No-Spend November: Week 3

No-Spend November is a month of resetting spending habits, reevaluating priorities, and overall just making better decisions. In this post, I've detailed how my third week of No-Spend November 2022 went.

Week of November 15-21

My goals and resolutions for the month are all about making more mindful use of my time and paying off lingering CC debt from a long summer season of travel. I've set out to do things like meal plan, work out more, and make healthier decisions in general.

How's how this week went:

Day 15: (Tuesday) I worked out with my boss after work. I was feeling a bit mentally fatigued so I mostly relaxed after work with a little bit of mindless TV. My boss and I talked about whether or not we wanted to leave Twitter, and I chatted with some other friends about miscellaneous other stuff.

Day 16: (Wednesday) I didn't have much energy after work. Normally, Wednesday would be my deadlift day, but I opted to spend time on my stationary bike and read a book instead. I also joined Mastodon, and decided I'd leave Twitter so I initiated the creation of an archive of all of my data. I wound down for the night by refreshing my manicure, keeping it simple with a couple of coats of strengthener.

Day 17: (Thursday) Mid-day, I got my Twitter archive and then used a service to delete all of my posts. I deactivated my account, and took a bit of time to deactivate some other accounts. I started the day with 101 accounts listed in my personal Bitwarden vault, and got down to 91 accounts in short order. My boss and I worked out again ahead of some after-hours work. I didn't get home til about 7:30 so I wasn't left with much time to myself; I helped with dinner and then went to bed early.

Day 18: (Friday) I worked from home and enjoyed some tea throughout the day, and read another couple of chapters of a book over lunch. Mentally I needed a rest day, so I skipped my Friday workout in favor of cooking a healthy dinner, decompressing, and going to bed fairly early.

Day 19: (Saturday) TATTOO DAY! My morning and early afternoon were dedicated to getting a new tattoo. I paid for it with reimbursements and other spending money I had since October and thankfully it stayed within budget. I did spend a little bit on a coffee and breakfast treat though right before the tattoo appointment because I had to buy more beans anyway (plus it was 9am and tea isn't caffeinated enough). After cleaning the house quickly after getting home from the tattoo session, we hosted a game night and some friends surprised us with wine and charcuterie.

Day 20: (Sunday) I took the day easy and did what little laundry I had to do. I read a little bit, and had some of the charcuterie leftovers for lunch. Before dinner, I put some time in on my treadmill. I went to bed reasonably early.

Day 21: (Monday) After work, I got back into my routine of weightlifting, so I put on a movie to watch while I did kettlebell presses, squats, curls, and some push-ups. I basically had a light snack for dinner and focused on drinking water. I started to think of other tattoo designs to do once my new half-sleeve is done, and went to bed early again.

I think this week worked out well. However, now that I'm much better off financially than I was the last time I had a no-spend month, I've started to feel stressed out by the artificial limits I chose to put on my spending this month. I have been doing well on getting some debts paid off, and now I'm second-guessing whether I want to commit to a Low-Spend Winter or not because of the unexpected stress of No-Spend November. That might be another post later. Stay tuned for week 4 and the last few days of No-Spend November coming up next week.