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Setting the goal. My latest goal is to reach a spending level of $1500 or less per month, while still sending at least $800 per month to the mortgage. I figure that reducing my spending by small increments each month will help me get there, so my target for October was to spend less than $2000.

Facing facts. It got to be about October 27th when I realized that I wasn’t going to hit my target. I was already at $1948.45 in spending for the month, and I still needed to give my son money ($25), get gas ($23), buy a few more groceries (probably $16), and send an additional $50 to the mortgage. That would put me at $2062.45, or $62.46 over my target.

I was disappointed, but I recognized that I wasn’t willing to do what it would take at this late date to meet the goal. I am committed to giving my son the money I promised him, and while I don’t need to buy groceries, and I might, maybe be able to wait until November 1st for the gas, I’d still have spent too much.

Avoiding temptation. This was the point where it got hard, because temptation crept in. I stood in Costco, eyeing a new book by one of only two fiction authors that I’ll actually buy the new books of. It was $14.67. I picked it up and thumbed through it. I was really tempted, because after all, I knew I wasn’t going to reach my target amount for the month anyway. What’s another $15? But I talked myself out of it, reminding myself that I’d put the book on hold at the library, and that if I still REALLY wanted to buy it, I could wait 5 more days. The next day I was hit with an urge to go out to eat, at a restaurant that my husband loves, so I knew he’d be all for it. I kept my mouth shut, and didn’t even mention it.

Small choices. This is the time when I remind myself that every day is a new day, and that the small choices we make every single day add up. The choices we make during the times when we didn’t do as well as we would have liked might make an even bigger difference. It’s too easy to give in and just figure that you’ve blown it already, so why not? That can make things even worse. At least this way, I’ll still have spent less money than the prior month, and I’ll still have made progress toward my greater goal.