One of the Best Decisions Our Family Ever Made

By now, most families have filed and long since spent whatever tax refund received, and are back in the groove of paycheck to paycheck. At this point, your family is like mine, trying to figure ways mid year to have a good amount of savings to fall back on. I found the idea of the 30 day spending freeze while trying to figure out how to get my clutter under control. Honestly I don't have the best memory and can't remember exactly which site I found this idea, but I have since seen it on other sites such as Pintrest. I ended up devoting to the spending freeze and foregoing the de-clutter project, mainly out of curiosity, but with a hint of laziness as my determining factor. 

A Spending Freeze is just what it sounds like, no spending on anything, period. This means no nights of " I don't feel like cooking," no coupon trips, nothing if it is not an absolute emergancy. And sadly, wine cannot be considered as an emergancy, so you had better make sure you stock up on what ever it is that you may need over the period of your freeze because if you run out during the freeze, that's it. The only money that can be taken out of your income is gas for your vehicle, and absolute emergencies, and running out of wine does not constitute for an emergancy so stock up. I keep repeating to stock up, I know from experience when you run out of something during the freeze is definetly not fun. As a matter of practice, our family uses the last couple of paychecks before our freeze to stock up on anything we may need over a months time.

The idea of the freeze is to not only save money, but it will also bring your family closer together. Being that there is a spending freeze in effect, the family spends no money on entertainment either. In my family, the main things that we do for fun are thrift store shopping, and movies whether it be Redbox or the Drive-In. These things stop during the freeze, giving us a chance to use what we already have around the house to do with eachother, in order to occupy our time as a family. This gives us an opportunity to see what we actually have at home, including bins of arts and crafts supplies, hundreds of movies, two game systems, a Nintendo DS, and a couple of plug and plays. With all of this at home, it is a wonder we still find the need of going to the thrift stores!

Beginning April 1, my family will begin our second Spending Freeze, and no it is not a joke. We have decided that we will also begin doing the Spending Freeze every other month, in order to ensure that we can take ourselves out of the paycheck to paycheck scenerio of so many families. This is the way to become financially free without having to take on a second and third job, or bending over backward for a raise. We as mothers are in control of our families, we are the CEO, CFO, and Chair of the Board and what we say goes so if we say it is time to buckle down and stop spending than that is what has to happen. I may not be a very organized mom but I bet you one thing, I am on it when it comes to our money. Granted many times that we do go out and spend money, it is following my lead, so now I will lead my family in our "unspending." This will be our family's second spending freeze, only the first spending freeze was called off about a week and a half early. This time I will not allow for small wrenches to stop the machine as a whole. You too can do the same. The spending freeze is not difficult and in the end, you will see nothing but positive from the money your family was able to save buy simply foregoing spending money on unnessecary clutter.

Saving money is not the only positive that comes from the spending freeze. This gives your family opportunities to do many things that will improve your overall quality of life, your relationships with your spouse and children, and the appearance of your home. There are so many things that your family can do without spending money from family game night to a clean up competition to making flubber and play dough with the kids. With this spending freeze I plan on purging and organizing my house in the 30 days time.

 I definetly have my work cut out for me with that task, but I have 30 days and four other capable human beings in my home to be able to get it done. My children will definetly fight, kick, and scream while my husband goes OCD at the wrong place and time. During the 30 days we also have the opportunity to pull out all of those art supplies that I have found along the way to do random projects on the weekends instead of making plans to go out and spend money. 

In reality the spending freeze should be simple, there are only eight weekend days per month, which translates into eight days of no school or work to have to coordinate things to do for the entire family. To make it even simpler, you can prepare ahead freezer meals to ensure that you don't spend money on fast food during the week on those extra busy days. In reality, it only takes 21 days to form a habit, why not make it one that is beneficial to our entire family like the Spending Freeze. In one months time, we have the ability to turn our families from spenders to savers, as long as we can stick to our guns not spending any money unless it is an emergency. There is not much to it at all. You and your husband need to both agree to stick to the agreement and not spend any money. This may be difficult to break habits of buying coffee on the way to work, or buying newspapers every week for your coupons, there is no spending. You need to prepare before hand and buy any supplies you may need before you begin.

 I also suggest to not grocery shop for anything other than milk and eggs during the freeze and only eat what is on hand. I'm pretty sure we can all dig out at least two and a half weeks of meals if we put our minds to it. This is the perfect time to get in the habit of making a menu for the week or month. It is also a great time to set up and implement a freezer cooking schedule and menu as well. Freezer cooking is not only a great way to use what is on hand, it is also a great way to save time on cooking throughout the week, or even the entire month, if you are so bold. I have some issues with consistency even if it makes life a little easier, yet this could be an article in itself. You may find yourself running out of food by the third week, if this is the case make a budget, look for the best sales hopefully some of which will have instore coupons, since we cannot spend any money on inserts and go to the grocery store. Make sure you make a list and stick to that list. That is one of the easiest ways to lose your budget at the grocery store is to not stick to your list. When you are making your list, plan your menu at the same time, so you will know what ingredients are needed and what is on hand. This is not rocket science, but sometimes we all need a recipe for life.

Our first Spending Freeze was not quite as difficult as we had anticipated, yet we did allow for a small emergancy to take us from our focus and essentially ended the Freeze a week and a half early. His is ok! I had to keep removing myself that we completed two and a half weeks of no spending. Do you see how I made the glass half full? In most every other aspect in life is about the glass being half empty, why not take something like not spending money and make that the glass half full. Yes I know that the world revolves around money, but completing any portion of the spending freeze is a victory even if just for a week. Take the time to learn about yourself, your spouse and your family, to embrace the blessings that you do have, and to get on top of our finances. I wish you all the best of luck in whatever your journey is and where it will take you.