Just a heads up, incase you are at all inclined to join, we are doing another no spend month. We did no spend September and I can say with certainty that it was THE BEST month for our family ever.

 
(fun and free!)
I got the idea from the NW Edible Life blog. We didn’t actually spend no money. We gave ourselves a $400 budget, and I summarized our spending on this post. We ended up spending $412.49 plus re-occuring monthly costs (dance class, mortgage payment, etc.). It was a great exercise for us, and not just for financial reasons. When we decided to account for every penny we were no longer going to “run errands” or “pick something up”. We didn’t wait until the last minute to figure out what to eat for dinner. We had to plan it out. We didn’t want to drive anywhere because of gas. This meant a lot more family time, lots of walks and biking. Of course it was different in September, when there was so much bounty to be had, for cheap. We’ll see how it works out in April.
Something else I’m trying is #100happydays. I’m super excited about this one too. Everyday you find something that makes you very happy, take notice of it, and document it somehow (instagram, facebook, etc.). I’m planning on doing a weekly roundup of our favorite happy things. This goes great with my word of the year: Smile. The site states that 71% of people starting this project fail because they don’t have time to be happy. I am going to make time. How cool would it be to be known as the happiest person on the block? Sounds good to me!
I also found 40 bags in 40 days (a bit late). And I have been doing some spring cleaning. I may not fully participate on that one, but I love the idea. So even if you’re not interested in these three things you can find something fun to join in online. There is so much good stuff out there! Have you participated in an online group activity like this? I’d love to hear about your experience. And I’ll let you know how we’re doing as the month (and 100 days) go on.