one.

Most people don’t know this but Huey Lewis has been stalking me. I’m not kidding.

Every day for the last month, I have been somewhere (the car, my house, the supermarket) and a Huey Lewis and the News song has come on. Don’t be mistaken. I love me some Huey Lewis and the News but every day for 30 days straight is a bit crazy. I’m pretty sure he’s trying to tell me something. And that something is “share my music!!!”

So I am. For today’s money tune. Because I’m hoping that by hearing this, you’ll be inspired to listen to more. And I will have done right Huey Lewis.

It was hard to pick a Huey Lewis song because they’re all so good. I have a vivid memory attached to  a number of HLATN songs including “Heart and Soul” (the video is awesomely 80s and has Dracula), “Back In Time” and “Power of Love” (what’s up, Back to the Future?), “Hip To Be Square” (yup, I danced to that alone in my room)…the list goes on. But this is a financial site so I tried to find something that was personal finance related. And what do you know? Huey Lewis came through (’cause he’s awesome like that) with “Workin’ For A Livin’”.

So sit back, enjoy Huey Lewis and his rad harmonica, and please tell him to stop stalking me. It’s getting a little creepy.

I have crossed many thresholds in my parenting journey thus far: sleeping through the night, teething, potty training, weaning off bottles, ear piercing, finishing daycare and preschool (2 more payments, or 4 more weeks, to go and then we’re done!)…lots of accomplishments in her 5 1/2 years. But this weekend we crossed one more. And it is by far the one I’ve been dreading the most.

My daughter has her first loose tooth.

Loose teeth are disgusting. They completely and totally gross me out. I can’t even think about one without shuddering (much like I cannot think about lice or the chicken pox without having severe bouts of itching). In fact, it is the one thing I’ve told my husband I cannot handle. Blood, vomit, diarrhea, broken bones, bee stings, splinters…I can handle all of that. But a loose tooth sends me running for the hills (or underneath my desk. Whichever is closer). So when I realized my daughter’s tooth was loose, I got freaked out.

This will soon be making a visit to our house. How delightful.

And then I thought of the tooth fairy. Which freaked me out even more.

When I was a kid (back in the 80s), I’m fairly certain I got about $1 for my first lost tooth and about a quarter for every tooth after that. My parents were cute about it at first. They did the whole tooth fairy thing and went out of their way to make me think that she was sneaky enough to come into my room and leave money under my pillow. I believed it, too, until I was about 7 and they would just fork over the money after the tooth was out. I was thrilled with that quarter and raced to my room to put it in my  ”piggy” bank (ah, to be 7 again. Or need quarters for laundry day). But if I’m to understand it correctly, the tooth fairy has increased her prices dramatically. And I’m not sure why.

I don’t think teeth are more valuable now than they were 30 years ago. So I’ve been trying to speculate on why, from what I understand, the going rate for a tooth is around $5 a tooth yes, $5 a tooth. I’m as shocked as you are. Unless you have kids. Then maybe you’re not so shocked). Maybe the tooth fairy’s expenses have gone up and she’s just passing that along to the rest of us. Maybe she feels that she needs a raise because, unlike Santa who works one night a year, she has to work every day, dammit, travelling all over the world and having to remember the exchange rates and not leave a Canadian coin under an American child’s pillow; that’s a shit ton of work. Maybe she’s sick of people thinking she’s not real and she’s just extorting us as payback. I don’t know. What I do know is that the price of teeth is out of control.

My husband and I haven’t discussed how we’re going to handle payment for the lost teeth (which, if you think about it, is kind of weird. We’re giving her money for losing a tooth. I would like to get money for losing something. How about the next time I lose my keys, I make my husband give me $3? Do you think he’d go for that?). We do know that losing the whole set is going to put us back $100. In the grand scheme of things, $100 isn’t a great deal of money since she won’t lose all of her teeth at once but still–$5 a tooth seems a bit steep. I’m thinking we do an inflated version of what my parents did. $5 for the first tooth and $1 or $2 for every other tooth.

Another option is to agree to pay her $5 per tooth and then have a “tooth fund”. Since we know they’re going to fall out and she has 20 of them, we know we’re going to have to pay $100. Also, we know that we have some time before the first one falls out, which gives us time to save the money. I feel kind of ridiculous having a savings account for teeth but I don’t want her to think the tooth fairy is stiffing her. That would be unfair.

