I decided to give the "no spending money" idea a try and guess what, I'm lovin' it!

I purposely left my cash and debit card at home so I wouldn't be tempted to spend. Fortunately I work 15 minutes away from home.

What were the benefits for me?

1. It has taken away the desire to unnecessarily spend money.

2. I'm forced to eat breakfast at home and bring my lunch to work.

3. I'm saving money.

4. Relieves peer pressure from coworkers to go out for drinks or lunch. They know I'm not spending money.

I don't normally spend a lot of money during the week, but $2.00 for breakfast, snacks from the vending machine and 2-3 dollars a day for lunch adds up.

Sometimes knowing I have money burns a hole in my pocket. I now feel like I can carry it and not give in to wanting something just because I have the money to pay for it. Do I really need it. With a little planning, the chances are no.

I need to spend money tomorrow and Saturday, but come Sunday I'm going to start up again and see how long I can go before I need to spend money.

photo credit: iamarunner

I finally got around to figuring out where my money will be disbursed.

I gave several thousand dollars away to family and friends in need, it felt good to do this and they are always there for me.

My mom had a $2,000 plumbing problem in her home and she put it on a credit card, so I wanted to help her. I think the last job should fix it for good.

I still have a few monetary gifts to give, but I'll wait for the smoke to blow over.

I banked my last paycheck with my new bank, I won't need to touch any of that money until next month.

I deposited money into a low interest savings account which will become my emergency fund.

Although I could have, I did not fully fund my emergency fund because I will use one of my paychecks each month to save for it.

I set a goal to deposit $1,385 each month into my EF and live off the remainder of my check.

I deposited the bulk of my money into a Barclays account at a decent interest rate and will let it sit there for a while. TBD.

I also opened a Roth IRA with Vanguard with a minimum of $3,000.

I plan to make the maximum contribution of $5,500 (or $2,500) to my Roth IRA by the end of 2013. I have to deposit at least $800 from Oct - December. This should be interesting.

I may or may not add something for September. Being it is August 31st, I feel like the initial deposit is my September contribution.

I also set an automatic transfer for one of my savings account with Capital One and need to set two more automatic transfer.

Tomorrow I have to rework my budget and make sure my dollars have a name. I feel a bit of momentum to start things off on the right foot this time.

Last week I paid off one of three of my credit cards and hope to pay off the other two by Tuesday or Wednesday. So far it feels great, but at the same time I feel like I'm tiptoeing around death. I guess the feeling of becoming debt free again is surreal and I can't believe it.

I also opened up several accounts to transfer money in to. A teen checking and savings account for my daughter at Capital One 360. She will learn to manage her own money and be responsible for saving. She's no stranger to finance because I've always spoken to her about money or taught her what NOT to do and why.

I will keep an emergency savings account with my local bank (where my checking account is also parked) and the rest of the money will be transferred to an online savings account at a decent interest rate until I decide what I want to do.

I also set up a "mad money" savings account for myself with Capital One 360. I know me and rather have a small account for impulse purchases. I do get urges every now and then, but I want to save for them now instead of just buying it.

The good thing about Capital One 360 is I can have multiple accounts. My daughter needs braces, I want to put aside money for car repairs (not that I would need it now, my car is only 2 years old) for new tires or unexpected repairs.

My paycheck can cover all of my expenses for the month, so I can save one entire paycheck a month which is a blessing.

I also want to give money as a gift to friends and family who have helped us during some rough times. The saying is true: there is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving.

I suppose I'll start with the bad news. I haven't been as active here or as diligent with sticking to my budget as I intended.

Last month was a horrible month for eating out, I try to limit eating out (for me and my kid) to $20 or $30 bucks a month.

I have not looked at the figures yet, I will tonight, but I am sure I spent twice as much.

$60 bucks might not be much to some and I'm not even sure money is the real problem, but it is my behavior I need to get under control.

I need a better shopping list so that I'll have the ingredients I need to prepare meals. I also admit I've been on the lazy side, but I'm feeling better most days, so this should change.

Other bad news: I got an email today from Impulsesave that they will no longer be doing business with Lender Bank and will be closing my account with them.

I can, however, open up an account with either CapitalOne or Bank of America and then link that account to my Impulsesave account.

I like the thought behind Impulsesave and being able to "spend" and save money with the phone app.

Granted I could transfer money into a savings account any time I want, but my Impulsesave account was for short term goals.

I'm not sure I want to open another account at a different bank just to use Impulsesave.

If you don't know what Impulsesave.com is, check it out, it's fun. I used it to fund my vacation to the Outerbanks in October.)

The good news is that I will be debt free by the end of August with change to spare.

I settled with the insurance company and though it's not enough for what may be a permanent injury and years of pain management, it is enough to pay my current bills leaving me with money to save and invest. And yes I plan to spend a little blow money as well.

I should also be able to save over 50% of my paycheck and start building again.

Things are looking better and I promise not to blow it again.

We are off to the Dominican Republic this Sunday for six days. It will be nice to enjoy a vacation with less stress on my mind.