Hello, January 2025! So amazing that we have made it here. I remember when we were all going into year 2000 and we all thought the world was coming to an end at midnight. It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come, I’m looking forward to continuing to grow and evolve over the years.
Now, let’s get into it.
One of my intentions for the year is to spend my money more wisely. Now, I’m not reckless by any means and I take care of priorities first, but I still feel like there are ways for me to enhance my saving, investing and other goals. I also want to spend my money more intentionally and on things that bring me joy, like experiences, traveling, and wellness luxuries like facials and massages BUT the goal for this month is to stash all my extra money into a savings or investment account.
The ultimate goal is not to sacrifice the things that I actually do care about on frivolous spending that I won’t even remember tomorrow.
I’ve also come to realize that society currently has us set up to constantly want more, more, more.
More new things, more this, more that.
All the social media sites have literally figured us out to a tee and are serving us ads that make us want to spend our money all. the. time.
I realized a few things about some of the products that I was buying and that are advertised online… sometimes the items are:
- not great quality
- not as nice as you thought they would be
- not worth the price point
- is forgotten about in a few months time
I also read somewhere that the act of buying something triggers dopamine but it decreases once you receive the actual item. This would explain why sometimes my packages wait at the door a few days before I even open them even though I was foaming at the mouth to spend my money on it.
Not only does shopping have us in a chokehold but also dining out. What I’ve learned there is that:
- the joy of dining out isn’t as grand if you are doing it all the time
- sometimes the food isn’t even good or the service is horrible and feels like a waste of money
- food prepared at home is healthier because you know what ingredients are in the food
…and ultimately that the price of outside is too damn expensive. And I don’t know that it has to be. I truly believe that a lot of the companies in the US are greedy and they are taking advantage of the fact that many Americans don’t have control over their spending habits (which is a part of a larger conversation).
All things considered, I want to take back my power. I’m minimizing my spending and reallocating that money to investments, savings and intentional purchases.
Here are some of my rules for a “low-buy” January:
- Not buying any new clothes, shoes, jewelry or other retail purchases.
- Not buying any consumables that I already have that haven’t run out yet, like boxed tea, shower gels, cleaning products etc.
- No new books! I have a few on my bookshelf that haven’t even been read yet.
- Saying no to expensive snacks and luxury food items. I’m talking to you $5 kombucha and $10 protein cereal.
- Limiting spending to one meal and one coffee beverage per week (no overpriced food delivery though), all other meals/drinks will be prepared at home. Meal prepping everything!
- Not committing to any expenses that weren’t already planned for going into the month. Of course, things come up but I will stick to my plan as closely as possible.
I have a few short trips, and engagements planned for the month but I will stick to the budget allocated for those. I will bring road snacks/food with me on the way to them instead of stopping for fast food along the way.
January is my first official month doing this, but I think I may extend it to March. I’ll be back to report on what I learned and achieved during this time.
Cheers to underconsumption!
