Month of not spending

My March Saving Spree is almost half over and going pretty well. I've spent about $100 on items that were pretty close to being necessities (personal care items and work pants for Mr. Savvy), and about $150 on groceries. We also went slightly off the Saving Spree last Friday when we went out with two other couples for dinner and then met some friends at a brewery for some tasty beverages. Even with these expenditures, we are still tracking at considerably less discretionary spending than December, January or February. However, I just sent in the deposit on our two upcoming home improvement projects (yep, we decided to go ahead with both), so all of our not-spending will probably be negated by the $2,400 home improvement expenditures.

Last weekend I also had a chance to read yet another book that showed up on my doorstep... Judith Levine's Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping. It was very fitting for my month of saving, and actually a very good book. Unlike many personal-finance type books (which this probably isn't), it wasn't preachy or a how-to. It was merely a journal of one couple's experiences when they gave up consumerism for a year. In the end, it did have a good impact on their finances, and it also made them realize that many things that people assume they "need" are really nice-to-haves. I thought the book was really good, very funny at times, and I couldn't put it down.