No Spend February

I know this is a much more popular concept in November or whatever, but I've decided to go the month of February spending nothing extra. 

I'm usually reallllyyyyy good about watching my budget and I even worked with a life coach in creating and tracking my budget after moving out on my own last year.  I won't lie, Amazon Prime got the best of me through the holiday season.  Anyone else?

The plan is to remind myself I don't need to reward all good behavior with things for my kids.  That I have more than enough in my closet, my home, my pantry.  And to get a handle on spending in general.  Again, I'm not in debt or living paycheck to paycheck, but in the past I've had a tendency to spend and buy.  Looking back, I was filling a void, but I definitely don't want to fall into old habits.

So here is how I'm doing it:

I've already purchased my kids' Valentine's gifts.  I did this to 1. truly go into the month without a need to buy a gift and 2. so that I can avoid stepping foot in Walmart this month. 

I have credits in my Dave & Buster's account from the first time we went 2 months ago that I plan to use to celebrate Valentine's Day with the kids which will keep me from spending new money on another experience.

I am not purchasing anything from Amazon Prime.  Not one thing.

I am giving myself $200 in cash to use for groceries throughout the month.  I really want to see how much ends up in my cart that doesn't belong there and try to use up what is currently in my pantry.  I have a tendency to stock my pantry when I find things on sale which is a great tactic, but I do it a little too extreme.  I grew up in an area where we literally had no grocery stores and had to travel 30-40 minutes and do grocery shopping once a month.  Now I live in an area where I have about 10 different grocery stores within a 5 miles radius.  No need to stock up all the time.  Again, trying to break old habits.  Also, I want to focus on meal planning and this budget will require a plan.  Let me know if you'd like to hear the plan each week!

I did give myself a $200 budget for my bathroom renovation and $300 for my bedroom.  The bathroom is just about done and is below budget.  My bedroom only needs a few more things and is still significantly below budget.  Some of those project materials have already been purchased so I will focus on those for the month and then if I find a chandelier I'll go for it.  I've found myself getting a little excited with the home remodel bug so I need to slow my roll and stop adding things to my Amazon cart before I finish the projects I've started.  No Spend February will force me to do that.

Have you ever gone a month without spending?  How did it go?!