March’s Challenge

Published on: 3/1/2010

I am in my 3rd month of my year of financial challenges. I successfully completed January with my Eat from the Pantry challenge with no sweat. As hard as it was, I was also successful in my February challenge of not purchasing any new clothes for the month. I am a lover of a good sale and with so many winter items with deep clearance discounts, it was very difficult. It will prove even more difficult as I still plan on continuing that challenge through the rest of the year. Oh…the temptations! Can I tell you how much I LOVE The Children’s Place for my daughter’s clothes? The have such adorable clothes and have such wonderful sales at their outlet store. Anyway, back to business. Overall I am 2 for 2. Not bad.

So…what to do for March? I have decided to pick a week during the month and not spend any money except gas for the van if needed (hopefully I won’t have any emergencies, or the plan is down the toilet). If I have any bills due that week, I will pay them early. I will not go to the grocery store or even go out to my weekly dinner with my daughter. I am planning to do this on the week of March 14th.

I wanted my van paid off by the end of March. I may pull up a little short on this goal. I guess it depends what my taxes look like. They should be done within the next week or so. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I get a sizable amount back and not have to pay in this year.

Does anyone have any suggestions for April? I might start veering towards a way to reduce my carbon footprint while saving money. The past year I have really been thinking about this and trying to find some easy things that a single working parent could do.


Financial Update:

I made a major mistake in paying my 2 mortgages for February. I accidentally double paid one (of course it had to be the really big one) and didn’t pay the other one. I got things corrected and had the double payment applied to my March payment, so I only made a very small extra payment on my van as I had to juggle some money around in my accounts.

I made some home improvement purchases in February. I bought new carpet for the living room and stairs. I just couldn’t stomach the ugly hunter green carpet anymore that didn’t match anything and showed every little crumb 30 seconds after you vacuumed. I decided it was worth it if it set me back on my van payments. I also bought 5 gallons of paint and supplies for various rooms in the house. If I don’t see another paintbrush in the next year, life will be good.

Wish me luck! If all my ducks are in a row, March should be a good month for me.