Since November is Financial Literacy Month, we came up with the idea to challenge our marketing team to cut down on some discretionary expenses this month and keep track of our all of our spending.
Jane: "My lofty goal would be to not spend any money at Winners this month, or at least cut down my spending to under $100. If this proves too easy, I could expand it to all clothes shopping, or all "impulse buy" shopping—no nail polish, notebooks (I have a weird obsession with buying cute notebooks, my desk is filled with at least a dozen unused ones), books and magazines (borrow instead), and clothes from Joe Fresh." Last month, she spent nearly $180 at Winners. In September, Jane spent almost $360 at the retailer.
Kayla wants to cut her shopping (excluding groceries) and transportation expenses to just $350 this month. In October, she spent $644.99 on clothing and $161.13 on transportation. She plans on using Uber a lot less this month.
Kerri-Lynn: "I am halving my shopping spend and takeout spend—both are the biggest areas I need to cut. I am giving up Uber Eats and I am not shopping in New York City this month!" Last month, she spent $400 on take out and $1,000 on clothing.
Me: I spent way too much eating out and on fast food. I hope to cut that down by at least half.
We'll be keeping track of all our discretionary spending in November and we'll update you on how things went next month.