by Erin Hanson
I recently stumbled upon this blog that introduced the idea of going on a Spending Fast as a way do get out of debt and adjust the the way you spend every penny of all your hard earned money. Anna, the author of the blog, found herself in over $20,000 in debt and needed a money spending adjustment and decided on only spending money on the things that she needed, not wanted. She did the fast for a year and completely paid off her debt!
After a long conversation with Mr. Barber, we decided to implement the Spending Fast into our lives starting now. We set no date as to when it will end, just when we have our cars and student loans paid off. When I quit work and added a new addition to our family, we made some major changes to what we spent money on. It made a big difference, but we still weren't making that big of a dent into our debts and we definitely weren't putting enough into savings.
Our goal is to get out of debt and start to put money into savings as quickly as possible.
Now, we are fully aware that not spending money on anything besides the things we need will really suck. Yes, it will suck. Anyone who knows me well, can tell you just how much I love to spend money. This is NOT some form of pity party, charity, or self-punishment thing, it's just an experiment that we would like to give our best effort to in order to challenge ourselves and see what we are capable of.
The first step in the Spending Fast is listing our needs and wants.
What we will have to spend money on.
* Mortgage. This is obvious since we need somewhere to live.
* Utilities. Keeping in mind to turn off lights and not run the A/C all summer long.
* Home Phone/Cellphone. We haven't had a home phone for some time now, but since the signal for our cell phone isn't always reliable, we decided to get a home phone again. Check out ooma for a very cheap phone service.
* Cars. We currently have two vehicles and we owe money on both. We're contemplating selling one. However, we don't live in an area that is easy to get to things without a vehicle.
* Food
* Gas
* Anything medical related
What we will NOT be spending money on.
* Netflix. We had already dropped down to the lowest costing plan after we had the baby, and as much as we LOVE to watch movies, we don't have to have it.
* Storage Shed. To save an extra $31 a month, we'll clear some room in our shed and make do!
*Pest control. As much as I hate to let this go, I'll live with a few more bugs in my house. Unless it gets bad, this becomes a need!
* Eating out.
* Going to the movies.
* Buying Disney movies. Chris just might end up putting this on the needs list ;0)
* Clothes. This will fall under make do with what we have. Except for the growing wee one of course!
* Gifts. Sorry peeps! You will just have to deal with only a card or some sort of service from us.
* Vacations. This one hurts just a bit.
There you go! Of course this isn't every single thing that we will or will not spend money on, but it's the general idea. Wish us luck!
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