12 Weeks of No Spending #MinimalismChallenge
January is typically a tight month for most people. Following on from the indulgence of Christmas, people don't tend to have much to spend and to be honest, I'm hopping on that bandwagon.
As someone who has suddenly been hit by the reality that I finish my degree in about four months, the prospect of entering the 'real' world is somewhat daunting but the real world means a job and proper budgeting. So to ready myself, the time leading up to the end of my degree will be a period where I budget like crazy. This is for several reasons, one being to help get in the habit of saving, and the other to try and build a safety net in case I'm not able to get a job straight away because ya girl has to pay rent.
This idea of saving was something I was going to do before I got into the whole Minimalism idea but having binge listened to pretty much all of their podcasts, I wanted to try and treat money in the same way they do, which for me, pretty much involves a complete ban on shopping. Inspired by CaitFlanders (who has an incredible blog), I've broken down the upcoming year and come up with a game plan. So here's how I'm going to do it.
- Put aside money for food (weekly). Food will be bought from places like Aldi & Lidl unless I have a voucher or need something not readily available.
- Purchases will only be made for clothes if something wears through (black skinny jeans, I'm looking at you). Even then, they will be thought about for over 7 days before purchasing.
- No more eating out. If I'm invited for a meal out, I will need to account for that in my weekly food budget. (No more takeaways either....)
- No paying with debit cards.
- No uber/taxi rides unless I'm out past midnight and otherwise stranded or in an emergency.
- Avoid online shopping websites. (I've also unfollowed brands from instagram and twitter to avoid temptation. And I've cut out youtube. I might watch a few in the future, but for now it's cold turkey.)
So those are my basic groundrules. And so far I've gone over a week without spending on anything that isn't a food shop. I know it's pretty brutal but I think with these things, the first step is going cold turkey and once things become habitual, I'll reassess. After all, it takes 21 days to make a habit.