No spend January
*Im super proud that for our family photos this year we all wore clothes that we already owned. That may not seem like a big deal but it is for me!
This December I was going through our Christmas décor and picking what I wanted to put up on the walls. I picked up a knick-knack item that I just HAD to have a few years ago at Home Goods. I tossed it aside. Eh.
This happened a few more times with those bins and bins decorations. It happens when I open my closet and search through which sweatshirt and yoga pants combo I’m going to wow the drop-off moms with that day. Relate? It eventually happens with most items (read junk) that I bring into my house.
It got me thinking. What if I spent more time really considering, giving thought, appreciation and purpose to the things I purchase? What if I respected the things I already owned and gave them purpose before tossing them aside?
What if I set some rules around my shopping tendencies?
Here is how they went before January:
Roll into Target. I’ve got one return but since I’m here I might as well walk every single isle and just make sure I didn’t forget to grab something. Hate to come back twice in a week!
Since they don’t open until 8am and my kids wake up at 0-dark-thirty maybe I’ll just swing by Starbucks and grab a coffee…Oh HELLO dollar section! Which we all know is a liar because most of the good stuff is not a dollar but $3 or maybe even $5. That’ll add up quick. Disregard. Tosses in a few items.
Next up clothes section. Oh goodness, those sweatshirts that I adore. So practical! I’ll just grab one because, you know, Mom-iform. Gotta be consistent. Good thing its under $20. Hit the kids section because they grow like weeds…and then…
For the love of Chip and Joanna, look at that ship lapped Home Décor section. Maybe just something for that blank space on the shelf, I mean if the Gaines made it then it’s definitely on trend!
Swing by a few more sections of non-necessities and before you know it I’m out the door for around $162 plus tax plus the price of a coffee and if I have a kid with me, perhaps a box of goldfish.
Fast forward to today, when I’m Mario Kondo’ing every inch of my house and guess what? All those things I just had to have are now in the “doesn’t bring me joy” pile. I realized that I had fallen victim to this massive revolving door of consumerism. Bag up old stuff and throw it out and buy new stuff and bring it in. Repeat.
Now don’t get me wrong. Clothes, oh man they bring me so much joy. It allows me to be creative, to express myself and it definitely is something I love. Decorating my house. Have mercy, I adore it. When I transform a space to make it feel fresh it gives me life! I don’t think these things are bad. I don’t think they are evil. What I wanted to do was to change my perspective. I wanted to take control over what I was saying yes to and be confident in saying no to things I didn’t love/need. I wanted to stop accumulating the excess.
Enter “No Spend January”
*I’d like to preface that I’m not a crazy out of control spender. I like to be smart with our money. Even with that being true, this month had a huge impact on me…and my bank account! We love Dave Ramsey and really do strive to be strict with our finances!
I’m not sure how this idea popped into my head but one day towards the end of December I just said out loud, “I’m not going to spend money in January”. Now, I’m wildly competitive so it became a sort of challenge to myself. I wanted to hit the reset button on how I spent our money. I wanted to see what impact it would have to say no to everything but the very essentials. I wanted to challenge myself to organize my home and do something more productive with my time.
Here is the big one. I wanted to deal with my feelings, both sad and happy, with something other than retail therapy. There, I said it. When I’m sad. I shop. (I also workout, hang with friends or cuddle my kids) but what really gets me out of that slump is a nice trip to Target, Home Goods or Nordstrom. I wanted to break that pattern.
No, I didn’t fast for 31 days. Here were my rules for No Spend January:
YES groceries
YES gas
YES monthly bills
YES necessities for survival
NO clothes
NO home décor
NO knick-knacks
NO “its just a dollar and its so cute”
We allowed ourselves to eat out 1 time per week as long as it was under $25 for the family. Luckily we have awesome taco shops around and also, Costco duh.
I packed lunches (which I usually do) and drank coffee from home, again I usually do that too. I avoided Target like the plague and didn’t make trips to Home Goods, Hobby Lobby or the mall just to kill time before school pick up.
I gained time, freedom and power. I spent days cleaning out and organizing rather than spending money and adding to the piles. I felt like I had snapped out of some hypnosis that was telling me I needed to be on trend, all the time; that this STUFF would fulfill me in some way, when in reality it does just the opposite. The more I purged, the more fulfilled I felt.
GIRL. In the beginning it was HARD. Don’t be fooled. I became vastly aware of how many little things I would purchase here and there and how quickly it all added up. I realized how often I said yes to my kids when I could have said no.
BUT
I felt free. Freedom.
In a super fitting, not coincidence kind thing, the last Sunday of January our pastor preached on giving. Not just giving, but the whole mindset around money, spending and our “stuff” problem. It brought this whole month full circle for me. If our treasure is all of our earthy possessions that we keep locked up in our homes, that’s where our hearts will be. Locked up. Limited. Earthly. And to be anything other than that, is fighting was society is trying to form us into. Consumers.
I have little eyes watching me, learning from me. They see how I spend money, what I say yes to, what I put value in. My habits will very well become their habits. What they know about money, spending, saving, will all come from my husband and me. Taking this time of spending only money that was absolutely necessary opened up so many conversations with my oldest.
God doesn’t tell us that money is evil. It’s the LOVE of money that’s evil. Taking a month and refocusing my spending was like a cleanse to my soul. What started as a sort of a self competition turned into a new way of life for me. I would highly encourage you to try No Spend January (or February or March..) and see what it does for you.
I guarantee that it won’t leave you unchanged.
