Thoughts on Frugal February

Now that I've had some time to think about my self imposed ban that lasted 29 days and I've looked over my monthly excel sheet that contains every item I purchased, I ask myself was I really successful?

Honestly?  I would say I was about 95% successful.  There are a few items that make me pause and think did I really need it?  Like the Tom Ford Duo Highlighter?  The answer is no, I probably could have waited until March to buy it.  But I had a 20% off coupon from Saks!  And my thinking goes, since I would buy it in March, I might as well save myself the 20% and buy it now.  Let me just add, the Tom Ford Duo Highlighter is absolutely amazing.

I also purchased GoFit exercise bands from Amazon which I thought shouldn't count since it's to improve on my fitness.  I was super excited to try these out, but then I got sidelined from working out.  I somehow messed up my shoulder.  It's a muscle/nerve thing, I think.  And then because of my wisdom teeth extraction this past Saturday, my doctor advised me not to work out for a week.  So I haven't worked out in almost 3 weeks and it's pretty much killing me and driving me insane.  I've already decided by the time I'm back in Boston I'm going to start up my workouts regardless of my shoulder.  I'll just be super careful with what upper body exercises I do.

Then I had 2 birthdays come up.  I already knew ahead of time that I would be spending money on gifts so I kind of had an idea of the amount I would need to set aside.  I couldn't avoid my grandma's 90th birthday or my husband's birthday (I just can't let myself be a bad grand daughter or wife).

I also did a lot of Ebaying over the month, and that added to my plus pile of cash.  My Paypal account was hitting the 4 digit mark which made me feel super rich at times.  This allowed me to pay off my iPhone from Verizon.  I only had a $112 balance on it (I didn't even know how much was left until my husband looked for me).  So this should lower my monthly phone bill by $40!

I'm already looking forward to my next ban, which will be either the month or June or July.  Mainly because I spend a lot more money in the fall, so it will counter some of my spending.

Also, we are moving to Atlanta this month, so I'm going to assume a lot of my money will be spent on things for our new home.  I have to do some research on washers and dryers.  I don't want anything too fancy.  My only requirement is that they are both front loading.  I'm too short for these top loading machines.  I would basically fall in head first trying to reach anything at the bottom of these machines.  But I would love for them to be red!  I'll take anyone's advice on good brands?

How did you all do on Frugal February?