Spending $$$: Stop! Halt! Do not enter!

One of the biggest financial changes one can make is to stop spending money on frivolous things.

"Hey, big spender!" circa 2008. Back in my rapper days...don't ask!

I can honestly say that we don't have extra spending money in our budget. But at the same time, I know I am spending money on things I don't need. I am guilty of going to Walmart or Kroger for groceries and coming home with junk food or a DVD or some other random household item that I didn't really need to buy (what? they were on sale!) This is money that could be used on real food or put into a much needed savings. We don't really have much wiggle room in any other area of our budget except for gas. Everything else is a set payment each month and my paychecks get budgeted down to $0. So how am I going to stop spending my grocery money on non-necessary items?

A few years ago I came across a blog entry  about a family that decided not to buy any non-necessary items for 1 year. I tried to find it via a Google search and it seems that "a year without spending" is a popular thing now. Many other people have blogged about not spending for a year and there are different reasons why every one is doing this...

This blog mentions something called The Compact-a now national and world-wide trend where people make a commitment to not buy new items (used is okay) in order to protest consumerism and waste:
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/11/28/ultimate-recycling-buying-nothing-new-for-one-year/

This blog mentions a quest for gratitude for what they already have:
http://dfwstyledaily.com/2013/06/05/no-shopping-for-one-year-my-real-life-story/

This is an article highlighting the family I originally read about (I can't seem to find their actual blog.) This family wanted to enjoy what they had more, including and especially family:
http://www.redbookmag.com/money-career/tips-advice/year-without-spending

Here are the rules which this family created:

"RULE 1: Jon and I wouldn't purchase anything for one year. No clothing, shoes, adorable pocketbooks, or gadgets. Nada.

RULE 2: The girls would be allowed to get clothing only at the beginning of the school year or if they outgrew something they needed. New toys and games were off-limits.

RULE 3: All gifts would be in the form of books, gift cards, or homemade items. 

RULE 4: Broken items would not be replaced. 

RULE 5: Purchasing makeup was allowed. (A girl can only sacrifice so much!)

RULE 6: Any form of family entertainment was allowed — and encouraged."

My goal is to stop spending so we can save money and pay off debt. Since I want us to make a realistic and achievable goal, I cannot guarantee 1 year without spending. But I think 3 months is a good place to start and then if we are successful we can start again for another 3 months.

Some additional thoughts about our rules:

• Although we shouldn't need any new clothes, it is still nice to have a change. I will be posting later ideas for upcycling and revamping clothes already in the closet.
• If we feel like something sweet, we can make dessert at home. There are several copycat candy bar recipes floating around the web which we will try later.
• The library has a large collection of DVDs and books. I can even check out ebooks for my Kindle. We do have Netflix but we will be either doing just streaming or suspending our account (if I can get hubby on board) to cut our expenditures. 
• Most people we give gifts to already have pretty much everything they need. We very much spent more than we wanted at Christmas because we failed to budget and plan, and we just plain bought too many presents (okay, it was me not the hubby). Check back tomorrow for more info on our gift giving plan for the year.
• If we really feel like we need something we don't have, we can try to find it on Freecycle or borrow it from someone we know.  
• Because we have busy lives, we do need to have convenience foods that are fast and easy. I buy burritos, Taquitos, egg rolls, poptarts and stuff like that (only 1 or 2 different things at a time) so we can have a quick meal. We still have the convenience of fast food without the huge cost.

Tomorrow I will be posting some new money saving ideas.  Any money we save by doing this spending fast will go towards paying off my car, as we only have a few months left. Then that monthly payment will be snowballed to pay for our new vacation ownership loan.

My biggest spending challenge is going to be my grocery spending. I need to stop buying non-food items just because they are on sale. But if I meal plan and make a grocery list that I stick to, it will be a piece of cake (homemade, of course, since we won't be buying desserts!) And if I plan ahead, I won't be rushing to work without bringing lunch from home, another time I spend unnecessary money.

What is your hardest thing to not spend money on?


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