No Spend Challenge Update

I've always wanted to do a no spend challenge but was always afraid to bite the bullet and do it. My friends are asking me what a no spend challenge is, apparently not everyone is a money/budgeting nerd like I am. I explained it like this; you set a time limit like a week, month, whatever, I chose 10 days. During the time you set you cannot spend any money beyond basic necessities, you know like groceries, gas, bills or things you have previously committed to. I started my challenge on Tuesday, this means I completed day #3 without spending anything. Has anyone else taken a similar challenge and were you successful?

The Grinch

I am such a grinch, that's right I REALLY don't like Christmas! Now don't get me wrong, I love Jesus and love celebrating his birth but what I don't love is how the holiday season hijacks my sanity, calendar, bank account and at times my credit card balance. Why can't it just be a simple time to relax, read the story of Jesus' birth, to reflect on the past year and reevaluate what you'd like to do in the coming year? Instead it gives my children a bad case of The Gimmies, everyone decides to have a Christmas Party and I have to figure out how I'm going to find all the the extra time and money. So that's it, I'm going to start researching creative ideas to take the focus off of all the commercialism, which causes me to be a grinch, and to bring the focus back to what's really important. I'm thinking less gifts, less parties,less running around like a decapitated chicken,  more cookies, more crafts (yes I said crafts, I hate crafts), more relaxing and more thoughtfulness. Ideas appreciated!