Spending Fast 2.0 | Why & How I Stopped Shopping for a Year (again)

Sometimes when I’m looking for a dramatic change, I do something dramatic.

So… I did it again…

I wrote this publicly so I was accountable – no changing my mind!

For a full 365 days, I embarked on my second  1-year spending fast.

One year. Nothing new. I lay ground rules, I challenge my spending habits, and I change. Both on the inside and the outside.

And I’ve done this before.

Why?

The first time around, it changed me deeply. I needed to suffocate my greed and reoriented my thinking. Here’s why my first Spending Fast was so good for me.

The first time around I was also single.

This time, I’m married, own a house, and have small children.

My motivation this time was different. I had started to notice new habits and new greed I want to squash. I noticed some spending patterns I’m not ok with. I noticed dangerous thinking patterns – actually, flat-out lies. And I noticed I subconsciously think certain things will make me feel better if I buy them, but they don’t.

Retail therapy isn’t therapy at all.

The truth is, I was coming of a hard year. Super hard. There were moments I thought life-as-I-knew-it might be ripped out from under my feet. My husband, my partner, my love had been off work and nearly on bed-rest for months and we weren’t sure why for almost 6 months. I had 2 small children at home, and life was more stressful than ever.

And now 2020 has happened. As of now, we’ve all been through a life-as-we-know-it changing dramatically. Where do you find security when life is crumbling?

I write this because I’ve noticed something through a season of struggle; my default is to look for security in all the wrong places. 

During the season my sweet husband was facing his health challenges, I was fighting my own battle. Some days, it nearly broke me. The battle of juggling “all the things.”

And with little ones at home… there were a lot of things.

Fighting The Battle of All The Things

Being pushed to one’s limits can certainly reveal one’s cracks. I was seeing all of mine, and more.

I noticed, while in the middle of my struggle, I just want to “make it better.” Make Justin better. Make the kids better. Make the house better. Make everything better.

Since making it better was beyond my control, you know what I started doing?

I started expecting things to make it better.

I wanted to buy things. Replace things. Upgrade things. Make life easier. More convenient. Just, better.

I didn’t do anything crazy – but I was on an empty pursuit. Things are not my source of security. Things are not what defines me. Things are not my source of joy. Things are just that. Things.

To get more granular and a little more personal, God can be all of that for me. He can be my sense of security, He can be who defines me, and He can be my deepest source of joy. And I want Him to be. Things can creep into these places they don’t belong in my heart if I don’t pay attention.

The first time I did a spending fast, I wanted to be more generous. It changed me from the inside out. This time was different.

Spending Fast 2.0 was a financial hygiene reboot – so to speak.

It’s easier than ever to buy things – especially now! Online shopping from the comfort of home with those perfectly targeted Instagram ads flaunting perfect-design, one-of-a-kind, state-of-the-art socks!

In our house, we normally try to stick to a thoughtful budget, but the turmoil in life had caused the monthly budgeting to become rough estimates. Which evolved into blind card swipes.

My thinking, feeling and spending of money needed a serious reboot.

So, I laid some groundwork.

Spending Fast 2.0 Rules

• Nothing new for myself OR my kids for 365 days
  • Do they really need new toys or clothes? No. If they needed something – off to Once Upon a Child & Facebook Marketplace!
• Fix, borrow, or shop second hand for anything that breaks.

Acceptable Spending:

• Household products that run out (toiletries, etc)
• Food & groceries
• Creative supplies (in hindsight, I should I have been more specific about this one)
• Gifts for others

So that’s it. Sort of simple. Sort of extreme.

But a Spending Fast is so valuable when it comes to battling greed, spending and consumerism.

It reroutes and re-roots my sense of comfort, security and joy.

Here’s to good days rooted in something far more secure than what’s in our closet.