Have you ever noticed that when someone tells you that you can’t do something, you immediately find yourself wanting to do it even more? Welcome to the Living Well Spending Less October challenge.

Two years ago, a lady named Ruth Soukup came into my life, and this past month she returned. Ruth developed Living Well Spending Less because her spending habits were out of control. She wanted to stop spending so frivolously and needed to design a plan that she could commit to-- a plan that would allow her to look back and realize just how much money she wastes over a short amount of time.

I was skeptical of Ruth’s philosophy on living well and spending less. How can I live without my daily stops at Dunkin Donuts, or happy hours, or any of the other ridiculous things I seem to “need” on a daily basis?

But I was willing to do it, I was willing to live well and spend less. But what I found was that I was having a hard time committing to the challenge. The minute the month of October started, I suddenly had the need to buy everything that I always wanted and things I knew I would never need.

Excuse after excuse came every time I would spend on a want instead of a need, trying to justify my purchase. It was clear to me though that the real problem was that I wasn’t committing to doing the challenge.

The truth of the matter is, you know what to do-- the hard part is doing it.

Deciding and actually committing to anything in your life, whether it’s a challenge, a relationship, a job, school, etc., requires you to exercise accountability and self-control... the two things that I learned by not committing to the Living Well and Spending Less challenge (I failed after only 4 days).

It is hard to hold yourself accountable when you spend more time perfecting excuses rather than focusing on completing the task at hand. Excuses will always be there if you don’t take responsibility for your actions, to look yourself in the mirror and say, “I failed." If you say you are going to do something, then make the commitment and do it.

There are things in our lives that we try to convince ourselves that we need, but it takes a little self-control to stop ourselves and differentiate between our wants and needs. Deciding what you can live without or what you absolutely can’t requires self-control. Before you decide to buy something that you think you need, ask yourself if it will truly make you happy.

Ruth might find her way back into my life, or maybe she will always be there. Even if I couldn’t complete the challenge, I learned valuable lessons that I can carry with me through other parts of my life and for that, I can say I’m living well.

*If you would like to commit to the living well spending less challenge visit Ruth’s website at http://www.livingwellspendingless.com/31-days/livingwellspendingzero/.