One of my favorite blogs these days is Small Notebook. From the doodles to the photos to the well-written insightful posts, I’m a fan. Following Rachel’s lead, we’re doing a No-Spend Month here in June.

I’m going to do my best to chronicle where the pittance of money we’ve alloted ourselves goes and what we (hopefully) learn from the experience.

I’m also happy to answer any questions on the topic.

As we live in Israel, we’re giving ourselves NIS 1000 for the month. That’s roughly $260 as of today’s exchange rate. As some things are drastically more expensive here than in the States, it’ll be interesting to see how far we can make it stretch.

My first observation: I may never leave the house this month.

While that might be a bit drastic, let me explain. I’m the proud parent of a 21-month old daughter and a soon-to-be seven week old son. I own my own business, but I’m largely on maternity leave right now – only doing a bit of work for existing clients and doing that from home. So, I’m not leaving the house regularly to go to work.

Our spending diet has made me realize that my primary reason for leaving home is usually to go to the mall, which is a short walk away, and almost always involves either eating a meal out or at least grabbing a coffee and a pastry. Without the treats, the mall is just a sad shell of itself. I’m no longer hearing the siren song.

Okay, that and it’s about 95 degrees here. No way I’m walking around outside in this heat.

Let’s see how long I can last before I get total cabin fever.