So I’m a few days late in posting my latest check-in on my limited spending challenge. This is basically due to having not gotten the WiFi issues solved until late Monday. I was then a day behind on all postings, and decided to move this one to later in the week so I could post my review of last month’s new moon goals & this month’s new moon goals on the ‘correct’ days.

We’re now down to the last two months of 2021. I’m still working on hitting the stride that I did in January (which was the best month for the entire challenge so far this year).

My limited spending challenge is just that—I’m trying to limit my spending by dividing things into two groups (or categories): needed items and splurges.

So I did really well that first month, and then started slipping each month a little more. The ‘rebound’ I’d planned for the second half of the year, has been a so-so rebound. I’ve still splurged on things, and hopefully will be getting better at not ‘splurging’ as we head into 2022.

So how did October go in terms of the purchases/splurges?

In terms of physical items bought:

There were two ‘essential’ orders from Amazon that included: dog treats, a couple of notebooks, a large water bottle, decaf tea, and various supplements.

In terms of books, there were mainly a small handful of e-books bought:

  1. The rest of the Talon Pack by Carrie Ann Ryan (books 2-9)
  2. Maybe We Will (Silver Harbor #1) by Melissa Foster
  3. Maybe We Should (Silver Harbor #2) by Melissa Foster
  4. Klutz: Phoenix Down (But Did You Die? #1) by Sedona Ashe
  5. Klutz: Phoenix Heat (But Did You Die? #2) by Sedona Ashe

And I’ve been splurging on a silly game: Farmville 2: Country Escape (so this will also showing up on my November check-in).

The biggest spending area was towards the end of the month with the free purchase of the game—but spent some money ‘setting’ it up. I’ll be more stringent going forward on not spending money on the game (as that was a problem with a couple of other games I’d bought for the kindle—the games themselves are free, but the coins or whatever to level up at times can cost).

Going into to November and December, I’m aiming at only one or two major orders from Amazon (possibly three come December, only because it is the holiday season). I’m also hoping to possibly ‘tighten’ the requirements for the two different categories come the beginning of the year, when I start up my second round of limited spending.

In addition I’m going to set up a spreadsheet that I’ll enter any and all purchases into—as a way to ‘physically’ see how I’m carelessly spending money. Though I already know the two main areas: e-books (as I’ve already purchased another handful this month), and the one game (Farmville 2: Country Escape).

What are some of your favorite tracking methods for spending money?