Okay, so if you follow my Instagram Stories, I mentioned a couple of times that I was doing the Spending Freeze Week – AKA no spending for a week! Well, only on necessities. You don’t want to starve yourself, which, not going to lie, I did one day…but that’s beside the point.

One of my favorite bloggers, Diana Elizabeth, was doing the Spending Freeze Week, which inspired me to do it! I wasn’t doing this to save money – Diana touched base on this, that sometimes it’s not that we can’t afford something but rather for the self-discipline. Personally, I know that I have a tendency to stop by the coffee shop every morning right after I wake up. Over time, I noticed that I was barely finishing my coffee. I was drinking only half of it and then throwing the rest away.

I knew that this was an issue. Obviously, it was a waste, and coffee was something that I did not need, but I grew accustomed to getting it every morning so that it felt incomplete if I didn’t. The purpose of doing the Spending Freeze Week is to use any gift cards or gift certificates and stop with the impulsive buying!

Did I Succeed in Doing Spending Freeze Week?

Well, there were a couple of hiccups. In addition to that, I did find a loophole, which I will further discuss later. My boyfriend paid for some things, so I guess I did not truly succeed in doing this challenge. Here’s a break down of my week and my spending.

Sunday

On Sundays, I work at a nail salon, and this particular Sunday, my boyfriend and I got breakfast together. He paid for the meal, and I was able to eat the leftovers for lunch at work. In addition, one of my coworkers sells food from the temple. The money from the food goes towards the temple as donations. I was really hungry at work, and the bakery items are one of my favorites, so I splurged. It was $1 and technically, it’s a donation to the temple, and I happened to get a bakery item out of it, right?

After work, I went over to Wow Wow Lemonade because I had some of their gift cards! Here’s to using money that we already have! Yay!

Total: $1

Monday

Oh boy, Monday was tough! However, I was able to get through. I packed a lunch for work, and by “packed a lunch” I mean I brought in a couple of frozen burritos from Sprouts, haha. Throughout the day, I felt really proud of myself for not buying coffee in the morning. However, after work, I got my lashes filled! It was scheduled for the previous week, but due to complications, I had to reschedule it for this week.

Total: $70

Tuesday

Tuesday was also another tough day for me. I started off with a Brazilian wax from Sugar Me Wax. This appointment was scheduled about a month ago – I happened to pick the wrong week to participate in Spending Freeze Week! After feeling disappointed in myself about the Brazilian wax, I figured, I should just go get coffee. At the coffee shop, they happened to have these delicious looking cinnamon donuts. Oh. My. Goodness. The donuts were so good. Okay, so I messed up more than usual. I also got gas afterward, too.

I have classes Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I’m not going to lie, I was STARVING in class. There were so many moments when I was walking by the vending machine and I wanted to get a bag of snacks. Luckily, I was able to convince myself that it’s overpriced! Everything on campus is overpriced, haha. In addition, it’s not healthy. I mean, a bag of chips isn’t the healthiest choice. After class, I went over to my dad and stepmom’s house for food.

Later that day, I attended a food media night, which meant free food! On top of that, I was able to take home leftovers and that meant food for tomorrow! After the event, a couple of food bloggers and I headed over to an ice cream shop for some sweets. I suppose I could have opted out, but I love hanging out with people and making new friends, and I couldn’t pass this up.

Total: $51

Wednesday

Wednesday, I did an excellent job! I did not order take out, and I went over to my dad and stepmom’s house after work for food. In total, I did not spend a single dime that day.

Good job, Demi!

Total: $0

Thursday

Thursday was a bit tricky. Recently, I’ve been taking golf lessons on Thursday, so today, I had my lesson! Therefore, I had to pay my golf instructor for the lesson, haha. In addition to my golf lesson, I was on campus, and just like most college students, I was starving! I caved in and gave the vending machine my money in exchange for a bag of hot Cheetos. I couldn’t help it.

Besides the golf lesson and hot Cheetos, I also had to pay my editor. I hired an editor for my blog a while back, and she invoices me every other week for any hours that I have her do. Besides the editor, I also had to outsource another tool for my blog.

Here’s another hiccup – my boyfriend and I would be playing golf at his club this upcoming Saturday. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any clothes that were golf-appropriate. We ordered some clothes off Amazon. I felt so bad that he was spending money on me, but it was a loophole! Haha.

Thursday was mostly work-related, so not bad, right?

Total: $122.50

Friday

I made it through another day without spending any money! I packed a lunch for work and went over to my parent’s house for dinner.

Total: $0

Saturday

My boyfriend and I played golf at his club, and he pretty much paid for everything since I spent the majority of my day with him. Oops. Another loophole I suppose.

Total: $0

Thoughts Overall

In conclusion, the majority of my spending was necessary. If I’m starving, I should have planned better and packed lunch or eaten before leaving my house. Some of the services, such as lashes and wax, were going to happen anyway. Overall, I spent $244.50, which is not including the meals, clothes, and golf that my boyfriend paid for. In addition, $71 was for my blog, $28 was for gas and $130 was for services that I was going to spend, regardless of whether it be this week or next week.

In total, $15.50 was money that I could have easily saved by packing a lunch for work and avoiding the coffee shop like the plague. There are so many options for me to get coffee without spending a single dime, such as heading over to my apartment complex’s clubroom or going into my coworking office.

Let me know what you think! Have you done a similar challenge?

I would love to do a Spending Freeze at least once a month for a week. Through this challenge, I was able to ween a bit off the coffee shops and have been drinking coffee at my coworking office instead.