Yesterday, I took a look at my bank statement from December; yikes, man. It’s an outlier month because of the holidays, however most of the spending was on myself. In order to be more financially comfortable in 2019, I stole a friend’s idea to participate in No Spending January.
The Rules: Essentials only. Gas, groceries, bills. That’s it. No late night Amazon Prime shopping or Starbucks coffee runs. Not even a spontaneous trip to Target. And worst of all, no beers because it was a rough Tuesday.
It’s January 2, 2019, and I’m already struggling. I wanted to go to Target today to get a new pair of shoes for work. Nope. So instead I cleaned my house, organized my closet, and took the dog on two three-mile walks.
I’ve added, then deleted, four items from my Amazon cart. I even contemplated going to the mall. I hate malls. Things are getting rough. However, if I keep talking myself out of spending, and assuming I would keep my selfish spending habits consistent month to month, I will save myself nearly $350 in January. That’s a car payment, or more than two cell phone bills or two months of cable.
I’m disgusting.
Please read this so I am held accountable. For the sake of my retirement, I beg you.