No Spend January Wrap-up

It was a wonderful month.  Wonderful.

Our family learned so many lessons in January regarding our spending, our values, our eating habits, our wants vs. our needs and so many more.  I'm still trying to sort it all out in my head.

I really struggled my first week back in the grocery store--the first time with a big cart.  I'm questioning our regular purchases as to whether they are necessary or not.  I'm seeing boxes of crackers on the belt when checking out and feeling a little funny about it.  Crackers aren't bad at all. . . but do we need them right now?    Here is what happened with the crackers: In the past, my kids would eat so many of them!  We even made a rule that said you had to put them in a bowl because otherwise, two kids would polish off a box without even thinking about it.  The crackers that I bought last week are, for the most part, still in the pantry.  My kids got out of their habit of just grabbing them.

During the last week of the experiment, there was little left in the pantry that didn't require preparation.  Cream of chicken soup, noodles, olive oil, diced tomatoes, Chinese five spice power and red beans and rice graced the shelves.  The kids needed to move on to apples, bananas, cheese, plain yogurt, a piece of toast or nothing.  If they were hungry they chose something, but if they weren't--then they didn't have a snack.  We all learned to be a little more discerning about snacking and so far, the lesson has stuck.  It isn't unusual for one or more of the kids to not eat a snack after school.

The kids haven't caught on yet that they could ask for us to buy them things.  Last month it wasn't even worth asking and they haven't picked it up again.  They were also so grateful and very excited when Gary took them out to eat at Russ' on Saturday night.  It was a treat.

I still haven't clicked on my "sale" links for Land's End, Kohl's and OshKosh that come in my e-mail.  The time doesn't seem worth it anymore, although I used to really enjoy looking.  Again, it isn't wrong at all, but it isn't important to me right now.  I have other things to do.

I love McDonald's Diet Coke and a couple times a month would just "stop in" to get one.  I couldn't last month and now, the temptation just isn't there.  Today I had the perfect opportunity while I drove to meet an inspector at one of our rental units.  I passed.

I'm hoping the lessons stick. 
I love how God taught us.