I feel ridiculous that I’m agonizing over her losing her teeth but it’s a pretty big deal. The tooth fairy is almost a rite of passage; every kid deserves to have a visit, including my daughter. I just don’t want to be extorted by a make-believe fairy responsible for making parents pay, literally, for the most disgusting part of raising a child.

Parents of kids who’ve lost teeth, how much did you pay? Any suggestions on how we should handle this?

I recently had the chance to read Alice Wood’s “Wealth Watchers”. I was a bit skeptical at first since the cover of the book says “A Simple Program to Help You Spend Less and Save More”; after all, I’ve gotten pretty good at managing my money and I have a pretty good handle on what we spend. But I’ll tell you what. I liked the book AND I learned something.

The concept of Wealth Watchers is based on the Weight Watchers program. Instead of points, you get a Daily Disposable Income target. In other words, you create a budget based on your fixed and variable expenses and, based on that, you can calculate how much income you have to spend per day without going into debt. It’s pretty simple.

Another component to Wealth Watchers is tracking. Ms. Wood advocates writing down each and every purchase you make (and provides complimentary journal pages at the end of the book. There’s also an app available for free. The app is easy to use and makes tracking your spending really, really easy) in order to stay on target. Writing down your purchases forces you to do two things: one, really think about whether or not the purchase is “tracking worthy” and two, really think about whether or not the purchase is even necessary.

Ms. Wood does not, at any point, suggest that you cut out any item from your budget. Rather, she advocates figuring out how to incorporate everything that’s important to you into your budget by calculating your DDI. Knowing that number means you can allow yourself that Starbucks or lunch with co-workers. As long as it’s in your budget and won’t put you into debt, you can have it.

Of importance: this is not a how-to manual for getting out of debt. This is a book that is geared towards managing your money and affording what’s important. Ms. Wood is clearly averse to debt but she does not give directions or instructions on how to eliminate what debt you do have. However, if you are trying to get out of debt, this program is a great tool because it gives you a clear picture of where your money is going and a way to ensure that you only use that money. Since I believe that having a budget is one of the key elements towards getting out of debt, Wealth Watchers fits that philosophy perfectly.

One of the elements of the book I enjoyed the most, besides the testimonials from people who’ve used the program, is Ms. Wood’s infusion of personal examples into her program components. She tells how she’s used the program to help her get her finances in order after a brain injury, and how it’s made her and her family more conscious of their spending. Since they are all accountable to each other, it makes them more successful at following the program. It also makes her relatable and real instead of some expert who’s never known what it’s like to be in debt or have to watch her spending.  Knowing this makes it easier to listen to what she has to say.

I believe that if I had this program available to me when I first started controlling my finances, I would have used it. In fact, I’m considering using it now that I’m in the midst of my no spend May and due to some big changes that are in store for my family (no, I’m not pregnant. We know that’s virtually impossible. But it is something pretty big. Well, big for me). It’s really an easy, simple to follow program and I do recommend at least checking out the book from the library or visiting the website.

Note: I was not compensated for this review and the opinions are entirely mine. However, I did receive a free copy of the book. 

I loathe cars. Everything about them annoys me. Repairs, getting gas, sitting in traffic, shopping for them, regular maintenance…all of it. I dream of living in a city with good public transportation and having a membership to ZipCar or something like that. But alas, that is not my life. No, my life is that of a 2 car family. And no matter how much I wish to change it, it is just not practical for my family to only have 1 car.

