Image Credit: jscreationzs, freedigitalphotos.net

My husband and I tried the 7 day financial fast and it was a lot harder than I thought. In general I am not a big spender, but I guess when you are on a declared financial fast your mind creates new desires to want to shop. Some days I just wanted to buy something, anything really. In terms of the amount actually spent, I didn’t do bad, but I still didn’t stick to the fast as strictly as I was suppose to.

How did it go, using cash only?

Paying for things with cash is very effective because I hated actually handing my money over to someone else. I usually hardly ever use cash because I like the rewards programs our credit have. I also like having an automated record of my transactions, but it is very different shopping with cash–since of loss is much greater. Frankly, I could probably swipe my card all day and not think much about it because I always pay the balance before the bill is issued, but I definitely spend less when I have to see the money leave my hands.

Did you only buy essentials?

I would love to say that I was faithful and only purchased essentials, but on Sunday, I purchased a gift for someone else and we were suppose to be creative. I like to give diapers along with my baby shower gift because I know that diapers are one of the most expensive on going items babies need. To avoid cheating on my fast, I wanted to buy them on Thursday, but I didn’t get a chance. However, I am OK with the decision I made and I saved $10 on the gift because I had coupons to go along with it. I also stated that would add all of my savings to my savings account. Today, I also bought my girls some buckets, erasable colored pencils, and a storage box. Their buckets cracked so they really needed knew ones (according to my husband). The reason I went ahead and made this purchase was because I had coupons that would offset the cost, so after my discounts I only had to pay for the pencils and storage box.

How much did I spend and save this week using coupons?

I spent a whopping $21 this week, and according to my receipts I saved $41. Of course, this tally does not include food or gas because we already had enough food and gas to cover us for the week. I just had to plan out our meals and prepare each meal at home. We also stayed home and I reorganized my children’s play room and repainted a book shelf. We took a walk and played outside, the girls and I also pretended to be on an adventure, go camping, and played in the house. It was free fun and we all enjoyed ourselves.

Overall, how do I feel about the fast?

I think the fast was great, it made think about what I was buying before I purchased it. I also wrote a list before I went to the store and looked for coupons for each item I bought. I will probably continue to do the financial fast longer. I would like to see myself more disciplined about following the rules of the fast, it was really hard this week because deals seem to be sprouting up everywhere. I also postponed a trip to Staples to take advantage of some of their Back to School bargains. Not buying any Back to School items yet bothered me, because office supply stores have some really good deals available. However, my kids are not in school yet, and it really is not a necessity to buy things for other people going back to school, now I am compelled just to share the deals with them and not shop for them myself.

Share your thoughts, I would love to hear from you! Hopefully, I can get my husband to write a post and share his experience as well.