I am halfway through a self-imposed Buy Nothing stint for the months of January and February. And I’m going to tell you a little bit about it so far.
Why are you doing this to yourself, crazy lady?
Shut up. You’re crazy.
Okay. So, here’s the honest truth: we were in the red for the last *cough*fewmonths*cough* due to a combination of fewer work hours over the holidays and, well, a fantastic to trip to Puerto Rico. This is an effort to rebalance our spending-to-earning ratio and also fast a little bit from the indulgent spending of the last few months.
I was in indulgent spending mode (checking my favorite clothing sites “just in case there’s a great deal” daily, checking airfare daily, etc etc) and I know when I get like that, a strict spending diet is the only fix for me.
What does a Buy Nothing month entail?
I’m so glad you asked!
Here are my Arbitrary-But-I-Have-To-Draw-The-Line-Somewhere Rules:
– Groceries and gas and bills are obviously okay.
– Medical stuff is okay. I’m not gonna deny Gabe medicine if he’s sick.
– Eating out and getting coffee is allowed as long as it doesn’t come in a disposable container*. (So no fast food.)
– Um, any other emergency that arises.
How’s it going?
Most of the time, I hardly think about it. It’s only when I start to check Gap’s online sale section that I’m like, “Hold up. There’s no point. You can’t buy anything.” And when I go to Target to pick up some groceries or medicine, I just don’t wander around the aisles, and yes, I have bought some things that I needed but honestly now I’m trying to save money as much as I can, I have been using the deals from Giving Assistant to get cash back with my purchases.
It really is reteaching me how to intentionally spend money. We are fairly frugal most of the time, so it’s amazing to me how a month or two of indulgence can throw me off track so much. The truth is, all that “just checking” a site for good sales gives me the gimmes. And I start think about all the things I want to have. It creates a desire for more stuff that I don’t normally have. You sneaky marketers!
Interestingly, we’ve spent way more on groceries this month than we ever have. (Breaking our ‘record’ by almost $100.) (Don’t think I’m crazy and know that kind of stuff off the top of my head. It’s all MINT.) I’m not sure if that’s related to the lack of shopping or just coincides with being out of a lot of stuff after traveling for two weeks.
Here is what we’ve bought so far:
- A coffee from Earth Fare when I forgot to bring my travel mug. (I’ve gotten Starbucks quite a few times, but I remember my mug!)
- Lots of cold stuff for Gabe and Mike – Kleenex, Boogie Wipes, a thermometer, medicines, etc etc. Contacts for me for two years. (I know this doesn’t “count” since it’s “allowed,” but it still hurts to drop a lot of money at Target when we’re not supposed to be shopping.)
- A water filter.
- Stamps and postcards for holiday cards.
- A patch for my ripping Gap jeans and fabric glue for the toggles that are falling off Mike’s toggle coat.
- An ottoman (it was Mike who got this and, technically, this is not his challenge. He was really excited about the ottoman and I felt bad being strict about my silly little budget challenge).
- And, the worst of all, unexpected repairs for Mike’s MacBook when his trackpad stopped work and then the whole computer crashed (almost $400 worth! Ack!)
(That seems like a lot. Don’t worry. The list of stuff I wanted to buy is longer.)
Here we go. One more month!
I think November and December are the hardest months on our accounts because holidays! sales! must buy more! I unsubscribed to a bunch of emails that were still trying to convince me to buy new things that I really didn’t need. The ones I didn’t unsubscribe, I stopped opening. I’m not on a strict no more buy anything but I’ve stopped buying things knowing that we will have some big expenses coming up soon – moving and buying a house and all. It’s a good incentive.
I can so relate to this right now. Trying to get my business booming this time of year, followed by our wedding, honeymoon, and the holidays… we’ve been broke and it really stinks! I definitely miss hunting through the clearance racks, but this experience is putting things in perspective for me. We don’t necessarily *need* more things. It’s nice to turn our focus toward the things in life that are free :)
The holidays are THE WORST. Seriously. A few years ago, I started buying gifts in late October to spread out the pain. But, still, it is almost refreshing to start the year and not feel the need to buy gifts (except for, hello birthdays – Sweets, my niece, both her mamas, my mama, Sweets’ nephew and his sister-in-law … yikes … guess it’s a good thing we don’t really buy gifts for adults, just the kids!).
