Month One: Spending

In our first month we will be restricting our spending to seven places.

Trader Joe's
Von's
Fresco Cafe
The Good Cup
USA Gas Station
Spectrum Clubs

We are making some exceptions for bills, loans, insurance, etc. As you can see, we actually reduced our locations down to six. This gives us a little wiggle room just in case something comes up.

We were a little surprised that we struggled putting together seven places (especially because we chose two grocery stores). We both could think of plenty of places where we spend money, but when it came down to it, they simply weren't very important. It reminded me that spending is often compulsive: we see something at the store, we crave a drink from a coffee shop, we want to go out for dinner because we are tired, we think we are going to take-up a new hobby etc. A lot of time our desire opens us up to let money control us.

But the fact that some places are dismissible doesn't mean those areas of "unimportant" spending have not had an impact. Things have already come up that have made our commitment annoying. I (Joshua) realized that I have a coffee appointment with a a friend today (Tuesday) that isn't at the Good Cup and that I have two more meetings this week. One of the other meetings is going to be at the Good Cup and I am being treated for the other (I didn't ask, they offered). Moreover, I didn't factor in the breakfast that I have every other week with my buddy Christopher. None of these are insurmountable, but definitely an inconvenience.