Jumping in for solidarity. We’re a one-income family and don’t have a lot of extra to spend, but often still don’t really think about small or impulse purchases, and that has to change if we want to be saving at all.
For me it’s really a mindset that I am juuuust getting used to. Like the other day I went to Walgreens to get a flu shot. Old Me would have been like, let’s look around and see what I need from Walgreens. New Me did not look around because I knew that if I did, I’d spend a random $30 on sunscreen or whatever!
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I WANT to do this (and I know I posted way upthread), but I’m terrible about meandering around stores when I go to pick up prescriptions / groceries / something I actually need. I also deep dive on things I want to buy when I’m overwhelmed at work, so that’s…more often than I’d like.
We make plenty of money, and we save a big chunk of it for retirement and future purchases (college, vacations, haircuts, summer camp, etc.). But we also spend a lot of money, and generate a lot of trash. I’d love to get back to lower consumption because:
- We have so much stuff in our house. So much. And my tidying capacity isn’t high enough to keep it all in the right place.
- The ridiculous amount of plastic trash we magically generate, on top of our compost/chicken scraps/recycling
- I do not want to continue spending this much money. I do not want to continue working solely to support this level of spending. I want quit my job and be free to do the stereotypical midlife crisis activities, like making yogurt and sourdough, crocheting socks, aimless learning because I like learning things, and being able to volunteer at my kids’ school without fitting it into my lunch hour or taking PTO.
I’m not the sole driver of spending in our household, for sure, but I can control my own spending, influence my kids to minimize their “we’re at a store, time to buy a new thing!” impulses, and I also have a voice in what my husband spends on household things. Budgetober is helping focus this for now, since I have to check in, haha, and I’m hoping to keep it going and not just build up a list of things to buy in November.
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