It’s a new year, a new month, and a time to reflect on what worked (and didn’t) in the old year. I’ve noticed a strong correlation in 2023 with boredom and spending, whereby I created reasons to spend by intending to solve a “problem”. A deeper look at this behavior has illuminated some areas for me to work on and in that vein, a low spend month is a tool I’ve used in the past to help with this reset.
If you’ve never done a low/no spend month (or week, season, year), the “rules” are pretty straightforward as you make them yourself. For our low-spend month, the terms my husband and I have agreed upon are as follows:
- Stay out of Target to avoid impulse buys (that’s for me!)
- Make vs. buy what we can – food is the obvious one, but there are other items that fall into this category and I’ll elaborate below
- No restaurants (caveat being we can get a Costco pizza to go, or hot dog, if desired)
- If an item needs to be replaced, we’ll replace it (shampoo, laundry detergent, etc)
- Try to source items by borrowing from neighbors or the local Buy Nothing group before buying from a store
And that’s it! So here’s the progress on day 2 of 2024:
- Did not spend any money at all on 1/1 – win! I did a “First Day” hike with some friends, which is a beloved tradition, and it was a gorgeous day to be out. I packed a snack and drink to take with me so I wouldn’t be tempted to stop in my post-hike hunger. We had tamales for dinner and I made a enchilada-ish sauce to go with it. My mom came down with some black-eyed peas for good luck and we had a relaxed New Year’s Day overall.
- Started the day with getting my car smogged, which is something I haven’t had to do in 10+ years. It was quick and painless and I went with a low-priced yet highly recommended station that charged $56 for the test and certificate. Then I promptly paid my car’s annual registration which cost $283. Stopped by the gym (that costs me $10/mo.) for a workout and then hit Grocery Outlet for some necessary items for this week’s meals. I stuck to my list (which is a small miracle) and spend $43 total.
- I received a message from a member of our local Buy Nothing group asking if we’d like some food she was given. This particular member has gifted food to us in the past as she found out I have 3 teenage sons! Last time it was mostly vegetables and bags of beans and rice which we made good use of. However this time it was mostly processed food including an unopened quart of ice cream, 4 large bags of chips, a large tin of cookies, ho-ho’s, veggie burger patties, grape jelly, and a container of “lite” syrup. My boys immediately took 2 bags of Cheeto’s and the Ho-Ho’s to a friends house and I’m giving away a few of the items we will not eat via our little library.
- I’m aggressively unsubscribing to all the retailers emails I’ve subscribed to over the years.
- Instead of purchasing a whiteboard calendar I’ve had my eye on, I’m making my own family calendar from copy paper, pen and a ruler. My husband and I use Google calendars, but it’s nice to have the visualization for the kids too. I put it on the fridge, as they are over there often!:
- Bonus: I’ve been making sourdough crackers almost daily over the past few days and they’re a huge hit. I use the discard from the sourdough starter and make a simple staple that everyone likes. Win-win!