The first month of the Contentment Challenge is over! It seemed like a good idea to review how the month went – which truthfully, wasn’t as great as I’d hoped – as a way of holding myself accountable for the choices I’m making. I also wanted to share my goals for February, too (coming to the blog later this week!)! But first… January!

Goal: Downsizing

The first weekend of January, Ryan and I went through our clothing. At first, Ryan just said he wanted to re-organize his clothing but as he watched me go through every single piece of clothing I owned, he too started going through his part of the closet and found items he could donate. We managed to put together two big bags of clothing and shoes that will be donated to our local veteran’s organization (I LOVE that they pick it up + we know the clothing is going somewhere it’s needed!). We also managed to re-arrange our bedroom, which didn’t mean getting rid of anything but it does feel fresh + new, so I’m all for it! Shelby is still figuring out where to sleep… but we’ll all get the hang of it!

I was hoping to go through my books and DVDs this month, but time has gotten away from me. These are definitely first on February’s list! I did however get to clean out my main linen closet! It sounds silly to be excited about it, but I really am. This closet was a mess before – I couldn’t see what I had, cleaning supplies were all over the floor, towels fell every time I opened the door… so now, things are organized and I’m prohibited from buying any bath soap or candles/tarts until my supply wanes (which was one of my goals anyway)! I also love the pinterest idea of using a shoe organizer to hold your cleaning supplies. It saved SO MUCH space!!!

Goal: Spending less & loving more

The guidelines I listed were mostly about what I would and wouldn’t spend money on, so here’s how it went:

Clothing – I did purchase 1 pair of valentine’s leggings and a new shirt from the party I hosted. However, the money came from an extra paycheck I got as my last month as a Jamberry consultant, so I did not have to use or take money from anywhere else. Now that those are done, I am not allowing myself to make anymore LLR purchases for 6 months! Or any other clothes for that matter. I am budgeting new work flats and running shoes into my budget over the spring. I LOVE that I’m taking the time to really budget what I can get and what I really need!!

Shutterfly – GUYS. Please be happy for me! I got so many free gift emails, discounts or other offers from them that I just deleted. Because right now, I don’t need to update my pictures, I don’t need another bag or deck of cards. I’m SO proud of myself for this!!

Eating Out/Date nights – So… after breaking down all of our expenses for the month separate from the way I keep my budget, it hit me how much of our money we use for this. We did wind out eating out more that we should have, but I’m so proud of us for really focusing on using coupons and gift cards whenever we can. We’re signed up for rewards programs and that helps us get some free meals here or there too.

Just Because/Soaps & Candles Purchases – Happy to report there were no problems here this month!! YAY!!!

Grocery Store List – I did work harder on my lists this month but I know there’s still a long way to improve for this. I need to find a good system, list, meal planning worksheet – something!! Anyone have any suggestions?! I know that would help me. I also want to take the time to review pricing for our bulkier items/non-grocery items – paper towels, pet food, even vitamins – to see if having them delivered would be cheaper. I have some work ahead of me!

Overall, January wasn’t the worst but I know there’s room for improvement. We still have plenty of items to go through + donate, plenty of spending to cut out and just more being content when it comes to things and our finances and our lives. It has been a busy month for us but I think this is a decent start to the challenge! On a side note, I also started cleaning out my phone from apps I don’t use to the Facebook groups I’m a part of. Leaving groups that are no longer beneficial (and maybe never were) was MAGICAL. If you haven’t done this, do it! You’ll feel AMAZING!

I can’t wait to share February’s Contentment Challenge goals on the blog tomorrow!

xoxo,

Kristina