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Friday, August 16, 2013

Challenge 1 : Spending Freeze

After purchasing a home this past Febuary, adopting an adorable puppy in April and working my butt off to get unpacked and decorated...it is time to take a look at the finances. You're cringing I know, I cringed at the though too! However, it is so important to keep on track and not turn a blind eye to your spending.

Inspired by LWSL the first 30 day challenge I am going to tackle will be my spending. Over the next 30 days I will not only create a budget, cut spending, and save money. I'm going to evaluate what I'm buying that I could really do without. I am also going to try my hand at couponing and earning income through selling a product on Etsy.

Excited? I am! Hopefully my journey will serve not only as starting point for me (or pure entertainment for you as you laugh alongside me at the struggles I'm sure are headed my way) but also as a chance to inspire you to try your own spending freeze!

Now while I am using Ruth from LWSL as an inspiration, I am altering her idea to fit my life and my goals. Along with cutting spending I am also going to throw myself into the world of CrossFit. I know I know, how am I going to sit here and say I'm cutting spending as I sign up for the expensive world of CrossFit. Well let me let you in on a secret.... Groupon deals! Okay, so not really a secret. Anyway I bought a groupon last month and plan on using it starting Monday to get myself back into shape and give me something to do besides going to Target and spending money on needless items after work.

I hope you will join me on this 30 day spending freeze of a journey!

Day 1 - Today.
Goal: Evaluate my fixed and variable expenses in order to determine what I am really working with in order to create a realistic budget.

There are tons of great resources to help you layout and really look at your expenses and create a budget. Just hop on google or pinterest and you can find free printables everywhere. The key is finding one that works best for you!

Below are some links to sites with printables and tips on creating your budget
The Budget Mama
LWSL
Tip Nut

Happy Budgeting!!