I found myself perusing Amazon, Etsy, and then websites like JoAnn Fabrics and Michaels. I have two frames, one 18x22 and one 16x20 that did not hold any pictures, and after cleaning out the basement, I wanted to hang all the pictures that I have been planning to hang for 2 years.
But then I found myself looking at TJ Maxx, Nordstrom Rack, and then finally REI... except I wasn't looking for a few prints to buy, I was looking at general stuff that I could buy with or without gift cards... and I realized I was doing it again, mindlessly window shopping out of boredom with more than half the time actually hitting the purchase button.
Josh and I have a lot of goals we wanna meet this year and though we aren't frivolous spenders by any means, but we do buy things that either fall under the "we deserve it" category or the "our quality of life would improve" category. Both of those categories aren't necessarily bad, but when you want to work on your house and travel, something needs to give.
A quick google search shows a plethora of what it means to take on a challenge like this. There are challengers who buy nothing, including groceries, for a month, two months or even a whole year. There are challengers that focus on a specific area in their life that they need to curb their spending. The most popular ones are no makeup buys in direct response to the over consumption of Youtube beauty gurus.
For us, our "No Buy" challenge will include the month of January and with exceptions of groceries, bills, medication, doctor's visits, replacement on something needed or if anything is broken in our house, we will not be going out to eat, buying drinks, or buying clothes, shoes, makeup, movie tickets, video games, comic books, home wares or any other impulse buys. The only other exception is any pre-planned events that were determined in December. For example my family wants to see The Post in theaters which was discussed during Christmas.
I touched on it earlier in the blog post, along with not being able to do it all, I think it behooves us to be more mindful of how we spend our money. It's way easy to just put in our credit card information, save our credit card information on high trafficked sites, and when we make purchases, simply click to buy. We also rationalize that 20 bucks here and there is only 20 bucks, but added up it's a lot on things that are impulse buys, especially since we have big ticket items in the works this year.
Josh and I are saving up to go to New Zealand during a high priced time during 2018 due to his teaching schedule, and we also want to go to Texas for his grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary, as well as renovate our house (our downstairs bathroom, porch and other smaller things need to get fixed). We also have our mortgage, various bills and our student loans that aren't going away any time soon. When we take out the equation of curbing our impulse buys, we can start to save up money for the things we actually want to do, instead of feeding into our instant gratification on the accumulation of stuff.
I'm sure it's going to morph into "no buys" for January, February and March, but when someone does something for the first time, it should be set up so that the person can succeed, so they will be willing to do it again. I'm sure we won't "yield" as much money as we would like, or even at all, but the goal of this month's No Buy is to be mindful of spending money, and how we spend money, and then the next few months we'll establish other goals to meet and think about.
What are your saving goals for this year? Are you doing the same sort of challenges or something different?
But then I found myself looking at TJ Maxx, Nordstrom Rack, and then finally REI... except I wasn't looking for a few prints to buy, I was looking at general stuff that I could buy with or without gift cards... and I realized I was doing it again, mindlessly window shopping out of boredom with more than half the time actually hitting the purchase button.
Josh and I have a lot of goals we wanna meet this year and though we aren't frivolous spenders by any means, but we do buy things that either fall under the "we deserve it" category or the "our quality of life would improve" category. Both of those categories aren't necessarily bad, but when you want to work on your house and travel, something needs to give.
What is a "No Buy Challenge?"
A quick google search shows a plethora of what it means to take on a challenge like this. There are challengers who buy nothing, including groceries, for a month, two months or even a whole year. There are challengers that focus on a specific area in their life that they need to curb their spending. The most popular ones are no makeup buys in direct response to the over consumption of Youtube beauty gurus.
For us, our "No Buy" challenge will include the month of January and with exceptions of groceries, bills, medication, doctor's visits, replacement on something needed or if anything is broken in our house, we will not be going out to eat, buying drinks, or buying clothes, shoes, makeup, movie tickets, video games, comic books, home wares or any other impulse buys. The only other exception is any pre-planned events that were determined in December. For example my family wants to see The Post in theaters which was discussed during Christmas.
Why the "No Buy Challenge?"
I touched on it earlier in the blog post, along with not being able to do it all, I think it behooves us to be more mindful of how we spend our money. It's way easy to just put in our credit card information, save our credit card information on high trafficked sites, and when we make purchases, simply click to buy. We also rationalize that 20 bucks here and there is only 20 bucks, but added up it's a lot on things that are impulse buys, especially since we have big ticket items in the works this year.
Josh and I are saving up to go to New Zealand during a high priced time during 2018 due to his teaching schedule, and we also want to go to Texas for his grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary, as well as renovate our house (our downstairs bathroom, porch and other smaller things need to get fixed). We also have our mortgage, various bills and our student loans that aren't going away any time soon. When we take out the equation of curbing our impulse buys, we can start to save up money for the things we actually want to do, instead of feeding into our instant gratification on the accumulation of stuff.
Why Just for the Month of January?
I'm sure it's going to morph into "no buys" for January, February and March, but when someone does something for the first time, it should be set up so that the person can succeed, so they will be willing to do it again. I'm sure we won't "yield" as much money as we would like, or even at all, but the goal of this month's No Buy is to be mindful of spending money, and how we spend money, and then the next few months we'll establish other goals to meet and think about.
What are your saving goals for this year? Are you doing the same sort of challenges or something different?