Even when we were in the throes of paying down our debt, we had to maintain 2 cars. It was expensive and annoying but we had to do it, mainly for these reasons:

• Public transportation where I live is horrible. We have no rail system save for a few trains running to Philadelphia and a few stops before that. If you work in the northern part of the state and work in the middle or southern part of the state (like my husband) there is no way to take a train. And the buses? Are a joke. They’re never on time and traveling by bus takes forever. When I was in grad school, I had a professor who did a study of how long it took to go grocery shopping using just the buses. She found that it took 3 hours to travel to and from the store. Considering I live a 5 minute car ride from the nearest supermarket, it doesn’t make sense to take the bus. 
• My husband and I work in complete opposite directions. Our house is in the middle of our offices. Although carpooling would be fantastic, and we did do it when we both worked in the same city, it just doesn’t work now. There is no conceivable way for me to get him to work and then myself to work on time (not to mention getting the kid to school) and without spending a freaking fortune in gas. Should I quit my job, it becomes a bit more feasible to give up one car but I highly doubt that it is practical. 
• I live within walking distance of absolutely nothing. Well, that’s not entirely true. I live near a HUGE park but I have to play Frogger across 2 major roads to get there. I’ve never been good at arcade games, especially not in the real life version. Although I have what to do at my house and my very small neighborhood has a playground, it’s easy for my daughter and I to get a little stir crazy. Having a car means that we can go to the library or the park or wherever we need to go without having to drive all over the state to get the car from my husband (or drive him to and from work). It saves our sanity and gives us choices. 
• I have major paranoia issues. This is also the reason I still have a landline. I am terrified that something bad is going to happen and I’m going to be trapped (and without a phone). If we are a 1 car family, that means my husband has our car (since I’m home right now) and I become helpless in the event of an emergency. That is not something I can handle. 

Like most people, I was saddened last week to hear about the passing of Adam “MCA” Yauch. I was around 8 or 9 years old the first time I heard the Beastie Boys on the radio and “Fight For Your Right” is one of the first videos I remember seeing on MTV (you know, in the 80s. When MTV played music). I was instantly hooked and they’ve been a big part of my musical landscape ever since (although I can’t understand half of what they say).

Seeing a Beastie Boys concert was always on my to-do list and sadly, I never got to cross that off. A few years ago, they were playing locally and we just could not afford to go. The closest I came was seeing a local, now defunct cover band doing a Beastie Boys medley during one of their sets (It. Was. Spectacular). So, let that be a lesson learned: If a band you adore and have grown up listening to is playing a rare concert in your area–GO! Figure out how to pay for it and go. You never know if you’ll get another opportunity.

I have so many vivid memories that relate to a Beastie’s song. Too many to count and I’m sure you wouldn’t be interested in most of them. But I’ll share one with you. During sorority rush, the different sororities were required to put on a skit, complete with a dance (well, my sorority opted for a dance incorporated into the skit). One year, we used “Intergalatic” and it kicked major ass. I can’t hear that song without thinking of that and, while I’m not a huge fan of my sorority, that definitely brings a smile to my face. So, in remembrance of MCA, a fellow New Yorker but one with way more talent than me, I’m sharing “Intergalactic” for today’s money tune.

Thanks for the music.

I readily admit that I’ve made a substantial amount of financial mistakes. In fact, if I didn’t, I probably wouldn’t have much to write about. But there’s one mistake I’ve made that I’ve never shared with you.    I’m not sure why I never shared it before (that’s a lie. I completely know why. It’s because I’m ashamed).

What’s interesting about this mistake is that it’s not something I did; rather, it’s something I didn’t do. And by not doing this, I caused myself years of debt repayment and minimal choices instead of saving my money and having options.

So what did I do? I didn’t listen to stellar and practical financial advice when it was put in front of me. For free.

My first job out of grad school was with the federal government, working in the Philadelphia region. In our office was a trained statistician who was extremely friendly and very nice. He and I would spend lots of time talking, particularly about money. He was a few years older than I, owned a house, and really seemed to have his finances in order. He would talk to me about the importance of paying off debt, saving for retirement, and would often share strategies than he and his wife used to manage their money. He even went so far as to create amortization spreadsheets for me for my credit card debt! (I told you, he was very nice.)

