Confession: I spend too much money

A few years ago in an attempt to better regulate how I spend my money I decided to take two weeks and write down everything I spent, cash and debit card, all of it. I know it’s all there online, but the physical act of keeping a list really was eye-opening to me. I mean, I live mostly by myself, I don’t have kids, I make good money and only have a few bills and expenses. I can usually buy most things I want or need without thinking twice about it. And, um, I was not thinking twice A LOT. After this little budgetary exercise I decided to spend a month with a pretty restricted budget on going out to lunch or dinners, shopping, and even tried to be more careful at the grocery store.

Ya’ll, it’s time for that type of “detox” again. I have decided that May will be a month of no additional spending. I have gotten very lackadaisical about keeping a discerning eye on my wallet and in doing a little math today I am horrified at the number of dollars that have been spent with very little to show for them as far as quality experiences, quality meals, or quality products. I’m not saying that all purchases need to be for the highest quality consumption only, but looking over my account history I have WAY TOO MUCH low-quality spending.

So, I’m making changes. And instead of thinking about this for a week or two and then selecting a perfect day to start (you know, a week or 10 days in the future so I can “stock up” before the spending freeze), I’m just going to change. Immediately. Starting right now and going through the end of May.

A few luxury categories where I feel I can really save some pennies:

1. Food. Of late I have become really lazy about meal planning and have spent far too much money (and calories) in lunches and take-out for dinner. I need to buckle down and watch what I eat a little better, this will benefit my bank account AND my waistline. Those white jeans I bought last year will be worn much more frequently this summer if I don’t feel like a stuffed sausage when I pull them on.

2. My feet. I really don’t need another professional pedicure; I’m pretty good at doing them myself and already have all the supplies. Also, I need a new color of nail polish like I need a hole in the head, so that is being cut immediately. (Side note: WHY DO I HAVE SO MUCH NAIL POLISH!? Oh. Because I keep buying it.)

3. Books. It hurts my heart SO MUCH to have to list this here, but I went back for the last six months to calculate just how much I’ve spent buying books…and it’s kind of exorbitant, more than $100 a month. Now, I read voraciously, but I already have more books than I can probably read in the next two years, even at my 10 books/month average pace. I can probably go a whole four weeks without buying any new ones, and I can probably cut my monthly spending down significantly without feeling any real cramp in my style. (Sob!)

4. Car washes. Months ago I signed up for an unlimited car wash service that costs my about $35 a month. Honestly, I use it about once a week, so it’s not like it’s wasted cash. I like Miss Persimini to look her shiny best and my long blonde hairs need to be regularly vacuumed out of the carpet. But at $35 a month that is about $250 worth of car washes until I move to Arizona…and that suddenly seems really, really expensive. I’m going to try canceling it this month and re-evaluate in June to see if this expense is truly justified, and perhaps see if there is a less expensive overall option.

5. Impulse shopping. Again, this has been my downfall. A cute v-neck t-shirt! (just $12 bucks!) New chapstick! ($3 bucks) New nail polish! ($8 bucks) Cute cloth napkins with birds on them! ($10 bucks) A comedy show with friends! ($30 bucks) An “It’s been that kind of a Monday” sushi lunch! (only $25 bucks) Followed, of course, by Taco Tuesday ($7 bucks) and Burrito Thursday ($12 bucks) and…well, you see where this is going, don’t you? I don’t need any of these things, and while I am not willing to cut little luxuries like this out of my life and budget permanently, I could really be better about paying attention to how I am spending my hard-earned monies.

Um….Hi, my name is Harriet and I have a super first-world spending problem….good hell, this list is depressing in its admission of enormous levels of economic privilege. Blergh. I kind of hate myself right now. The best we can do is admit where we are falling short, make changes, and move forward with a new perspective and new habits, right?

Okay. Here it goes.

From now until the end of May I am in major curb-my-spending mode. Of course I will still be paying my bills and I’ll be going to the grocery store every week and if there is some kind of medical emergency I will not for one minute choose not to use my health insurance and HSA card (hiiiii, economic privilege!). BUT, I won’t be shopping aimlessly; I won’t wander around Target or Etsy or the J. Crew Outlet website; I won’t waltz to a sub-par food-court type restaurant for lunch four days a week; I won’t be buying new makeup products to experiment with; and I won’t be adding to my bookshelves in any way.

Honestly? This probably won’t be easy for me. I hope it will be the kind of budgetary cleanse I need to keep my spending more in check. Have you ever done a month of no spending? Or more? What did you think? Did it help curb some of your habits? Did you find you could overall live with spending less after your little experiment? What was the hardest part? Easiest? Most enlightening? I’m so curious about your findings and overall results.

