Money Monday: January Goal

 Ideally, this would be the first money post of the month, but, alas.

Okay. My goal for January is to have 2 days every week where I spend ZERO DOLLARS. I think Ben is also going to do this, but our days might not sync up because it is easier for me to do it when he is gone and probably easier for him when he is home.

A few things:

• We share all of our money, so when one of us spends, we both spend, and these days are totally arbitrary, and I KNOW THAT at least.
• I am not going to make Ben buy things on my zero days because this seems like a loophole I could really use. Hey can you run to Target and grab…
• It actually probably matters more that I spend/don't spend since I am the one buying ALL OF THE THINGS for the kids and the house and paying school fees, etc etc etc, so if Ben wants to play along, I love that, but I am the one with $1500 latte problem or whatever the hell Suze Orman says.
• Obviously, if someone NEEDS something I will buy it, but also, I like how this goal is structuring my spending. For instance, I was planning a no-spend day on Tuesday. But! The middle school sent a notice about ordering yearbooks. I know from my experience in this school district that yearbook ordering is a shitshow until high school, and I will be bombarded with emails about ordering for the rest of the semester and I can never remember if I actually did it and it is all outsourced to a vendor so no one at school can confirm (high school yearbooks are purchased at registration right there in my Infinite Campus account, and this is heaven). SO ANYWAY, my new policy (a few years old) is to just order the damn books the minute I first see an email. That happened on Tuesday. So, I pulled the trigger on a Target pick up and also stopped by the pharmacy to grab a script for a kid and then declared Wednesday and Thursday no-spend days. Bonus: errand consolidation. 
• I am, as you can tell by the bullet above, an abstainer, not a moderator. If I do any spending on no-spend, I will do all of the spending, so the fewer loopholes the better.

Will no-spend days bring my weekly spending down, or will I just spend MORE on the other days? Who knows-- I will keep you posted.

Dumbest thing I bought last week:

 Probably a shirt to match my planner. But! It was only $4 at Old Navy, so I really think I have bought less responsible things. This is just, like, super silly.

(Also, on the topic of frugality-- I found the jeans I am wearing in that picture in the back of Cooper and Jack's closet. I think they used to be Harry's, and they no longer fit anyone, so I chopped off the legs to just above the ankle, and I am in love. Stay tuned for this summer because I made 3 more pairs of old boy jeans into awkward jorts)

Best thing I bought last week:

Last year, I was too slow on the add-to-cart (NOT MY USUAL PROBLEM), and I missed out on Target's cute v-day sweatshirts. NOT THIS YEAR, FRIENDS.

(Also I will wear this year-round because I heart hearts.)