Here are some other tips he shared with me:

• Have a budget. He advocated that knowing where your money is going is the first step to having a handle on your finances. He told me that he and his wife had a pretty strict budget but there was always wiggle room for fun and extras. 
• Once a month cooking. He would tell me how he and his wife would take one Sunday a month and prepare most of their meals. They would cook chicken and hamburger and casseroles…all kinds of different foods. They would freeze them in portions for dinner and lunches. Not only did he share how this saved them money but time as well.
• Having a 15 year mortgage. He and his wife owned their home on a 15 year mortgage and made extra payments every month in order to pay the house off even quicker. He showed me an amortization spreadsheet (he really liked these) to illustrate how much interest they were saving in the long run.
• Pay off your cars. My co-worker was a big advocate of buying used cars, taking care of them as much as possible and then driving them into the ground. I agreed with him because at this point, I didn’t have a car payment. However, I wanted to buy one and he discouraged me from doing so until my credit card debt was paid off. He did share that if I did buy one, I should purchase a used one and do whatever I could to pay it off quickly. He then told me how much money I would save per month without a car payment.
• Don’t use the credit cards at all. He suggested that I pay with cash because it controls your spending and there’s no interest. He made the point that when you pay for something in cash, the payment is done. It doesn’t crop up on your later in the month. He did say that if I have to use a credit card, pay it off in full. 

Today I “occupy” Jana’s blog as part of a Yakezie blog swap organized by Jacob at My Personal Finance Journey. It’s my first blog swap so I’m super psyched that I got paired with Jana, one of my favorite bloggers, principally because of her relevant and very honest posts, but also because she’s really accessible (Jana’s note: I think I’m flattered by this. Jury’s still out). Anyhow, enough about Jana If you’re wondering who I am, my name is Nick (Jana’s note: Nick is, incidentally, one of my favorite bloggers. And not just because he thinks I’m awesome). I’m a father of two (and, relevant to this post, a husband of one…) and I babble incessantly over at Step Away from the Mall, a blog about my views on life and money. This post is about how my wife and I (two very cheap people) spent a ton of money on our wedding…

It’s admittedly a bit different than other posts about weddings in that it’s not a checklist of “things you can do” to save money on weddings (but some of you can find things “not to do” from it because it ended up costing a lot of money…). But I’m the one occupying Jana’s blog today and when I occupy, I do it my way…

Later this month “Wifey McGee” and I will celebrate our fourth anniversary. I don’t remember exactly how much our wedding cost (suppressed) but let’s just say I’m pretty sure it was at least twice the national average… We had a huge guest list, and I’m not sure what the average wedding “size” is, but we spent a lot… In fact, we spent money on a lot of things we either didn’t even notice or didn’t care about on our special day. We definitely could have cut some from our flowers and DJ (we now use a DJ who charges 25% of what we spent on our wedding, for example).

But we did a few things right… First of all we had an incredible wedding. My wife was a star! I was appropriately in the background… From what I understand, everyone had fun. We even had wedding crashers who said it was the “best wedding they ever crashed…” Second, we had everyone we wanted there. Third, we negotiated and received discounts on everything we got. But two “big issues” stick out from that lovely day that smacked us in the wallet…

The Issue: Too many people to invite.

One “Big Fat Greek family” on my side and two “Big Fat Extended Families” on my wife’s side. Collectively we have 8 full, half- or step-siblings and about 20 first cousins alone… So just inviting a “first-tier” of family would be big! We anticipated about 450 people if we invited “everyone” from our families and work with necessary “plus ones.” This was unacceptable (to her mostly…).

The Solution: Reduce “categories” and make it inconvenient…

We did not invite “kids.” I wanted to because I felt bad for parents who had to get babysitters. But my wife was against it, wanting an adult-only celebration with drinking and partying. So we “compromised.” (Whenever you see “compromised” in quotes that means McGee thinks we compromised but she actually won completely…).

Result: No kids. We ended up inviting between 350 and 400 people. Amount saved: We estimated at least $2,000 (we have a lot of kids in the family – note I now agree with her and am happy we nixed the kiddos.).

Second, we booked it on Sunday of a long weekend. This cut about 150 people from the guest list for sure. And not 150 of the close ones… 150 of the “cousins of cousins” and “bosses” or “if we invite him we have to invite hers.” The people we really wanted there didn’t care when it was (or where). They were coming.

Result: We had a little less than 250 show up – and each person who came was very, very important to us! It was really awesome. Amount saved: We estimated about $6,000.

The Issue: Having a “nice” wedding!

