21 day fast

I'm on the last week of my 21 day financial fast. And boy it is an eye opener. I've seen that I spend entirely too much money on the non essentials and (not that I didn't know it before) my debt is out of control. I go through a cycle of paying the same bills off every year, only to have them even higher by the end of that year. This is a cycle that has to stop (yes I've said it before), but I'm SERIOUS this time. For Real For Real, lol.

Now the concept of the fast is that i was not to spend money on anything that was not a necessity. So that meant, no fast food/resturants, not even buying lunch, basically nothing beyond normal household bills, medicine, etc. The bare essentials. Of course I could buy groceries, but not more than budgetted and nothing more than what I put on my list. And since I have groceries, the expectation is that I bring my lunch to work daily.

I won't lie and say that I was perfect in my fast. I failed a lil partially, because i didn't have the book associated with this fast until, I was already a week and a half into it. Also, I have not read far enough in the book to catch up to where I'm at in the process. But I do plan to do it again, after March. So what I spent outside of the necessities:

• Two 25 packs of DVR+s = $14 total. Well this was for a good thing. One of my friend's mother passed and I volunteered to make copies of the memory dvd they had made. I didn't know that gifts were not permitted during the fast until after I made the promise. At least not gifts that required you to spend money, as apposed to using what you already have.
• Two music downloads on itunes = $30. Now I'm just rounding up, because I don't know the exact cost. But I figure, the cds were not more than 15 a piece, probably not more than $10, but I rather confess more than less.

So in two weeks I've only spent $45 on none essentials. And there will be one more, I pro missed a friend I would go to a party with her on next Tues; its $10 for entry. I'll drink at home, lol.

This weekend I will be working on a budget, which is day 7's task. (like i said, I got the book late.) Day 1-6 required me to write journal entries, which I only did mentally. I plan to journal on here, the things I'm supposed to do daily and will also include the name of the book for anyone who is interested. So there will be full disclosure, short of my budget. Yall don't need to know all that about my finances, lol. I'll just discuss what i learned from doing it.

So I speak into existence: 2010 will be better for my finances!!!!!