The first of February raced by, launching us into the second month of our No Spend year. During the last week, I have been reflecting on our first month, thinking about the highlights and the challenges. Thankfully, everyone is still on board with the challenge so there has been no complaining. In fact, the kids remind us regularly that we aren’t spending and are quick to help us come up with new ideas. While it’s been pretty smooth sailing so far, there are a few things that stand out to me.

Quality time: The kids and I successfully converted our weekly dates to No Spend activities. Not only did we eliminate the cost, I think we have actually improved the time. We have also maintained our Friday family movie nights by making pizza at home and watching movies we already own or find on Netflix. Unfortunately, our couples date nights have not been as successful. Staying at home for a date has not proven very effective for Rod and I and finding no cost outings during the coldest winter in years has been difficult. So this is an area we’re still working on.

Lists and menus: Well, we are doing it, sort of. We made a menu for January and kept it fairly well, making minor modifications when needed. But, we haven’t made a menu for February yet. The rule that we must take a list to the grocery store is helping us stay on track when we shop, but we have been somewhat flexible on what counts as a list. A text message on the way home – counts. A few items scrawled on a napkin from the glove compartment – counts. A post-it note with our staple foods – counts. We haven’t yet broken our impromptu routine when it comes to grocery shopping, so our lists have been creatively generated with whatever was handy. But we are making lists, and for now, that counts.

Temptation: My biggest temptation to spend actually came in the form of a relatively small expense. I often download free books on my Nook or Kindle. I had downloaded several in December, one of which I was reading in January. This particular book was a novel, the first in a trilogy. When I finished the book (at 2 a.m. one morning), I wanted desperately to know what happened next. I found the next two books, each just over $5. Normally this would be an expense I wouldn’t think much of. For just $11 I could instantly download both books and continue my journey with the characters. But I didn’t. I will have to wait until next year to learn the secrets of the mystery.

So the challenge continues with month two. We are looking forward to Valentine’s Day and more opportunities to creatively spend our time but not our money.