Note: While I came up with the idea to not spend in July on my own, I have to give credit to my friend, Katelyn Marando, who is doing a similar thing and dubbed the name No Buy July. Katelyn has a great blog geared toward healthy eating and living, you should definitely check her site out at www.katelynmarando.com.
June was an expensive month.
Between a trip to Disney, a new computer for work, some new furnishings for my new office suite, a new outfit for my EBI panel, and the trip to Dana Point there was a lot of money going out for the Castellis. The good news is all of these expenses had been planned and saved for, but it still hurts to look back looking back and see that much money leave the savings accounts. As I was editing my EBI West podcast, I was inspired by the responses I received to make an effort to save more than I already am.
Allow me to give you a little background on the last few years of our savings: Last year was the first year in a few that we were actually able to do some long-term savings. We had been in start-up mode; my wife started her business in 2014 and I followed in 2015, so the ability to save wasn’t there as we built our businesses. But, last year we were finally was able to start saving into savings accounts, 529s, Ang’s IRA, my SEP IRA and a taxable account. I felt good about what we were able to start saving, but I know we can do more without sacrificing our quality of life.
So, for the month of July I will not be purchasing anything that is not necessary.
Allowed:
- Groceries
- Gas
- Toiletries
- Haircuts
Not Allowed:
- Books (this is a biggie)
- Clothes
- Going out for lunch (unless it’s a business meeting, but those are few and far between)
- Everything else
As the month progresses, I will be keeping a journal of the times I felt the urge to make a purchase; I’ll be recording what it was, how much I would have spent, why I thought it was necessary and how I felt passing it up–I’ll only be logging entries on days that I want to buy something. I don’t really know what to expect from the journal entries, but I think it will be interesting to see if there are any trends or attitude changes during the month. I plan on sharing this on All About Your Benjamins in August.
The final part to this project is tallying up all of the money I didn’t spend and sending it to our taxable investment account; if I was willing to go without those dollars, then I’ll go ahead and remove them from the checking and savings accounts and put them somewhere they’ll actually work for us in the long run.
I’m not going to turn this into a big challenge or social media campaign; if you have a desire to do it as well, by all means go for it, and feel free to share the results with me in August.
Be sure to check back to see how much I didn’t spend and remember what my friend Morgan Housel says,
“Wealth, in fact, is what you don’t see. It’s the cars not purchased. The diamonds not bought. The renovations postponed, the clothes forgone and the first-class upgrade declined. It’s assets in the bank that haven’t yet been converted into the stuff you see.”
Warning: This is not an edited version of the song…definitely NSFW. That being said, the video and song are hilarious.
Disclaimer: Nothing on this blog should be considered advice, or recommendations. If you have questions pertaining to your individual situation you should consult your financial advisor. For all of the disclaimers, please see my disclaimer page.
