Welcome to the first ‘Minus Month Challenge’ here at NMI (whew, that’s a mouthful)!
Here I take one of my many indulgences and strip it from my budget for an entire month.
The goal isn’t specifically to save a bunch of money, but rather, to save a little while also learning the importance of delaying gratification for the future good of myself.
A minus month can also come with some pleasant side effects such as: weight loss, more energy, better mood, a fatter wallet and spontaneous bursts of joy (OK, not really).
Last month I tried this out as a little experiment, and I was actually successful – I went a whole thirty-one days without buying my usual Starbucks latte!
* Don’t worry, I’m not going to write an article about the latte factor, because #donetodeath
For me, this was huge! Not only did I save over $5.00 each time I didn’t go, I also saved over 200 calories for each drink I didn’t consume! I expect I saved around an average of $40.00 and almost 2000 calories by taking the month off.
Because that experiment was such a success, I figured I’d try to turn this into a monthly challenge for myself.
For the month of September, I’m going to be ditching candy!
Anyone who knows me well knows that I have a serious sweet-tooth. I crave (and eat!) something sweet practically every day, and I love treating myself to a watchamacallit, a reese’s cup or a twix bar.
Not buying candy for a whole month is going to be difficult – like ‘Homer-not-eating-the-gummi-Venus-de-Milo’ difficult. But it’s the sacrifices that make us stronger, right?
This is going to be a true test of the strength of my willpower – it’s like I see candy everywhere!
Good thing I didn’t start this in October, right? ‘Cause there is absolutely no way I’m not eating candy on Halloween!
THE MINUS MONTH CALENDAR
I’ll be indicating a successful minus day with the hashtag #DB, which stands for ‘didn’t break’, and a fail day with the hashtag #B, which stands for ‘break’.
WEEK 1
Day 1 – #DB
Day 2 – #DB
Day 3 – #DB
Day 4 – #DB
Day 5 – #DB
Day 6 – #DB
Day 7 – #DB – I actually picked up a Reese’s Pumpkin to buy and then thought, “No! It’s a minus month!” and I put it back! YES!
WEEK 2
Day 8 – #DB
Day 9 – #DB
Day 10 – #DB
Day 11 – #DB
Day 12 – #DB
Day 13 – #DB
Day 14 – #DB
WEEK 3
Day 15 – #DB – I had candy at the movie theater seeing IT, but our friends snuck some in, so it was free for me!
Day 16 – #DB
Day 17 – #DB
Day 18 – #DB
Day 19 – #DB
Day 20 – #DB
Day 21 – #DB
WEEK 4 +
Day 22 – #DB
Day 23 – #DB
Day 24 – #DB
Day 25 – #DB
Day 26 – #DB
Day 27 – #DB
Day 28 – #DB
Day 29 – #DB – I did have some candy, but it was purchased by my dad for Halloween, so it doesn’t count! 🙂
Day 30 – #DB
FINAL THOUGHTS
The first ‘Minus Month’ is officially complete and I #didntbreak!
Check back on the first of every month to see what I’ll be removing from my budget for an entire month! I’d love to have you join me!
WANNA JOIN ME?
Got something you wanna do without for a month? Got a bad habit you wanna break?
Follow along with me as I track my progress with the very first minus month challenge!
kiwiandkeweenaw
I love this challenge! Candy isn’t a challenge for me. For my minus month challenge I’m going to try to not spend money on restaurants! We’ll see how it goes with an out of town wedding and a 31st birthday, but it should be a good challenge!
Shawn @ NMI
Great idea Mrs. Kiwi – I should try that for a future minus month! Anything that helps save money (or calories) is totally worth trying, even if we may slip up! I’d love to hear how it goes for you!