Day 2 – Spending Freeze

Posted on by Grace Saavedra in Uncategorized

Since I didn’t define my spending freeze, I thought I would do so here. I’m freezing all non-essential purchases for the year on myself.

I figure as a CFO, I just did this on my entire organization, but I haven’t done it for my own personal finances.

The breaking point for me was when I saw my credit card bill and realized I hadn’t made a payment this month.

Yep, I looked at my bill, and I realized I had been so busy running around for Board of Trustees meetings, anxiously trying to take care of 50 Board members, help the organization navigate their budget crisis during this tough time, but I had completely and totally neglected myself.

The cost was my pride. I had to call the bank and ask them to waive my late credit card penalty, because I really “do” always pay my entire credit card balance off before the due date.

That was really my breaking point. It wasn’t the pay cuts, but it was the frustration I felt looking at my credit card statement and seeing the words, “late payment and penalties waived.”

Total spent on merchandise this period $1,800.

Something had to change.

So here I go.

What is deemed non-essential? What the heck was in that merchandise category that I could “cut” out of my budget.

  • Clothing

  • Shoes

  • Merchandise

  • Home decorations (to each their own, but I spend a lot in this category)

  • Purses

  • Hats

  • Jewelry

  • Non-essential makeup items

Does anyone use Stitch Fix?

Well I do, and Fabletics…I guess today I need to take a step and “skip my boxes.”

So far, the spending freeze is going pretty well. I haven’t bought coffee at Starbucks or gone to target on a lunch break for the last two days.

Since I didn’t spend my free time online shopping at lunch or shopping at Target, instead, I bought a birthday cake to bless a friend for her 40th birthday this weekend for $32.95, and I had some extra time to read articles about the stock market.

Apparently, now is the time to be thinking about investments in biotech.

Reflection Questions:

When is a time you felt like you just “had” to buy a new outfit, or a new piece of furniture or something for the house? What drove that purchase of the item? Did that purchase make you feel happier, a day later, a week later, a year later, or 5 years later?