Shopping is like eating sugar…

impulse-buy-consumer-society-cartoon_thumb

…the more you shop, the more you want to keep shopping. That’s what I’ve learned recently.

Guys. We are only on day 3 of my goal to not spend any money and it is getting REALLY hard. We have enough food at home, it’s not like I’m starving or anything. I had a small grocery trip last Thursday, so my produce is still fresh. But the good stuff… the crackers, the fruit snacks, the granola bars… they’re all gone. Even the Halloween candy from the party on Saturday is gone. Let’s not kid ourselves, that was gone by Saturday night. It didn’t even have a chance.

But besides the food. Do you know how difficult it is to not spend money for three days straight? Out here, our daily activity usually includes going on a walk, to the park, Target, or to the mall. Our options are very limited without a car, the colder weather, and Eva’s unwillingness to sit in the stroller. It’s not like we go to the mall or to Target specifically to spend money. We go to get out of the tiny apartment and to let the toddler run around. But spending money happens 99% of the time. It may not be much, but even an Auntie Anne’s pretzel, a little piece of jewelry, or a shirt from the clearance rack adds up!

So, that’s why I decided to challenge myself. We had a litttttttle too much fun in Boston, Eva’s birthday and Christmas is coming up, we’ve got plane tickets to buy soon, and debts to pay off. All in all. I need to learn how to save. Specifically, I need to learn how to control my need to impulse buy!

Five days. That’s it. May not seem like much. But I’m going to do it. And I might try to do it again, or at least set up another financial goal to save more money. Only time will tell.

4 replies
  1. Jeanette
    Jeanette says:

    I know how you feel! I made it so far without debt in college and now I’m really struggling to get it together to keep it that way before I graduate. But it’s like you said… it’s hard to stop once you start, but it gets so much easier. I have finally managed to get where I go days without spending anything and it’s so liberating to put that money toward the tuition I STILL owe from this semester instead. One thing that kind of has helped me is going to thrift stores a lot. It gives me the fun/time of shopping, but usually I don’t find anything I want so I don’t spend money, or if I do it’s cheap!

    Reply

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