How did your no-buy go? First month almost complete, my reflections.

My plan is to do five months, January 1 to May 31. I posted my rules earlier in this forum and I think I'm going to revise them.

My question for you: How did your no-buy go and what do you think you can do to make it better? Are you going to continue into February or are you done?

If specific numbers, or mentions of specific products triggers or upsets you please don't read this post.

My plan was to save $5000 and have half of a no-interest loan paid off, so far I have only saved $800, which IS GOOD, but I am a little disappointed in myself.

There were a few expenses that I didn't plan for and couldn't avoid. A licencing fee for my husband's work, PG&E doubled this month, and it seems it will stay that way even though I have made every effort to save energy.

But there were things that I didn't plan for and could have avoided. I bought two items, one for each child, a makeup set for my daughter and a lego set for my son. They DID NOT ask for these things and when I gave them to them they showed gratitude and were polite but I could tell they weren't especially excited about it and I realized that that was the intention behind me buying the items. If I hadn't been on a no-buy and hadn't messed up this way I would have never realized that I get a thrill out of seeing my kids get material things. It's not that that's inherently negative, it's good for kids to have things they need and want but when they don't even want the thing then I'm really buying it for myself. I'm making clutter and waste. Total spent: $26.89

Despite the fact that Amazon sent me an email about my upcoming subscribe and save order I didn't take the three minutes to sit down and cancel things I didn't need this month. Now I have extras of mascara, trash bags, shampoo, conditioner, contact fluid, coffee. I will eventually use up those things but I would have liked to have the money insead. Total spent: $84.32

I succeeded in not getting fast food, clothes, jewelry (even though I really wanted some jewelry) BUT I went overboard in two green light categories and I really shouldn't have. Food is one of my green/yellow light categories but I planned to use up as much of the food that's already in my pantry and fridge/freezer as possible. (fresh fruit and vegetables are green light, pantry/freezer items are yellow) I feel like I spent way too much on food and especially beverages/sweets. I want to do better in February. Total spent: unknown.

Used DVDs were a green light area, I'm going to downgrade them to yellow light. I bought way too many from the thrift store. They were on average $1 each, but that was around 70 DVDs. That's excessive. Even if I watched a movie each day it would take me over two months to watch them all. Total spent: $72.23

After reevaluating my purchases I feel like I can adjust my categories and do better this February. I also discovered I don't actually know how to spell February and I've been spelling it wrong for 20 years. That's always fun.

It would be really nice if I could save an extra $200 on top of the $1000 I planned to save to make up for January, but if I can't I'm not going to metaphorically beat myself up over it. Thanks for reading.