This writer went 730 days without shopping—here's what she learned
After digging herself out of nearly $30,000 in debt, Cait Flanders fell back into old spending habits. So she gave herself an ultimatum: no shopping for a year. Then she extended it for another one. That’s 730 days without shopping.
At that time, I’d write a budget at the beginning of the month and include what I wanted to do with my money—like, “I want to save at least 20 percent”—and at the end of the month, I would say what I actually did with it. In reality, I’d have only saved 5 or 10 percent. I knew I could do better. So that’s how the shopping ban took shape. I realized I had all the basics, so why not try it?
Was there a moment when you really wanted something and almost gave in? Oh, yes. I remember really wanting a new e-reader when I saw one on sale. Mine was broken, and this one was $40 off. That’s when I realized how much of the spending we do is based on things we tell ourselves. We convince ourselves we need it, when most of the time we don’t.
Within two years, you erased your debt. That meant serious scrimping: just one haircut, no travel and rarely eating out. How did you stay focused? That’s where goals are important: I set one and stuck to it. One thing I will say, I think I paid off the debt a little too quickly. If I had given myself a little more time to pay it off, maybe two-and-a-half or three years, I could had saved more each month and thought about my next goal, which would have helped me in the long-term.
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