My Spending Fast

So I'm giving myself the 30 challenge before quitting my job to go on a "Spending Fast." I live a pretty frugal life already so honestly this is going to be a little hard honestly…..

I'm telling myself to spend money on only what I NEED instead of, "Well, it's under $5…ya only live once……." and any other excuse to spend beyond my needs. Also to boot, I live about 30mins out of town so if I forget something at home of needs something, including a snack, I plan to bring more with me in my car as a "just in case."

In order to help me with this Fast, so I have my priorities and focus, I have made a list of what I believe to be need and want:

Need:	Wants:
Groceries	Eating out/happy hours 1x/week - more of bummer as I was pretty frugal when I did go out = normally spending $10
Mortgage	Gifts - will be recycling, re-gifting or making all gifts
Cell phone/internet	Haircuts
Utilities	Clothes
School loan payment	New hobbies or crafts
Gas	Groupons or Living Social Deals
Auto Incidentals (just in case = have to get to school)	Specialty Coffees at Coffee Shops
Medical exams	Contact Lenses

As you can see from Wants List, that I really don't have anything extravagant. My haircuts along with color, styling, waxing were under $60 an appointment. Now, I am dying my own hair from color and processor that I get from Sally's that cost $6-8 for both however it lasts me about 6-8 months totaling a whopping $1/month. For eating out or happy hour, luckily I live in Reno where I can go for a happy hour or get something to eat for under $10. I normally ate out only one time a week any how so…..it'll be interesting to see how I get around this one.

Couple of Clarifications:

1. Specialty Coffees at Coffee Shops - I'm allowing drip coffee as it's much cheaper but the main reason for this is some study groups for school meet at Starbucks and sometimes it good to keep in contact with some of your professional network. To save even more money, When I can buy Starbucks bagged coffee on sale (or ask for it for Christmas gifts) and then use the empty bag to get my FREE coffee. I also have a gold card that I use in order to rack up points towards a free food item or coffee.
2. Contact Lenses - I wear glasses and contact lenses. I prefer to wear my contacts when I'm dancing, or doing other physical activities; however, I just bought my last pair of glasses and now have "an extra pair" as my bang-up glasses. I am not really in a position to afford more contacts and the solution to clean then when I need food and gas.

Lastly, the reason why I am doing this beyond the obvious of needing to live like this once I quit my job to not go into debt due to cost of living expenses, is……..I have a lot of things at home that I have once bought and never worn, used, make into that craft/gift, etc. and would like to downsize what I have and only keep what I need and use on a regular basis.

Thanks for stating the journey with and if you have any tid-bits of advice, I would gladly appreciate a comment on this blog.