I almost added “buy nothing” to my February list of intentions, but I didn’t. I know we have a couple big-ticket purchases coming up this month (airfare, new mattress), so I’m going to save it for March (I think).
And now you’ve stamped exactly why I won’t go to Target to shop for food. I can’t buy only what I go there to buy and always wind up with things that were not on the list!!! =)
Nathan and I do “Frugal February” every year – we can only buy the absolute necessities: Groceries, gas, medicine, bills – and this year, the few baby things we still have on our list. This year is the first year I’m actually looking forward to it, since it’ll be good training for when I’m on mat leave (and after, since I *really* want to stay at home with the kidlets if I can!)
My fiancé and I do Frugal February every year and I’m especially looking forward to it this year. Sometimes it can be a fun challenge to see how little spending you can get away with. Crazy to think I used to live like this all the time in college, which was only 6 years ago!
Props to you! We are doing the same thing right now, and ick! Shopping is so fun, but I know it’s not necessary for me to buy ANOTHER nail polish, or more make-up, etc. etc. Today I just so happened to go on the Krazy coupon lady’s blog. So that might help you lower your grocery bill if you are not already a couponer. Also, when we decided we needed to cut back on clothing spending, I unsubscribed to a lot of marketing e-mails I was getting. You might be thinking, but how will I know about the sales!!?? Well, you could always sign back up when you are out of the red, and you can go to their website and check out the sale section when you are done with your spending free month. It’s just like how you won’t know what you are missing if you never enter a store. So when you are getting those e-mails from your favorite shops, it’s like walking into a mall, just to go. ;) Good luck!
This is the most perfect timing ever, since I tracked my spend in January for the first time in my life (embarrassing but true) and didn’t like what I saw. I was considering doing a strict no buy in february and this post just sealed the deal!
I really need to do a “Frugal February.” After having some healthy income now for a few months, combined with splurging for Amazon Prime (Free 2-day shipping! Tons of baby crap!), it’s just way too easy to spend money these days. Thanks for the reminder that I really should go on a spending diet too!
Buy nothing months are incredibly powerful teaching tools, and have reshaped my shopping habits. I was never a bit “stuff” buyer, but I have a bad habit of buying fancy foods that I only sort of like but imagine myself cooking with the day I become a professional chef (which will be…oh, right…never). Is it embarassing that one of my spending weaknesses are treats and other useless junk for my cat? She might love them, but only for the first 10 minutes. Ha! Good for you for budget dieting!
This is a very cool idea actually :) I feel like I don’t really buy much outside of what you have outlined (I admit most of the money I spend is on meals out haha) but I still think it would be an interesting challenge because I would have to think about everything else I spend. I’m the same way about money, and also about food where I’m good for awhile and then I just get into a habit of having a “little” extra, not helpful! It’s nice to get back in a normal groove in January!
We only have 1 income now, but have been doing just fine between that and unemployment for the past few months. For February, we’ve decided to try to live off of just the one income (not touching unemployment), which means that after rent, we’ll have about $500 for everything else. That should just about cover groceries and utilities, which means that we’ll really be buying nothing else this month, if we’re successful.
Make your own “Boogie Wipes!!” I squirt saline on wet baby washcloth, works the same or better!
I love that you posted about your spending freeze today because I just decided I’m going to do one for February! My husband and I moved into a new apartment right before Christmas, so we’ve been in the red, too. Hope the spending freeze idea helps us!
Good luck! Hope you find it as enlightening as I have. :)
I haven’t done anything this formal, but I totally relate to what you say about how just a few weeks of indulgence sets up a habit of shopping that isn’t necessary or healthy. I, too, usually feel the need to break that habit after the holidays, and it feels good to just suck it up and do it.
Good for you! I’m also putting-off personal purchases, like clothes and shoes, for 6 months at least while I pay off my credit card bill.
Go team!
it’s awesome that you’re doing this. thanks for sharing your journey too.
i’m on a permanent shopping diet. shopping generally seems like a waste, especially in the light of my student loan debt. also i hate having too much stuff in my apartment. spending less actually makes me appreciate the things I already own more and makes me really happy to enjoy the things i do spend money on.
like you, i try not to just drop into stores too because it totally makes me want to buy random things that I wouldn’t have wanted or known they existed otherwise. the hardest thing is Amazon because I actually have to go there for things I need and there’s ALWAYS a link to something I will DEFINITELY like. Argh!