The first month of our Financial Diet has come to a close. Meals have been cooked, tears have been shed and pennies have been saved. It was a good month.
Overall, our results are awesome! Considering our participants cover multiple profiles (college students, married, families, empty-nesters, and single-income), we proved that everyone has a little room to improve. Now we just need to keep it up!
Something I noticed (and need to change) is my mindset of quantity vs. quality. Since I knew I was eating out less, the few times that I did eat out, I splurged. This was very counterproductive. Ultimately, I came in under budget according to my starting average; however, I know that I can do way better and wish I had spent less (wasn’t it in November that I only spent $50 for the whole month?!?).
Counting that as a lesson learned, I’m ready for February. The short month works in our favor, but it holds the challenge of Valentine’s Day and a three-day weekend (ah, the life of a banker). Before I begin planning my strategy (and lunches) for month number two, let us check out the standings for January, shall we?
| THE BEGINNING | JANUARY | |||
| Participant | Avg. Spent | Spent | $ Saved | % Saved |
| Amanda C. | $166.96 | $136.74 | $30.22 | 18.10% |
| Cate R. | $150.00 | $205.63 | -$55.63 | -37.09% |
| Amanda R. | $104.63 | $85.89 | $18.74 | 17.91% |
| Aaron U. | $96.48 | $92.35 | $4.13 | 4.28% |
| Scott R. | $40.57 | $57.90 | -$17.33 | -42.72% |
| Ashleigh F. | $118.70 | $112.89 | $5.81 | 4.89% |
| Megan M. | $183.34 | $151.23 | $32.11 | 17.51% |
| Jordan A. | $145.09 | $114.47 | $30.62 | 21.10% |
| Janet L. | $600.00 | $319.88 | $280.12 | 46.69% |
As you can see, there has been some great progress but some of us have a bit more work to do. Need motivation? Just think about what you could do with an extra $50 a month. Or how about $100? Being aware of exactly how much I’m spending made me realize that I would much rather spend the excess cash on anything other than FOOD!