September means back to school and a renewal for many to turn the page. With that in mind, I thought September would be a good month for finances to be re-worked so to speak.
Quick Backstory: Because of the kind of health insurance we have, it didn’t cover all of my needs as well as the baby’s when I was pregnant. In addition, there were extra tests I needed during my pregnancy and more doctor’s appointments than usual and so we are still paying on medical bills from last year. Add to that, my husband had an emergency room visit during that time last year due to an allergic reaction he developed from taking a doctor-prescribed medication. ER visits are a cost onto themselves.
Suffice to say, we have all these 2017 medical bills that we are still paying for and we would like to make more headway with these. So a few weeks ago, I brought up the idea of a “No Spend September” to my husband and he was on board!
Basically, we are only spending money on “needs”, not “wants”.
We are spending money on:
- Rent
- Utilities
- Insurance (car, health, etc…)
- Phone
- Internet
- Groceries
- Other bills not listed above
We are not spending money on:
- Eating out
- Random purchases
- Anything else that is not a need
Any money saved this month, will be directed towards these medical bills.
Anybody else doing a “No-Spend September”? 🙂
I plan to be VERY careful in September – because as you know, we blew August!! I haven’t officially committed to no restaurants, but perhaps I will now. No spending money in restaurants for September! I managed to get groceries at $20 under our budget this past weekend, and I’d like to keep that up too. For me, the goal is to cover that nasty little line of credit we now have. All the best in taking a big chunk out of those medical bills this month. (And it seems unfair that you have to pay for your husband’s allergic reaction to medicine prescribed by his doctor!)
Eating out for lunch on my husband’s days off from work are a HUGE expense for us. It has certainly been an adjustment, that’s for sure!
That is so awesome that you were able to get your groceries $20 under budget! Woo hoo! 🙂
It’s so hard for me to fathom that we live in the greatest country in the world and yet healthcare is so ungodly expensive. I’m sorry that you’re still dealing with medical bills from the pregnancy but a no-spend September sounds like a great way to put a good, solid dent in them. I have never done a no-spend month, to be honest. I’m sorta weird. When you tell me I can’t do something, like eat out, I obsess over it and get really weird. And more often than not, go berserk and eat out because now I have to and I choose someplace super awesome like BK at an off-peak time and everything tastes nasty. 😀 Good luck!
I am totally with you on the whole health insurance thing… It costs so much money to be pregnant and then the costs for childbirth. *sigh* Hopefully we make some headway on these bills!