Definitions! Wifey McGee wanted a “nice, small” wedding. I wanted a “big, but casual” wedding. McGee’s definition of “nice” is the same as mine for “fancy”… haha. And her definition of “small” apparently meant immediate family and grandparents only! My definition of “big, but casual” meant a tent in my parents’ yard and barbecue for 500 people (this includes the kids that lost their invites…).

The Solution: Budgets and written priority lists!

We went the first month of planning without a budget. We figured we had a lot of money to spend and were cheap people so we didn’t need a budget even though we budgeted in our daily spending… Big mistake. Things started to get out of control. So we sat down and listed everything we wanted and an amount we were willing to spend. Once we had everything listed on the page we put priority numbers 1-25 and a budget for each. If something had to be cut, it was the lower-priority ones. Once we were done, we could spend up to the budget for each item and we didn’t freak out. She had all of the “nice” things she wanted and, while I didn’t “understand,” I was comfortable because we had control. Once we got to the bottom of our budget we didn’t spend more unless we cut somewhere else. If there was money left over we either kept it or added some of the lower priority items.

Result: Things like upgraded napkins and seat covers never made the cut in favor of things like open bar for everyone all night. (We had a food and beverage minimum, so we focused on adding to food and beverage items at the expense of other things that didn’t count towards the minimum.).

Bottom Line:

Most of you know that I am in the thick of a pretty severe bout of depression. Among the numerous side effects of this, for me, is spending money on nonsense. Mostly things like nail polish and books and $.99 iced teas from Dunkin Donuts; nothing that’s going to break the bank or drive my family into debt, but enough that I’m frittering away my spending money on nothing important (I should note here that I’m trying to save my money for FinCon12 and a few other events I have coming up). So I decided to do something about it.

I’ve implemented a no spend May.

No spend challenges are pretty common in the personal finance blogosphere. In fact, I spent about 4 years participating a no spend/controlled spend challenge and it worked wonders for me. I learned how to control my purchases, keep track of my money and learned the difference between a need and a want (in fact, more than once, I’d be in a store about to make a purchase and I could hear the voices of the other no spend ladies in my head asking “do you really need that”). But as my financial situation improved and I got more comfortable with controlling my spending, I started to get a little lazy. Compound that with the depression and I found my old habits starting to crop up. Which is making me feel even more out of control and that’s making the depression even worse. It’s a pretty vicious ride that I’m pretty desperate to get off of.

That’s why I’ve decided to re-up the no spend challenge for myself. It’s taking a small piece of my life that I can control and working with that. I’m hoping it’ll have a chain reaction effect, allowing me to regain control over other parts of my life as well. In order to achieve the desired effect, I have implemented a set of rules to keep me on track. Here they are:

1. It is acceptable to purchase things with my Amazon gift card or the credit in my iTunes account. This is not money coming out of my pocket (since they were gifts) and is intended to be spent on things I enjoy. I feel no guilt about using that money during this month (although I shouldn’t need to. I have about 18 books waiting to be read and I have no idea what music or apps to buy anymore).
2. Anything planned does not count against my no spend days. For instance, I scheduled a haircut last month for the end of this month. It is a planned, budgeted expense and although it’s not entirely necessary, I’m not counting it (this also applies to the pedicure I have budgeted). This also applies to my library fines.
3. This includes anything unplanned for my daughter. I have been buying her a lot of stuff lately, almost as a way to compensate for stuff I can’t buy for myself. She is a line item in our budget and for one month, I have to watch what I spend on her. She has enough stuff and what needs to be replaced has already been budgeted.
4. If there is a way to do something for free, I have to use that option. If I’m working at the library instead of at home, I’ll have to remember to pack lunch instead of going to one of the restaurants on Main Street (seriously, that’s the name of the road that our library is on). If I can watch something from Netflix or using our Groupon to Blockbuster Express, I have to do that first. And so on and so on for the entire month.
5. Stay away from places that cause me to overspend and only stick to my lists. Not only will this prevent me from going over budget but it will help me relearn to control myself in places like Target.

I know this seems like common sense, especially for a personal finance writer, but for me, it’s necessary. I feel like this is the first (well, technically, third) step in getting myself back together. I’ll let you know at the end of the month how I did (I don’t want to bore you with all the updates. Plus, I have lots of other good stuff planned to write about).

Wish me luck!