Little Mountain Momma: That's a Wrap!

For those of you who have been faithfully following along over the past month, you know that our family ventured into the New Year with a #Newyearnospend challenge. And good heavens, what a challenge this was. I'll keep this post short & sweet with 5 things I'm taking away from this January No Spend attempt.

1. Plan Ahead

For our No Spend August last summer did a lot of intentional pre-planning. We created a month long meal plan and we did our grocery shopping prior to the end of July. I won't lie, it was a lot of work but it was what made our month a success.

THIS time around, we were coming right off of the holidays and a Christmas trip home to see family. We returned to real life with good intentions but truthfully, we were 3 steps behind. The first two weeks of January were spent limping to the start line of the #Newyearnospend challenge.

My advice to anyone who would like to try a No Spend Month in the future - Be intentional about your meal planning. Plan two weeks at a time and do a STRICT mid month run for the second half of the month.

2. Know Your Weaknesses

You are like a toxic boyfriend that I continue to swoon over. And really, your dollar spot section makes me want to become a hoarder. Stepping into your store during a No Spend Month is my biggest weakness. I'm sorry, but we're heading for Splitsville...

No, but seriously. A No Spend Month is all about knowing your weaknesses and making good choices. A good choice for me is to just stay far away from Target. You'll realize early on into your No Spend challenge that you'll have certain weaknesses. Mine just happens to be the giant red bulls eye located at every 10th stop light.
Lord, help me.

3. Will Cave for Puppies

Okay. So we bought a puppy. A really cute, fairly well behaved puppy. Does that make it an appropriate exception? Ehhh, maybe...maybe not. Now, in our defense, she wasn't entirely an impulse purchase (which as stated in the rules, was not allowed). We've been looking for a black lab puppy for quite a while now and when we heard of a litter being practically given away, we just couldn't pass her up. Of course, along with a puppy comes lots of new puppy expenses. So there's that.

Truthfully, we don't regret for one second adding Boston to our family. She was a great investment and she's been the perfect addition to the Mack & Levi duo... now make that a trio! Sometimes, you have to go with your gut and know when spending money is okay. This time, we just knew it was right. I'm so glad we chose to go with our hearts over saving a little bit of money.

4. Make New Friends but Keep the Old

So, I'll admit, we didn't do so great at our #newyearnospend challenge. With that said, THIS time around, the challenge was done with friends. And that part, was a blast! As it turns out, doing hard things can be really fun when you've got a group of girlfriends who have your back!

Along with my friends Emily, Adriane and Rebekah, we made a new friend Fiona. Fiona lives in the UK and she uses adorable phrases like "merry wanderings" (take a walk) and "donning our wellingtons". Now truly, I had to look up wellingtons in the dictionary -- a fun British word for rain boots!

Oh, and we have similar tastes in scarves so that seals the deal for our long distance, frugal friendship. So happy to have met you on this adventure Fiona!

5. Grace, All the Cool Girls Are Doing It

And finally, but certainly not last, grace. In Adriane's words, "All the cool girls are doing it." Just saying the word grace relieves a whole lot of pressure off of the back of a girl who just didn't do it perfectly this time.

Grace is the ability to show kindness and forgiveness to myself when I fall flat on my face. Which is basically what I did this month. Seriously, my girlfriends should be pulling me out of a figurative mud pit right now.

I went into our #newyearnospend challenge with such great hopes and intentions. The beauty of doing this challenge with such wonderful friends was that I had a constant cheering section rooting me on, reminding me that I didn't have to do it perfectly.