May marks the beginning of a few things here in Sarasota: snowbird season is over and the town is returned to the locals, the ungodly heat of summer begins, and many plants (like my orchids) are about to finish their bloom cycles. But this year, May also marked an unusual challenge I imposed on myself. Since finishing Vicki Robin’s book, “Your Money or Your Life”, back in February, I’ve been thinking a lot about my money habits. It’s not that I was completely irresponsible, but regardless of my income, I was basically living paycheck-to-paycheck. I’d pay my bills, give myself a little bit for savings, and spend the rest. A lot of times I’d pull money back out of my savings to cover unexpected expenses. It was a cycle that was getting me nowhere fast.
Let me step back a bit and tell you about where I stand. To be clear, I’m insanely blessed with the lifestyle I lead. The privileges in my life are many — there’s no doubt about that. I have zero student loan debt, and we don’t have a mortgage or children to worry about. Someday I’d like a house and kids, but that’s a little ways off. My credit score is pretty good. My sole debts at the moment are a credit card and a car payment, equaling about $16,000 dollars of debt. In the grand scheme of things, this is not that much, particularly when you hear of people with six figures or more of debt. But it’s too much in my mind. Particularly when I think about my goals.
The vision I’ve had for my life has long been to build and own a monolithic dome house on a piece of property that I own outright. We’d like to have two children and be in a position to help them avoid the astronomical student loan debt crisis (if they choose traditional 4-year college as their pathway). I want to help my parents and my husband’s mother as they age. My dream is to also be self-employed, running Compass Rose History Experiences full time, maybe contracting here and there, but mostly working on projects that fill me up. And we want to travel as much as we can while our bodies are capable of it. All of that seemed like a far-fetched dream, but since listening (yes, I did the audiobook for this one) to Vicki Robin’s book, a major paradigm shift took place. The end goal was clear, but suddenly the pathway there became illuminated. Financial independence (a simple way of saying that you are not reliant on a job for income to cover your expenses) has now become the goal.
Thus a “no spend” month became really intriguing. Last May I left a pretty well-paid position that was making me sick and miserable and by July I found an awesome job that paid…MUCH less. I’m happier and healthier, but my income is nowhere that I want it to be. And while increasing my income will become a goal in the future, right now I need to get a handle on my expenses. What are my regrettable purchases? What are the things I could live without? How can I throw more money toward my debt? Some research on “no spend” challenges (whether a week, month, or even a year) showed that a key to success is ground rules. Here is mine:
- No eating out — Exception: $30 limit for business meetings or pre-planned gatherings with friends I haven’t seen in a while.
- No salon extras — I’ve budgeted for two manicures and one pedicure this month. Some people would say it’s not necessary, and I could do it at home for less, but manicures and pedicures bring me joy. They’re a key component of my self-care. What I am avoiding is getting my eyebrows waxed (I hate tweezing) and the 20-minute massages they offer that are so tempting after a hard day.
- No hobby spending — I’ve got to use up what I have. This might actually motivate me to clean out our closet so I can access the stuff I’ve got stashed away.
- No coffee/tea stops — Yep, I’m saying “Bye, Felicia” to Starbucks this month. This one is hard because it’s one of the main things my mom and I do together. But she’s on board, so we will see how it goes.
- Limit driving — Another tough one. I’m going to try to combine trips as much as I can.
- No work spending — This should sound like, “duh”, but it’s not. I work for a small nonprofit. It’s easy to run to Staples to grab something I need for work, but then “forget” to turn in the receipt for reimbursement. It’s like a donation, right? Wrong. I’ve got to get out of this habit because $10 here, $30 there, another $5 the next week…it adds up! (To be clear, my employer would be HORRIFIED to know that I do this. They’ve never once asked me to, and never will.)
- Restrict miscellaneous purchases — This is things like car washes or random items that I didn’t plan on before I went to the store. Having a list is going to be key here.
- What’s left over goes into savings/debt paydown
To be clear, this isn’t an attempt to make myself and the people around me miserable. In fact, I do have a few fun things planned that I know will cost me some money, and that’s okay! As Sarah from Yes and Yes Blog always says, “It’s not about the latté that you savor and enjoy on a Sunday morning with friends, it’s the latté you bought because you are having a hard day at work and needed to get out of the office for a bit.” My goal this month is to learn what my mindless habits are, and press the reset button on them. I want to take the fear out of FOMO.
At this point, I’m three days into this challenge, and I’ve spent ZERO dollars. Literally. But those have been weekdays, so I anticipate the temptations will be harder on weekends. Just yesterday I was insanely tempted to pick up a sandwich and iced tea from my favorite sandwich shop because it was lunchtime and I was right there. But I resisted temptation and saved $10.
Once this month is over, I’ll post about what worked and what didn’t work. My hope is that the lessons I learn from this experience will help me continue to cut back on my spending through the summer and beyond.
If you have questions or want to follow me each step of the journey, be sure to follow my story on Instagram!
Love,
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