Simplifying finances and a no-spend January
Managing money doesn’t come easily to me.
I call myself a minimalist but I’m naturally an over-spender and I think that will always be my default. I have to work hard to make the finance side of life work for me and not against me.
One of the reasons I love minimalism so much is because of how it’s helped me in the finance department. When I first started toying with the idea of minimalism, simple living, mindful living – whatever you want to call it, after I’d devoured the life changing magic of tidying up and got rid of 80% of our stuff, I wrote down an inventory of my finances. I started to educate myself on things like essential expenses, variable expenses, budgets, net worth, debt, pensions, and investments. This was also the time I started using the 50/30/20 method to manage my finances. Finally and perhaps most life changing of all, I decided that whilst I was happy borrowing money to buy a home of our own, that was my limit. I didn’t want debt in my life any longer.
True to form when I set my mind to something I get on with it, as long as I have the right motivator and the idea of being debt free was the ticket. I added up everything I owed, student finance aside and it came to just over £15,000 (I don’t remember the exact figure). This was made up of loans, credit cards and finance payments. I wrote that number down on a piece of paper and carried it around with me everywhere. Every time I made a repayment I crossed out the figure and wrote down the new amount I owed. Within a year it was zero, and another year later I received a congratulations you’ve paid off your student loan email.
Debt and I were done and to this day we still are. I don’t know what’s around the corner so I can never say never, but I will do my upmost to keep it this way, mortgage aside remember.
Why I wanted to do a no-spend month
When we downsized, I wanted to keep our existing borrowing as it was, J did not. The Peak District isn’t the cheapest of places to buy and he wanted more space than I did. Even though our cottage is smaller than our old house, it was by no means cheaper. Moving and renovating turned the budgeting skills I’d honed from debt repayment on their head.
I’d factored in a renovation budget as part of our move, but in addition to this our savings dwindled and the credit card bill seemed to grow arms and legs at the end of each month. I stopped tracking our spending and stopped paying off said credit card bill as we spent on it throughout the month. I was feeling anxious about my finances again and I didn’t like it.
Renovating a house comes with large price tags. These larger than you’re used to sums you pay out can lead you down a distorted path where money is concerned. I had the same experience when I was planning our wedding. It’s all too easy to lose track of true value. A breakfast out or a new mug by your favourite potter seems like pittance compared to what you just transferred the decorator and it becomes a slippery slope into mindless spending habits. Then there’s the fact you need stuff post move. We found ourselves with no fitted furniture, rural weather to contend with and a new lifestyle to adjust to. A new love of walking equals a pair of walking boots and a shop within walking distance equals less spent on diesel but a new interest in cooking meals each night with fresh ingredients. There’s a ripple effect.
We ended last year feeling financially drained and although I was still debt free I was teetering on the edge and in need of a reset. So we both agreed on a no-spend January (as soon as we got back from our ski holiday). Neither of us drink so I guess it was the equivalent of dry January.
Rules
I used my friend Cait’s shopping ban rules with a few tweaks to suit my lifestyle. Cait did an entire year of this and wrote an awesome book * about it. I kept things super simple and had two lists as my guide; things that were allowed and things that were not. I also intended to track every spend I made in January using a numbers spreadsheet and eventually come up with a new budget I could use moving forwards.
Allowed
food
essential makeup and skincare (replace only the essentials that run out)
Dolly’s essential expenses (food, vets etc)
fuel and essential car expenses
toiletries (toothpaste, toilet rolls,
business expenses
cleaning supplies
Not allowed
clothes
shoes (except the pair of summer shoes I needed for my capsule wardrobe retreat this weekend because my old summer shoes had died)
books
plants
Dolly’s non essential expenses (fancy hair cuts at The Dog House)
non-essential makeup and skincare
candles
stuff for the house (furniture and decor etc)
horsey stuff
eating out
takeaway tea / coffee
electronics
I teamed up with my best friend Jess too. She’d had a year of renovations like me and was craving the same reset I was. We’d done a no-spend month together before and it worked well last time. We check in with each other for accountability and turn to each other if we’re struggling so we can talk that reusable water bottle purchase through.
How it went
One thing I’ve learnt from restricting my spending over the years is that you should never expect perfection. Life is one unpredictable beautiful mess and we cannot put it into tiny boxes with no room for movement. This is why most spending bans and over restrictive budgets just don’t work. With this in mind I’d kept my rules loose. I felt like I could breathe within them as opposed to having to sit at home twiddling my thumbs. On the whole I stuck to the rules all month but I did make the odd exception, without beating myself up. These exceptions were the shoes I knew I’d have to buy ahead of my capsule wardrobe retreat this weekend and a storage basket for under our stairs.
I’d forgotten how stressed and anxious shopping makes makes me feel. All that scrolling and all those decisions to make can seem like the perfect distraction from how I’m feeling, retail therapy as its called, but not engaging with it reminded me of the realities.
This last month has been a relief thanks to the spending structure I put in place. I’ve enjoyed staying home, not eating out, long walks and cosy nights in front of the fire watching Netflix (You and Sex Education are both fantastic!).
A note about my birthday. I turned 31 in January and it was the first year in a long time we hadn’t been away. This meant I got cards with paper notes in them and I used these to purchase some treats from my wish list (a pinaforeand a scented candle *). Much to my unexpected delight, Jason broke my no gift policy and presented me with a new addition who goes by the name of Marshall *, which he bought with his own savings. I don’t believe in any form of deprivation, because this has the same results as dieting – you’re destined to fail. At no point did I want my no-spend month to feel like deprivation. Other than the birthday presents, my birthday was the simplest of days, we went for a walk by the river in Bakewell and broke our no-spend rules to buy two chip butties and a Diet Coke for all of £6.00. I was more than fine with this. Chips by the river in Bakewell is one of life’s greatest pleasures in my opinion.
Did I save a fortune? No. But as it comes to an end (we pay ourselves on the 12th of each month – don’t ask) I feel reset and back in sync with my finances. And that feels good! I’ve revived my budget with less structure than when I gave up on it and after the few initial meltdowns, weekly money check ins are something I look forward to. I’m not sure about J, but he goes along with it. We went to the edge of our overdraft, but it’s a tiny free one so I’m not too fussed, my hope is to ave it back to zero by the end of next month. On the other hand my air-miles credit card bill is zero for the first time in over a year, because I’ve been paying it off each week, and I’ve rekindled that debt free freedom I’d lost.
What’s next?
I have no plans to carry on with a no-spend beyond this set period of time. I’ve got more renovation plans to implement and a lower than I’d like savings fund aside, our finances are in good shape. I’ve used this month to get back into tracking my expenses and I’m going to carry on with this. I’ve got a realistic budget in place based on what I’ve noticed this month. I’ve outlined all of this on a numbers spreadsheet.
A month of following these rules highlighted my spending weaknesses. It used to be clothes, but with my capsule wardrobe in place this is no longer the case. Now, it’s house stuff, books and eating out. I think this is understandable given that we moved in less than a year ago and having a beautiful home means a lot to me. The eating out comes from us prioritising experiences over things, but this month made me realise just how much we must have been spending. I want to keep an eye on this in future without depriving ourselves of beautiful experiences. Mindful is the key word. We won’t mention the books. As long as I’m reading them, books are never a waste of money, even the bad ones teach me something.
Whilst I don’t believe in deprivation, I also don’t think no-spends have to be punishing, they can be brief captivating moments of detox, reflection and awareness.
Did you do a no-spend January? Planning a no-spend February? Tell me all about it.
