No-Spend Challenge Complete!

It's finally over!  The 30 Day No-Spend Challenge is complete!  I was really dragging there by the end, but here's my 30 day, budget breakdown:

Average monthly gas usage - $108.42
Gas usage during NSC - $109.09
No savings here, but just a few cents below average: -$0.67.

Average monthly food purchases - $324.28
Food purchases during NSC - $156.93
I was able to cut my food costs by over half, saving $167.35!

Average monthly "fun money" - $47
Fun money spent during NSC - $17.15
I did break the eating out rule twice, but I was still able to stay way below my monthly average and saved $29.85.

Savings by simply not buying random things during NSC - $72

This brings my total savings during the 30 Day No-Spend Challenge to $268.53!

Photo Credit

I'm very happy with that end total.  It is a surprising amount for me.  I've always thought of myself as a pretty thrifty person, but this challenge taught me exactly how thrifty I could be.  If I kept my spending this tight for a whole year, I'd save over $3,200!  Craziness!  

If I were going to try to do this challenge more often, I think a more reasonable and sustainable time frame for me would be 15 days each month.  By only strictly restricting my spending half of the month, I could still feel like I could live a normal life while still saving some money.  I've heard of people going for a 6 month+ No-Spend Challenge!  I commend them wholeheartedly, but I've got to have a little wiggle room.  I like obscure food ingredients and eating at new restaurants way too much to go without them for a half a year.  

For those of you who tackled this challenge as well, how did it go?  Did you save as much as you thought you would?  Did you surprise yourself?  Thank you for joining me on this journey.  Stay tuned for more budget tips and kitchen tricks.