Canceled travel plans, entertainment events, restaurant nights out, and social gatherings had a noticeable impact on my budget in March, and I decided now is the perfect time to see what my minimum / bare-bones spending would be as a real life experiment:
Starting budget: $1,900/mo
Actual Spend:
Feb $1,796.00
Mar $1,504.00
Apr $1,389.00
May $1,334.00
Jun $1,180.00
Jul $1,176.00
So with my spending dropping every month, I'm taking it as a success! with some the highlights:
I haven't felt cheap or overly frugal - lack of social obligations helps here.
With the above, there is still some discretionary spending in there - $100 for a wedding gift, ~$150 of online shopping per month that could be cut back, and I'm still getting carry out ~2x per month.
Spending increased in the "home" category and in splitting an HBO/HULU account with my brother's family.
Spending of course shrunk in the auto gas, travel, and restaurants categories.
I plan on continuing the challenge for August, but will likely call it quits after that - time to treat my self to some take out tacos or sushi.
Anyone else see a big drop in spending the last few months?