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Guest Post by Amanda Steinberg, DailyWorth.com
The idea of saving money sounds about as exciting to me as window shopping or paying taxes. While I recognize how meaningless stuff is, I still love new stuff. I fantasize about the kind of rug I want to buy for my bare, unfinished dining room. Modern or Oriental? Wool or chenille? I divide my mental wish-list into what I can buy now, and what I’ll buy when I have more money one day. You can call it a sickness. I call it being raised by capitalists.
Fortunately for me, I write about money on my website, DailyWorth.com. Unfortunately for me, I have to walk my talk.
Hot Water
I recently posted a column on DailyWorth about spending hiatuses. In case you haven’t heard, freezing all unnecessary spending for a predetermined period of time is the hottest thing since knitted Uggs. Bloggers everywhere seem to be upping the ante, extending their hiatuses and bragging about how little deprivation they’re feeling.
I know I overspend. I also know that I use shopping as a way to cure boredom or soothe feelings of inadequacy. So last week I threw my hat into the ring. For one week, I declared so effortlessly and publicly, I’d only buy food and pay bills. Nothing else.
How It Went
Overall, I’d say my week-long spending hiatus wasn’t a huge success. It was, however, a small step in the right direction of spending less and saving more. I liken the experience to my one week on Atkins or the three years I spent on Weight Watchers. You can do anything for a week, but will the habits stick? The jury’s still out.
Even so, I did save $380.00 during my week of reduced spending.
My old down comforter had two huge tears. Rather than buying a new one, I broke out the needle and thread – and saved $200! I cooked dinner (instead of opting for take-out) on Friday night and Saturday night. $60.00 saved!! The real “Aha!” moment happened on Day Two, when I realized I could tally each dollar saved and, at the end of the week, transfer the cash into a designated savings account for home improvement projects, like fixing our two fireplaces. I really want working fireplaces. Saving money alone does not motivate me. Saving money with a prize in mind definitely does. Lesson learned: There’s got to be an upside.
Will I join the masses of bloggers extending their spending sabbaticals from weeks to months to years? Probably not. But I’m inspired. And soon, I’ll be sitting by a fire.
Amanda Steinberg is the founder of DailyWorth.com — a free, daily email about personal finance for women.
Tags: Daily Worth, Purchases, Spending
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Ladies and Shopping, unseperatables. I am lucky to have a wife who don’t live shopping. May be she came from Mars but I like it though.
I have to comment on Vijaianand’s comment “ladies and shopping, unseperatables” Most of the women I know are savvy shoppers who stretch their family’s meager budget to provide healthy meals, etc. If you look at most of the cost cutting and saving articles, blogs, etc. in the past 20 years they’ve been written by women. I personally am paying off a huge credit card debt incurred by my former partner who was a man!
I am glad you saved money this week. However, this article mainly spoke about not spending money on unnecessary items. A comforter and dining out two nights a week. Those are luxuries. I was hoping to find a little substance in the article that would be practical for the average person.
Hi Amanda, Thanks for sharing your experience with us. It is inspiring!