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0 thoughts on “Confession: I spend too much money

  1. srbraddy

    Darn it, lady! I was going to write this EXACT post! Except I would replace “car wash” with “comic books,” and “pedicures” with “more comic books.” Good luck with the spending challenge!

    Reply
    1. Feisty Harriet Post author

      I have a library card and I use it sometimes. I have a tendency to take notes in my books, writing in the margins and cross-referencing other books or ideas. And I can’t do that in library books. So, on the subjects that I am researching (my mostly non-fiction reading lists can really only be described as that) I buy and scribble away to my heart’s content. And yes, I do go back and flip through them looking for a particular paragraph, statement, or idea. My marginalia has come in handy dozens of times. ๐Ÿ™‚

      xox

      xox

      Reply
    1. Feisty Harriet Post author

      Oh my lawsy, YES! I have gotten so into my take out groove it will be tricky to break out of that.

      But, I made dinner last night, and I made myself lunch for today…so far, so good.

      xox

      On Tue, Apr 28, 2015 at 9:09 PM, Feisty Harriet wrote:

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      Reply
  2. Erin Masi

    My mamma does a spending moratorium for the first 2 months of the year every year. I did it for the first month with her this year. Um. It’s ridiculous how much extra stuff I buy that I don’t need. And how much stuff I already have. Let’s discuss more on our walk?!?

    Reply
    1. Feisty Harriet Post author

      Yes! In looking over my financials a bit I was so surprised at how much I’d spent on seemingly nothing!! And as I start to think about thinking about packing up my house, it has become ridiculously clear just how much stuff I have. Yowzers.

      xox

      On Tue, Apr 28, 2015 at 10:14 PM, Feisty Harriet wrote:

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      Reply
  3. Stacy

    I should follow in your footsteps, but honestly, I probably lack the discipline. On Saturday, I had a couple hours to kill between a church membership class and picking up my younger stepdaughter from her play rehearsal so I walked around downtown. Impulse buys included a cute but somewhat pricey dress, chocolates, and artisan bread. All the businesses in question were small, local business, so I guess I helped the economy, if not my financial situation.

    But dark chocolate covered honeycomb is pretty delicious.

    Reply
    1. Feisty Harriet Post author

      Mmmmmmm, chocolate covered honeycomb…..

      Last time I tried this I gave myself $25 a week to spend however I wanted to, and that helped ease me in to a more responsible way of budgeting and spending and saving. This time, however, I’m going cold turkey. I do think that after this is over I will give myself an allowance of “fun money” every week/month that I can do with how I please without any guilt. That’s kind of a happy medium between where I have been and the next month, right?

      xox

      On Wed, Apr 29, 2015 at 6:12 AM, Feisty Harriet wrote:

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      Reply
  4. San

    It’s so easy to not have a budget if you’re “naturally” living within your means. That, of course, doesn’t mean that you’re spending all your money wisely. I’ve naturally always never spent more than I have, so I never really had to put myself on a real budget…. but I think I’d like to try it (and even if it’s just for exercise). At least, I wanna sit down and see where our money is going. I track everything but never really take a real hard look at it at the end of the month. This is one of my goals (and then let’s see if I need a budget).

    P.S. I am definitely someone who will splurge on small, inexpensive things rather than make one big purchase, but like you said “it adds up!”.

    Reply
    1. Feisty Harriet Post author

      Yes, exactly this. I think knowing a ballpark of how much I have to spend and staying well under that made me pretty complacent on how exactly I was spending my money. So, here’s to less complacency! *clink

      xox

      On Wed, Apr 29, 2015 at 9:24 PM, Feisty Harriet wrote:

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      Reply
  5. abbersnail

    Me dang too. Sigh.

    One thing that I’ve rediscovered in a big way is our local public library. It feels like I’m cheating the system! All these books! And they are free!!! GLORIOUS!!!

    Reply
    1. Feisty Harriet Post author

      I have a love/eww relationship with the library…which is probably a super terrible thing for me to think. But sometimes I get a little skeezed out by how the books smell…although I buy used books all the time. I think it’s the difference between buying a “used, one little old lady owner” car and a former rental car. Maybe? I dunno. That being said, I will hang out in the library happily for hours. ๐Ÿ™‚

      xox

      On Sat, May 2, 2015 at 11:20 AM, Feisty Harriet wrote:

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      Reply
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