What I Learned from No-Buy November

When November 30th rolled around it also marked the end of my month of spending austerity, No-Buy November.

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To celebrate this accomplishment I have decided to compile a list of all the things I learned about myself during the month.

• I have a weakness for french fries and hot chocolate mocha.
• When you start paying attention to the little things you usually waste money on, you automatically start to question everything you spend money on, even the essential things, like bills.
• Saving money is addictive.
• If you give a want enough time to sit in your thoughts before you run out and satiate it, you often come up with a better solution or realize that you prefer something else.
• You can't put a dollar value on peace of mind.
• If you replace one thing you crave with something else, the craving will grow and seem to get larger. If you stick it out though, you can defeat that feeling.
• Self control is tough work.
• Laziness coupled with convenience is the most popular money sink.
• Home cooked meals are usually twice as satisfying as take-away.
• I get very motivated by challenges.
• If I take a snack to work with me I am less likely to buy anything extra.
• Meal planning and cooking in advance are essential to maintaining a healthy diet.
• When you buy only the freshest components for your meals, your grocery bills comes down. Canned/packaged food is typically more expensive.

I am looking forward to carrying out this exercise again in 2015, but even before then I will be using what I learned from this one, to improve my spending habits over the coming year.