Challenge: How much less can you spend this May vs April???

[ardrum]

For those who meticulously track spending, take a look at whatever you have spent in April.  Track your May spending then with the goal being to have as high of a % decrease vs April as you can!  Really question those dollars spent and see how badass you can be!   The % reduction will be the final variable you track to help normalize the competition across different absolute spending amounts we may do.  Otherwise report how the month is going and the ideas/successes/failures along the way!

Not sure how many may (get it, May?) want to play, but I am in if you are!  Even if you lose, you will probably still win from the sense of saving more!

[meerkat]

I'm in!

[RWD]

May is going to be way lower for us since we bought a house this month.

[Warlord1986]

This month I paid for a cabin rental for a family vacation (my parents live in another state) and it was expensive. :/ May will be easy after that.

[Guava]

I was just thinking I need to cut back in May. So I'm in, but I am going to exclude my tuition bill because that bill alone is more than I spend in an average month and my work is reimbursing me for it anyway.

[2Birds1Stone]

I'm in! Despite some international travel plans :)

[Nederstash]

I'm in! I spent 490 on groceries/gifts/useless stuff this month and I need to pare down big time. Shooting for less than 200 in May!

[cyndre4]

Totally in! Been paying real attention for about two months now, food/eating out is my major bugbear. Trying for under $250. I live in the middle of San Francisco, there are real increases in food costs, but I know it can be done!

[alleykat]

I am in.  My impulse buying kicked in and I need to pull it back some.  And groceries too.  I am going to try and eat through my kitchen before adding more besides the necessities every week.

[PhysicianOnFIRE]

In like Errol Flynn.

Right around $5000 for April, but $1400 of that was a DIY bathroom remodel and another $500 was our share of one of our sons' surgeries.

Shooting for something closer to $3000 this month, or at least under $4000.

Good luck, everybody!
-PoF

[ardrum]

I have been minimizing grocery spending in favor of eating up everything I already have.  It can be amazing how long you can go with buying less just by eating up what I already had.

[meerkat]

How did everyone do?

April: $4,949.96
May: $4,432.67

One, I didn't actually tell my spouse this was a thing we were doing so this is probably more of a variation than actual effort but it did help inspire me to make lunches to put into the freezer and actually eat them instead of going "Eh, I'll just grab something out somewhere".

Two, there was one day in May when I stocked up on a bunch of supplies that will hopefully last me through June and part of July, plus a spendy birthday gift that is not part of our usual spending, and another day where we had to spend money on a hotel for a wedding my husband was in, so all that totaled an extra $513. Huh, I never would have looked at it that way if it weren't for this thread - if we spent that much less in May without half trying, I'd be curious to see how June would go if we actually put some effort into it!

[ardrum]

I was doing great until I signed up for a continuing education course.  It will later be reimbursed by my employer though so... If I cut that cost out, I spent 11% less!

[Guava]

Taking out my tuition that I will reimbursed for in a few months, I spent $3,129 in April and 2,357 in May. I sort of forgot about this so I didn't really try, but this gives me hope that in a few months when my medical bills are paid I can return to spending less than $2,000 a month.

[Gin1984]

LOL, that is not going to happen.  We have disability and car insurance do in May and that is a serious amount of our annual spending.

[canuck_24]

44% less!  Granted, this is a pretty inflated stat, as I purchased international airfare in April.  If I remove the airfare, we still spent 16% less.  I hadn't seen this challenge until after tallying my spending for both months, but we have been actively trying to reduce spending, so this is rather gratifying to see!  May's spending was exactly $2600, which is still higher than I'd like considering we're a household of just two people, but for the time being I'm satisfied with that.

[Warlord1986]

I spent $893 in April, but $412 of that was for a cabin in a state park to vacation with my parents. In May, I spent $359.

Dunno if I can get it under $300 this month, but I'm willing to try.