No Spend October, Looking Back

I am happy with how no spend October went down. I spent some money, I had to buy groceries and gas so it wouldn't have been an absolutely no spend month. I planned on taking advantage of L.L. Bean's next sale and so I did. The only unplanned expense I feel really guilty about is the $35 I spent at Bath and Body Works because three wick candles were buy 1 get 1 free 😮 and I had a 20% off coupon. I also bought a Beachbody Performance Sampler but I'm a Beachboy Coach so that's a business expense, right?

Here's a recap of all the spending that's kind of suspect:

• 10/3 We went out to dinner in part because I was tired and the turkey hadn't defrosted but we used gift cards so we only ended up paying about $5
• 10/5 I bought a salad from the salad bar at the grocery store for lunch.
• 10/5 I bought Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People but I had committed to reading this book last month so I bought it when I realized I'd need to buy it to reach my goal of reading it
• 10/6 I bought five flannel shirts and a pair of replacement mittens in the L.L. Bean sale for myself, plus a present
• 10/6 I bought fancy party supplies at Target for the kids
• 10/7 I went to Starbucks and paid with my gift card
• 10/10 We had lunch at Five Guys on the way to my in-laws for the evening (not my idea but I happily supported it)
• 10/12 We went out for froyo at my suggestion
• 10/13 I ordered a Beachboy Performance Sampler (the link takes you to purchase the sampler if you're interested, I get a commission)
• 10/13 I picked up some dry cleaning (I should try harder at buying machine wash clothes)
• 10/17 We met some friends for doughnuts at Tim Hortons (not my idea)
• 10/17 We headed out to dinner again as a special treat for one of the Kiddos
• 10/20 The perfect present for the Hubs popped up on sale at Amazon so I got it for him for our dating anniversary in November
• 10/21 I ordered a pair of shoes from Zappos that came back in stock, there was one pair left! I returned them when I tried them on and discovered that they didn't fit perfectly
• 10/22 We had pizza for dinner because I am an absolute failure at being motivated to make dinner
• 10/23 I bought lots of Halloween candy and I bought the good stuff in the hope that we would have lots of leftovers
• 10/28 I bought an emergency legal pad at Staples because I left mine in the office
• 10/30 I placed an order at JetPens because they had a study tool the kiddo thought would be helpful and I got some more pens and new pencil case for myself because free shipping

Have you tried a no spend month? How did it work out for you? Did you binge spend the next month? I'm hopping to keep November "no spend" as well, with an exception for resupplying some underwear since my favorite online underwear store, Bare Necessities, sent me a 30% off coupon (and if you follow this link you'll get 20% off and I'll get credit for a referral) and I want to replace a few household items that aren't absolutely necessary to replace.

Best,

EAH