June – No Spending Month

For those of you that know me, I like to shop.  Even if it’s just window shopping, I typically like the experience of seeing new things. That is why I’m challenging myself in the month of June to a “no spending month.” I know, this is shocking! I can’t buy leggings, am I setting myself up to fail? I heard the idea while listening to the Young House Love Has a Podcast, podcast.  I used to love reading their blog about home improvement projects, because I also tackle a lot of projects at my house. They took a break from their blog for a while, but now have a podcast.  Anyway, in episode #93 they talk about Cait Flanders’ book “Year of Less.” While I have not read the book, I like the idea of challenging myself to spend less money on things I don’t need.  Clearly you can’t live without spending any money, unless you are 100% self sustainable.  I live in town, and don’t have a garden, etc. so I’m not.

So here are the rules:

Items I CAN purchase:

1. I can obviously purchase groceries and food.
2. I can spend money at restaurants (Betty Rae’s – because that’s going to happen), as long as it fits within my monthly budget, but nothing more.
3. I can purchase home items with they run out (toilet paper, Kleenex, laundry detergent, etc.)
4. I can purchase skincare or beauty products IF I run out, but I cannot buy something new.
5. I can buy gifts for other people (birthdays or special occasions).
6. I can buy home items if they need replacement.  For example, if my doorbell breaks, I can buy a new one or if I need a new smoke detector because mine stops working, I can buy a new one.

Items I CANNOT purchase:

1. Beauty products (bye bye Sephora), I will still get my Birchbox and Sephora Play boxes because that’s part of a subscription.
2. Activewear/athletic clothing (bye bye Athleta).
3. Work/casual clothing.
4. Random things off of Amazon.

I’ll check back at the end of the month and let you know how I did.  I like a good challenge, so I’m pretty confident I can make it through this, but only time will tell!

So I’m checking back to say that I think I did very well this month. I really didn’t buy anything that wasn’t allowed. I bought some toothpaste, because I was completely out, and a girls gotta brush her teeth. The only thing I bought off of Amazon were sleeves to go under my arm brace, which I felt was totally acceptable. The doctor’s office only gave me two, and that had to last SIX weeks. With working out, and always having to wear the brace, that didn’t really leave me with anything to wear under the brace, unless I wanted to wear a sweaty sleeve all day. I also had to buy a new garbage disposal for my house, because (what are the chances) mine broke! #homeownership One thing I almost forgot that I purchased was a sports bra at Marshalls when I was in Vermont. I went to Vermont for work for four days and I forgot to pack a sports bra. I figured this one deserved a pass, because I was not going to work out in a regular bra all week! Other than that, I really only bought groceries and the few times I went out to eat with friends, so I’m calling it a success!

I think one of the reasons I did so well, was because I never tempted myself on the weekends. I really had no reason to go to Athleta or Sephora (two of my favorite places to spend money), so I didn’t go. Actually, I don’t really have a reason to go there most of the time, I just like to.

Overall I didn’t do this challenge to stop myself from ever buying anything in the future, but to remind myself to think about things I really need vs. just things I want, and whether it’s worth buying. I will probably even try this challenge again in the future. If you’re curious about what my first purchase was after the challenge was…stay tuned, because a review of that is coming soon! Has anyone else tried a no shopping challenge? If so, how did it go?

Happy shopping (or saving)!