Spending Freeze Challenge (Day 1): Welcome & Basics

We are so excited that the first day of our 31 Day Spending Freeze Challenge is finally here.  We will have a weekly focus for each of the four weeks of the challenge. They will be meal planning, budgeting, organizing, and frugal living.  Some of the days you will have homework or tasks to complete.  There are over 135 people going on this journey with you, so you will have plenty of company.  Check out all of our Spending Freeze posts.

It’s not too late to sign-up – share this post with your friends and have them join.  Also, make sure you join our exclusive Spending Freeze Facebook Group and our Organized Home Facebook Group.  We want to make sure you have all the support you need. You will want to check out our YouTube channel for the Daily Dime everyday, where we will check in with you to see how you are doing. You can find us on Periscope (search for DebtFreeSpending.com).  Also, make sure to follow our personal debt-free story.

Now that all the daily chores are out of the way, are you excited? Nervous? Scared? We have done this before, so know that you will make it, and there is no reason to be anxious. We will go step-by-step over thirty-one days, and this doesn’t have to be your last spending freeze. You may actually find that it is so good for your finances that you want to do it again.

Remember, you are only spending money on perishable foods, gas to get to work, and the basic must-haves. We will begin with meal planning so you can cook from your own pantry starting tomorrow. Also, make sure to check out all of our DIY/Frugal living posts to see how you can make your own products and foods at home for less.

Today we are going to start by tracking all of your spending for the next month.  While we will be devoting a whole week to budgeting and monthly spending for bills, we want you to just start tracking what you spend everyday. You can do this with a checkbook ledger, or even a simple one subject notebook (They had them on sale the other week at Walmart for $0.17).  By the end of the month, we want you to see where every penny was spent, and you have to track every penny you spend to be able to see spending patterns.

Your homework for tonight is to print out our Family Binder and place into a three-ring binder so you can be organized during the freeze. Please also print out all the forms that go with our Financial Freedom Plan (This includes steps for the Financial Freedom Plan, Debt Repayment Plan, and Monthly Budget. Comment below and let us know when you have printed out all your forms and your binder is ready!